Breaking News

Outdoors

Reflections in Nature: Looking more closely at the porcupines

Recently I have been asked several questions concerning an animal. One question was what could be chewing on an aluminum ladder? This was easy to answer: a porcupine. The porcupine’s large incisor teeth enable it to eat aluminum signs, cans, plastic, salt, grease, soap, glue in plywood, pressure treated wood, animal bones and deer antlers. In one night, a porcupine can eat one pound of food. The second question was how can a person determine the sex of a porcupine? Since I believed this question was a joke, I thought very carefully before answering. I was a little embarrassed when I ...

Outdoor community calendar for Week of Dec. 2

HOLIDAY WREATHS WITH PETE GSTALDER WHERE: Rider Park WHEN: Sunday, Dec. 7 (1-3 p.m.) NOTES: Rider Park is hosting a event making holiday wreaths twice with Pete Gstalder. Both days are a cost of $20 cash the day of the program. The fee goes towards the material costs and Gstalder’s time. We will be using white pine, spruce, arborvitae, some juniper and seasonal color like red stem dogwood, dried mountain mint flowers and the evergreen leaves of mountain laurel. We will have two wreath making tables set up. Participants will be asked to assemble eight bunches of materials and ...

Wellsboro’s Stiner competed in national bass fishing event

With his regular season wrapped up, Colegan Stiner of Wellsboro advanced to the Toyota Series Championship on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees in Oklahoma earlier this month. The Toyotoa Series Championship ran Nov. 6-8 and is considered a historic tournament with the best of the best anglers ...

Could it be possible that birds enjoy playing?

My friend and I had just stepped out of May’s Drive-In late one October morning when she pointed to a large black bird on the telephone pole across the highway, near the east end of the Lewisburg river bridge. Looking closer, we saw there were actually two crow-sized black birds, both with ...

Reflections in Nature: Many animals seek shelter, dens in winter

Are you prepared for another Pennsylvania winter? Our furnace and chimney have been cleaned, filters have been replaced, woodshed is full and Mary Alice has our warm coats, scarves, mittens and boots ready for frosty weather. Wildlife shares these same human instincts. They have been seeking warm dens to spend the winter. During periods of cold and snowy weather, most wildlife will remain inactive, staying in their dens until the weather warms. Although we have not had mice in the last few years, Mary Alice still has me set mouse traps in our food pantry. Our neighbor — who had ...

A constitutional right to hunt and fish?

A recent move by our neighbors in Ohio to make hunting and fishing constitutionally protected activities has raised some questions here in the Keystone State. Is hunting and fishing constitutionally protected here? What does it mean to protect such activities constitutionally? And what, if any, changes would such protection have on sportsmen? Currently, 24 states have constitutional protections for hunting and fishing. Vermont was the first state to do so in 1777. None of the other states included this provision in their original constitutions, but instead added amendments to do so ...