Outdoors category, Page 6
Dogs could help state game commission track chronic wasting disease
The Pennsylvania Game Commission could soon be using specially trained dogs to help sniff out deer infected with chronic wasting disease as part of a new effort to learn more about the fatal, contagious ailment that continues to spread among the state’s herd. Studies from the University of Pennsylvania’s Penn...
Applications for elk hunting season now open
As of Feb. 1, applications are open for Pennsylvania’s 2023-24 elk hunting seasons. Three seasons, archery, general, and late, have been preliminarily approved by the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners. Interested parties can apply for $11.97 per season, or $35.91 for all three. Applications can be purchased online at huntfish.pa.gov...
Why the Pa. Game Commission voted to keep opening day for firearms deer season in place
The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Board of Commissioners have given preliminary approval to the 2023-24 hunting seasons and dates, including a firearms deer season that opens on the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The board took the action at its meeting last week. While some hunters had been urging the agency to return...
State game commissioners eye changes to antlerless deer license system, CWD rules
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. — The days of applying for antlerless deer licenses with a pink envelope may soon be over. The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners met Saturday in Harrisburg to preliminarily approve hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits for 2023-24, with restructuring the antlerless deer allocation system being one...
Crows, crows and more crows among interesting results of Christmas Bird Count
While volunteer bird enthusiasts counted cardinals and robins for the Audubon Christmas Bird Count from Pittsburgh to Harmar, the most common bird found was the American crow — 20,000 strong, accounting for about half of the birds seen. The Christmas Bird Count was held in some areas in the region...
Punxsutawney Phil to be inducted into Meteorologist Hall of Fame
Pennsylvania’s most famous groundhog will receive a big honor just before he gives his weather prediction on Groundhog Day 2023. The Punxsutawney Weather Discovery Center will induct Punxsutawney Phil into the Meteorologist Hall of Fame on Feb. 1 - the day before Groundhog Day. The center said Phil will be...
Feds try to improve fishing data with new monitoring rules
PORTLAND, Maine — Changes to U.S. rules about the monitoring of Northeast commercial fishing activities are going into effect this month with a goal of providing more accurate information about some of the nation’s oldest fisheries. The U.S. mandates observers to work onboard fishing boats to collect data and make...
Should you worry about lichens, moss, algae on trees?
Now that deciduous trees are bare, trunks and branches have taken center stage, and you might be noticing nuances and irregularities that evaded your attention over the summer. For instance, what are those green masses growing on your trees? Those growths could be either lichens, moss or algae, and the...
Vintage lures and more available at Tri-County Trout Sport Show & Flea Market
After a two-year hiatus during the height of the covid-19 pandemic, the Tri-County Trout Club is back for its 17th Sport Show & Flea Market from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday. The club moved the show from Arnold Volunteer Engine Company No. 2’s social center to Patterson Hall at...
Tradition of hiking in the new year reaches all 50 U.S. states
BOSTON — A simple plan to get more people enjoying the outdoors on New Year’s Day has become a nationwide movement after a hike at a Massachusetts park more than three decades ago. Just 380 people participated in the initial First Day Hike in 1992 at the nearly 7,000-acre Blue...
Deer hunters back bill changing opening day of deer season
A coalition of hunters and businesses across the state, including many in Chester County, are supporting legislation aimed at changing the opening day of deer season back to Monday. Pennsylvania has opened its rifle deer season on the Monday after Thanksgiving for over 60 years, that is until 2019. The...
Honeybees are at risk, along with the crops they pollinate
PHILADELPHIA — The honeybees looked perfectly healthy, buzzing about their boxy wooden hive on a warm autumn day in central Pennsylvania. Elizabeth Capaldi suspected otherwise. Clad in a protective white suit and hat, the biologist reached out with a gloved hand to capture one of the insects in a small...
Christmas tree recycling is a good alternative to landfills
Taking down the Christmas tree is only one task after the holiday season. For those with a real tree, figuring out what to do with it can be as easy as placing it by the curb. In most states, it can be the gift that keeps on giving. Discarded Christmas...
Scientists reveal secrets of frog transparency
WASHINGTON — Now you see them, now you don’t. Some frogs found in South and Central America have the rare ability to turn on and off their nearly transparent appearance, researchers report Thursday in the journal Science. During the day, these nocturnal frogs sleep by hanging underneath tree leaves. Their...
2 area ski resorts set to begin seasons as winter weather approaches
A blast of winter weather is arriving this week just as two area ski resorts are opening for the season. Hidden Valley Resort in Somerset County will welcome skiers today, Dec. 21, while Laurel Mountain Ski Area in Ligonier Township is set to open two days later. Both attractions are...
Could trawler cams help save world’s dwindling fish stocks?
PORTLAND, Maine — For years, Mark Hager’s job as an observer aboard New England fishing boats made him a marked man, seen as a meddling cop on the ocean, counting and scrutinizing every cod, haddock and flounder to help set crucial quotas. On one particularly perilous voyage, he spent 12...
Trail towns poised to capitalize on increasing access, popularity of rails-to-trails
Lauren Edinger and her husband, Edd Velez, whitewashed an antique tin ceiling in their future ice cream and sandwich shop in the former J.H. Shoop & Sons building in Freeport. The repurposing of the century-plus-old retail building — home to one of the oldest family-owned men’s clothing stores in the...
‘Generational changing’ investments poised to remake Western Pa.’s trails system
Described as “generational changing,” recently awarded investments in rails-to-trails will help connect more than 100 miles of recreational trails in Western Pennsylvania, opening previously unrealized pathways to communities poised to benefit economically. Murrysville to Rankin. O’Hara to East Deer. Aspinwall to Homewood. Plans are underway to grow and connect mostly...
Voting begins for Pennsylvania’s 2023 River of the Year
HARRISBURG — The public is invited to again vote online for the 2023 Pennsylvania River of the Year, choosing from among four waterways nominated throughout the state. “Honoring the River of the Year has become one of my favorite annual traditions and I am hopeful that we receive a record...
Earlier start to firearm deer season keeps hunters, processors busy
Curtis Johnson of Indiana Township has big plans for the buck he bagged Saturday morning. “I’ll get a pound of the deer jerky, and bologna as well — I love the bologna you guys do,” Johnson told the staff at Wright’s Deer Processing in Clinton Township, near Saxonburg. Since the...
Deer hunting in Pennsylvania starts this weekend
The biggest day on the Pennsylvania hunting calendar — opening day of the firearms season on deer — begins at a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. More than 850,000 people have purchased some form of general hunting license, from resident adult to mentored youth, this year. For families, hunting clubs...
Big turnout expected as Pa. firearms season for black bear set to start
With 1,450 black bears already harvested by hunters in seasons earlier this fall, Pennsylvania’s firearms season on the large mammals opens a half-hour before sunrise on Saturday. The firearms season will continue daily through a half-hour after sunset on Tuesday. Daily hunting hours run from a half-hour before sunrise to...
Pa. fisherman pleads not guilty to charges in tournament scandal
CLEVELAND — Two men accused of stuffing five walleye with lead weights and fish fillets during a lucrative fishing tournament on Lake Erie pleaded not guilty to cheating and other charges on Wednesday. Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominsky, 35, of Hermitage, Mercer County, made no...
Prosecutor: Pa. fisherman caught cheating at tournament charged
CLEVELAND — Two anglers accused of stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets in an attempt to win thousands of dollars in an Ohio fishing tournament were indicted Wednesday on charges of attempted grand theft and other counts. Jacob Runyan, 42, of Broadview Heights, Ohio, and Chase Cominski, 35, of...
Largest North American catfish to be brought back to Pennsylvania rivers
With blue catfish — the largest catfish species in North America — beginning to show up in the Ohio River in southwestern Pennsylvania after an absence of about a century, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission this week launches restoration efforts for the fish in rivers in the state. The...
