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Outdoors

Trout stocking announced; April 2 is opener

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) has made its 2022 adult trout stocking schedule available using the FishBoatPA mobile app and website (www.fishandboat.com). “The release of our trout stocking schedule is always a welcome reminder that spring is just around the corner,” said Brian Wisner, Director of the PFBC Bureau of Hatcheries. “This schedule is our roadmap for stocking millions of trout into hundreds of waterways across the state before and during the trout season, which is no small task. Anglers can review the schedule to learn which local ...

Bear harvest ranked 5th

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania bear hunters had quite the year in 2021. They took 3,659 bears across last year’s various seasons. That ranks as the state’s fifth-best harvest ever, and the second-largest recorded since 2011. The 2020 bear harvest, for comparison’s sake, was 3,621. The statewide regular bear season accounted for the largest part of the 2021 bear harvest. Hunters took 1,315 bears in that four-day hunt. The extended bear season — which last year for the first time allowed hunters to harvest bears throughout the opening weekend of deer season in some Wildlife ...

Survey favors Saturday deer opener

HARRISBURG — Sixty percent of Pennsylvania deer hunters support a Saturday-after-Thanksgiving start to the firearms deer season, while another 12 percent have no preference between a Saturday or Monday opener, based on survey results presented to the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners at their January meeting. Just 27 percent of hunters oppose a Saturday opener, the survey showed. Pennsylvania in 2019 shifted the opening day of firearms deer season, which for decades began on the Monday after Thanksgiving, to begin the Saturday after Thanksgiving. The past two firearms deer ...

Area falconer disagrees with goshawk’s endangered species classification

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — On Jacks Mountain, where the trees showed hints of gold and orange, raptors took flight on an autumn afternoon, hitching a free ride on warm updrafts all along the ridge. Mike Dupuy, of Middleburg, a master in the sport of falconry, can see them, even miles away, from ...

The outdoors offers mental health benefits

The past two years, since the start of the pandemic, have dealt some nasty hands to many of us. Whether it was due to the loss of a loved one to COVID, the loss of a business or employment due to government shut-downs, stress, fear or anger related to civil unrest and rioting throughout ...

PGC’s Operation Game Thief protects state wildlife

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Operation Game Thief program protects wild birds and wild mammals by encouraging those with information related to wildlife crimes to report it as soon as possible. Wildlife crimes affect everyone and reporting illegal wildlife activity helps to protect wildlife for current and future generations. To confidentially report information, call the Operation Game Thief’s toll-free hotline — 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year — at (888) PGC-8001 or fill out an online form at http://bit.ly/PGCOGT. Follow the ...