Sweat bee or corn fly? What’s bugging you if it isn’t a mosquito
The surefire way to know whether it’s a sweat bee or a corn fly buzzing around is if it stings. The halictid bee stings, but the corn fly, also called a hover fly, does not. “They’re mimics of bees, just annoying as all get-out,” said Michael Skvarla, a Penn State...
Game Commission adds 10 Sundays to fall hunting seasons
Pennsylvania hunters can now spend 13 consecutive Sundays in the woods this fall. In a unanimous decision at its Monday meeting, the Pennsylvania Game Commission voted to instruct its executive director to open up 10 Sundays for hunting starting Sept. 14 and ending Dec. 7. That’s in addition to the...
Pennsylvania Game Commission proposes 10 additional Sunday hunting dates for 2025
Hunters could get up to 10 additional Sundays to hunt this fall under a proposal going before the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s board of commissioners on Monday. The new dates are being proposed by the agency after Gov. Josh Shapiro signed a law earlier this month fully repealing the longstanding ban...
Shapiro signs bill lifting ban on Sunday hunting
Hunters across the state soon could find themselves afield — legally — on almost any Sunday. Gov. Josh Shapiro on Wednesday signed a bill that lifts the state’s age-old ban on Sunday hunting, opening the door for the Pennsylvania Game Commission to build hunting seasons that include Sundays. “The Pennsylvania...
State senate approves Sunday hunting; measure moves to House
A state bill that would repeal Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting is headed to the House for a vote after the Senate passed it Thursday. Allegheny County Sportsmen’s League President Klint Macro said members of the group have been in favor of opening up hunting on Sundays for decades. He...
Pa. Senate approves bill to repeal Sunday hunting ban
A bill to fully repeal Pennsylvania’s ban on Sunday hunting passed the state Senate on Thursday. The proposal, House Bill 1431, gained approval June 11 in the state House of Representatives. However, a provision to allow the use of natural deer urine as an attractant was amended in the Senate...
Trump administration plans to rescind rule blocking logging on national forest lands
SANTA FE, N.M. — The Trump administration plans to rescind a nearly quarter-century-old rule that blocked logging on national forest lands, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins announced Monday. The so-called roadless rule adopted in the last days of Bill Clinton’s presidency in 2001 long has chafed Republican lawmakers, especially in the...
Hunting licenses for 2025-26 season go on sale next week
It’s that time of year again — hunting licenses will go on sale starting next week, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced. On Monday, hunting and furtaker licenses for the 2025-26 season will be available for purchase. Antlerless deer licenses can be purchased when general license sales open per usual, but...
Midway along the Appalachian Trail, weary thru-hikers find refuge and an ice cream challenge
GARDNERS, Pa. — Sam Cooper had just trekked 7 miles through a rain-sodden stretch of the Appalachian Trail when he sat down outside a little country store in Pennsylvania to take on its ice cream challenge. Nearly 40 minutes and 2,500 calories later, the dairy farmer from Chapel Hill, Tennessee,...
Foresters: Spread of beech tree leaf disease ‘concerning’
Pennsylvania naturalists are keeping an eye on a disease that has been killing beech trees in the eastern U.S. for more than a decade, but has begun spreading more rapidly in the past three years. Beech leaf disease is believed to be caused by a particular type of nematode, which...
Canada geese being treated at Youngwood rehab center after suffering fishing line injuries
Six Canada geese, including two who lived at Twin Lakes Park, have been treated in recent days at a Youngwood wildlife rehabilitation organization for injuries related to discarded fishing line. The severe injuries are typically the result of fishing line being wrapped tightly around their legs, said Beth Shoaf, executive...
Man, juveniles convicted of poaching white-tailed deer in Somerset County, prohibited from hunting for decades
It will be decades before three people convicted of poaching 19 white-tailed deer in Somerset County over a two-month span in 2020 are allowed to hunt again, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Although authorities were able to tie 19 poached deer to the three suspects, they said they believe...
Murrysville camera company livestreams nearby fox den
“Sly as a fox” is not just a saying somebody made up. Foxes are cunning and wary. Just ask Bill Powers of Murrysville, who’s been trying to successfully train a wildlife camera on a wild fox den since 2016. “They’re so sensitive that, if they sense a human has been...
Hunting clubs ask Pa. Supreme Court to ban warrantless searches by game officials
In the summer of 2013, a state wildlife officer confronted a member of the Pitch Pine Hunting Club, accusing him of feeding bears outside a house on the club’s property. Wildlife Officer Mark Gritzer told club member Jon Mikesell that he had been watching Mikesell and his guests for several...
Take aim: Gateway forms skeet shooting team
To an untrained eye, the five Gateway students working their way around a shooting arc at the Trafford Sportsmen’s Club are simply taking aim and trying their best to target the clay pigeons shooting across their field of vision. But Mike Buvalla, coach of the newly formed Gateway Skeet Club,...
Rain doesn’t dampen opening day of trout season
The first day of trout season has always been a big deal for the Gombosh family. It became more so after 15-year-old Joey Gombosh fell ill and died in 1995 after he returned from a fishing outing at Northmoreland Park. “This keeps his memory alive,” said Bob Gombosh, who along...
