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Outdoors

Pa. game lands tours upcoming this month

The first state game lands in Pennsylvania were purchased back in 1920 to provide land for wildlife habitat and hunting and trapping opportunities for current and future generations. In 2015, the total acreage of our state game lands system topped 1.5 million acres and is still growing. ...

Pa. elk herd represents a conservation success

During the spring of 2023, Pennsylvania’s elk herd was estimated at 1,300 to 1,400 animals, and our elk range comprises parts of Elk, McKean, Cameron, Clinton, Potter, Clearfield and Centre counties north of Interstate 80. During the early 19th century, native elk were found throughout ...

Dove and geese open next week

My air conditioner has been running since late morning as I sit at the keyboard to compose this week’s column. The familiar drone of that unit has been a constant background noise in my apartment for most of this persistently hot summer. Despite that situation, it still seems a bit out of ...

Modern bait-casting tackle is a joy to use

Like most kids in the 1960s, I started my fishing career with spinning tackle. There were plenty of inexpensive spinning reels available back then that made learning to cast a quick and easy process for a young angler. Gaining competence with spinning gear soon led to my buying my first fly ...

Recalling childhood memories of the river

Last weekend my brother and I spent a relaxing time fishing on the Juniata River. The weather wasn’t the best for fishing, mostly hot and bright, but a frequent breeze kept things mostly pleasant, and enough river smallmouths attacked our lures to keep the day interesting. We didn’t ...

Beating the heat for summertime fishing

After a couple of weeks of day after day with temperatures well into the 90s, a few days of 80-degree temperatures feels like a relief. I certainly don’t need to remind fellow anglers that the recent brutal heat wave made fishing an ineffective ordeal on many days. And even with a return to ...