Trending
Field officers for the state Game Commission's Northcentral region filed the following reports on Jan. 16, according to the agency's website:
• Lycoming County Wildlife Conservation Officer Kristoffer Krebs reported four individuals were cited for violations stemming from hunting through the use of a motorized vehicle on the last day of the firearms deer season.
• Krebs said he's happy to report the hunters in Lycoming County had a successful deer season. He checked many deer, including some exceptional bucks, during the recent firearms deer season.
• Lycoming County WCO Jonathan M. Wyant reports observing many red and gray foxes around his district. Low fur prices seems to have led to an abundance of furbearers.
• Lycoming County WCO Harold Cole reports he had plans to work with neighboring WCO Kirk Miller on New Year's Eve. Those plans changed when Miller called to tell him he had a bear in a trap. It looks like Miller might have trapped the last bear of 2016 in the state. You might wonder why was the bear was out running around when it should be hibernating. Cole said WCOs have been seeing this for at least the last 10 years. If the bears -- specifically males -- are getting enough calories, usually from artificial feeding -- corn piles, birdfeeders, garbage -- they will not go into hibernation. Remember, it is unlawful to feed bears. Once bears come to a food source, it must be removed.
• Potter County Officer Mark Fair reports a spike-bull elk was rescued after it became trapped in the Stevenson Dam spillway in Cameron County. The elk had wandered down into the spillway slipped on ice and struggled just to maintain its balance. Jeremy Banfield, Game Commission elk biologist, and Sinnemahoning State Park staff devised a plan to drug the elk and move it to safety. The rescue, which took about three hours, was completed with some luck, a park ATV, a plywood skid and a small group of caring people. Fitted with a radio collar, the young bull was released in good condition.
• Tioga County WCO Steve Brussese reports an individual has been cited for shooting an antlerless deer and an eight-point buck out of season. He was assisted in the investigation by Potter County WCO Bill Ragosta.
• Union County WCO Dirk Remensnyder reports one local butcher shop processed more than 450 deer this season, the most since the shop opened five years ago.
• Clearfield County WCO Mark Gritzer reports a hunter shot a 500-pound cow elk equipped with a GPS collar in mistake for a white-tailed deer on the opening day of the firearms antlerless deer season. Charges were filed against the hunter, who faces a $1,500 replacement cost for the elk, since it was considered a critical-research animal for the Game Commission's elk ecology studies.
• McKean County WCO Tom Sabolcik, after checking a nice eight-point hanging from a Fishing Creek Road camp, was surprised to be called back to the camp the following day for a mistaken kill. Upon arrival, he learned the camp matriarch, a woman in her 70s, had killed a four-point in mistake for a doe at a distance of more than 200 yards. She explained that she had taught her children to be responsible adults and she accepted full responsibility for the mistake, the first she made in nearly 40 years of hunting.
• Cameron County WCO Wayne A. Hunt reports an increase in bald eagle sightings in some areas of the county. Defoliated landscapes, increased fishing along open waterways and nesting activities can explain to some extent why the birds are more visible.
• Centre County WCO Michael Ondik reports multiple individuals were cited for safety-zone violations during the recent deer seasons. These cases all involved individuals hunting within 150 yards of homes, with one individual discharging a rifle within 60 yards from an occupied residence.
• Centre/Clinton counties Land Management Group Supervisor Eric Erdman reports some of the best habitat improvements on state game lands are performed this time of year, even with the snow flying. Habitat crews are busy cutting trees along field edges and improving timber stands, which also provides immediate food and cover for wildlife. The benefits often last for many years.
• Centre/Clinton counties WCO Dan Murray reports charges have been filed for various violations in the firearms deer season. They include: untagged big game; hunting without a license; possessing the license or harvest tags of another hunter; hunting without sufficient fluorescent orange; loaded firearms in vehicles; locating game through the use of a motorized vehicle, and shooting from or across highways.
• Clearfield County WCO Mark Gritzer reports another mangy bear was captured outside of Clearfield. The bear had to be euthanized, due to the severity of the disease. It was submitted to the State College Animal Diagnostic Lab for further testing.
• Clinton County WCO Kirk Miller reports an individual from Virginia pled guilty to more than $400 in fines for hunting without a current hunting license and for failure to wear the required amount of fluorescent orange.
• Elk County WCO Susan Edmiston reports that during a Dec. 7 deer drive of a Spring Creek Township clear-cut, an individual from Ridgway shot another member of his hunting party -- also from Ridgway -- in the forearm while shooting at an antlerless deer exiting the clear-cut. The victim's injuries were minor. The shooter pled guilty to shooting at or causing injury to human beings, and paid $1,084 in fines and court costs. The shooter also will face a mandatory two-year hunting license revocation and must attend a remedial hunter education course.