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Bull hunters fare better; elk hunt a success

HARISBURG — Nearly 100 lucky participants in Pennsylvania’s 2018 elk hunt have taken home a trophy. Ninety-nine elk were taken by 125 hunters during the regular one-week elk season that ended Nov. 10. And for those licensed to hunt antlered elk, also known as bulls, the success rate was 96 percent, with 25 of 26 tags filled. The 2018 harvest included some large elk. Thirteen bulls each were estimated to weigh 700 pounds or more, with two of them going more than 800 pounds. The heaviest bull taken in this year’s hunt was estimated at 894 pounds. That bull, which sported an ...

Wyoming man uses business to support veterans

RIVERTON, Wyo. (AP) — It was known simply as Red Rocks a generation ago, the restaurant and motel on the north side of U.S. Highway 26 just before the big curve 20 miles east of Dubois. While the meals may have been memorable, what goes on inside the former restaurant and motel complex is unexpected. Ben Barto, a Wyoming native originally from Rock Springs, has created a quiet industry along the Wind River that produces world-quality knives, ornaments, pins and just about anything else you can imagine from elk and deer antlers. “We take a basic hunting knife and turn it into a ...

Expert archery advice, part two

Previously I broke down some hot topics from the archery world with my dear friend Curtis Ashcraft, but I didn’t stop there. As a hunter, I have always believed that the more information I can learn, the better it makes me as an outdoorsman. So I had the chance to question a man I am lucky to have had as a teacher, and call a friend, Mr. Larry Wise. Larry is as accomplished as he is accurate and deadly with a bow, however, he’s as humble and straight forward as it gets. With championship after championship, 30-plus years of coaching, and 60 years of bow hunting experience, it’s ...

Pathway to Parks’ aim is diversity

ASHEVILLE, N.C. (AP) — There were some sketchy moments as Tanya Cummings thought her self-described “short, little legs,” wouldn’t get her up and over the boulders way taller than her 4-foot-11, well-coiffed and manicured frame, or out of the deep woods in the Plott Balsam Mountains. But with her two trusty walking sticks (which she sometimes tossed aside, saying “I don’t need you” before grabbing for them again), a Super Girl determination in those “little legs” and occasionally a “Help me!” directed at her boyfriend, Larry Pender, Cummings came through the ...

Montana bear specialist has 30 years of wildlife work

KALISPELL, Mont. (AP) — Erik Wenum is known as the “bear guy,” and it’s an apt moniker, given the fact that he’s handled nearly 5,000 bears during his tenure with Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He’s the bear and mountain lion specialist for the state agency, but truth is, there just isn’t enough space on his business card to provide a simplified description of the work he does. Wenum, 56, has been working with large mammals for more than 30 years, including 28 with Fish, Wildlife and Parks. He earned his degree at Colorado State and studied deer in that state before ...

CDT director has devoted her life to trails

DENVER (AP) — Teresa Martinez said she’ll probably never thru-hike something like the Appalachian Trail or Continental Divide Trail, but that hasn’t stopped her from devoting her life to them. “To know that I’m a small part of something that, for 50 years, has been protecting landscapes like this is pretty amazing,” Martinez said. “So there’s just this deep commitment to give back to that.” Martinez is the executive director of the Continental Divide Trail Coalition, which was founded in 2012 by volunteers and recreationists looking to improve and protect the ...