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Ice anglers want more cold

By Josh Reilly The Associated Press ERIE — Erie’s ice-fishing seasons have become as unpredictable as its weather. The city’s location along the shores of Lake Erie on the northwestern tip of Pennsylvania famously exposes it to ever-changing winter weather patterns. The Erie area’s devoted ice anglers yearn for the frigid conditions that transform Presque Isle Bay into a wonderland for outdoors enthusiasts of all types. Those conditions, though, have not yet materialized this year, a development that has become more common during warming trends of the past two ...

Krug’s book on habitat will certainly grow on you

Joe Krug has written a book, a special and specialized kind of book, one that will be of great value to anyone who ever planted an apple tree in the backyard and wondered why it died. It’s called “It’s All About Habitat.” And it is! When Krug understood that habitat is wildlife’s greatest need for survival, he determined to learn the right facts about how to plant things for wildlife so that they will survive and produce fruit, nuts, berries and browse for nature’s children. He had done some planting on his own but had poor results. When he became really active in the ...

Remembering the fur trade through historical actors

By Ad Crable The Associated Press LANCASTER — On a cold and sunny winter day on Dec. 30, six local residents gathered at a rural road near the Lancaster-Berks line and unloaded a wooden canoe, a faux fur and an old jug of the kind that once held rum. The ensemble began pushing the 85-pound canoe through knee-deep swampy mud, at one point having to hoist the canoe over a turned-off electric fence. It may have seemed somewhat comical, but the group may have been retracing an arduous and important fur trade portage for the first time in 250 years. This “bit of frivolous ...

PFBC changing trout opener again, stocking procedures

Both the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the Pennsylvania Game Commission held their first meetings of 2021 last week. These events were held virtually via the Internet and a few noteworthy items surfaced from both agencies. I’ll start with the PFBC. I’m sure most anglers remember the surprise last April when in a reaction to the COVID-19 situation the PFBC opened the trout season almost two weeks early in most of the state by sending out an email on Tuesday, April 7 saying that trout season had opened at 8 a.m. that morning. A few days later the agency announced a ...

Falconry requires many disciplines for success

By Jason Nark The Associated Press PHILADELPHIA — The red-tailed hawk sat perched on the twisted limb of an old, dead tree, its eyes locked on the woman traipsing through the briars and thickets below. Wherever Jade Chen went, Candy Corn, the hawk, followed. Sometimes Chen, 33, had to blow a small whistle around her neck to nudge him. “Come on, boy,” she said. Chen wore a thick, leather glove called a gauntlet that extended up her arm, and when she raised it, Candy Corn swooped down through the forest in silence toward her. Little bells on his legs jingled when he landed ...

Montana lawmakers work on changes for managing wolfs

The Associated Press HELENA, Montana — Two northwest Montana lawmakers are considering a number of bills that could moderately or significantly change the way Montana manages wolves. Sen. Bob Brown and Rep. Paul Fielder, both Republicans from Thompson Falls, recently drafted legislation ranging from including wolf licenses in big game combination licenses and expanding trapping seasons to reclassifying the animals as predators similar to coyotes, meaning they could be killed year-round without a license. Other bill proposals include legalizing snares for wolf trappers and allowing ...