Articles written by Richard Tate
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Family Spot
After World War II had ended, American veterans who had headed off to war came home to resume their lives. Unfortunately, many members of the armed services were killed during the war, including my uncle Blaine Reigh. All of these brave men made it p...
Are You Going?
A couple days ago, my neighbor, Dr. Archie O. Logist, professor of Phenomenology at the Ganister Technical Institute, posed a question to me that I had posed to some of my friends this fall. “Are you going to hunt deer this season?” he wondered....
Rifle Bear Season Begins Saturday
The four-day rifle season for bear hunting begins on Saturday (Nov. 18). Although the PGC has de-emphasized the importance of this traditional hunting season by establishing various other bear-hunting seasons, the four-day hunt is still anticipated...
In the Mud
Shortly before autumn turkey season, I was fishing on a local stream. I had taken two rods along: one to fish a section of riffled water while using a favorite nymph imitation; the other, a lighter rod, was equipped with a dry-fly to fish smoother...
Eating Crow
Last week I related how my son, Bob, and our friend “Scout” tagged turkeys on last autumn’s opening Saturday. I, on the other hand, had to try to do as much hunting during the one-week season as I could if I were not to “eat crow” for Thank...
Bob's 2022 Fall Turkey
Prior to last year’s one-week fall turkey season, I had scouted several locations, hoping to line up a flock for opening day. Though I failed to put any birds “to bed” the evening prior to the opener, I knew where a couple flocks were hanging...
A Couple of PGC Items
My email inbox was recently bombarded with emails regarding a raid by the state legislature on the PGC’s Game Fund. An amendment to House Bill 1300 was approved by the State Senate that would transfer $150 million from the Game Fund to the...
Numerous Seasons To Open Saturday
Numerous hunting seasons open this Saturday (Oct. 14). At one time only small game seasons would come in on Saturday; but the PGC has expanded deer seasons, and one of them begins on Saturday. This is the statewide muzzleloader season. Only...
Out of Commission
“You’re just a spoiled 73-year-old. You can go fishing any time you like. Donna never says anything to you about overdoing it,” various people have told me. “It wasn’t always like that,” I counter. “When we first got married, she’d...
Archers Ready To Go
Saturday (Sept. 30) is the big day for crossbow and bow hunters, the day they have been dreaming about all summer. It is the opening day of the archery deer season. Bowhunters have been practicing with their equipment for months so that they can...
Deja Vu
This past spring I wanted to take a photo of a special trout I had caught. After some maneuvering, the trout was in a perfect position for a photo, and I touched the camera button to get the photo. Unfortunately while maneuvering to get into...
The Wallhangers
I recently became aware of what I believed was a group of young, informally organized sportsmen called The Wallhangers. I am always impressed when young people become enthusiastic about fishing and hunting, and I wanted to know more about them. It...
Squirrel Memories
Squirrel season’s Saturday start (Sept. 9) stirs up some interesting memories. The earliest of these are ones with my dad. When rabbit hunting went downhill and he closed his kennel of beagles, Dad decided to introduce me to hunting by chasing...
Hunting Begins Tomorrow
Hunting for doves and resident Canada geese begins tomorrow (Sept. 1) in Pennsylvania. The dove season, consisting of a Sept. 1 through Nov. 24 segment and a later one from Dec. 19 through Jan, 6, 2024, allows hunters to kill 15 doves per day, with...
Anticipation
August is not at the top of the list of sportsmen’s favorite months. Eager bass fishermen are out making some good catches, and the few groundhog hunters who are still active are pursuing the “pasture grizzlies.” However, most sportsmen are in...
Some Wildlife Sightings
When in the outdoors, sportsmen observe various things. Let's start with some good things I have seen this year. Most sportsmen know ruffed grouse are having a rough time because of the devastating...
Nothing Good to Say
My neighbor, Dr. Archie O. Logist, constantly evaluates my column. One recent afternoon he interrupted my lawn mowing to accost me. “Rich, you’re constantly criticizing the game commission. Don’t you have anything good to say about it?...
A Tale of Three Skunks
Skunks are common animals, especially in town where they have many places to hide and where they have reliable food sources. They are beautiful animals with lovely fur coats. Unfortunately, they smell, well, like skunks. This past winter Donna had...
A Day Late
When I was a young fisherman, the veterans of that long-ago time gradually began to accept me. After all, I was constantly on the stream and occasionally bumped into notable season-long fishermen like Michael “Pike” DiBartolome and Sam Lower,...
Getting a Doe License
June 26 was the first day that Pennsylvania resident hunters could buy their first antlerless deer license for the 2023-24 hunting seasons. Many hunters figured this would be a good day to purchase their yearly hunting license as well. After an...
Skunked
When I use the word “skunked,” I am not referring to an incident of being sprayed by a skunk, although Donna and I endured an incident this past winter when her dog, Sage, was sprayed by a skunk in the middle of the night. Donna knew what to do,...
The Dark
I have previously written of my disdain for cell phones. They are intrusive. However, my son, Bob, and my wife, Donna, both believe I should carry one when I am fishing or hunting alone; so in the interest of family harmony, I remember to carry the...
Father's Day Tribute
Sunday (June 18) is Father’s Day. It is one of the most important non-religious holidays of the year; others include Mother’s Day, Veterans’ Day, and Independence Day. Dad was a father who spent a great percentage of his time with me (and my...
PGC Strikes Again
State Representative Dave Maloney (R-Berks), Chairman of the House Game and Fisheries Committee, has been concerned with the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s (PGC) “management” of a number of things. One is that the PGC was found to be sitting...
Disappointed
Our minister recently preached a series of sermons entitled “Marked by God.” One of the themes of these sermons is that we are marked by God to make a difference in the things we are involved in. For me, that includes fishing and hunting ethics....
Pennsylvania's Estimated Deer Kill
The Pennsylvania Game Commission recently released its estimated deer harvest figures for the 2022-2023 seasons. It estimated that hunters killed an incredible 422,960 deer, of which 164,190 were estimated to be bucks. Bowhunters were estimated to...
Morel Season Nearing End
“How many mushrooms have you found, Rich?” a friend recently asked. “The usual – nearly none.” I went on to tell him I don’t have enough time to hunt mushrooms – correctly named morels – during the spring. Between fly-fishing for trou...
My 2022 Spring Gobbler
After my son had tagged a 25-pound gobbler on last spring’s opening day of gobbler season, we unloaded our guns and began our trek back to his parked truck. Since his gobbler was so large and we had quite a distance to walk, I toted both of our...
April 20, 2022
Occasionally someone will ask me what I was doing on a certain date. I laugh. “How am I supposed to remember that?” I wonder. “I generally can’t remember what I was doing yesterday.” However, I sometimes can recall something of importance....
500th Anniversary
Twenty years ago a new outdoor publication appeared in Pennsylvania, "Pennsylvania Outdoor News." This is a tabloid style newspaper/magazine that is published on a bi-weekly basis. The March 17,...
A Few Items of Interest
We sportsmen need to be interested in items of environmental concern. Locally, one of these is that Rutter’s wants to build an unnecessary convenience stop at Pinecroft near the headwaters of the Little Juniata River, arguably the best trout stream...
The Big Day
Saturday (April 1) is "the big day" for trout fishermen. It is the opening day of the regular trout season and is the day that I believe more people are in Pennsylvania's outdoors than on any other da...
1968: The End Of The 'Golden Age'
Followers of the Blue Pirates consider teams from 1955 through 1968 to have played during the “golden age” of Williamsburg High School basketball. During that time the Pirates advanced to six...
Forgotten Pirates: The 1967 Basketball Team
From 1955 through 1968, Williamsburg High School produced basketball teams that won numerous league and district titles, advanced to the state championship game six times, and twice won the Class C...
1966 Pirates' Basketball Squad a 'Source of Pride'
Editor’s Note: This article was originally printed in the March 6, 2014, edition of the Herald. Richard Tate has recently written columns covering the 1964, 1965, 1967 and 1968 Williamsburg basketball teams. This column is being reprinted to avoid...
100 Points Per Game: The 1965 Blue Pirates
The 1965 Williamsburg High School boys’ basketball team was made of an incredible cast of players. Not only did the team feature a trio of high-scoring guards; it also had a group of four tall...
Return to Championship Form
Following the 1961 WHS basketball team’s state runner-up season, the 1962 and 1963 teams could not advance out of the district into the statewide playoffs. Despite having a number of fine players, including the legendary Don Appleman in 1962, the...
Bob's 2021 Fall Turkey
Last fall’s opening day of the autumn turkey season was forecast to be a rainy one. Knowing that, on the Friday before the Saturday opener, I told Bob, my son, that he’d better plan to hunt on his own: I despise hunting in the rain. Bob had...
A Tale Of Two Surveys
In 2019 the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) shifted the opening day of rifle deer season from the Monday following Thanksgiving to the Saturday following Thanksgiving. PGC spokesmen told us that...
CWD Surveillance Information: PGC Will Want More Deer Killed
At the end of winter, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) distributed a press release reporting that the busy time for monitoring Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was winding down. Although the PGC...
The First Day of Spring
TV weather forecasters have been telling us for more than a month that meteorological spring began on March 1. As if that weren't enough, the official first day of spring was listed as March 20 on...
Not the Greatest Turkey Gun
I have occasionally been asked why I do not write columns about guns. I guess I should be embarrassed when I reply, "I am not a real 'gun nut.' I possess only the ones I hunt with. Anyhow, the...
February Christmas Trip
On the last Sunday of February, Donna decided that she; Sage, her dog; Amber, our granddaughter; and I needed to make a trip to Snow Shoe to see my sister, Anne Houck, and her husband, Bruce. "We...
The Sportsman's Corner
As an enthusiastic reader and former English teacher, I like to think I have a solid vocabulary. I can often decipher sesquipedalian terms (long words) from the context clues in the sentences where I...
The Sportsman's Corner
At its recent quarterly meeting, the Board of the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission announced changes for the upcoming 2021 trout season. These changes were prompted by the changes necessitated...
The Sportsman's Corner
Prior to last winter, I had never written a column concerning Valentine's Day. I intended that column as a tribute to Donna, my wife, and to all of the other wives of sportsmen who support – or at...
The Sportsman's Corner
The COVID-19 virus is one of the most horrible events of my lifetime. I hope the people responsible for distributing the vaccines can get them out soon so the effects of the virus can be mitigated and...
The Sportsman's Corner
"Rich, you need to a column about littering. There's more trash around in the outdoors than I have seen in years," Donna told me during a recent walk with her dog on the rail trail. "Yes, dear. But,...
The Sportsman's Corner
Winter is often not conducive for effective fly-fishing for trout. Howling winds and freezing temperatures make outings uncomfortable, and cold water temperatures often inhibit the activity of the...
Along the Highway
One morning in mid-December, Amber, my granddaughter, was driving along Route 866 on her way to her final morning classes in Johnstown. When she spotted a dead bear lying along the road, she called...