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Maine eyes control over bait fishing industry

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — Maine lawmakers are considering new controls for an important bait fishing industry in the state. Maine’s catch of menhaden has swelled in recent years. That is partly because they’re used as bait for lobster traps. Herring, another popular bait fish, hasn’t been as available recently because of tighter fishing quotas. The Maine Department of Marine Resources has asked the Maine Legislature to pass a bill that would allow fishermen to obtain a commercial menhaden license only if they’ve held it in one of the last six years and caught at least 25,000 ...

Trout stocking gets underway

Trout season will see some significant changes for 2022 here in Pennsylvania. The first of those will be a return to a single opening day with a single Mentored Youth Trout Day statewide. In 2007, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission adopted two separate opening days for trout. In 18 southeastern counties, trout season opened two weeks earlier than the traditional first day in the rest of the state. This format also necessitated two separate Mentored Youth Trout Days. The first day of trout season will now happen on the first Saturday of April each year rather than the ...

Hunters’ approval of seasonal change no surprise at all

By Shirley Grenoble For the Mirror I was not at all surprised to see that the Pennsylvania Game Commission reported that the majority of hunters approve of the change in the opening day for deer season from Monday to Saturday. I believe that I predicted they would adapt to this big change. I’ve been writing about these things for many years now. It is a predictable thing that whenever the PGC puts forward any change in seasons hunters almost automatically object. People just don’t like change. Especially if you have been doing something the same way for many years. ...

Chicadees not afraid of winter weather

Special to the Mirror As snow slowly falls in the region, not many birds in the area are out fluttering around. Many flew south before the first snowfall of the year to begin migrating. But others, like the chickadee, stay hunkered down in Pennsylvania and surrounding states. There may not be a lot of food to find for these small birds, but the chickadee doesn’t need to go hunting for food in the cold winter months. Instead, it relies on caching. It’s a way of survival for the chickadee. “We think of food caching as this alternative strategy to migrating, so instead of ...

Bluebird nesting boxes available

From Mirror reports HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Howard Nursery wants to help outdoor enthusiasts spring into the season and connect with wildlife in their backyard. Bluebird nesting boxes built by the staff at Howard Nursery are available for sale at the nursery office, as well as the Game Commission’s Harrisburg headquarters, region offices and the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. Nesting-box kits also are available. Nursery staff build bluebird and other nesting boxes during the winter for annual sales to the public. A single box sells for $14.84, ...

Numbers don’t lie about bear harvest

From Mirror reports HARRISBURG — Pennsylvania bear hunters had quite the year in 2021. They took 3,659 bears across last year’s various seasons. That ranks as the state’s fifth-best harvest ever, and the second-largest recorded since 2011. The 2020 bear harvest, for comparison’s sake, was 3,621. The statewide regular bear season accounted for the largest part of the 2021 bear harvest. Hunters took 1,315 bears in that four-day hunt. The extended bear season — which last year for the first time allowed hunters to harvest bears throughout the opening weekend of deer ...