You’ve got to hand it to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. They’re not afraid to make changes, even if some of those changes leave the rest of us shaking our heads. The Commissioners gave preliminary approval at their recent January meeting to a number of measures that will alter the way you and I and our friends and relatives hunt.
First, they created a special cottontail rabbit junior hunting season that will coincide with the current junior pheasant hunt. It will occur October 9-16 for licensed hunters aged 12-16 and will not be a part of the Mentored Youth Hunting Program, which is for supervised young hunters under age 12. The purpose is to recruit more youngsters into our hunting ranks, and, having grown up with beagle dogs and rabbit hunting, I agree with this one.
They also voted to continue and enhance the PGC-sponsored “Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas” in three locations: Pike, Somerset and Central Susquehanna. The idea is to restore self-sustaining populations of wild pheasants in Pa., which takes me back to the great pheasant-hunting days of my youth here in Mercer County but also makes me wonder. The PGC and its partners are releasing wild-trapped birds and limiting hunting and dog training in an attempt to establish wild pheasants in the three designated tracts. But I have serious doubts about this program succeeding, unless they restrict hunting pressure long-term and influence farming land use there.
The Commission also voted to close the bobwhite quail season, change the bear and turkey seasons, expand elk hunting opportunities and increase trapper permits and more. But the most intriguing measure of all affects rifle deer season — the most important fortnight of the year for many Pennsylvania hunters — in eight of our 22 Wildlife Management Units. Hunters in those areas will experience an antlered-deer-only restriction the first five days of rifle season (Monday through Friday the week after Thanksgiving) and concurrent antlerless and antlered hunting the final seven days, including both Saturdays. The other 14 WMUs (including our local Unit, 1-A) will continue with concurrent buck and doe hunting all 12 days, as we have for the past several years.
This initiative started last year in four Units scattered across the state, but what’s surprising is that the PGC has so quickly doubled the number of participating WMUs. I thought the 2009 effort was a “pilot program” that would require lots of study and input from hunters in the field. But now they’re adding four more Units without much fanfare or reporting on results.
Maybe this measure is a concession to all those hunters who have opposed the PGC’s policy of deer herd reduction the past 10 years and who criticize what they consider excessive “doe tags” and “doe kills.” Let’s face it, if your goal is to take a doe for the freezer, the first day of the first week is your most likely opportunity, because of the high number of hunters in the woods moving deer. Up at F-Troop Camp, for example, we all stay put up on boulders opening day only, while every other day in rifle season we’re out there driving or still-hunting, moving our own deer.
If you look at a map of the state WMUs (on page 38 of your 2009-2010 Hunting Digest, for example) and mark last year’s four Units, 2-D, 2-G, 4-B and 3-C, you’ll see how scattered they are. But then add the four new Units, 2-E, 2-C, 4-D and 4-E, and the eight Units (with the exception of 3-C) now constitute a continuous mass that forms the center (and much of the mountainous region) of the state. That happens to also be the region that generates many of the “no-deer-in-the-woods” complaints. Maybe the Game Commission is listening and backing off slightly in its deer herd reduction agenda.
If a year from now this initiative hits Unit 2-F, where I hunt up in Warren County, it will not require much of an adjustment from us at F-Troop. Some of our hunters aren’t currently shooting does at all, and most of us don’t take antlerless deer until the second week. It would be kind of nice to have a split season again, similar to but not exactly the same as the separate antlered/antlerless seasons of the past. And I would appreciate knowing that any shooting I’d hear on opening day would all be at legal bucks, not does. I could get used to that experience again.
Good luck out there. And have a great week outdoors.
Don Feigert of Hermitage specializes in writing about the outdoors. His columns appear every two weeks in The Herald and Allied News.
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Outdoors: Game Commissioners propose deer season changes
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WM baseball, Sharpsville and Wilmington softball playing for D-10 titles
Sharpsville and Wilmington softball teams and the West Middlesex baseball squad return to the diamond today to compete for District 10 championships.
SOFTBALL
Class A Championship
Coach Bob Zikovich's Sharpsville Blue Darlings (15-2) battle a tough Saegertown (18-2) squad at 2 p.m. today at Penn State-Behrend in Erie. -
PIAA Track Notebook: KC's Wareham made round trips to "The Ship"
The most impressive race during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships did not take place at Shippensburg University, nor will you read its results in any newspaper on or any web site.
To be sure, it was a race against time, but not in the sense of being defined by a coach’s hand-held device, nor Seth Grove Stadium’s scoreboard clock. -
Hickory girls grab PIAA Class AA Track team title
SHIPPENSBURG — This news bulletin just in: Mercer County athletes dominated during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships.
Nothing new there, you say? Well, perhaps you’re correct, considering how well the area aggregation annually accounts itself on Memorial Day Weekend at Shippensburg University. Therefore it was not surprising how much hardware was hauled home — once again. -
PIAA Track: Hickory's Bell, Lubarski, Regginello grab gold
SHIPPENSBURG — There’s a big difference between being seeded 1st and finishing 1st — Matt Bell can attest to that.
After settling for silver last year, the Hickory High senior put the shot 59 feet, 6 3/4 inches Friday afternoon to garner gold at the annual PIAA Track & Field Championships at Shippensburg University. -
WM to play for D-10 baseball title; GC, Sharon, Sharpsville lose
Four area baseball teams were in action on Friday in the District 10 semifinals as the squads battled to compete for District 10 championships on Monday.
West Middlesex rolled past error-prone Linesville, 8-0, in Class A action at Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park.
In Class AA, both Sharon and Sharpsville suffered 2-1 losses. The Tigers fell to Saegertown at Ainsworth Field in Erie while the Blue Devils lost to Titusville at SRU.
In Class AAA, the Grove City Eagles were denied the chance to defend their D-10 crown after suffering a 6-3 loss to Warren at SRU. -
Farrell volleyball falls in D-10 semifinals
The Farrell High boys volleyball team suffered a 2-0 (25-15, 25-12) loss to Saegertown on Thursday night in the District 10 semifinals at Meadville Area High’s “House of Thrills.”
“This was the first year we made it out of the first day (pool play) of the playoffs,” said Steelers’ coach Dan Dragicevic. “I’d like to cite my seniors (Eric Demus, Anthony Perkins, Jaylen Chambers and Lawrence Hughes). -
Locals ready to go for gold at Shippensburg
Now that Mercer County is on the map, it’s incumbent upon the area aggregation to chart a course for the ultimate destination — Seth Grove Stadium’s medals stand — during this weekend’s PIAA Track & Field Championships.
Led by West Middlesex High sprinter Clay Allen, many Mercer Countians are seeded at or near the top of their respective events for the annual 2-day marathon at Shippensburg University, which commences 9 a.m. Friday. It will continue beginning 9 a.m. Saturday. -
D-10 Playoffs: Local teams go 6-for-6
ä Grove City 1, Harbor Creek 0 — At Slippery Rock University’s Jack Critchfield Park, what the Grove City Eagles couldn’t accomplish themselves, the Harbor Creek Huskies unwittingly did for them.
Unable to plate runs themselves, Torin Smith scored the Eagles’ only run when teammate Tyler Devine’s seeming inning-ending pop-up to left field was dropped by Harbor Creek’s Chris Merritt in the bottom of the 7th inning of Tuesday’s tourney opener. -
Great year for WM track; local qualifiers listed
It’s been a big year for the Big Reds.
Though there’s no official documentation, the 2011-12 academic year may be the most successful in West Middlesex High’s athletic annals. -
SPORTVIEW: Local names Kroko, Lutz, Kareklas in news elsewhere
IT’S ALWAYS GOOD to hear of former area people who have gone on to athletic success in other areas, or the family of former area residents. Following are a few of those stories:
ä Bob and Betty Kroko of Sharon are avid followers of professional baseball. No, not necessarily the Pittsburgh Pirates or Cleveland Indians like many local fans.
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