Trout Fishing Changes For Western Pennsylvania Anglers

By Bob Frye Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Out with the old, in with the new.

Pennsylvania trout anglers are going to experience that, locally as much as anywhere, in the coming weeks. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is stocking trout mid-winter in a number of lakes and river sections for the last time just as its kicking off year-round trout fishing regulations in those same waters for the first time.

The winter stocking program is ending because the commission just doesn‘t get enough angler use out of what are expensive fish to raise, according to staff in the bureau of fisheries, which proposed the change.

“It provides an activity for guys who like to go out and catch trout,” said Tom Qualters, supervisor in the commission‘s southwest region office.

“But you can see the other side, too, that if you put the fish out instead at a different time, in spring, when more people are out, and you can give them more fish to fish over, that‘s better.”

The trade-off is fishermen are getting more time to fish.

Most of the waters losing their winter stocking were part of the early season trout stocked waters program. Under its guidelines, anglers could fish throughout the month of March — after other trout stocked waters had closed — and keep three fish per day.

Fishing on those waters closed for two weeks immediately prior to opening day of the regular trout season.

The majority of the waters in that program are lakes located in Western Pennsylvania: North Park Lake in Allegheny County, Brady‘s Run and Raccoon lakes in Beaver, Harbar Acres Lake in Butler, Bessemer Lake in Lawrence, Duman Lake and Lake Rowena in Cambria, Dunlap Creek Lake and Virgin Run Dam in Fayette, Laurel Hill Lake in Somerset, Canonsburg Lake in Washington, and Donegal, Keystone, Mammoth, Northmoreland, and Upper and Lower Twin lakes in Westmoreland.

Starting this year, those waters will be open to fishing year-round, without any closures. But all fishing will be catch and release between March 1 and opening day.

“Guys can fish over them, but they can‘t keep anything,” Qualters said.

At least some state parks are working to make anglers aware of the change. Raccoon Creek State Park in Beaver County sent out notice this week letting anglers know they can fish the main lake at any time, but Traverse Creek — which also gets stocked with trout — will remain closed from March 1 to opening day.

There‘s one other change anglers will need to remember. It involves the two rivers that had been in the early season program, the Yough and Shenango.

They, too, will be open to trout fishing every day of the year.

“But they‘re a little different in that anglers will need a trout stamp to fish them any time year-round, whether they‘re harvesting trout or not, from now on,” said Dan McGuire, a commission waterways conservation officer in Somerset County.

“On the lakes that are open year-round, that won‘t be the case unless you‘re going to harvest trout. But the rivers are a little different.”

On the Yough, the section impacted will go from the dam to the mouth of the Casselman River, he said.

The Fish and Boat Commission is set to begin stocking trout through its late winter program.

Here‘s a look at local waters that will be getting fish with the date and location of the stocking.

• Allegheny: North Park Lake, rainbows, 1 p.m. Feb. 13 at the boathouse.

• Beaver: Brady‘s Run Lake, rainbows, 1 p.m. Jan. 23 at the park office; Raccoon Lake, 1 p.m. Feb. 11 at the park office.

• Butler: Harbar Acres Lake, brooks and browns, 12:30 p.m. Jan. 15 at routes 138 and 308 in West Sunbury.

• Cambria: Duman Lake and Lake Rowena, rainbows, 10:30 a.m. Feb. 13 at Lake Rowena, off Route 22 in Ebensburg.

• Fayette: Dunlap Creek Lake and Virgin Run Dam, rainbows, 11 a.m. Feb. 5 at Virgin Run; Yough River, rainbows, 10 a.m. Feb. 6 at the breast of the dam at Laurel Hill Lake.

• Somerset: Laurel Hill Lake, rainbows, 10 a.m. Feb. 6 at the dam breast.

• Washington: Canonsburg Lake, rainbows, 1 p.m. Feb. 11 at the Raccoon Creek State Park office.

• Westmoreland: Keystone and Northmoreland lakes, rainbows, 1 p.m. Feb. 5 at the Keystone State park office; Donegal Lake and Mammoth Dam, rainbows, noon Feb. 11 at the Donegal Lake parking lot; Upper Twin Lake and Lower Twin Lake, rainbows, 11 a.m. Feb. 13 at the lower lake.

Bessemer Lake in Lawrence County was stocked with rainbows Jan. 3.

Federal Dollars Belonging To Sportsmen Eyed For Budget

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

You've heard of the fiscal cliff by now, and of the attempts to balance the federal budget.

But did you know it might get done on the back of sportsmen?

Congress at the 11th hour agreed to raise taxes and cut spending to avert a crisis, but only for the short term. Unless it acts to make things otherwise within two months or so, the government will “sequester” money paid into a variety of programs, including the so-called Wildlife and Sport Fish Restoration programs. Those are tax dollars paid by sportsmen on hunting, shooting, and fishing-related equipment.

Sportsmen long ago lobbied for those taxes to be created, with the caveat that the money cannot be spent on anything but programs benefitting hunting and fishing. The pot adds up to about $31 million annually for hunting and $34 million annually for fishing.

Sequestering those dollars means the government would put them aside so that, on paper, it seemed as if it had money to cover its debts. It couldn‘t spend the money on anything but fish and wildlife, says the law.

But some worry that could change. Bill Horn, of the U.S. Sportsmen‘s Alliance — one of many national groups calling for sportsmen to contact their Congressmen — wrote in a blog that the government could keep setting aside the money for years on end. The “great worry,” he said, is that when the unspent amounts total $100 million or more, the federal budget office will try to take it to prop up other federal programs.

“If they try, they will meet us in federal court arguing that redirecting our tax dollars violates the law,” he wrote.

That‘s down the road a bit, though. The immediate impact of sequestration would be that state fish and wildlife agencies would lose money they count on, and programs and services sportsmen expect would go by the wayside, said John Arway, executive director of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

“It could have a large fiscal impact, especially with the other fiscal challenges we‘re facing right now,” he said. “We would have to adjust for that by either coming up with money from elsewhere or cutting programs.”

“The losers will be the hunting, fishing and outdoor recreation oriented public and the fish and wildlife. The federal budget deficit will not be reduced but our enhancement, protection and enjoyment of our natural resources will be,” said Len Lichvar, a Fish and Boat commissioner from Somerset, in an op-ed piece he wrote.

Arway said he hopes the funds will be released on time and as usual. If not, trouble looms.

“Right now, we don‘t know how we would accommodate that kind of withholding,” he said.

Pa. Again Tops In Deer Crashes

BY JEFF MULHOLLEM, Pennsylvania Outdoor News

State College, Pa. — Many Pennsylvania hunters complain about deer numbers being too low, but the Keystone State led the country in vehicle-deer collisions again in a recent study.

Motorists hit 115,571 deer on commonwealth roadways between July 1, 2011, and June 30 of this year, according to estimates from the nation’s leading automobile insurance company.

State Farm used its own claims data and state licensed driver figures to compile the statistics.

Behind Pennsylvania, Michigan came in second in collisions with deer over the same period, with 97,856, and northern neighbor New York was third with drivers striking 80,262 whitetails there.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission does not compile similar statistics. Agency wildlife biologists said it’s difficult to get an accurate figure because many vehicle-deer collisions go unreported.

While Pennsylvania motorists hit thousands of whitetails on the state’s roadways, your odds of striking a deer in the Keystone state are 1 in 75.6. That figure, based on the numbers of licensed drivers in the state and the number of deer struck, ranks fifth in the nation.

For the sixth year in a row, West Virginia topped the list of states where a motorist is most likely to run into a deer. State Farm’s data calculated the chances of a West Virginia motorist striking a deer over the next 12 months at 1 in 40, compared with 1 in 48 the year before.

South Dakota moved from third to second on the list. The likelihood of a licensed driver in that state hitting a deer within the next year is 1 in 68. Iowa (1 in 71.9) dropped from second to third, while

Michigan (1 in 72.4) was a close fourth, up from fifth in last year’s report.

Pennsylvania dropped one spot to fifth.

In each of the top five states, the rate of deer-related collisions per driver went up from a year ago.

Many Pennsylvania hunters have over the years insisted that the Game Commission makes its deer-management decisions based on heavy lobbying from the auto insurance industry.

But Commissioner Ralph Martone, of Lawrence County, president of the board of commissioners, dismissed those contentions.

“I can definitively say that Game Commission staff make decisions about deer management without influence from auto insurers,” he said.

“In fact, in the years I’ve been on the board, I have never been contacted by an auto insurance representative, and I don’t know of any other commissioner who has.”

Martone added that insurance companies doing business in Pennsylvania factor deer into their premiums, passing the cost of those auto/deer collisions to their customers.

State Farm did not provide information about where in Pennsylvania deer-vehicle collisions occurred, but based on where dead deer are most frequently seen along roadways, it is expected the majority occur in urban areas.

“I would be curious to see if their numbers show a drop in auto/deer incidences in areas our hunters are complaining about while other areas are increasing,” Martone added. 

Commissioner Dave Putnam, of Centre County, thinks the stories about mysterious connections between insurance companies and the Game Commission are amusing.

“The PGC/insurance company link is an urban legend, that ranks with Sasquatch and Elvis sightings,” he said.

“I would suggest that your newspaper consider a piece on urban legends of the Pennsylvania outdoors. Every state wildlife agency has the same issues.”

State Farm’s data showed the number of deer-related collisions in the U.S. increased by 7.7 percent over the last year. That jump came after a three year period during which deer-vehicle collisions declined 2.2 percent.

State Farm estimates 1.23 million collisions caused by deer occurred in the U.S. between July 1, 2011, and June 30, 2012.

November is the month in which deer-vehicle encounters are most likely. More than 18 percent of all such mishaps take place during the 30 days of November, the prime breeding time for whitetails. That leads to greater movement and activity among deer.

Deer-vehicle collisions are three times more likely to occur on a day in November than they are on any day between Feb. 1 and Aug. 31, according to the data. October is the second most likely month for a crash involving a deer and a vehicle, while December is third.

The average property damage cost of these incidents during the final half of 2011 and the first half of 2012 was $3,305, up 4.4 percent from the year before

Debate Rises Over When To Get Kids Involved In Hunting

Bob Frye, Pittsburgh Tribune Review

The debate about whether Pennsylvania should do an about-face is under way.

The state — to great fanfare nationally — was the first in the nation to adopt Families Afield legislation, which removed the minimum age at which a child could go hunting.

The idea was to make it possible to recruit kids into hunting before they get swallowed up by other activities, such as baseball and soccer.

But now at least one Pennsylvania Game Commissioner wants the state to back away from that.

Commissioner Ron Weaner of Adams County believes the commission should establish some minimum age to satisfy sportsmen concerned about safety and the possibility some adults are shooting game and claiming it was their children.

“I keep hearing comments from people who see in the paper pictures of 3- and 4-year-old kids shooting deer. It‘s like, who are we kidding here?” Weaner said.

What the minimum age should be, he did not exactly specify. But he said he thought it should be no younger than 8.

“And if a kid is something younger, like 5, and he or she was a mentored hunter this year, if my proposal passed they would just have to wait,” he added.

If the Game Commission were to go that direction, it would do so counter to the national trend.

Since Pennsylvania removed its minimum hunting age and went to a mentoring program, 33 states have followed suit.

None has backtracked the way Weaner is proposing, said Evan Heusinkveld, director of government affairs for the U.S. Sportsmen‘s Alliance, one of the national organizations that first pushed for the Families Afield program here.

In fact, most states are expanding their programs and removing additional barriers to make it possible for more people to try hunting earlier, he said.

The result has been at least 782,000 people introduced to hunting, about 50 percent of whom subsequently bought hunting licenses when they became of age, statistics show.

“Families Afield has proven not only to be an effective recruitment tool for new hunters, but also a fabulous means of retaining people in the sport,” Heusinkveld.

Fears that putting firearms in the hands of younger hunters would be dangerous have proven unfounded, he added. Research shows that mentored youth hunters are about four times as safe as adult hunters, he said.

“It‘s very comparable to young people driving a car,” Heusinkveld said.

“If you put a 16-year-old in a car, and their parent is sitting right there next to them, they‘re going to be less reckless than someone out by themselves.”

As for how big or small the issue of adults shooting game and claiming it was taken by a child might be, no one knows for sure, said Rich Palmer, chief law enforcement officer for the Game Commission.

“I can‘t put a gauge on it for you,” he said.

Commission president Ralph Martone of New Castle suspects “the good still outweighs the bad” in that situation. But hunters younger than 12 are required to get a mentor tag, he noted.

The commission should pull those tags — to see just how many young children are going into the woods and whether they are involved with any problems — before contemplating any changes, he said.

“Why address something that might be a very small number? It may already be self-regulated. I‘d rather put the decision on when a child is ready on the parents,” he said.

Commission executive director Carl Roe said the agency would provide commissioners with all the data it has.

In the meantime, Heusinkveld said the groups who pushed for mentored hunting in Pennsylvania initially would oppose any attempts to scale it back now.

“Arbitrary age minimums are a thing of the past, and we‘d like to see things stay that way,” he said.

Here‘s a look at the comparative safety of hunting and other sports, according to information provided by the National Shooting Sports Foundation and U.S. Sportsmen‘s Alliance:

Injuries per Sport 100 participants

Tackle football 18.8

Ice hockey 15.9

Boxing 12.7

Soccer 9.3

Cheerleading 9.0

Basketball 7.6

Baseball 5.8

Tennis 2.5

Horseback riding 1.8

Hunting 1.3

Game Commission Looking To Ban Wild Boar

By Bob Frye, Pittsburgh Tribune Review

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is taking aim at wild boars.

The agency is preparing to move forward with regulations that would remove protection from the animals statewide and, most notably, ban their importation, possession and release into the wild. If approved by the board, the importation of hogs would be banned in July of 2013, and possession of them in July of 2014.

“This is major. There will be no more feral swine canned hunts in Pennsylvania,” said commissioner Jay Delaney of Luzerne County.

Commission executive director Carl Roe proposed that very idea this past spring in an executive order. It went out for public comment and generated quite a bit, most of it from the owners of hunting preserves who said boars are an important commodity.

Commission staff argued that those concerns don‘t outweigh the risk boars present, though.

“Feral swine are not native to Pennsylvania and present many problems to wildlife and people,” reads the commission‘s official position statement on hogs. “They can cause tremendous damage to habitat and property, and pose an ever-present threat to wildlife and the biosecurity of the state‘s multi-million-dollar pork industry. Pennsylvania would be a better place without these swine, and the Game Commission is committed to their eradication.”

Other states have struggled with wild hogs, which can reach weights in the hundreds of pounds. Texas, for example, is home to an estimated 2.6 million of them, and a 2004 survey said they cause $52 million in agricultural damage annually.

Wild hogs – escapees from preserves – have been found in a number of counties across Pennsylvania. The Game Commission wants to keep them from getting established or spreading, which is why the regulations are being proposed, Roe said.

Defining what is a wild board versus a feral swine or a pig “will become the challenge, to be very honest with you,” he added, given that the commission has jurisdiction over the former, the state Department of Agriculture jurisdiction over the latter. But he‘s hoping common sense will come into play.

“Does it look like a domestic pig and is it behind a fence, or does it look like what‘s been roaming the countryside the last couple of years, with hair and tusks? It‘s the reasonable-person approach,” Roe said.

The state is home to about 20 to 30 preserves that offer hog hunts, said Cal DuBrock, director of the commission‘s bureau of wildlife management.

Why they are a threat

So what‘s the problem with having wild boars roaming the landscape? A look at what “feral swine” are capable of, according to the New York Department of Environmental Conservation.

• They eat hard mast (acorns and other nuts) and directly compete with deer, bear, turkey, squirrel and waterfowl for food.

• They consume the nests and eggs of ground nesting birds and reptiles.

• They will kill and eat fawns and young domestic livestock.

• They will eat almost any agricultural crop as well as tree seeds and seedlings.

• Their rooting and wallowing habits destroy crops and native vegetation, cause erosion and negatively affect water quality.

• They have razor-sharp tusks and can be aggressive toward humans and their pets.

• They carry and can transmit several serious diseases including swine brucellosis, E. coli, trichinosis, and pseudorabies to livestock and /or humans. Some of these diseases, if introduced to domestic swine, can decimate the pork industry.

New Bull Creek Rod and Gun Club Officers and Board For 2013

With elections held at the January monthly club meeting and voting by attending clubhouse key-holding members, here are the Bull Creek Rod and Gun Club Officers and Board of Directors for 2013:

President Kevin Hamilton

Vice President Bill Davis

Secretary Pete Denio

Treasurer Jerry Paladino

Membership Chairman Bill Motosicky

Sgt at Arms Tom Szymkiewicz

Board of Directors

Terry Davidek (1^st year)

Tom Sutara (1^st year)

Bill Shaginaw (1^st year)

Craig Thomas (2^nd year)

Tim Gould (2^nd year)

Jason Davidek (2^nd year)

Den Cochran Sr (2^nd year)

Steve Allias (Alternate 1^st year)

Tom Szymkiewicz (Alternate 2^nd year)

2013 Winter Trap Schedule Announced

Fight the Winter blues by coming out for the Winter trap league every Sunday starting January 6th 2013.  

This league rotates between Frazer Sportsman, West View Sportsmen and Bull Creek Rod and Gun Club. Sign-ups are from 10:00AM to 3:00PM.  League fee is $10.00 per week to shoot 50 targets from 16 yards.  Practice is $7.00 and and junior shooters (under 18) are $7.00! To be eligible for the banquet you must make 9 of 12 shoots. The top 7 scores will be counted each week.

January 6th at West View
January 13th at Bull Creek
January 20th at Frazer
January 27th at West View
February 3rd at Bull Creek (Super Bowl)
February 10th at Frazer
February 17th at West View
February 24th at Bull Creek
March 3rd at Frazer
March 10th at West View
March 17th at Bull Creek
March 24th at Frazer
April 7th Sunday Banquet at Frazer

Threat Of Disease Spread Could Lead To Rules Changes

Pittsburgh Tribune Review

Talk to any serious archer and it‘s likely they‘ll tell you that in hunting during or close to the rut, they've used deer urine at some point in an attempt to lure in a big buck.

Is that really safe, though?

That‘s a question being asked again in connection to the state‘s deer herd.

Several years ago, Pennsylvania Game Commission veterinarian Walt Cottrell told members of the agency‘s board that the wisdom of allowing urine to be used — in a world where the spread of chronic wasting disease was even then beginning to take off — was something they might want to reconsider.

The board didn‘t act on that idea then. But, with CWD having been discovered within the state‘s borders this year, it is being talked about again.

The issue came up at the commission‘s most recent work group meeting, when it was revealed that urine produced at the one of Pennsylvania‘s quarantined deer farms had been on store shelves. Stores voluntarily agreed to take it out of circulation, said Cal DuBrock, director of the commission‘s bureau of wildlife management.

But about 15 percent of deer farmers — there are about 1,100 licensed in the state — collect and sell urine, DuBrock said. Some market it directly, while others sell it to bigger operations which combine it with other supplies before taking it to market.

Farms under quarantine can‘t move deer urine off their properties, DuBrock said, but by the time the disease is discovered, it could have moved a lot of product, as was the case recently. It was only by “happenstance” that the commission even became aware of that product, he added.

That‘s got commissioners pondering what to do.

“I think the discussion has to be there right now with what we do and where we go,” said commissioner Jay Delaney of Luzerne County. “I‘d rather be proactive than reactive.”

Several Canadian provinces have already banned the use of deer urine in hunting. Following suit here, though, is sure to be “an economic issue” in the minds of some, said commissioner Brian Hoover of Philadelphia.

There‘s also the problem of whether any regulation change can be effective.

“The true challenge of this is always enforcement,” said commission executive director Carl Roe. “Do you have a law on the books that you can enforce?”

Those are questions that the board is apparently going to try to answer or that, perhaps, it is going to have to answer.

“We‘re concerned about deer spreading CWD prions at the same time we‘re allowing hunters to take urine and spread prions all over the landscape,” DuBrock said.

Building Brush Piles For Wildlife

By Scott Shalaway, Pittsburgh Post Gazette

If you've ever spooked a cottontail in an old field, you probably watched it zig and zag and then suddenly disappear into thin air. It probably dashed into the safety of a brush pile.

When cabin fever strikes next month, get outside on a mild winter day and build a brush pile for wildlife. It's easy to build, and it provides valuable habitat to a variety of wildlife including everything from mice and chipmunks to snakes, skunks and many song birds.

The best place to build a brush pile is on the edge of a wooded area. Place it as far from houses as possible because some of the species attracted to brush piles can become backyard pests.

Begin a brush pile by laying a foundation of large rocks, concrete blocks, old tires, plastic pipes of various diameters, and pieces of downspouts to provide refuge for a variety of species. This base layer elevates the first course of logs above the ground, creates escape lanes for small mammals and keeps the base logs off the ground so they rot more slowly.
The next step is to place alternating criss-cross layers of logs or old fence posts, 4 to 6 inches in diameter.

Now the foundation is ready for the brush, which can include small trees, broken branches and used Christmas trees. If several conifers are used, tie them together so they don't scatter in the wind.

A backyard brush pile might measure 8 feet in diameter and 4 to 5 feet high. If you live in a rural area, more and bigger brush piles are better and will attract more wildlife. On state wildlife management areas, for example, brush piles can stand 10 feet high and extend for 20 to 30 feet.

Even a well constructed brush pile eventually collapses under its own weight. To extend its life, add material every year. When the pile disintegrates into a mass of organic matter, build a new one right next to the old one.

The success of a brush pile can be evaluated by simple observation. When it snows, look for tracks of critters coming and going. And at first light, watch for song birds leaving the brush pile after roosting there for the night. This is especially true when brush piles are covered by a blanket of snow.

State Parks Mark New Year with ‘First Day Hikes’ Across Pennsylvania

Harrisburg - Eighteen of Pennsylvania’s state parks will sponsor free, guided hikes on New Year’s Day to help visitors ring in 2013 with healthy exercise and a glimpse of nature’s winter beauty.

First Day Hikes have been taking place for 20 years as part of a national effort organized by the National Association of State Park Directors and launched in Newton, Mass. State involvement has grown to the point where, for the first time in 2012, all 50 state park systems are participating.


“We are excited to join in hosting these hikes as part of this national effort to get people outdoors and into our parks,” Department of Conservation and Natural Resources Secretary Richard Allan said. “For the second consecutive year, First Day Hikes offer a great cure for cabin fever and a chance to burn off those extra holiday calories.”

The following Pennsylvania state parks are participating in 2013:
Bald Eagle, Black Moshannon, Leonard Harrison, Kinzua Bridge, Ohiopyle, Moraine, Raccoon Creek, Pymatuning, Keystone, Kings Gap Environmental Education Center, Canoe Creek, Lackawanna, Promised Land, Nescopeck, Nolde Forest Environmental Education Center, Marsh Creek, French Creek and Delaware Canal.

“The hikes were selected to draw both novices and trail-hardened veterans into our state parks,” Allan said. “Different hikes will match different abilities.”

Pennsylvania State Park staff and volunteers will lead the hikes, which are usually less than two miles, but can be longer depending on the park and its terrain. Details about hike locations, difficulty, length, terrain and tips regarding proper clothing are listed on the America’s State Parks website at www.americasstateparks.org.

“Last year, we hosted more than 14,000 people who hiked more than 30,000 miles in our state parks across the country when we launched America’s State Parks First Day Hikes on New Year’s Day 2012 in all 50 states,” said Priscilla Geigis, president of the National Association of State Park Directors.


“To start 2013, we’re inviting kids and adults to get their hearts pumping and experience the beauty of our state parks at one of over 400 hikes nationwide. Whether you’re staying close to home or traveling, join us at one of America’s state parks on New Year’s Day,” Geigis said.
Additional details can be found at www.dcnr.state.pa.us; click on State Parks under “Quick Links,” then select “Featured Events.” For information on Pennsylvania’s 120 state parks, click on “Find a Park.”