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Outdoors

Wisconsin sets limit for hunting wolves

The Associated Press MADISON, Wis. — Wildlife officials in Wisconsin set a 300-animal limit earlier this week for the state’s fall wolf hunt, exceeding biologists’ recommendations as they study the impact of a rushed spring season that saw hunters take almost twice as many wolves as allotted. State Department of Natural Resources scientists asked its policy board to cap kills at 130 animals, saying board members must be cautions because the four-day season in February took place during wolves’ breeding season and the long-term ramifications on the population are unknown. ...

Avoid getting ‘tick’ed off the rest of this summer

By Walt Young For the Mirror One ever-present nuisance associated with summertime outdoor activities can be encounters with ticks. The idea of one of those pesky, blood-sucking arachnids attached to your body is creepy enough but combine that thought with the possibility of contracting Lyme disease or some other tick-borne ailment, and ticks become both repulsive and dangerous. The heavy tick infestation we have experienced here in the Northeast is somewhat of a new phenomenon. I grew up in the country, and as kids, we spent many hours outdoors every day in the summer, from ...

Warm West having fish problems

The Associated Press Baby salmon are dying by the thousands in one California river, and an entire run of endangered salmon could be wiped out in another. Fishermen who make their living off adult salmon, once they enter the Pacific Ocean, are sounding the alarm as blistering heat waves and extended drought in the U.S. West raise water temperatures and imperil fish from Idaho to California. Hundreds of thousands of young salmon are dying in Northern California’s Klamath River as low water levels brought about by drought allow a parasite to thrive, devastating a Native American ...

No one is an expert on all: Opinions on what is sporting can vary

Immediately following the conclusion of any hunting season it is the lot of the outdoor writer to hear all manner of gripes and opinions on outdoor subjects. We can get pretty firm about what we view as the “unsporting practices” of other hunters. As if enduring the harangues of anti-hunters is not enough, it is surprising how we snipe at fellow sportsmen for using methods or equipment foreign to our own way of thinking. Every time something new is introduced some group gets vocal about how “unsporting” it is. Remember the flap about using crossbows? The same rhetoric was ...

New director named for conservation

HARRISBURG — Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Cindy Adams Dunn recently announced that Derek Eberly has been appointed to serve as the director of the Governor’s Advisory Council for Hunting, Fishing and Conservation. “Derek brings a wealth of experience, knowledge, and understanding to this role and we are happy to have him as an advocate for hunting, fishing, and conservation on this important council,” Dunn said. “I am confident he will be a strong leader, help nurture the hunting and fishing economies in the commonwealth, and promote stewardship ...

Just a few tips for your summer trout fishing trip

By Walt Young For the Mirror Summertime trout fishing presents a special set of challenges for even the most experienced trout anglers. Compared to the bountiful opportunities of the spring, catching trout this time of year seems like a completely different game from what we enjoyed back in April and May. Many anglers simply curtail trout fishing when summer arrives in favor of bass or other summer-friendly species. But plenty of stalwart trout fans embrace the task of solving summer fishing problems and find success. One essential piece of gear for every summer trout angler ...