Breaking News

Outdoors

Hunting seasons get preliminary OK

At its regular quarterly meeting last weekend, the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners gave preliminary approval to the 2025-26 hunting and trapping seasons and bag limits. No major changes to the general hunting seasons for deer, bear, wild turkey and small game were proposed. All those seasons and bag limits will be virtually identical to last year. The three proposed Sunday hunting days will be structured like last year. They are proposed for Nov. 16, 23 and 30, which will include the final week of the statewide archery deer season and the opening weekends of the statewide ...

Public is invited to count wild birds

Once again this winter, the Pennsylvania Game Commission is requesting the public to report sightings of turkey flocks. Information on the location of wintertime turkeys helps Game Commission wildlife managers determine possible sites for live-trapping turkeys for ongoing population monitoring and other projects. No turkeys are moved during the trapping efforts. All birds trapped will be quickly processed, leg banded and immediately released at the point of capture. Here in our region, Wildlife Management Unit 4D is one of four WMUs that will be using some extra data collection. The ...

Ice fishing might be a thing this year

It appears that we could be in store for a more traditional winter this year. We’ve already been “treated” to several weeks of cold, snowy weather, and that trend seems likely to continue. And after a couple of mild winters the past two years, it’s probably appropriate to say, “We were due.” But not being a fan of winter personally, I’m looking forward to catching up with my reading and research while hoping spring gets here sooner than later. Folks often ask me if I go ice fishing. While I have done some ice fishing, I freely confess that I don’t find it all that ...

Wintertime hunting already underway

By Walt Young For the Mirror The autumn season is synonymous with the most popular hunting seasons for a majority of hunters. But for those intrepid folks willing to brave some winter weather, the next several weeks will serve up a wide range of opportunities to extend their hunting time well into the wintertime. These post-Christmas hunting seasons include just about every category of game available in Pennsylvania from deer to ducks. The late archery and flintlock seasons have long been popular for a dedicated segment of deer hunters. Like so many changes to the hunting ...

Don’t feed animals in the wintertime

Most winters, I devote some space to reminding folks that feeding wildlife to “help” them through the harsh weather of the season is generally a bad idea. After two relatively mild winters with not much lingering snowfall, we’ve already had some cold weather and a bit of snow so far, even though winter officially begins this weekend. That may be an indication that we could be in store for a more traditional winter this year in terms of weather. If that is indeed the situation, more folks will be tempted to put out food for wild animals. The best advice regarding that is just ...

Looking at economics of hunting in state

While doing some internet research for a future article, I came across a news story posted just before the start of deer season. The focus of that story was that many rural businesses would like to see the opening day of deer season moved back to the Monday after Thanksgiving rather than the Saturday after Thanksgiving as it has been since 2019. This response seems strongest from some businesses in the sparsely populated northcentral region of Pennsylvania that benefited from a large influx of deer hunters coming there to spend the weekend before the opener at a hunting camp or other ...