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Outdoors

Gated roads opened for deer season in Sproul State Forest

RENOVO — The Sproul State Forest will open some seasonally gated roads to provide additional motorized vehicle access to portions of the Sproul State Forest. With these additions, there are over 500 miles of roads on the Sproul State Forest open for vehicular access by deer hunters. Each fall we open roads that are normally gated, offering hunters greater preseason scouting and hunting opportunities. Opening some of the roads that are typically closed, through the remainder of the year, also points to areas that have an abundance of deer. These roads will remain open depending on ...

Shore’s Dave Rothrock gave fly fishing lessons at Trout Run Park

Dave Rothrock can toss line from a fly rod some 100 feet or even longer by employing a double-haul cast. Used to reach farther distances on a stream to waiting fish, the double haul is not a cast that Rothrock teaches to novice fly-fishers. The Jersey Shore resident who has taught fly-casting and guided anglers and has more than 50 years of experience stalking trout, would rather teach them the very basics of getting a fly on the water first. Recently, he gave a quick lesson to Mike Hill, of Farragut, where they were set up on a grassy area of Trout Run Park. Within 10 minutes, Hill ...

It’s almost deer season in Pa.: Game commission offers tips, info about upcoming year

It’s probably safe to say that most people, given the chance to trade their cell phone for a landline, swap out their vehicle for a horse and buggy, or replace their washing machine with a bucket, a bar of rough homemade soap and a 100-yard walk to the nearest river, would opt to keep their modern conveniences. Tools offering efficiency, ease and comfort are hard to forgo. There are exceptions, though. Bowhunters — who represent one of every two deer hunters in Pennsylvania overall — each year willingly go afield with stick and string, albeit often modernized, finding ...

A bag of Cheetos created a huge impact on a national park ecosystem

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A bag of Cheetos gets dropped and left on the floor. Seems inconsequential, right? Hardly. Rangers at Carlsbad Caverns National Park in southern New Mexico describe it as a “world-changing” event for the tiny microbes and insects that call this specialized subterranean environment home. The bag could have been there a day or two or maybe just hours, but those salty morsels of processed corn made soft by thick humidity triggered the growth of mold on the cavern floor and on nearby cave formations. “To the ecosystem of the cave it had a huge ...

Pennsylvania elk are coming into season soon

HARRISBURG — The action is heating up on northcentral Pennsylvania’s elk range, and the Pennsylvania Game Commission once again is inviting people everywhere to view it in real time online. The Game Commission’s Elk Cam, a 24-7 livestream that can be accessed through www.pgc.pa.gov, ...

In the Parks

From Staff Reports Various activities will take place this weekend and next week at area state parks: Eagle Watch HOWARD — Enjoy an Eagle Watch at Bald Eagle State Park on Friday, Aug. 30, from 9-10 a.m. Meet at the Winter Boat Launch area. DiscoverE Butterflies HOWARD — On Friday, Aug. 30, from 1-2 p.m., you can learn more about Butterflies at Bald Eagle State Park. Meet at the Environmental Learning Center, below the Main Park Office. We will learn all about the lifecycle of butterflies and make an easy butterfly craft. If weather permits, we will also go outside and try ...