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Outdoors

DCNR hosts First Day Hikes across public lands on Jan. 1

The Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources is inviting residents and visitors to begin the new year outdoors by participating in more than 60 free, guided First Day Hikes taking place across Pennsylvania on New Year’s Day on Thursday as part of the nationwide First Day Hike initiative. The hikes will be held in 49 state parks and three forest districts, offering participants an easy and healthy way to kick off the new year while exploring Pennsylvania’s public lands. Most guided hikes range from one to two miles, with some longer options depending on terrain ...

Reflections in Nature: The beaver helped settle North America through pelts

Beaver trapping season opened on Dec. 20 and will close on March 31, 2026. A trapper will be allowed to take up to 125 beavers if trapping in several wildlife units. They may use up to 20 traps and snares statewide. The regulations on trapping beaver have greatly increased in the past few years. When I was working as a wildlife officer, a trapper was only allowed to tend ten traps and catch three beavers. The beaver or the pelt had to be tagged by an officer after the season closed. Beaver trappers were restricted because the population was low. The reason for the low population was ...

Hyner Mountain Snowmobile Club safety course offered

The Hyner Mountain Snowmobile Club’s youth Pennsylvania snowmobile safety course is scheduled to be conducted on Saturday, Jan. 3 at the Hyner Mountain Snowmobile Club lodge. It’s located approximately six miles north of Haneyville and directly across Route 44 from Pat Reeder’s Tavern in Clinton County. Parents are to accompany their children to registration so that the required forms may be completed. Registration begins at 8:30 a.., class starts promptly at 9 a.m. and will end no latter than 3 p.m. Class participants qualify for their certificate by completing their workbooks ...

Hunting weary ducks

Duck hunting is as much about luck as it is skill. Luck is what determines favorable weather patterns, makes you look in the right direction just in time to see the next flight approach, and makes you get up and hunt that one day a trophy pintail is flying. But that doesn’t mean that luck alone will put ducks on the ground. When ducks have been hunted and survived, their luck has allowed their skill to increase, so you need to change the game to get the advantage. The longer the season goes, the more ducks learn. They have been shot at and survived, and each time a shell was fired, ...

Montoursville freshman Aguirre completes 50-mile ultramarathon

Entering high school can give kids a number of different goals to accomplish. Be at the top of the class in grades, join multiple after-school clubs, make the starting lineup in a varsity sport. That and much more. But for Montoursville freshman Regan Aguirre, she had a different goal in ...

Multiple programs coming up for both fishing, boating

An online virtual ice fishing program on Thursday, Jan. 8 from 7-9 p.m. is hosted by Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission staff and trained fishing skills instructors. Sessions will be interactive and include interaction with staff. The program includes ice safety, where to find fish in the winter, basic ice fishing gear needed to get started, next level ice fishing gear and how to use the ice fishing gear. All who participate in the virtual ice fishing program will receive invitations to attend in-person ice fishing programs in northern Pennsylvania, anda post-program email with ...