Outdoors

ATV riders swarm back to hit the trails after lengthy closure

GILBERT, W.Va. (AP) — During the two-month closure of Southern West Virginia’s Hatfield-McCoy Trails over COVID-19 concerns, operators of businesses catering to trail riders wondered when, or even if, the trail system would be allowed to reopen for the year. That concern was alleviated when Gov. Jim Justice gave the green light to reopening the popular venue for motorized trail riders, with certain restrictions, on Memorial Day weekend. With an opening date in hand, trail-related businesses scrambled to get the word out in an effort to reclaim one of the busiest weekends of the ...

Outdoors Calendar

Atkinson Mills Sportsmen’s Club ¯ Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month at 7:30 p.m. The club is located at 55 Sportsmen Club Lane, McVeytown; email atkinsonmillssportsmensclub@gmail.com; online at http://atkinsonmills-sportsmensclub.weebly.com Blue Rock Sportsman Club ¯ Club meetings at 2 p.m. on the fourth Sunday of each month on the gun range, and at 7 p.m. in January and February in the barn. To east end Blue Rock: From Milroy, follow signs to Reeds Gap State Park. Free camping available and kitchen is open during all events except trap shoots. Decatur ...

Success afield

Hunting licenses go on sale starting on June 22

From staff reports With expanded Sunday hunting for big game and an archery deer season that reaches deeper than ever into the whitetail rut, 2020 is sure to be a historic year for hunting in Pennsylvania. And seizing those opportunities is only a license purchase away. Licenses for the 2020-21 hunting and furtaking seasons go on sale Monday, June 22. General hunting licenses and furtaker licenses each continue to cost $20.90 for Pennsylvania residents and $101.90 for nonresidents. Resident senior hunters and furtakers, ages 65 and older, can purchase one-year licenses for ...

Understanding how fish can perceive an angler’s lure

SCRANTON (AP) —As soon as the loop flashes into your peripheral vision, you know you may have just stumbled into perfection. The hum of the line racing through the guides sends a vibration down the pole and through your arms that electrifies every vain in your body right down to your toes. Your fly lands without even the hint of a ripple. It has all finally come together, you have reached Zen. Before you have time to congratulate yourself, however, a watery explosion causes your line to go tight and the entire process is reversed. It becomes a dizzy swirl of strip, strip, keeping ...

Videos of eagle family getting more views during pandemic

GLENWOOD SPRINGS, Colo. (AP) — Outside Kirby Wynn’s home in Glenwood Springs, a bald eagle battles a pair of ravens mid-flight for the prized and still dripping-wet trout clutched in the majestic raptor’s talons. Shaking off the scavengers, the eagle glides into its nest resting atop the dead branches of a tree overlooking the Roaring Fork Valley, where two hungry eaglets — not yet sporting the iconic white bald head of their parents — gleefully bounce in anticipation of the incoming feast. “I’ve seen this more than once,” Wynn, 50, casually quipped. “Sometimes, ...