Outdoors category, Page 20

• Loyalhanna Creek is teeming with trout thanks to a recent stocking. Anglers are enjoying a consistent trout bite while using spinners and jigs for their setup. Live bait is restricted at the moment as visitors only are allowed to use artificial lures. • Anglers fishing Conemaugh River Lake are...

Tip of the week There are situations when it pays to think big. Cottontail rabbit hunting is not necessarily one of them. Rabbits, a prey species for so many hungry predators, must learn quickly to hide in and near thick cover if they hope to survive. And often, that cover...

Outdoors Notices HUNTER SAFETY COURSES Note: All hunter safety courses require preregistration at www.pgc.state.pa.us. • Concord United Methodist Church, Beaver County, 6-9:30 p.m. Nov. 7-8. Class limit 100. • Murrysville District Sportsmen Association/Gun Club, Westmoreland County, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m. Nov. 17. Class limit 55. SHOOTS ON TAP • California Hill...

No matter if there’s rain, snow or sleet, a group of Sewickley-area women will be headed outdoors this winter to breathe in the fresh air, converse with their neighbors and get exercise hiking or biking through area trails. The Women’s Adventure Club of Sewickley, launched a little more than a...

There was a moment of doubt, for sure. But it looks as if expanded Sunday hunting is coming to Pennsylvania in 2020. On Wednesday, members of the House of Representatives approved Senate Bill 147 by a vote of 144-54. That was one day later than expected. Supporters expected things to...

This is going to spawn a lot of lusty dreams between now and April. Of the angling kind, anyhow. Each year, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission stocks “trophy” trout in streams and lakes across the state. That includes brood fish — or brooks, browns and rainbows held in a...

Work and health — those are the things keeping people indoors more often than not. APM Research Lab, on behalf of The Water Main, which promotes clean water, polled a nationally representative sample of Americans earlier this year. The goal was to see how much time they spend outside and...

Lure of the week Lure name: Stupid Tube Company: Secret Lures (secretlures.com) Lure type: Soft plastic tube Sizes and colors: Available in a 3.7-inch model in assorted colors, including bluegill, Junebug, road kill, green pumpkin, watermelon red, black red neon and green pumpkin orange. Target species: Largemouth and smallmouth bass....

• As a result of a recent stocking, Blue Spruce Lake is offering up plenty of trout to anglers fishing its waters. Most of the catches were brook trout and brown trout. Fishermen are utilizing live bait and seeing solid results. • Fishermen at Shenango Reservoir are catching a variety...

You’ve probably seen them floating around the internet and laughed. We’re talking pictures of horrifically bad, even frightening taxidermy. If you haven’t, just Google something like “really bad taxidermy” and see what turns up. Spoiler alert: it ain’t pretty. The real tragedy is that each of the animals mounted in...

Expanded Sunday hunting is a step closer to coming to Pennsylvania. But not without hunters having to make one more concession. The House of Representatives game and fisheries committee Monday approved Senate Bill 147. It allows hunting on three Sundays. One is in the statewide archery deer season, one in...

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is issuing a warning to the state’s hunters. With a rare mosquito-transmitted virus documented in the state this year, the Game Commission is encouraging hunters and others who spend time outdoors to take precautions against mosquito bites and report to the agency any dead or strange-acting...

A couple asked a Lancaster County baker to create a wedding cake in the shape of a deer. The result has been deerly beloved on Facebook. Pam McNeal sculpted the life-size deer at Shady Maple Farm Market in East Earl, according to the market’s Facebook page. The couple provided the...

“Isn’t that sort of cheating?” That’s what a dad asked one time when a few other Scoutmasters and I were teaching a crowd of boys various ways of making fire in wet weather. One leader was going over how to light a petroleum ball with a ferro rod. Another was...

Outdoors Notices HUNTER SAFETY COURSES Note: All hunter safety courses require preregistration at www.pgc.state.pa.us. • Northside Sportsman Club Clubhouse, Allegheny County, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Oct. 26. Class limit 150. • Rockwood Area High School, Somerset County, 3:30-7:30 p.m. Oct. 29-30. Class limit 50. • Plum Creek Masonic Hall, Allegheny County,...

• Conemaugh River Lake is a fruitful spot to visit for anglers who are on the lookout for walleye, as plenty of the fish are being caught in the vicinity of the rocks on the far side of the lake. Most anglers are seeing good results using minnows as bait....

Gear of the week Gear name: Block 6X6 Company: Field Logic (everybodyshops.com/block-archery-target.html) Gear type: Archery target Product description: Practice is the key to getting good at anything. But that’s never more true than with archery. To be a responsible bowhunter takes time and commitment. Practice can be easy and fun,...

It was, for Greg Traynor, a moment of revelation. It was autumn, his favorite time of year. And he was in the woods, archery hunting, his most cherished outdoor activity among many. The sun was shining on his face, the leaves were a fiery mix of reds and golds and...

You see it in the parking lots. Visit almost any public land at this time of year. The jumping off points for outdoor exploration that often were empty, or close to it, during the muggiest, buggiest days of late summer suddenly are busy. And with good reason. The splendors of...

Outdoors Notices HUNTER SAFETY COURSES Note: All hunter safety courses require preregistration at www.pgc.state.pa.us. • Shaner Sportsmen’s Club, Westmoreland County, 8 a.m.-5 p.m. Oct. 20. Class limit 45. • Windber Sportsmans Association, Somerset County, 8:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. Oct. 20. Class limit 50. • Northside Sportsman Club Clubhouse, Allegheny County, 8:30...

• At Loyalhanna Creek, anglers are seeing steady action with trout while using live bait. For the most part, fishermen are finding trout around the deeper pockets of water. Carp catches are occurring with some regularity, and a few muskellunge catches were reported as well. • Green Lick Reservoir is...

Someday, perhaps, someone somewhere will find a cure for chronic wasting disease, or CWD. That will be a happy day indeed. But in the meantime, here — finally, at long last — is at least one bit of good news concerning the troubling ailment. Scientists with the National Institutes of...

It took a lot longer than expected to get here. But work to completely drain and rebuild southwestern Pennsylvania’s 253-acre Somerset Lake is finally underway. Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission last month began efforts to completely drain the lake. It was done incrementally, at a “manageable pace,” to get to...