2012-05-20 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There's fishing. And then there's hunting for fish. Successful attempts at both result in a fight with a fish on rod and reel. But while one is a somewhat blind effort, the other is a spot-and-stalk affair. "A lot of guys think the only way to fish is to cast a lure ......
2012-05-13 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It is true there are few experiences in the wild like flushing a colorful, cackling cockbird from heavy cover in front of your feet. The vegetation explodes. Wings beat a mile a minute. The pheasant cackles — a sound unlike any other you'll hear. If your w......
2012-05-13 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
'Tis the season for kids' trout-fishing derbies. And starting next weekend, kids will have events to look forward to for the next month. Jeff Schmidt, waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission in Lancaster County, said local sportsmen's clubs have set ......
2012-05-06 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lancaster County Sportsmen for Youth is on its annual quest to round up kids for its Youth Field Day. The organization will hold its 17th field day June 2 at Southern Lancaster County Farmer-Sportsmen's Association on Hollow Road in Providence Township. The event is free to kids age ......
2012-05-06 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Joe Keffer, owner of The Sportsman's Shop in New Holland, was recently named the 2011 Retailer of the Year by SHOT Business at this year's SHOT Show in Las Vegas. SHOT Business is a publication dedicated to the industries covered by its name — Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade....
2012-04-29 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Ask a few questions, and you have to live with the answers you get. For years, proponents of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's deer-management program have speculated that it's just a "vocal minority" of disgruntled hunters who are unhappy with the state's deer population....
2012-04-29 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners last week voted to issue 888,000 antlerless deer permits for the 2012-13 hunting season. That's down from last year's allocation of 913,000. Allocations for the individual wildlife management units are listed in the table accom......
2012-04-22 00:11:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Local deer hunters who head south of the border to chase whitetails in Maryland are in for a few changes next season. Maryland Department of Natural Resources recently announced a slate of new regulations it expects to implement for the 2012-13 hunting season. And several......
2012-04-22 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It sure seemed like a record that would stand for a long time. But the Boone & Crockett Club last week confirmed that there's a new Pennsylvania state-record nontypical elk. That means Churchtown resident John Shirk's monster, 441-inch elk, shot in Clinton County in 2006, has bee......
2012-04-15 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
At age 31, Jeani Rhine wasn't thinking about breast cancer screenings. "They tell you to start going for mammograms when you're 40," the Quarryville resident said. "But 31? Nobody does it then." Fortunately, the wife and mother of four did self examinations, which is how ......
2012-04-15 00:11:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
T.J. Strychalski, of Elizabethtown, is on a roll this year. The Bear Creek Elementary School sixth-grader has earned one national and two state archery titles so far in 2012. And this is only the second year he's competed in tournaments at those levels. "I'm as proud......
2012-04-08 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's true, Pennsylvania's archery deer season is more than half a year away. But shooting your bow in the woods never goes out of season. Next weekend, April 14-15, is the Super Bowl of 3-D archery shoots in southeastern Pennsylvania. The 19th annual Pennsylvania Spr......
2012-04-08 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
By next Saturday, you'll have two weeks of trout-fishing practice under your belt from working streams in and around Lancaster County. So you should be razor sharp for the opening of trout season in the 49 counties outside the 18-county southeast region, where the season opene......
2012-04-01 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Two weeks ago, Greg Murphy oversaw the stocking of a section of Little Beaver Creek in Strasburg Township. The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's fisheries biologist hand-counted each trout put into the buckets hauled from the stocking truck to the creek, and he wrote dow......
2012-03-25 00:11:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The stage is set. Well, almost set anyway. Following a handful of stockings to be completed during the coming week, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission will have Lancaster County's 25 streams and one lake, which are designated as approved trout waters, stuffed with ......
2012-03-25 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Austin Yost ran across the meadow toward Big Beaver Creek, leaning to the left to counterbalance the weight of the five-gallon bucket filled with water and trout in his right hand. Despite the heavy load, the Solanco High School sophomore covered the 150 yards lightning-fast, ......
2012-03-18 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Our truck pulled into the field, and four of us bailed out into the night. Ahead in the darkness, there was a deep, guttural bawling. I approached the sound, and my headlight found Lauren Fenstermacher struggling to gain control of an adult doe t......
2012-03-11 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It never gets old. Every year in late winter, I spend at least some time standing at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area's Willow Point staring at the waves of white geese as they move around the refuge. And I am hardly alone. The annual arrival of snow geese at Mi......
2012-03-04 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
They are called poor man's grizzlies. The scourge of the South. They cause millions in crop loss and property damage every year. You can shoot them from helicopters. You can hunt them at night using a thermal-imaging scope. You can chase them with dogs....
2012-02-26 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Grisly, decapitated corpses have been turning up in alarming numbers in a wooded strip behind Ephrata Community Hospital. In one of Pennsylvania's few black-crowned night heron rookeries, something has been killing juvenile herons the past few years. Biologists don't know......
2012-02-19 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It seems Sunday hunting is not just a sticky issue in Pennsylvania. Attempts to remove the general ban on Sunday hunting in Virginia hit a dead end earlier this month. According to The Virginian-Pilot newspaper, a series of bills aimed at allowing Sunday hunting in Virgin......
2012-02-19 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I thought I detected a snub to Susquehanna River anglers when I read that the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently floated the idea of allowing catch-and-relase angling for American shad on the Lehigh and Schuylkill rivers. On the Susquehanna in Pennsylvania, the sea......
2012-02-12 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lancaster County is within minutes of one of Pennsylvania's best big-bass lakes. Can you guess which one it is?
Lake Marburg?
No.
Blue Marsh Reservoir?
No.
Lake Redman?
No. Those lakes are quality ......
2012-02-05 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Predictions for the outcome of today's Super Bowl started two weeks ago, the instant the matchup was set. Some will be on target. Some won't. Who's right and who's wrong will be determined when the final whistle blows. Last summer, before a single nontoxic shot ......
2012-01-29 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It looks as though crossbows are here to stay in Pennsylvania. By unanimous vote last week, the Board of Game Commissioners gave preliminary approval to eliminating the sunset provision on the rule that essentially made crossbows equal to all other bows. A final vote will come......
2012-01-22 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The stinging wind felt like needles stabbing my cheeks, and I tucked my face deeper into the fleece-lined collar of my jacket. Before we left the boat ramp, the digital thermometer display inside Dave Rhine's truck glowed in green lights "16." It was Martin Luther King Jr......
2012-01-15 15:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The black silhouettes of palm trees stood out against the strata of pink, purple and blue on the western horizon as the sun prepared to make its appearance in the east Jan. 6. The forecast called for an eventual high of 65, but early in the morning, my insulated vest and thin, Tyvek cov......
2012-01-08 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The year 2011 is behind us, and 2012 is here. When that fourth digit increased by one at midnight Dec. 31, the party horns that blared across the United States likely served as the death knell for Pennsylvania's House Bill 1760. That's the proposed legislation that would ......
2011-12-31 20:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
A nearly century-old Pennsylvania hunting tradition will die next month. On Dec. 15, Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law House Bill 735. That's the bill eliminating the requirement that hunters must display their hunting licenses in the middle of their backs. Don't go t......
2011-12-24 20:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dick Deibert's two dogs and John Shutter's one surrounded the matted mound of grass, and locked on points. Three fledgling hunters inched toward the focus of the dogs' attention, holding their shotguns at port arms. Suddenly, a colorful cock pheasant burst from the cover ......
2011-12-18 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Congratulations to the successful deer hunters of 2011. And for those of you who still have unfilled tags — don't give up yet. There's still some hunting left on the table. Pictured here are some of the more than 60 photos submitted to the Sunday News this year......
2011-12-11 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
A Bainbridge deer hunter shot and killed one of the biggest whitetails ever taken in Pennsylvania on Dec. 1. Within a week afterward, the Pennsylvania Game Commission confiscated the 172-inch, 14-point rack and charged Scott Garner, 33, with illegally killing the deer. Ga......
2011-12-11 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's 2011 bear harvest is likely to be the second best of all time. Preliminary results from the state's three recently concluded seasons indicate hunters harvested 3,968 bears — second to the 4,164 bears taken in 2005. According to Pennsylvania Game Commi......
2011-12-04 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Deer season begins Monday.
Dream big tonight.
Anything is possible.
Do you remember reading those words on this page last week? I know for a fact that at least one local hunter took that message to heart, because I was there when hi......
2011-12-04 00:09:00
STAFF
We're about halfway through the statewide firearms deer season. Many deer already have been taken. More will be shot in the remaining days. Did you get your deer yet? If you shoot a buck this season — or you already tagged one with a bow — send us a photo of it. Pi......
2011-11-27 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's firearms deer season opens Monday. In half of the state's 22 wildlife management units, including our own WMU 5B, it's just that — deer season. Both bucks and does are legal for the taking. In the other half, only bucks are on the table. (Un......
2011-11-27 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Some 800,000 hunters could be afield Monday for Pennsylvania's firearms deer season opener. Statistically, it is the single-most successful day for deer hunters. More deer are shot on the firearms opener than any other day of all the various seasons here. Last year, ......
2011-11-20 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
When Jeremiah Johnson hit the silver screen in 1972, males young and old fantasized about becoming trappers. Robert Redford romanticized the notion of striking out into the wilderness and carving a livelihood by trapping furbearing animals. By the time folks were forking ......
2011-11-13 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's been several years since the weather in southeast Pennsylvania could be described as "perfect" the first two weeks of November. And by that, I mean perfect for bowhunting. In recent years, that period has coincided with Indian summer, which is great for the beach bum......
2011-11-13 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's firearms bear season opens Saturday, Nov. 19. It will be just the second time ever that bear season will open on a weekend day, rather than the traditional Monday of the week before the week of Thanksgiving. The first time was last year. Jay Delaney, t......
2011-11-06 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Sometimes in the world of whitetail hunting, the place you least expect to cross paths with a trophy buck is exactly where you'll find one. "I think I'll put you behind my house tonight," my guide, Doug Russell, said Oct. 24. "There are some good deer back there, but we hardly......
2011-10-30 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The gray fox is somewhat unique in nature. Both parents care for the young, and they do so until the pups are sexually mature. Essentially, the pups live under their parents' tutelage until they themselves are able to be parents. In Japan, archery often is taught to ......
2011-10-23 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
At 84, Carl Hackman, of Lancaster, figures he doesn't have many firsts left in his life. The U.S. Navy veteran of World War II scored one Monday, Oct. 17, though, when he leveled the crosshairs atop his borrowed, .50-caliber inline muzzleloader on a fat doe and squeezed the tr......
2011-10-16 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The number of licensed hunters in Pennsylvania has been on a steady decline for the past decade. According to a recent survey done by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, there are about 150,000 hunters annually considered to be in a churning state. That is, they buy a licen......
2011-10-09 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
This is supposed to be the year of the duck. There are more than 45 million birds that go "quack" in North America. That's the most many of us will see in our lifetimes, biologists said. So one might say it's an awesome time to be a duck hunter. Every waterfowl ......
2011-10-02 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's back. After a three-year hiatus, the wildly popular and successful antlerless deer hunt for handicapped hunters at Muddy Run Recreation Park is making its return this year. And Dave Byers, the park manager and hunt coordinator, is looking now for hunters to participa......
2011-10-02 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Call it making do with what's available. The Pennsylvania Game Commission last week announced its plans for stocking pheasants for the upcoming seasons. As previously reported, the agency feared it had lost about 40,000 pheasants at its two game farms in Lycoming County, ......
2011-09-25 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Fall officially arrived Friday. Last week's cool weather gave us a little taste of the new season. And it probably stirred a slumbering beast deep within the hearts of some 280,000 bowhunters across Pennsylvania. Their fall begins Saturday, Oct. 1. That's when t......
2011-09-25 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
This year's archery deer season is an important one. It's the last bowhunt before the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners revisits the great crossbow debate — if the debate still exists. When the board narrowly voted in 2009 to allow the use of crossbows by all......
2011-09-18 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area once again is hosting two special deer hunts this season. The limited-entry archery/muzzleloader hunts inside the controlled-access area of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's property on the Lancaster-Lebanon county line have been schedule......
2011-09-18 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lancaster County and much of the rest of central Pennsylvania still is cleaning up the mess caused by flooding from Tropical Storm Lee. That process is likely to continue for weeks and maybe even months. The flood impacted an array of people, property and even animals. By now ......
2011-09-18 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission recently renewed a contract to buy American shad eggs stripped from Potomac River fish. While that ensures a source of eggs for the agency to hatch at its Van Dyke Research Station in Juniata County, it's not as robust a source as the ......
2011-09-11 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Like most waterfowling junkies, John Zunner has a lot of hunting buddies. For all the work that goes into a duck or goose hunt — finding good fields to hunt, setting up blinds and decoys — waterfowling is not the best game for folks who like being by themselves. This year, Z......
2011-09-04 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
A gray missile zipped across the cut cornfield, flying from left to right. I snapped my short-barreled Browning Citori to my shoulder and tracked the bird's flight with the sight bead. The over-under barrels inched ahead of the racing speedster, and when I figured I had the ap......
2011-09-04 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Few experiences in the outdoors can match the excitement of a pheasant hunt. You're walking through brush, tall grass or some other heavy ground cover holding your shotgun at port arms. Maybe there's a dog weaving back and forth in front of you. At any second, you kn......
2011-08-28 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The months of waiting will end Thursday morning. When sunrise arrives, the 2011-12 hunting year finally will be under way. Sure, the season actually started July 1, but the traditional first day is Sept. 1, when the Canada goose and dove seasons open. The last time I......
2011-08-28 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The bugling of elk is being heard in more and more places east of the Mississippi, where the spine-tingling calls went silent over a century ago. Pennsylvania's got elk. Wisconsin, Michigan, Kentucky and Virginia, too. West Virginia likely will have them soon. An effort w......
2011-08-21 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Chad Eyler was confident the 19-year-old York County man before him had poached the 175-inch buck nicknamed "Buckzilla." A wildlife conservation officer with the Pennsylvania Game Commission, Eyler had solid eyewitness testimony declaring as much. But still, he wanted irr......
2011-08-14 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Ask a waterfowl biologist just about anywhere in the country for an opinion on the duck and goose hunting prospects in North America this year and you'll get two answers. First, they'll tell you success in the field during waterfowl seasons is highly dependent upon the weather......
2011-08-14 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Forgive me, but I'm a numbers nerd. I love data and statistics pertaining to hunting that shed light on the quality and quantity of game in Pennsylvania. I don't know why, but I find such information to be fascinating. Recently, I came across a lengthy report I'd nev......
2011-08-07 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The lower Susquehanna River continues to cough up monster flatheads this summer. And it's keeping the folks at Columbia Bait & Tackle, who run Lancaster County's only certified weigh station for record fish, busy. According to a report from the store, William Gebhart ......
2011-08-07 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is considering a significant change to its laws regarding wearing a personal flotation device (PFD) while riding in a boat. Doing so, the agency says, will save lives. Up for consideration is a new law which would require the wear......
2011-07-31 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Stream-bank fencing to keep livestock out of creeks is nothing new in Lancaster County. Thanks to conservationists eager to curb stream-bank erosion and to stop the flow of nutrients and sediments to the Chesapeake Bay, you can see the signature two- or three-strand wire fence......
2011-07-24 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
As coordinator of the U.S. Coast Guard's Search & Rescue Detail stationed at Long Level, Robert Kuhn has recovered more than his fair share of dead boaters from the Susquehanna River. All of them had one thing in common. "Not one of them had a life jacket on," Kuhn sa......
2011-07-17 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It must be summer. And I don't need to look at a calendar to know that. I've found myself spending more time recently in the cool confines of my basement. With sweat pouring down my face while I've got on just a T-shirt and shorts, I'll look at my pile of camouflage ......
2011-07-10 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There are some who say fly-fishing is a dying sport.
It's elitist.
It's expensive.
It's for old men.
These are among the criticisms of the angling method that began gaining recognition in Great Britain in the late 1400s....
2011-07-03 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The scourge of the deer world is knocking at Pennsylvania's door. And this fall, local hunters could have to deal with some serious impacts. Chronic wasting disease was detected in a deer killed last fall in a section of Green Ridge State Forest, which is in Allegany Coun......
2011-07-03 00:09:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners last week approved a resolution urging the General Assembly to repeal the statutory ban on Sunday hunting. Barely. The resolution passed by a vote of 4-3, with one abstention. And therein lies the problem. Even huntin......
2011-06-26 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The heat has been brutal lately. Actually, the heat doesn't bother me as much as the humidity. I love being outside, but when it's 85 degrees with 95 percent humidity, I'm looking for the nearest air conditioner. In two weeks, though, I and hundreds of thousands of o......
2011-06-26 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The road to good intentions often has potholes in the pavement. Gov. Tom Corbett and the Pennsylvania Game Commission are poised to fill one of those potholes this week. Through its mentored youth hunting program, the Game Commission has been working in recent years to in......
2011-06-19 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
In the minds of anglers, there are fish that live forever. Maybe it's the first catch of a certain species. Or the largest fish an angler has ever landed. For whatever reason, all who ply the natural waters of this earth with rod and reel have fish swimming in their ......
2011-06-12 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Everyone has a special talent. Something that just comes naturally, as if we were born to do it. Some talents translate into little more than bright spots in otherwise ordinary lives. For instance, my mom makes the best pumpkin pies I've ever eaten. Other talent......
2011-06-05 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has added another Lancaster County stream to its statewide list of wild trout waters. At a special meeting May 24, the agency's board of commissioners added 99 streams to the state list, including Rock Run in northeast Lancaster County......
2011-05-29 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Should I fish today?
Or should I golf today?
Life is filled with such difficult decisions. Thanks to Donegal Chapter of Trout Unlimited and Foxchase Golf Course, you won't have to choose on June 22. You can do both. That's when the t......
2011-05-29 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Longtime charity fishing tournaments on the Susquehanna and Juniata rivers are getting a one-year reprieve from the new catch-and-release regulations on the waters. After a request from the Capital City Bassmasters, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission has agreed to allow, for this y......
2011-05-22 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
So you're out on the Susquehanna River fishing near Safe Harbor Dam, and you hook into a monster flathead catfish. After battling the beast for close to an hour, you get it into the boat and weigh it.
Fifty pounds, the scale says. That would be a state......
2011-05-15 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Countless sports stars and coaches have talked through the ages about how difficult it is to get to the top and then stay there. Someone's always looking to knock you off your perch. Well, the same thing can be said about the opposite superlative. It's tough to becom......
2011-05-15 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Mike Ruhl knows a good piece of trout water when he sees it. And when it comes to Lancaster County, the 55-year-old West Lampeter Township resident can think of none better than a particular stretch of West Branch Octoraro Creek. The 1.5-mile section that runs from Pumpin......
2011-05-08 00:10:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The thin strip of sand with a vegetated spine just south of Patriots Point in Charleston Harbor sure didn't look like much from afar. But even from 200 yards out, I could see it was swarming with living things. As our flotilla of kayaks paddled closer, it became evident t......
2011-05-01 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lots of news left over from the Pennsylvania Game Commission's board meeting April 12. (I hope you can understand our diversion last week by the opening of trout season in the mountains.) Without further adieu, let's dive back into it. Porcupines were added to the st......
2011-04-24 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
'Tis the season for trout. With the opening of trout season last weekend in northern and western Pennsylvania, trout fishing is now allowed all over the state. And so trout camps everywhere are convening for their annual celebrations of brookies, brownies and rainbows....
2011-04-17 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
More doe tags will be up for grabs for hunters to carry into the woods next fall. The Pennsylvania Game Commission's board last week increased the number of antlerless deer tags the agency will dole out to hunters next season by nearly 100,000 over last year's allocation....
2011-04-17 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is considering opening Muddy Run Recreation Lake to year-round fishing. "I'm reluctant to have a lake like that, so close to urban areas, closed for an extended period of time during the year — especially during a time when there......
2011-04-10 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Douglas Foulk is like the mailman. Neither snow, nor rain, nor heat, nor gloom of night shall keep him from his appointed rounds. And for Foulk, that means heading out every day to Keneagy Hill Road in Paradise Township to the Paradise Sportsman's Association's trout hatc......
2011-04-03 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
My backpack feels like it's filled with cement and is threatening to drag me to the ground. My toes are scolding me for not breaking in the new boots I'm wearing before subjecting my feet to this relentless march. The desert sun has been cooking me for hours, and I know m......
2011-03-27 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If today's forecast holds up and snow actually falls on Lancaster County, it's probably not going to feel a whole lot like spring. Come Saturday, April 2, however, when you hear the "zing" of monofilament peeling off a reel and feel the cold rush of flowing water against your ......
2011-03-20 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Brian Resh still lives in the same house on Route 324 in Martic Forge where he grew up. And as he has all his life, the 44-year-old Lancaster County-Wide Communications employee still regularly walks the half block from his house to the trail that runs along the Pequea Creek p......
2011-03-13 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Game Commission plans to bring something back to the Furnace Hills that, at most, has shown up only intermittently over the past century. Fire. Thanks to a 2009 change in legislation, the agency can now use controlled burns to help manage its forest holdi......
2011-03-06 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Normally, the village of Kleinfeltersville is a quiet, sleepy place. Not much happens in this southern Lebanon County town, just north of the Lancaster County line. Except at this time of year. Vehicles traverse the roads in and around Kleinfeltersville like an army ......
2011-02-27 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The forecast for this late January day called for the mercury eventually to rise into the high 70s. But now, with the sun just beginning to cast a glow on the eastern horizon, it's downright cold. A stiff breeze rips across the flat prairie, sending some of the Texas panhandle's famo......
2011-02-20 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania is a traditional state. That is to say, we love our traditions here. Especially when it comes to outdoor endeavors. When the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission kicked around the idea of year-round trout fishing, which would eliminate the need for an opening day, ang......
2011-02-20 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The scourge of the deer-hunting world is knocking at Pennsylvania's door. Maryland Department of Natural Resources officials announced Feb. 10 that a hunter last season shot a deer in Green Ridge State Forest in Allegany County that tested positive for chronic wasting disease.......
2011-02-13 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
By now you've all probably heard about the tweaks to the state's deer management program proposed by the Pennsylvania Game Commission's board of commissioners Feb. 1. If approved by the board again at its April meeting, three more wildlife management units — 2A, 2F and 3......
2011-02-06 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lots of news out of the meeting of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's board of commissioners last week. No earth-shattering changes. Just a lot of little shifts that could impact a lot of different hunters. Heading the list of newsworthy items, of course, were two pr......
2011-01-30 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Was he three canyons over?
Or was it four?
My Backcountry Hunts guides, Dave Callaway and Robert Curry, and I were asking each other those questions as we crept along a ridge that undulated into a series of gullies. From about a half-mile away, we'd spotted ......
2011-01-23 00:08:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dean Myers doesn't fly-fish anywhere near as often as he'd like. Working full time as a computer programmer for Quality Custom Cabinetry in New Holland, running a farm — along with his wife, Stephanie — where they board horses, and raising two kids under the age of......
2011-01-16 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
"Have you gotten your bull can yet?" If I was asked that question once, I was asked it at least a dozen times over the years. And early on, my answer always was the same.
Bull can?
What the heck is a bull can?
I've since come to l......
2011-01-09 00:12:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Playing his first game at Wrigley Field. Batting against superstar pitchers such as Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee. Racking up eight major league home runs. There were many experiences that made Donegal High School graduate and Mount Joy native Chris Heisey's first seaso......
2011-01-02 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Casey Firestone doesn't need to compete with his older brother, Corey. Casey is happy when both brothers, who are avid hunters, experience success in the outdoors. But Casey, who moved four years ago from Reinholds to Kalispell, Mont., couldn't help but notice the differe......
2011-01-02 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's 2010-11 deer-season harvest data won't come out for a couple of months yet. Heck, the late season just kicked off Monday, Dec. 27. The 2009-10 season was the worst on record here since 1986. If the current season in Pennsylvania is anything like the on......
2010-12-26 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I'm not a biologist. I'm not an ecologist. I'm not a forester. I'm a deer hunter. When I think about what I want to experience in the woods each fall, I think about it from a deer hunter's perspective. If that makes me a bad person, or unenlightened, then so be it. T......
2010-12-19 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The 2010 firearms and early archery deer seasons are behind us. That means the majority of the deer that will be shot during the 2010-11 deer season already are in the freezer. For some hunters, this season was perfect, yielding biggest bucks, first deer, most deer, etc....
2010-12-12 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There's a faint popping sound made when the primer cap in an inline muzzleloader goes off without igniting the charge in the barrel. It sort of sounds like a cap gun firing inside a tube filled with cotton, if that makes any sense. It's an unmistakable sound. And if ......
2010-12-05 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I can't remember better weather for the Pennsylvania deer season opener. It was clear. It was cold. It was calm. That hasn't happened in years. Needless to say, the anticipation was high among my group of four hunters as we fanned out in the woods of a priv......
2010-11-28 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Thirty minutes before sunrise Monday, one of the most revered events on the outdoors calendar commences: Pennsylvania's firearms deer season.
For two weeks, the Orange Army will be combing Pennsylvania's hills and dales in search of the elusive whitetail.
It is hoped their efforts......
2010-11-28 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If you bag a deer this season, don't forget to share the fruits — or, in this case, meat — of your good fortune.
Since 1991, Pennsylvania's Hunters Sharing the Harvest program has channeled tons of venison donated by hunters to local food banks, soup kitchens and needy familie......
2010-11-28 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If you shoot a trophy buck this season — or if you bagged one in archery season — we want to see it and hear about it.
Pick out the nicest photo of you and your deer and mail it to P.J. Reilly, Sunday News, 8 W. King St., Lancaster, PA 17603.
Or e-mail your photo to ...
2010-11-28 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The heaviest black bear on record in Pennsylvania was shot and killed in the Poconos Nov. 15.
David Price, 46, of Monroe County, killed the bear that weighed 744 pounds field dressed — and had an estimated live weight of 879 pounds — with a crossbow in Middle Smithfield Townsh......
2010-11-21 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dan Parson was hunting geese on a snowy December day two years ago when an idea hit him like a 3.5-inch load of T shot. He and his buddies were unable to find at regional sporting goods stores the right gear they needed to deal with the weather conditions. "We had to make......
2010-11-14 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I'm going to hunt from my lucky tree today.
If you're even a little bit more than just a casual deer hunter, odds are you've uttered these words at some point during your hunting career. We hunters are a superstitious lot. We wouldn't think of leaving hom......
2010-11-07 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
"Dang it, Jerry. I'm snagged."
"Take up the slack. Let me see," Jerry Grube said to me last Sunday on the Susquehanna River. Grube watched the tip of my rod closely and gave his assessment. "You're not snagged. Set the hook." I did as I was told, even though I was ......
2010-10-31 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
A brilliant blue sky overhead provides a sharp backdrop for the amazing display of fall colors as we head down the trail. It's a brisk morning Oct. 22, and it feels good to be moving. The smell of humus fills my nostrils. I'm soaking in the spectacle of Shenandoah National Park whe......
2010-10-24 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Forgive me for getting a bit technical this week. I don't necessarily think the Sunday newspaper's outdoors page is the place for articles discussing topics such as rifle cartridge ballistics or calculating an arrow's kinetic energy. They appeal to too narrow a field of r......
2010-10-24 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
David Deck was beginning to think his son, Richard, wasn't going to share his passion for hunting. "I tried to get him to go out on the mentored youth hunts with me for three years, but he was never interested," the Manheim resident said. Late this past summer, however, R......
2010-10-17 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
On opening day of Pennsylvania's firearms deer season a few years back, I heard a sound I don't ever want to hear again. My two buddies and I wished each other well at the truck before daylight and headed to different parts of the woodlot we were hunting. I went to a spot......
2010-10-10 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Steve Todtz told us the field we were lugging our gear to had been loaded with ducks and geese the previous morning. But judging by the mashed mud that clearly had been beaten down by webbed feet, there was no need for him to log that report. The sight of those tracks in ......
2010-10-03 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Holtwood hunter Mike Minchhoff found himself in a predicament about seven years ago. The avid duck and upland bird hunter had shot a duck that fell on the far side of the creek he was hunting. His dog at the time — a Chesapeake Bay retriever — attempted to fin......
2010-10-03 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The 29 public shooting ranges owned and maintained by the Pennsylvania Game Commission are intended for hunters. "They're there so license-buying hunters can sight in their firearms and become proficient with them in preparation for hunting seasons," agency spokesman Jerry Feaser said....
2010-09-26 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If you want to get in some last-minute 3-D archery practice, check the events calendar on this page. Today's your last chance. Come 30 minutes before sunrise Saturday, Oct. 2, it's game time. That's when Pennsylvania's statewide, fall archery deer season opens, runni......
2010-09-26 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There's a problem that's been brewing on state game lands across Pennsylvania, and the Game Commission is poised to nip it in the bud. Increasingly, hunters have been putting up tree stands on game lands and then leaving them up year-round as if to state, "This is my spot. Go find another pl......
2010-09-19 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Probably like most people my age and older, the first hunt I ever went on was a rabbit hunt. Unlike most people my age and older, I wasn't 12 at the time. I was 22. But I felt like a 12-year-old. The memory of standing there in a patch of frost-covered grass, with my brand-new......
2010-09-19 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Pennsylvania Game Commission has scheduled two limited-entry, archery/muzzleloader deer hunts for the Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area. The hunts have been scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 15, 2010, and Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2011. If you check the slate of hunting seasons, you'll no......
2010-09-12 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's easily been more than 20 years since I spent any amount of time at or on a beach on the Atlantic Coast. I'm not a beach guy. The beach is boring. I don't want to go. You can't make me. Such was my attitude over the past two decades plus, when summer va......
2010-09-05 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Try as hard as we may for perfection, the net result of our labors is an amazing variety of imperfectness. We are surprised at our own versatility in being able to fail in so many different ways. — Samuel McChord Crothers
The 2010-11 hunting season dawned ......
2010-09-05 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Southern End Strutters Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation is looking for disabled hunters. Plans are set for a guided muzzleloader hunt for deer during Pennsylvania's early, antlerless-only muzzleloader season next month. And the chapter members need to find some hunt......
2010-08-29 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's 2010-11 hunting season arrives Wednesday morning, a half hour before sunrise. (The new hunting year actually began July 1, but everyone knows the ceremonial first day is always Sept. 1). And for the umpteenth year in a row, I am woefully unprepared. Resident Cana......
2010-08-29 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Baseball and hunting go together like cheese and crackers. Wouldn't you agree? When the Lancaster Barnstormers play the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31, at Clipper Magazine Stadium, the 'Stormers will be wearing camouflage jerseys in honor of "Pen......
2010-08-22 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
(Editor's note: This is another installment in an ongoing series that spotlights shooting clubs across Lancaster County).The quintessential gunfighter — as portrayed by Hollywood, anyway — is a tall, thin hombre, with steely eyes and leathery skin tha......
2010-08-15 00:07:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Published in 1612, the first map of the Chesapeake Bay region drafted by English explorer John Smith depicts a river emanating from the uppermost end of the bay as a snaking, dark line. Next to it, Smith wrote the word "Sasquesahanough." Born at the southern end of Otsego Lake......
2010-08-08 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If the predictions hold true, the 2010-11 waterfowl hunting season ought to be a good one here in Pennsylvania. Especially compared to last year. Total population estimates this year of the various species of ducks and geese that wing through the Keystone State aren't much different......
2010-08-01 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Spend enough time actively seeking wildlife in the great outdoors, and you're bound to have some unique encounters. Curious bears. Misguided hawks. Bold skunks. Hunters are full of stories that start with, "You're never going to believe what I saw in the woods today."...
2010-07-25 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Put yourself in this guy's shoes. A Maryland hunter during the Old Line State's two-week firearms deer season in 2008 shot and wounded the buck of a lifetime — a monster, 17-point nontypical. The buck ran out of the field, right under the hunter's stand, into some thic......
2010-07-18 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
If you've ever been to a hunting or fishing camp, then you know there is perhaps no better place to get to know someone. I mean, I've golfed and gone to baseball games with people I didn't know too well, but those experiences didn't foster connections with others like sharing......
2010-07-11 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
When it comes to hunting snow geese, motion in the decoy spread often is the difference between success and failure. Here in Pennsylvania, if you want to add some "life" to your spread, you need wind and/or manpower to provide that motion. Motorized decoys are not allowed....
2010-07-11 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Churchtown hunter John Shirk's monster Pennsylvania elk is back where it belongs in the record books. At its 27th Big Game Awards Program held June 24-26 in Reno, Nev., the Boone & Crockett Club reinstated almost the full original score given to Shirk's nontypical elk not long af......
2010-07-11 00:03:00
STAFF
If you haven't put your doe-tag application in the mail already, go do it now. Monday is the first day county treasurers will begin accepting applications from Pennsylvania residents for antlerless licenses for the 2010-11 hunting season. And in some wildlife management units, such as ......
2010-07-04 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Emily Hahn had hauled a pack on her back before. Heck, the rising Donegal High School senior and her four classmates in the Donegal Experiential Education Program just a month earlier had backpacked for three days on north-central Pennsylvania's Black Forest Trail. But the backpack ......
2010-06-27 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dave Putnam stood on the south side of Mill Creek, at the junction of two Leacock Township farms, and pointed at the stream banks. On one farm, the creek borders had been sloped gently to the water by work crews, seeded and planted with a few trees, and wire fencing kept dairy cows away from......
2010-06-27 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lancaster County's archery community lost a friend last week. Lew Sauders, 62, of Lebanon, died Thursday after a long battle with cancer. If you took the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Bowhunter Education Course locally since the agency began offering it in 2000, odds are Sauder......
2010-06-20 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Jerry Miculek is one of the fastest, most accurate, shooters in the world. The Smith & Wesson professional shooter holds countless national titles and several world records. He's forgotten more about shooting than most of us will ever know. And yet, he's the first to ad......
2010-06-20 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The shad lifts on the Susquehanna River quit running for the 2010 season on June 13. How was the run this year? That's kind of a "is-the-glass-half-empty-or-half-full?" question. On the glass-is-half-full side, the run was better than last year's, and it continued......
2010-06-13 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Bill Weidman never thought he'd be in this position. He's 43. He can barely walk and is heading for a wheelchair. He soon won't be able to take his 11-year-old son, Shawn, hunting. Three years ago, the Mountville resident, who has been prowling the woods for deer, ......
2010-06-13 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Call it the crossbow effect. Three states — Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Michigan — all saw significant expansions in the allowed use of crossbows during their archery deer seasons last fall. All experienced similar increases in hunter participation and in archery kills....
2010-06-06 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There was a time when scientists said the world was flat. There was a time when scientists introduced asbestos as the latest and greatest building material. History has proven time and again that one generation's "science" is another's folly. There was a time when Gary Alt said the......
2010-05-30 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
No matter how deeply I inhale, I just can't seem to draw in enough air. Sure the trail is steep and I'm walking uphill. True, I'm not 21 anymore and I've grown fond of pants with elastic waistbands in recent years. But come on. I'm not a total bowl of Jell-O....
2010-05-30 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Work in this business in this town long enough and you quickly come to realize Lancaster County is the center of the universe. If scientists discover a perfectly preserved woolly mammoth in Siberia, there will be a Lancaster County connection. If a cruise ship runs aground in Antarctica......
2010-05-23 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The number of empty spaces that I can see in the Fisherman's Park parking lot as I drive across the Conowingo Dam on Route 1 May 13 has me worried. When the shad are running thick up the Susquehanna River in the spring, anglers migrate to Fisherman's Park in equally impressive number......
2010-05-23 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
When Barack Obama became president in 2009, gun enthusiasts got scared. They were worried the Obama administration was going to dive headfirst into gun control and start limiting who could own what guns, how many, etc. Of particular concern was ownership of "black guns" — military......
2010-05-16 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The value of 50 percent is relative. The glass could be half full, or it could be half empty. If your kid brings home a math test with a score of 50 percent on it, you're probably not going to be too happy. But if your kid hits safely 50 percent of the time he bats for the h......
2010-05-09 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Blind squirrels are finding nuts. Frost is in the forecast for Hades. Pigs have begun taking flight. How do I know all of these seemingly impossible things are true? I shot a gobbler May 1.Me.The self-admitted world's worst turkey hunter. If ......
2010-05-02 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Fly-fish for trout in Pennsylvania long enough and you'll hear stories about the legendary Spruce Creek. It's this stretch of mostly private water in Blair County, about halfway between State College and Altoona, that is absolutely polluted with trout — big, monster trout. Mo......
2010-05-02 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Lancaster County Sportsmen for Youth is looking for a few good young people. Actually, the group is looking for more than a few. The members would like to draw at least 200 kids age 10-15 to their 15th annual Youth Field Day scheduled for June 5 at Northern Lancaster County Game & F......
2010-04-25 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Bears on a Saturday. Spring gobblers until dark. Bucks only in eight wildlife management units. These are among the highlights of a momentous meeting of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners on April 20. Let's jump right into the action. The archery bear season......
2010-04-18 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
In at least one regard, Pennsylvania is the last frontier. It is the only state to have a firearms deer season during which only flintlock rifles and handguns can be used. Buckskinners celebrate their time in Penns Woods every year for a period of about two weeks starting the day after ......
2010-04-11 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
As far as poaching busts go, the case was a big one. Last year, Pennsylvania Game Commission officers were instrumental in cracking a poaching ring involving three hunters from West Virginia, who eventually were charged with illegally killing lots of game in Colorado. The men were charg......
2010-04-04 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Hanging in a museum somewhere in Norway is a kayak from Greenland that dates back to 1888. It likely was used by a seafarer who hunted seals or fished for salmon off Greenland's North Atlantic coastline. The 18-foot-long slender, lightweight boat has thin wooden slats that form its ......
2010-03-28 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
According to the calendar, spring arrived March 20. Anglers know it actually arrives at 8 a.m. Saturday, April 3. That's when Pennsylvania's first trout season opens in Lancaster and 17 other southeast counties. In the rest of the state, opening day is April 17. Since ......
2010-03-28 00:03:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Kara Kalupson lives within a stone's throw of Big Beaver Creek in Providence Township. Her yard doesn't touch the creek now, but she fears that if the banks keep eroding the way they've been, she soon will have waterfront property. "Since I moved there in 1988, I would say the stream ha......
2010-03-21 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Ever caught an American eel? They're nasty critters. They're slimy. They're wriggly. They're just plain ugly. I used to catch them fairly regularly on nighttime catfishing excursions when I was in my teens and considered them little more than a nuisance. Res......
2010-03-14 00:05:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The snow had nearly completely melted off the fields at Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area by last week. Judging by all the white on the ground, however, you wouldn't have thought so driving down the tour road that cuts through the project. The snow geese have arrived. Norma......
2010-03-07 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
When Matt Kneisley and Jay Kreider met five or six years ago, they easily could have become enemies. The two men both had permission to hunt geese on the same farm in southern Lancaster County. When Kreider showed up to hunt one morning, Kneisley already was there. Kreider conceded......
2010-02-21 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's long-awaited "deer audit" commissioned by the state Legislative Budget and Finance Committee is out. Wildlife Management Institute, a nonprofit scientific and educational organization headed by Steven Williams — a former deputy executive director of the ......
2010-02-14 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
To many deer hunters, the coyote is a predator they believe is eating its way through Pennsylvania's deer population. To some predator hunters, the coyote is a smart critter worthy of investing significant time and money to chase. And to kids, of course, the coyote is that poor sad ......
2010-02-07 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Dave Byers made history when he organized the first deer hunt for disabled hunters at Muddy Run Recreation Park back in 2000. It was the first hunt of its kind in Pennsylvania. And it quickly became extremely popular — both to the participants and to the throngs of volunteers who ......
2010-01-31 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The winds of change blew through the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Harrisburg headquarters last week. Two proposals aimed at reducing doe-hunting opportunities won majority support from the board of game commissioners, both by votes of 6-2. Had the proposals been brought up for vot......
2010-01-24 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's a situation that some foresee in the future of Pennsylvania's deer management program. In Wisconsin, it's happening already. Following a particularly disappointing deer season for hunters this past fall, the state's Department of Natural Resources this month propose......
2010-01-17 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Adrenalin flowed fast and furious through my body Jan. 4 as the Carolina Skiff carrying me and three buddies eased away from the marina to head across the Ogeechee River to our island hunting grounds for the day. Wild hog was on the menu. Our guide, Wes Oliver, of Backwater Boar Hunts, ......
2010-01-10 00:00:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Improve hunter access on private lands. Improve public access to State Game Lands. Increase game lands acreage.Seek legislation that allows for hunting license fees to increase annually according to the inflation rate.These are some of the goals spe......
2010-01-03 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
George Acord Jr. has heard it all when it comes to anglers' opinions on the state of the Susquehanna River's smallmouth bass fishery. "If a guy goes out there in the middle of July and has three bad days in a row, that means everything's dead," said Acord, co-owner o......
2009-12-27 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
It's a frigid, bitter-cold Sunday afternoon, and the remnants of one of the worst December blizzards to hit Lancaster County are piled up in mounds across the parking lot of Highland Commons shopping center in Mountville. The Canada goose hunting season in Pennsylvania's Atlantic Population ......
2009-12-20 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
There's been a lot of grousing already from hunters about the 2009 deer season. More is sure to come in the weeks ahead. For many hunters, however, the 2009 season was wonderfully successful, yielding lots of first bucks, first deer, biggest bucks, etc....
2009-12-13 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
In my mind, Penobscot Bay in December is a place where rough waves crash on jagged hulks of granite. A stiff, bone-chilling wind spits bits of snow and ice under thick, gunmetal clouds that threaten to unleash the full fury of winter at any second. And buzzing around everywhere are long......
2009-12-06 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Let me begin this week's column with an apology. I apologize to all those hunters who headed out Monday anticipating the forecast of "possible showers," but who ended up enduring a steady rain that started around 10 a.m. in the Chester County woods where I was hunting and didn&......
2009-12-06 00:00:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
You might recall from the Nov. 15 issue of this paper a story about Lancaster County hunter Jeff Saxinger winning a coveted tag to hunt for bull elk in northcentral Pennsylvania. Saxinger took that tag and shot a nice 7x6 bull on opening day of our elk season, Nov. 2. Well, it turns out......
2009-11-29 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Like hundreds of thousands of other deer hunters across Pennsylvania, I will start Monday early. If my nerves calm down enough so that I can catch some shut-eye tonight, I plan to wake up at 4 a.m. I'll get dressed, and then make a breakfast of two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches......
2009-11-29 00:00:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Deer season is a time when lifelong memories are made. Over the next two weeks, hunters across Pennsylvania will have experiences that they will talk about over and over, ad nauseam, until they die. The central theme of many of the stories, naturally, will be crossing paths with bucks t......
2009-11-22 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Outdoors Editor
There's no doubt hunting is on the decline here in Pennsylvania and across the country. Hunting license sales figures over the past two decades bear that out. But that doesn't mean all types of hunting are showing a dip in participation. Bear hunting in Pennsylvania is more......
2009-11-15 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The phone message Jeff Saxinger found on his answering machine Sept. 11 really messed with his head. The caller identified himself as an outfitter in northcentral Pennsylvania who guides elk hunters. He was offering his services to Saxinger, who the caller said was the first hunter sele......
2009-11-08 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The rut is on. Does are coming into heat. Bucks are chasing them and fighting with each other. New scrapes and rubs are showing up daily. It's a fun time to be a deer hunter. Last Monday morning, I started working scent lures into my setups. I prepared two dra......
2009-11-01 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania Rep. Ed Staback of Lackawanna County isn't ready to throw the baby out with the bath water just yet. The Democratic chairman of the House Game & Fisheries Committee on Oct. 22 presided over a hearing during which he and other legislators heard from Pennsylvania Game Comm......
2009-11-01 00:01:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I became a statistic last week. Actually, I found out last week that I'd become a statistic. Who knows when it actually occurred. Someone stole one of my tree stands. It happens every year to hunters all over the country. Maybe it's happened to you. Now I kno......
2009-10-25 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Today, Cole Horne looks, sounds and acts like any other middle-school boy. He's the normal height and weight, has floppy hair and a face full of freckles. He likes to wrestle and play baseball. And when he tells a story to a stranger, he alternates between being shy and anim......
2009-10-18 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Autumn is Mother Nature's attempt at an apology. She's sorry for calling an end to summer's fun. And for the long, cold days that lie ahead. Before stripping the forests bare — transforming lush, green landscapes into brown and gray carpets that look as cold and p......
2009-10-11 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Tony Vandemore was hammering out clucks and honks on his goose call as several flocks of Canadas converged over our field. About 40 birds swung downwind of the decoy spread and curled back toward us on cupped wings, obviously intent on landing amid our fakes. Knowing what w......
2009-10-04 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The truck crunches gravel in the parking lot before I bring it to a halt. A twist of the key and the engine quits. The power windows hum as the glass panes lower into the doors. And then, for a few seconds, there is silence. It's only 6 a.m., so it's still pitch dark out.......
2009-09-27 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The first bowhunt of the year always starts off clumsily. It takes a couple of hunts to get the routine down. So I wasn't a bit surprised to find myself fumbling around the bed of my pickup truck before daylight Sept. 19, after parking at the edge of a Chester County field. It ......
2009-09-20 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
How would you rate Pennsylvania's new system for distributing antlerless deer permits? Undoubtedly, the grade you'd give depends on your own experience seeking doe tags this year. I applied to the Lancaster County Treasurer's Office for tags in Wildlife Managemen......
2009-09-20 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Thousands of bowhunters in southeast and southwest Pennsylvania headed out Saturday for the opening of the state's early archery deer season. This is the third year that an antlerless-only archery season has been held in Wildlife Management Units 5C, 5D and 2B prior to the start of the r......
2009-09-13 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Everyone gets lucky at some point in his life. You might find a $10 bill while walking down the street. Or maybe the big buck everyone's been hunting in your area just happens to show up in front of your rifle on opening day. There's no explanation for why these things happ......
2009-09-06 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Bling. Jewelry. Leg irons.Whatever hunters call them, there are scant few experiences in the waterfowling world that can match the excitement of walking up on a downed goose or duck and spotting the tell-tale metallic glint of a leg band just above the bird's webbed ......
2009-09-06 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Crossbows can be used by any hunter during all archery seasons this year. During a special meeting of the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners Thursday, a proposal to limit the use of crossbows for the 2009-10 hunting year died in a 4-4 vote. That means the decision by the board ear......
2009-08-30 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
I'm not sure what weddings have to do with waterfalls, but my trail guidebook proclaimed there were two kinds of matrimonially themed falls on the path ahead. Bridal veil falls and wedding cake falls. A bridal veil waterfall is one where the water flows over a lip and plunges straig......
2009-08-23 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Back in 1971, Ron Schmieder thought he'd be making a big career change. On Aug. 14 of that year, the then-36-year-old businessman caught a giant lake trout. The 41-pound, 6-ounce laker Schmieder hauled out of Great Bear Lake in Canada's Northwest Territories was certified by the fo......
2009-08-23 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Two local organizations are looking for a few disabled hunters to take on some special hunts this season. The Southern End Strutters Chapter of National Wild Turkey Federation has some goose, deer and turkey hunts lined up. They just need a few hunters to do the shooting. Mike Paterso......
2009-08-16 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Sept. 1 is a little over two weeks away. If you're a waterfowler planning on spreading some decoys in a field or on a pond for the opening of Pennsylvania's early Canada goose season, then you know Sept. 1 is exactly 15 days and anywhere from 8-16 hours away, depending on what time y......
2009-08-09 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
We all have special dates that we celebrate year after year. Birthdays, wedding anniversaries, days when loved ones died, etc. Steve Mellinger woke up in his Mount Joy home July 8 and asked his wife, Pam, if she knew why that day was very special day to him. When she gave him a puzzle......
2009-08-09 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Pennsylvania's early hunting season for resident Canada geese doesn't commence for another three and a half weeks. But on Aug. 1, it looked and sounded like opening day at Southern Lancaster County Farmers Sportsmen Association near Buck. Near the trap range behind the clubhouse, s......
2009-08-02 00:02:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
The Catskills region is one of those places that leaves you feeling like you should have been there yesterday. And by yesterday, I mean 50-100 years ago. Everywhere you go, there are signs and ruins indicating that this once was the vacation hot spot for the rich and famous. There are......
2009-07-26 00:06:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
(Editor's note: This is another installment in an ongoing series that spotlights shooting clubs across Lancaster County).
My how far things have come. Just 20 years ago, 3-D archery shoots were virtually unheard of. There were hardly any co......
2009-07-19 00:04:00
P.J. REILLY, Woods and Waters
Global warming? If it exists, it must be skipping this year. After a long day of fishing in northern Manitoba June 25, I crashed on a cot in my tent around midnight and fell asleep almost immediately. Around 3 a.m., I was awakened by a strange feeling. I was cold. Not just col......
