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Outdoors

Bedford County tour this weekend

Two tours of state game lands are set for this Sunday, and one of them is in Bedford County. The tours provide a good example of the opportunities available on game lands statewide, while showcasing how habitat work taking place on these tracts benefits wildlife. All tours are free, held rain or shine and open only to vehicles licensed for travel on public roads. The two set for Sunday: n State Game Lands 26, Bedford County, noon-3 p.m. The public is invited to tour State Game Lands 26, a 12,000-acre tract situated in Blue Knob. This driving tour begins off Route 869 near the ...

Roads opening for hunters

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Raystown Lake announced the opening of the following access roads to accommodate upcoming hunting seasons. The following gate will be open from Oct. 1-Dec. 11: n High Germany Road (Gate 28, off Old Plank Road) The following gates will be open from Oct. 15-Dec. 11: n Hawns Bridge Road (Gate 1, end of Hawns Bridge Road) n Susquehannock Campground Road (Gate 8, off Bakers Hollow Road) n Upper Corners Road (Gate 13, off Upper Corners Road) n Fink Road (Gate 27, off John Bum Road) n Miller Farm Road (Gate 35, end of Weaver Falls Road) The ...

PGC wants to do waterfowl testing

HARRISBURG — The Pennsylvania Game Commission is seeking cooperation from waterfowl hunters in a study that will evaluate to what extent contaminants such as PCBs, dioxins and heavy metals are affecting ducks and geese. Like fish, waterfowl can store these contaminants at levels that affect their own health and pose a risk to hunters who harvest and consume them. Existing statewide guidelines recommend mergansers should not be eaten; other diving ducks, if properly prepared, should be eaten only occasionally; and dabbling ducks and geese safely can be eaten, if properly ...

State game lands tours to resume this fall

The Pennsylvania Game Commission announced last week that they will be again offering self-guided driving tours of several state game lands around the state during early fall. In 2016, the agency canceled its annual autumn game lands driving tours. The reason cited was “financial constraints.” The resumption of these tours provides a welcome opportunity for hunters and non-hunters alike to see the interior of some of the 1.5 million acres of state game lands that we hunters have purchased for all citizens of Pennsylvania to use and enjoy. All tours are free, held rain or shine ...

A trip down memory lane takes a detour through Texas

Early in the 1990s, I crossed the border in Del Rio, Texas. It brings back so many memories of one of the most exciting turkey hunts I ever had. And how I never would have believed the circumstances down there now. I had the honor of being invited to go there to hunt Rio Grande turkeys with Preston Pittman, one of the country’s best turkey hunters and call manufacturers and a friend of his, Ken Woodard, a policeman from Hattiesburg, Mississippi. It was wondrous experience and the three of us each got two gobblers on that trip. While hunting on that private ranch that bordered ...

Tyrone camp receives grant money to use toward gun range

TYRONE — The National Rifle Association Foundation recently awarded Camp Anderson in Tyrone a grant totaling $1,378 to fund new shotguns for the range on its property. “We are very excited about the camp shotgun program and pleased that the NRA is making an investment in our community,” said Dale DeLozier, camp shooting director for the range. Camp Anderson is a private, non-profit, all-volunteer organization that serves as a venue for citizens of central Pennsylvania who enjoy the outdoors. The camp offers public hiking trails, a fishing pond and stream as well as rental ...