As we enter the latter part of January, most of south-central Pennsylvania has enjoyed a relatively mild winter so far with more rain than snow and few brutally cold days. I’m well aware, of course, those conditions could, and probably will, change to more harsh winter weather over the coming ...
I truly have a love-hate (mostly hate) relationship with snow. I love the atmosphere it occasionally brings to my life but I hate shoveling it and driving in it. When the land lies covered with snow, it gives birth to a special sort of silence. It’s a heavy quiet, a noticeable absence of ...
SEATTLE — Over the years, scientists have identified dams, pollution and vessel noise as causes of the troubling decline of the Pacific Northwest’s resident killer whales. Now, they may have found a new and more surprising culprit: pink salmon. Four salmon researchers were perusing data ...
Whether you just have a large backyard or many acres of land that you would like to make more attractive to wildlife, one of the best ways to do so is by planting native Pennsylvania trees and shrubs. Not only do these plants have the potential to provide valuable food and cover to a wide ...
I remember vividly back in the late 1970s that a huge concern was that there were not too many black bears in the state. In fact I remember the year when bear season was canceled because of the concern that we could not allow a bear harvest because there were not enough sustainable animals to ...
One of the consequences of being an incurable gearhead is having almost too much fishing equipment. Notice I say “almost,” because the only thing I like better than accumulating fishing tackle is using all those rods, reels and lures. I also expect my gear to function flawlessly on the ...
The after-Christmas deer hunters should have a fairly good season, since the weather forecasts are favorable to hunting. Cold and windy has been the pattern so far. In the mountainous areas, there has been some snow and temperatures that don’t freeze your bones. I’m sure the ugly ...
A box of bullets? I chuckled to myself as I unwrapped the present my adult son had sent me for Christmas. Immediately I wondered if if anywhere in Pennsylvania there would be another woman who would be as delighted with this Christmas present as I was. They are for my new handgun which my son ...
Now that the Christmas buying season is over, all the businesses that had relentlessly filled my email inbox with an unending array of bargains and specials for my shopping pleasure have now shifted to sending heaps of new offers to help me start the new year. One of those, sent by a company ...
While navigating around the internet last week, I happened to see a story on the Fox News website headlined “Hunter thought he was firing at Bigfoot, ‘victim’ tells police.” Now, I rarely pay attention to stories about Bigfoot, space aliens, wild mountain lions in Pennsylvania or the ...
Hello and a blessed Christmas to you all. I will be celebrating with Christmas Eve services in church Monday evening and dinner out with friends a couple times and a rousing Christmas party we had with our Bible class that I teach at my church. The ritual I look forward to most of all, ...
Years ago, I invited several friends to share a “wild” Christmas dinner with me. It was fun. My tablecloth was wrapping paper with whitetail deer on it, plates and glasses with various wildlife themes and all the food with the exception of potatoes was something I had bagged, picked or ...
HARRISBURG — The livestream from a bald-eagle nest near Codorus State Park in Hanover has launched for a fifth season, with Hawk Mountain Sanctuary joining HDOnTap and Comcast Business as a partner in the project. The Pennsylvania Game Commission in November awarded a permit to HDOnTap to ...
HARRISBURG — Hawk Mountain Sanctuary, The Conservation Fund, Berks Nature, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission recently partnered to conserve vital acreage for migratory birds, announcing plans to protect and improve more than 77 acres of farmland located in the shadow of the Kittatinny ...
SEATTLE — With scientists warning that the Northwest’s beloved killer whales are on the brink of extinction, Washington Gov. Jay Inslee announced dramatic plans earlier this week to help the population recover — including $1.1 billion in spending and a partial whale-watching ban. “We ...
With the close of deer season yesterday, the process of enduring another winter begins. The late small-game seasons start tomorrow and can offer some opportunities to get outside if the weather cooperates. And those who still have an unfilled deer tag will also have one last chance to get a ...
If the hunters in your home are among those who bagged a deer, you have a supply of clean, healthful, lean meat to augment the food budget. Already some of you are wrinkling your noses at the thought. “I can’t stand the wild taste,” is what I hear so often. I do not believe there is ...
NEW YORK — It took just days for the brightly colored Mandarin duck that appeared suddenly in a Central Park pond to turn both New Yorkers and visitors into a new gaggle: the quackarazzi. A horde of photographers has been gathering daily in the park off Fifth Avenue for well over a month, ...
Deer season was enjoyable this year for me. Filling my buck tag on Wednesday afternoon certainly helped the satisfaction, but other factors made this year more fun than some recent seasons. The best of those was snow. When I began hunting, having snow for the first week of deer season was ...
It is not just hunters who express concern for the state’s wildlife during a prolonged and wicked winter. Many non-hunters also wonder how wildlife survives during rough winters. It is not easy to explain nor to contemplate. But wildlife copes differently than humans do with harsh ...