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Plenty to consider when buying custom call

I inherited my grandfather’s love for making turkey calls. Anyone who knows me knows that it’s a passion in my life deep rooted in both tradition and legacy. So as we move forward in a society that shifts it course from buying products from large box stores such as Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s and stores of their likeness that outsource their production overseas, we find a market for the local custom call market — items that are hand crafted by rural Americans with blood, sweat and even sometimes tears. Small business deep rooted in that same tradition and legacy that drives me in ...

Bluebird nest boxes help connect with nature, wildlife

HARRISBURG — It’s time to say goodbye to winter and hello to spring. The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Howard Nursery wants to help you spring into the season and connect with wildlife in your backyard. Bluebird nesting boxes built by staff at Howard Nursery are available for sale at the nursery office, as well as the Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters, region offices, and the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. Nesting-box kits also are available. Nursery staff build bluebird and other nesting boxes during the winter for annual sales to the public. A single box ...

Loss of gun rights doesn’t prohibit hunting license

YORK (AP) — In the 1990s, John Wolfe lost the right to carry a gun. But Wolfe bought hunting licenses for many years without running into a problem. Wolfe used a shotgun that he bought when he was about 18 to shoot a nearly 11-inch turkey. Then one December morning in 2014, Wolfe decided to go hunting before work. He got caught by game wardens. A judge found him guilty of illegal gun possession in 2016. He now faces two-and-a-half to five years in state prison. Wolfe’s case points to a loophole in Pennsylvania’s gun laws. Each year, hundreds of thousands of people buy ...

Legislature digs in over hatchery closing threat

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Of all the sources of discord in Harrisburg, trout usually isn’t one of them. But a proposal to increase fishing-license fees has turned into a dispute that has lawmakers hoping to oust the head of the Fish and Boat Commission. Without the long-sought fee increase, Commission Director John Arway said last fall some state hatcheries would have to close — meaning 240,000 fewer fish in state-stocked streams and lakes next year. Some lawmakers perceived the cost-cutting announcement as a threat to leave their hometown waters empty of stocked trout. Now, ...

Landmarks managed for safety to stay open

LANCASTER (AP) — Despite a tricky and manpower-intensive rescue of a teenager, Wind Cave in southern Lancaster County will not be closed to public use. Warning signs, however, will be erected at access points to the popular cave, said Phil Wenger, president and CEO of the Lancaster County Conservancy, which will take over ownership of the land containing the cave this year. “We have no intention of closing that cave at this point,” Wenger said. The Feb. 17 rescue spurred new safety concerns from some local residents. Others expressed indignation at the thought of closing a ...

High-power loads lethal to turkeys and maybe gun

A fairly new ammo was trending and adored by hunters last year, and I didn’t want to seem as if I were attacking it. After hearing more and more stories of similar situations not just by one ammunition company or round, it is no longer time to sit on my words. This past spring, I planned to conduct a study of which shotgun scopes and sights performed the best. As any outdoors enthusiast will know, there are about as many options for various hunting products as their are brands of breakfast cereal on the shelf at the grocery store. The scopes and sights had all been donated from ...