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Bear season gets underway this weekend

By Walt Young sports@altoonamirror.com Pennsylvania’s four-day statewide firearms bear season begins this weekend on Saturday and continues through Tuesday More than 206,000 hunters bought a bear license in 2023, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission expects a similar turnout for the several bear-hunting opportunities scheduled for 2024. A special archery season for several Wildlife Management Units in southeastern Pennsylvania bear season began on Sept. 21 and continues through Nov. 29. A statewide muzzleloader season and a special firearms season for junior and senior ...

Cove man ‘hooked’ on national competitive shooting

It has been said that an individual can often succeed in any endeavor for which he or she possesses unlimited enthusiasm. Ryan Beck, 36, a resident of the small village of Henrietta near Martinsburg, has been proving that adage true in the sport of competitive long-range rifle shooting. “I ...

50 years of changes to Pa. deer hunting

Sometimes I have difficulty coming to terms with the fact that I am now the same age as old people. But like it or not, time marches on. I do find it satisfying to be able to draw on decades of experience and memories regarding hunting, fishing and other outdoor pursuits. My father wasn’t a hunter, so I didn’t start hunting until I was in my late teens when I was old enough to buy my own guns and gear and hunt unaccompanied. That was the early 1970s, so my personal hunting career has now spanned more than half a century (that almost makes me feel older than old people). During that ...

November brings seasonal reminders

Can it really be November already? It seems like only a couple of weeks ago we were gripped in that summer heat wave that gave us day after day of temperatures well above 90 degrees. But fall has been here for weeks now even though the weather has been warm and pleasant for the most part. Archery deer season is concluding its fourth week with three more to follow, and the small-game seasons are well underway too. Although I haven’t been out as much as I would have liked, the fall trout fishing has been generally good so far. Water levels tend to be mostly low and clear but not ...

Fall foliage is a sign of the season

Last week, most of the ridges here in south-central Pennsylvania really started to show the widespread flaming colors that signify autumn has arrived. It seems to me that glorious transformation is a tad later than usual this year. But one thing I’ve learned from decades of observing the annual cycles of the natural world is that nature surely operates on its own calendar, one that is often distinctly out of sync with the one we humans adhere to. But sometime during October, the green leaves of summer trees will transform into yellow, red, orange, russet or bronze and bathing ...

Area streams getting plenty of trout this fall

By John Hartsock jhartsock@altoonamirror.com The month of October in Pennsylvania traditionally brings brilliant fall foliage, brisk but pleasant seasonal temperatures, and a smorgasbord for football fans. An additional perk for outdoors lovers this month is trout fishing. Going on now and continuing through the month of December, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is stocking 118 of the state’s lakes and streams with roughly 116,500 hatchery-raised adult, rainbow, brown and brook trout. Locally, the Greenwood Lake in northern Huntingdon County received a stocking on ...