Outdoors category, Page 8

When it comes to hunting, there’s no doubt that the white-tailed deer is the premier game animal in the country due to its widespread range and the opportunities that sportsmen have to pursue it. A recent report by the National Deer Association (NDA), however, highlights just how popular deer hunting...

The Pittsburgh Hays bald eagles laid their first egg of the season on Friday around 6:30 p.m., which marks their 10th breeding season on a heavily wooded hillside above the Monongahela River. The pair are the first bald eagles to successfully breed within Pittsburgh’s city limits in more than 150...

Getting across Route 66 remains the key challenge to its completion, but the plan this year is to get the Westmoreland Heritage Trail about 700 feet closer to Delmont. Export council this week gave the go-ahead for trail officials to move forward with extending the western half of the trail...

When winter comes, many of us tend to hunker down and get cozy inside. The Scandinavian cold-weather hygge lifestyle has been popular in recent years — cuddling up in fuzzy sweaters and blankets, making a cup of tea and a pot of soup, reading a book or watching a movie,...

The rough “chip” of the cardinal and the “potato chip, potato chip” call of the American goldfinch were among sounds that pierced the winter sky Wednesday morning during a bird walk at the Winnie Palmer Nature Reserve in Unity. Before leading a group of about 15 Saint Vincent College students...

Hunters killed 3,659 Pennsylvania black bears in 2021, the fifth-best bear harvest ever and the second largest since 2011. That total included a 722-pound male, taken with a shotgun Dec. 4 during the extended season for bear, in Letterkenny Township, Franklin County, by Wade Glessner of Shippensburg. That was the...

French Creek, in the northwestern Pennsylvania, has been named 2022 Pennsylvania River of the Year by the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR). One of the most environmentally diverse small waterways in the country, French Creek took almost half the votes in a contest with three other bodies of...

Lee Murray didn’t do market research or create a formal business plan when he opened the Lock 3 Bait & Tackle shop on Freeport Road in Harmar in March 1986. But the avid fisherman knew that, like him, there were other people who value the personal service that comes with...

On a bitter cold day when most people would rather be inside, Ryan Parker of Hempfield not only wants to be in the elements, but he patiently sits out in them. Parker is one of that breed of angler who do not put away their rod and reel when winter...

The woods can be full of life in the wintertime — you just have to know how to find it. It can be a good time to hunt for seeds or locate wild plants, said herbalist Lindsey Praksti. Finding what you’re looking for can be a challenge, though. “At that...

It’s been years in the making, but a long-sought-after property in Hampton is finally expected to be purchased by Allegheny Land Trust to expand North Park. The two-acre site is situated adjacent to the park and would provide a connection to Pine Creek. ALT, a non-profit that works to protect...

The snow tubing area in Allegheny County’s Boyce Park is scheduled to open for the season on Friday, county parks officials announced. The snow tubing area will be open Fridays from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m.; Saturdays from 10 a.m. to noon, 12:30 to 2:30 p.m.,...

A snowy owl apparently touring iconic buildings of the nation’s capital is captivating birdwatchers who manage to get a glimpse of the rare, resplendent visitor from the Arctic. Far from its summer breeding grounds in Canada, the snowy owl was first seen on January 3, the day a winter storm...

Nesting great horned owls, outdoor Zumba dance and fitness classes and hitting the trails are among the winter offerings in North Park and Hartwood Acres. As more people frequent the county parks in record numbers seeking refuge from the pandemic, they continue to visit during the colder months, said Andy...

Six greenways, spanning more than 300 acres, will now become parks, after city council on Tuesday approved a measure to add the green spaces to Pittsburgh’s park system. The new park space will be created in neighborhoods including Allentown, Beechview, Brookline, Glen Hazel, Greenfield, Hazelwood, the Hill District, Mount Washington,...

If your New Year’s resolution is to get into shape and lose weight — a perpetual wish for many Americans — by hiking, biking or jogging along parts of the 150-mile trail that connects Pittsburgh with Cumberland, Md., there’s a new book that will enhance your time doing it. In...

One of the most popular among New Year’s resolutions is the one about getting back into shape, getting out more and exercising. Western Pennsylvania residents are being afforded more and more opportunities to do just that, through the ongoing development of trails across the region that appeal to walkers, runners...

The Nutting family and Vail Resorts have completed the sale of Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Hidden Valley Resort and the Laurel Mountain Ski Area for $118 million. “Looking back over the past 15 years, I am proud to be leaving all three properties much better than we had found them,”...

Van McGhee admits always being captivated as a boy by the underwater adventures of fictitious ex-U.S. Navy frogman Mike Nelson in “Sea Hunt,” a television drama series from 1958-61 starring Lloyd Bridges. “I thought it was just fascinating,” he said. For 40 years, McGhee, 70, and his wife, Barb, 63,...

A retired Penn Township policeman was cited by the state game commission this month for five summary hunting violations. Authorities said Augustine DeGuffroy, 66, illegally shot an antlerless deer on Dec. 1 along Richmond Drive in Penn Township. DeGuffroy, a township resident, did not have a hunting license at the...

A proposal before Pittsburgh City Council would designate six greenways as city parks, adding more than 300 acres to the city’s park system. The measure would move the city closer to its goal of increasing the number of residents who live within a half-mile – or roughly a 10-minute walk...

Black bears may play an important role in spreading deer ticks, more widely known as blacklegged ticks, in Pennsylvania, according to researchers at Penn State. Blacklegged ticks are the primary spreader of the pathogen that causes Lyme disease, and more than 70 percent of black bears were found to have...