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Quality has increased, but old way still the best

There are two common ways hunters try and harvest a gobbler during the spring season. The first is to quietly sneak into an area where turkeys are known to visit and wait for the birds to arrive. Many times hunters who use this strategy will have a blind set up overlooking where they expect the turkeys. The other is to enter the woods and listen for gobbles. Once a hunter hears a gobble, no matter if the bird is still in the roost or on the ground, it is time to quickly and quietly sneak as close as they can to that location. After picking good cover, the hunter will call and try to ...

Snoods as deadly as Barrow Gang

Unlike Clyde Barrow and Bonnie Parker, Jake and Suzie Snood have never squeezed a trigger. Still, the Snoods can be as deadly in todayÌs turkey woods as the Barrow Gang was to mid-Western law enforcement officers in the 1930s. The Snoods are not actually toting any firearms, but these ...

Spring gobbler season has potential

HARRISBURG — Excitement is starting to build for the start of spring-gobbler seasons. There’s good reason for the increasing interest among hunters, said Mary Jo Casalena, the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s wild turkey biologist. A light turkey harvest last fall and a mild winter have set the stage for what could be a fast-starting spring gobbler season. “Fall mast last year was spotty and turkeys responded by moving to those food sources, which in some cases meant they moved away from areas frequented by hunters,” Casalena said. “The fall turkey harvest dropped as a ...

Preserving memories on film requires skill, too

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT — You have spotted that whitetail deer you have been chasing for years. With the shot fired, you know it is good, the deer is down and now it is time to make that memory last forever. Those who trek outdoors — hunting, fishing, hiking, kayaking — preserving your ...

Family trout fishing tradition continues

The statewide opening days of trout season have come and gone. The mentored youth and traditional first mornings once again provided terrific memories for my family and others. While the mentored outing ended up being a great day on the water, I initially feared a complete washout. Heavy rain the week leading up to that Saturday morning had our local creeks blown out — the water was very high and muddy. I knew the stream where I normally take the kids was basically unfishable, so I had two options: a high mountain stream that quickly recovers from heavy rains, or a stocked ...

Fish and Boat Commission listens to bass anglers

HARRISBURG — In the 1969 film “Midnight Cowboy” Harry Nilsson’s crooning of “Everybody’s Talkin’” on the soundtrack included these words: “Everybody’s talking at me. I don’t hear a word they’re saying.” For some time bass anglers have been saying plenty to the ...