Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
Putting cows on the front page since 1885.
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An informational meeting concerning Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) was held on Saturday, March 7, at the Freedom Township Fire Hall with approximately 150 sportsmen in attendance. State Rep. Jim Gregory began the meeting by noting that this was a follow-up to a meeting held a year ago where sportsmen had gathered to oppose targeted culling of the local deer herd. He said that the March 7 meeting was set up to discuss CWD a year later. State Sen. Judy Ward said that the Department of Agriculture h...
Five years ago, my friend Brady killed a buck that ran down the wrong side of the mountain after being hit with a shot that should have dropped him in his tracks. It took the two of us more than six hours to get the eight-point back to Brady's truck. After that strenuous effort, I told him I didn't think we should hunt deer there any longer. I was then 65; he, slightly younger. "We'd be risking our health if we keep hunting there," I told him. For the next few years, we hunted various other...
Spotlighting deer is a nice way to spend an early evening. You attach a spotlight's cord to the electrical socket that once held a cigarette lighter. Then you drive around rural roads and shine the light on fields or into open woods to spot deer. Usually the first thing you notice about deer is their glowing pair of eyes. When rifle deer season arrives, you are no longer allowed to spotlight deer until the season ends. For most people, that ends their spotlighting until the next autumn. Not at...
I hope sportsmen reading this column have been preparing for Valentine's Day. Most of us should come up with a card for our wives. Many of us might visit a florist and bring home a bouquet of flowers. A lot of us ought to take our wives out for dinner at one of the area's nicer restaurants. Sportsmen's wives deserve any or all three of these things. After all, they tolerate our many absences as we pursue our favorite fish and game. (Sportswomen: I know this column is a little sexist. Maybe you...
If you watch television, you know there are various groups that reward various types of performers with awards. You can watch the Emmys, the Grammys, the ESPYs, and other award shows. Individuals and groups receiving these awards appear to be appreciative of their recognition. With that in mind, I have decided that I want to propose some awards for local groups who have done positive things for sportsmen. I am calling these awards "The Rich Tate Awards," nicknamed "The Outsiders." Recipients of...
With a lull between most autumn and spring sportsmen's hunting and fishing seasons, a way for sportsmen to fill the void is to visit one of the outdoor shows that are held during the winter. Probably of most interest to Cove sportsmen are three shows that are not too far from the Cove. The first of these is the gigantic Great American Outdoor Show scheduled for the Farm Show Complex near Harrisburg between Feb. 1 and Feb. 9. As always, this show hosts thousands of booths featuring outdoor...
As I've aged, Donna has become increasingly successful in duping me into accompanying her on shopping trips. Recently she dragged me off to a distant mall I'd never heard of. Donna had entered a store; I was strolling toward a bench to sit it out. I heard a voice, "Psst, Rich. How would you like to hear a few predictions about future hunting events?" I looked at the woman hissing at me. She was standing under a sign that read "Estella, the Fortune Teller." I was mystified that she knew who I...
Last autumn, I decided to make an overnight trip to northcentral Pennsylvania. When I drove there to fish in previous years, I normally came home that same night. However, I am not the night driver I once was; so I decided that after my day in the outdoors, I would stay the night at a small hunting camp I belong to or rent a room in one of the motels there that cater to sportsmen. Neither my wife nor my son, Bob, believed that I should undertake such an adventure on my own. "What if you fall...
It is nearing the end of another deer season. I have been hearing the same lament I have been hearing for many years. "There just aren't many deer on public land, Rich. I'm about ready to join all the other guys who used to hunt who have hung up their rifles," numerous sportsmen have told me. "I don't want to shoot one of the few does or fawns that are left out there. What are you going to do if you want to continue to be a deer hunter?" I have great sympathy for these sportsmen. I agree that...
I do not know if deer season is the appropriate time to write a column about the disappearance of songbirds. However, even an unobservant sportsman like me has noticed that there are far fewer birds around than there once were. Sadly, this is a problem of major significance. I recently read in "The Gnatcatcher," Juniata Valley Audubon's newsletter, of a study published by the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology documenting a loss of about three billion individual birds over the past 48 years in...
Saturday (Nov. 30) is the opening day of the rifle deer season. It's the first time rifle deer season has opened on a Saturday since I began hunting. During my years in the woods, deer season has changed dramatically. Prior to 2002 lots of deer lived on publicly accessible hunting lands and provided exciting sport for sportsmen of average means. Not anymore. Instead, with the draconian deer decimation policy developed by Gary Alt and his minions at the PGC, the deer population on Pennsylvania's...
If I were a bear hunter, I would have been just about totally confused about when and where I could've hunted prior to the regular bear season. The only thing I would've been sure of was that I'd have to wear 250 square inches of fluorescent orange material on my head, chest, and back combined. Otherwise, I'd have been afraid to go bear hunting without my rule book. Now, I am certain I could hunt statewide during the regular firearms bear season that is slated for Nov. 23 and Nov. 25 through the...
Not long ago, I wrote that the passage of a bill allowing Sunday hunting was unlikely. I am now eating crow about that column. On Oct. 30, SB 147 was passed by the Pennsylvania House of Representatives without debate by a 144-54 vote. It took a couple compromises to reverse the fortune of the bill that had seemed unlikely to pass. One of these is that hunters will have to secure written permission from landowners to hunt on private properties on Sundays. The fines for violating the provision wil...
Last fall, my son, Bob, and I did not get to hunt together during the autumn turkey season. Because of the heavy rain that occurred on the first day, I did not hunt. Bob, like our friend "Scout," spent a fruitless day hunting in the inclement weather. During the couple of evenings he got out during the first week, he was unable to run down any turkeys. On the Saturday ending the first week of the season, Bob made a long-hike hunt on one of his favorite game lands. "I didn't even see a scratch,"...
Last fall, my autumn turkey season did not begin until Monday afternoon of the first week – the only week in WMA 4A. It rained cats and dogs on Saturday and continued through Monday morning. As an old retired guy who despises hunting in the rain, I sat it out until the rain ended. On Monday afternoon, I took a short hike to a knob where I had found some turkey scratching near a grapevine tangle before the season. I sat and called till nearly dark; but if any turkeys were nearby, they did not a...
This Saturday (Oct. 19) ushers in the statewide small game season for squirrels, rabbits, and ruffed grouse. The following Saturday, Oct. 26, is the opening day for pheasants. For those "in the know," junior hunts for squirrels, rabbits, and grouse began on Oct. 5. The junior hunt for pheasants began on Oct. 12. Sadly, these junior seasons were virtually ignored. Over the past several years, I have noticed that there are shrinking numbers of hunters pursuing small game. I think the reason is...
When Pennsylvania's State Senate passed its version of a bill to allow hunting on Sundays, it appeared that limited Sunday hunting was going to be permitted in Pennsylvania. The bill allowed three days of Sunday hunting, including one in the traditional rifle deer season. Then the bill was moved to the Pennsylvania House Game and Fisheries Committee where passage seemed likely. However, SB 147, which would allow this limited hunting, ran into a significant roadblock in committee. The bill would...
Saturday (Oct. 5) is the opening day for the autumn archery season for deer. Next to the rifle-hunting season for whitetails, it is probably the season that attracts more hunters to the woods than any other. This season gives bowhunters and crossbow hunters six weeks to try to place their tags on white-tailed deer. From my observations while fishing and while taking evening drives around the Cove, there are plenty of whitetails around for hunters to pursue on privately owned properties. Hunters who have access to these properties should have...
Although a couple of less-popular fall hunting seasons have already begun, the major seasons are now only a week away. First up will be the autumn bow/crossbow season that is scheduled to begin on Oct. 5. After that, a variety of small game seasons, a bow/crossbow season for bears, the autumn turkey season, regular bear season, and finally the rifle deer season will draw sportsmen to the woods. If a sportsman is going to enter the woods this fall, he needs to know when each season begins and end...
I have been fly-fishing for more than 50 years. During these years, I have caught a fair number of beautiful trout and have seen a good many unusual things. One of the most unusual "buildings" I ever ran into was a tarpaper teepee that popped up along an obscure section of Black Midnight Creek about 20 years ago. I first noticed the teepee one morning when I was nymph-fishing my way upstream. I had just crossed the creek to approach a shallow run when I realized something was different. Only 15...
Late one evening I was slouched on the lazy-boy in my fly-tying room, reading one of the novels I have spent much of my time with since retiring. After all, television programming is so putrid that reading nearly anything is a better way to put in an evening than watching TV. I was relaxed when Donna opened the door. As she walked in, several magazines and some pamphlets that had been sitting on top of one of my bookcases crashed to the floor at her feet. "Good lord, Rich," she scowled. "This...
Back in mid-July, I listened to Dr. James Kroll's presentation about Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). It was a scholarly presentation, and more than 100 sportsmen showed up to hear it. However, there was room in the Hollidaysburg Middle School Auditorium for several hundred more. I was surprised that with the serious CWD situation in central Pennsylvania more sportsmen did not show up. Sportsmen for the Future out of Roaring Spring sponsored the seminar and had invited members of the Pennsylvania...
I do not spend a lot of time on the internet; but when I am online, I visit a couple of fly-fishing sites. One of these is paflyfish.com, where there is a forum that includes various sub-forums. On one sub-forum, visitors can post about nearly any topic. Two recent threads on this Off the Subject (of fly-fishing) sub-forum have involved rattlesnakes. Those posting their thoughts about rattlesnakes on both threads nearly all espoused the attitude that rattlesnakes are your friends. These...
"Don't you dare write anything negative about our trip to Cape May this year, Rich," Donna, my wife, recently warned me. "You and some of your friends might think your complaints about Cape May and the Eastern Shore are funny, but our granddaughter and I don't." With this in mind, I have been thinking about some other things to write about. One is something I have referred to in other years: the lack of groundhog hunters. Donna; Sage, her young dog; and I take rides nearly every evening. During...
On Saturday, July 13, Dr. James Kroll presented a seminar about deer and chronic wasting disease to more than 100 sportsmen at the Hollidaysburg Middle School auditorium. Kroll is known as "Dr. Deer" because of his extensive work in the deer research and deer management fields. Kroll's credentials include being professor emeritus at the Institute of Whitetail Deer and Management, at the Arthur Temple College of Forest and Agriculture at Stephen F. Austin University, and being a PhD. graduate of...
Not long ago, I had just finished mowing my lawn for what seemed to be the millionth time this summer when I noticed my neighbor, Dr. Archie O. Logist, professor of phenomenology at the nearby Ganister Technical Institute, striding toward me. I knew this couldn't be good: He doesn't often come over to visit unless something's up. "Hi, Arch. How are you doing?" "I'm all right, Rich. Things are going well at the institute. "However," he continued, "my colleagues and I were discussing your columns...
I have been fly-fishing for trout for a little more than 50 years. After I had graduated from high school, I thought I would try to become a serious trout fisherman. When I saw Ralph Haney and his son Randy fly-fishing one evening, I thought that fly-fishing might be a good way for me to learn to catch trout. My dad had dabbled in fly-fishing at one time and had a box of flies that I used to start out. In addition, Dad knew some of the basic materials I needed to have, and he advised me to pick...
The recent audit of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's financial policies has pointed out that the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP) has long been correct about the commission's manipulation of figures. Pressure from the USP was crucial for initiating the audit. To support the USP, which supports hunters, you can join for one year by mailing a $20.00 check to USP Membership, 530 4th Avenue, Sutersville, PA 15083. To many other sportsmen, this audit demonstrates that the PGC is either...
With heavy rains blowing out my favorite local streams for much of the spring, I've gotten little fly-fishing in. For a while, though, several spots on the BFO River remained fishable. One drizzly afternoon before the BFO was blown out, too, I'd hiked to the top of a pool where I'd been having some success. I'd just sat down on a log to wait for some flies to hatch when I heard voices: two guys in separate one-man pontoon boats were anchored at the head of the pool. I heard the first one say,...
June 17 is the first day to buy hunting licenses for the 2019-00 hunting seasons. It will be interesting to see how many additional hunters drop out of hunting because of the PGC's short-sighted policies. If I didn't already have a lifetime license, I don't know whether I would spend the money on a Pennsylvania license, though turkey hunting would probably keep me in the license-buying fold. I am concerned about the future of wild-turkey hunting. The population of birds has shrunk throughout...
I am sometimes asked how to dry the gristle attached to the beard of a gobbler that a hunter probably wants to save as a memento of a successful hunt. At one time I dipped the gristle of the beard into a small pile of salt to dry it. This was messy. I now pour a small pile of baby powder onto a small piece of paper and dip the gristle into this pile. I then prop the beard's gristle against the pile of baby powder for several days, perhaps dipping the gristle into the pile again. It takes only a...
One cloudy May afternoon 30 years ago, I had arrived home early from work and had zoomed out to the creek, hoping for a "Sulphur Day." A Sulphur Day is one when yellow-colored mayflies hatch during cool, often drizzly afternoons for several hours when it takes them longer than usual to fly off the surface of the stream from which they are hatching. This makes them easy pickings for hungry trout. That is just what happened that afternoon. In fact, there were more flies hatching than I had ever...
Wednesday, May 1, was the fourth day of this year’s gobbler season. I had accompanied my son, Bob, on the windy opening morning and had helped turn around a 21-pound gobbler with a 10-inch beard that he shot. On Tuesday morning, I had been bested by a couple of gobblers that wouldn’t cross a deep hollow to investigate my calling. However, I figured I’d set up across the hollow on Wednesday, coming in to it from a different direction. I’d risen long before dawn and had hiked to the spot in the dark. I had just settled in under a large tree wh...
Spring gobbler hunters are reluctant to give up spots where they hunt. After all, it's tough enough to tag a tom without having large numbers of other hunters trying to call to a gobbler you are working. Old-school trout fishermen often have a couple of secret spots tucked away where they can consistently land some nice fish without interference from other anglers. It would take a medieval torture chamber to make these anglers reveal where these hot spots are located. However, turkey hunters'...
Like this year's spring weather, last spring's was generally not proper for effective fly-fishing for trout. However, when weather and water conditions were appropriate, I hit the water with mixed results. In addition, the spring turkeys were effectively humiliating me; and by May 10 I was pretty much becoming a zombie from a lack of sleep, hunting during the mornings and fly-fishing later in the day when I could. Weather gurus kept telling us that the next several days were going to drop...
By May 12 last spring, the score with spring turkeys was gobblers – 12, me – 0. That Saturday I had my son, Bob, with me. We set up on a knob where I’d been hearing a gobbler. I hoped that Bob could turn the tables on him. However, the woods were silent. By 9:00 I’d had enough and told Bob that I was heading for home and a nap. I had gotten very little sleep since the beginning of the gobbler season. (Trout fishing had been inconsistent, and I’d been trying to squeeze in a little of that, too.) “I’m going to stop at a couple of spots on my w...
For several years on the opening day of gobbler season, my son, Bob, killed toms in the same woodlot. During my early scouting excursions last spring, it appeared that Bob might be able to repeat his previous seasons' successes; but about two weeks prior to the season the turkeys vanished from there and did not return. We had to hunt one of the other locations where I had been hearing gobblers. Opening day found us set up in an oak grove where I had heard a gobbler just the day before. I had tol...
Trout season opens in the Cove this Saturday (April 13). Many thousands of anglers will hit the water in the Cove and elsewhere, and they will employ many different strategies as they try to catch a few trout. Take Jake and Max, for instance. Last year they drove to a stocked trout stream together but then separated a little before the 8:00 starting time. “I’m going downstream from the bridge where they stocked lots of trout,” said Jake, a grizzled veteran. “Some trout should have eased down the creek in the high water. I’m going to use a thr...
This Saturday (April 6) is the local one-day mentored youth trout fishing day. I am not generally a fan of mentored youth days because unscrupulous adults have been known to take advantage of these in unsportsmanlike ways. However, I am enthusiastic about the mentored youth trout fishing day. Every year that I have driven around trout streams where adults are mentoring young fishermen, I have observed the mentors trying to help their young anglers enjoy their fishing experiences. This fishing...
I have kept a journal of my fishing and hunting adventures since I was 17 years old. Some evenings I review these notes, hoping they'll provide some good hints about where I should fish or hunt during the next day or two. March 28's entry from last year is an example. Here, corrected for clarity, is what I wrote last year. "It was 31 degrees this morning when I drove out the 'back road.' It was a little windy, so I thought I might not hear any birds even if they were gobbling. There is not much...
By the end of the first week of March, I had a terrible case of the "shack nasties." The miserable weather had marooned me for weeks. Any little thing set me off into a paroxysm of screaming. I was slyly plotting a way to sneak off to Punxsutawney where I would get rid of Phil, that lying groundhog. However, the weather began to moderate a little, and I've begun to get out of the house to do some things I enjoy. If the weather continues to improve, Donna won't have to put up with me hanging...
I have not always been a "dinosaur." At one time, I actually kept up with modern trends, except perhaps for items of clothing, which I used until they wore out or until Donna slyly discarded them. I always knew when she'd done that because she'd approach me and say, "You need a new (the item of clothing)." Otherwise, I was not more than 20 years behind the trends of the day. As modern fly rods were developed from Space Age materials, I successfully stashed away "mad money" and procured a number...
As it has consistently done for at least 20 years, the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) continues to ignore the wishes of its stakeholders, Pennsylvania's hunters. In our area, the recent sneaky attempt to cull thousands of deer demonstrated that the PGC is willing to continue to act against the wishes of hunters. Luckily, local sportsmen united to protest the action and involved Rep. Jim Gregory, who provided a major assist in stopping the slaughter – at least for now. Public-land hunters h...
A few weeks ago, I wrote about the research Dr. Frank Bastian of Louisiana State University (LSU) is doing regarding Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD). In the column I included an address where you can send money to help fund his research. Even though I, along with the Unified Sportsmen of PA (USP), believe Dr. Bastian offers the brightest ray of hope in combatting CWD, I must offer up a word of caution. Dr. Bastian believes he can develop a kit that hunters can use in the field to test their deer...
One late night during the recent "polar vortex," I was ensconced in my fly tying room, supposedly reading. Actually, I was probably spending more time daydreaming (although it was nighttime). I was pretty much staring at the large stash of "valuable" stuff I've managed to squeeze into this glorified closet over time. As I gazed at a print of a gobbler on one wall, I wondered how the turkeys were faring during this frigid night. I couldn't imagine they were comfortable on their roosts. When I...
A little more than a week ago, the big news for Cove-area sportsmen was that a scheduled cull of deer was staved off with the help of newly elected State Rep. Jim Gregory. Area sportsmen had applied significant pressure to stop this slaughter of deer by sharpshooters hired by the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) in the guise of trying to stop the spread of chronic wasting disease (CWD). This plan was based on what has been done in Illinois and Wisconsin, where sharpshooters were brought in to...
Not long ago, I wrote that the Unified Sportsmen of Pennsylvania (USP), the only statewide sportsmen's organization that has battled against the Pennsylvania Game Commission's fatally flawed deer mismanagement program, was supporting research on Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) by Dr. Frank Bastian of Louisiana State University. Shortly after my column appeared, I received an email and then a letter from Phil Wagner, the President of the USP. Though he appreciated what I had written in the column,...
I like to attend high-school athletic events. During the winter, I manage to get out to a few basketball games. Occasionally at these games, I run into someone who has something to say about "The Sportsman's Corner." Not all of what they say is good. Recently I ran into a pair of guys who chastised me for ignoring a major problem with hunting. The first of these said, "You know, Rich, you are a real coward. You write about lots of stuff in your column, but you don't ever mention one of the...
Here in the middle of winter we are once again entering the season for outdoor sports shows. Though there are numerous shows throughout the state beginning in January, there are three shows that are probably most convenient for sportsmen in and around the Cove. The first of these is the gigantic Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg that runs from Feb. 2 through Feb. 10. This show is held annually at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex. This year there will be over 1,100 exhibitors and over 400 outfitters hosting booths. Some booths present...
A retired teacher, I occasionally run into former students. Sometimes one of them might say to me, “Well, Tate, you look the same. You don’t look any older.” I often reply, “Thank you, but that probably means I looked pretty bad when I had you in class,” which might be closer to the truth. Recently, the editor of an outdoor publication I sometimes write for told me that he thought I was “aging gracefully.” I took this as a compliment, but it caused me to reflect about myself. I’m going to turn 70 this year, and I would like to think that I am a...
