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Outdoors

Mentoring programs teach youth safety

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) — When Chad Tussing’s daughter, Elisa, got her first deer two seasons ago, she was excited and ready to get back in the field. That excitement led to getting another dear last season, and even more excitement about the possibilities of the upcoming season, the Rapid City Journal reported . The love of hunting had started to grow inside the heart of Elisa, and she found that out, even though she isn’t 16-years-old yet and can’t get her hunter’s license. South Dakota Game Fish and Parks has been providing a way for children like Elisa and anyone else ...

Enter your buck in The Sentinel’s contest

LEWISTOWN — Hundreds of local hunters will be successful in bagging bucks this year and we look forward to seeing them in The Sentinel’s annual Big Buck Contest. Antlered deer that meet the three-point standard and are killed during the archery season or the regular firearms deer season are eligible. Winners will be declared in adult and junior divisions (junior license or mentored youth hunters), with the first-place deer featured on the cover of the Big Buck edition to be published after the season ends. Winners will be rewarded with a gift card. This year, each division ...

Record harvest could be on the horizon

HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania’s coming firearms deer season packs promise for hundreds of thousands of hunters as they await its opener Monday. Unseasonably warm weather and an abundance of fall mast made it more challenging to pattern deer movements throughout the statewide six-week archery season, which concluded Nov. 11. Now rifle season offers the next opportunity to hunt deer in Penn’s Woods. This firearms season — not just its opening day — has the potential to be something special. “Agency deer biologists believe there’s a chance we’ll see the state’s buck harvest ...

Enter your buck in The Sentinel’s annual contest

LEWISTOWN — Hundreds of local hunters will be successful in bagging bucks this year and we look forward to seeing them in The Sentinel’s annual Big Buck Contest. Antlered deer that meet the three-point standard and are killed during the archery season or the regular firearms deer season are eligible. Winners will be declared in adult and junior divisions (junior license or mentored youth hunters), with the first-place deer featured on the cover of the Big Buck edition to be published after the season ends. Winners will be rewarded with a gift card. This year, each division ...

Trapper’s dream comes true, from catch to cap

Now that trapping season is in full swing, I feel this is a great time to share the tale of a furtaking mission recently completed by a very enthusiastic young raccoon catcher. My son, who is now in first grade, loves trying to catch raccoons. From the time I took him out to check our first set of traps, he was hooked. Each year we try and catch a few coons for population control. We have also released quite a few that were caught in live traps. The first coon River caught as a pre-schooler is proudly displayed at our cabin. The others he took that year were sold. Going into last ...

Archery hunter surprised to learn he harvests 500-pound bear

MOUNTAIN TOP (AP) — Devon Woolfolk didn’t expect to see a bear while he was archery hunting in Rice Township on Oct. 31. In fact, Woolfolk wasn’t anticipating a bear walking in front of his treestand and offering a broadside shot. But just in case the unexpected happened, Woolfolk purchased a bear license days earlier. And it’s a good thing he did. The Mountain Top resident spent the morning watching a small buck chase a doe 75 yards away. If the buck approached close enough, Woolfolk thought, he would take the shot. All of a sudden, the buck and doe bolted away in ...