Pennsylvania Game News - July 2009 - 41

Didn’t Know That I’m often asked how long it will remain once we put up a deer-deterrent fence. That’s a hard question to answer, due to the different growing conditions throughout the state. A good example of this is two fences we have up around noncommercial aspen cuttings. The first area is on SGL 75 in northern Lycoming County that was fenced in May 2003. The other is on SGL 323 in central Centre County that was fenced in November 2006. The SGL 323 regeneration has progressed to the point where it is as tall as the regeneration on SGL 75. SGL 323 has a longer growing season due to it being farther south and at a lower elevation than SGL 75. Fence location and species composition within the fence are the two main factors on how long a fence remains in place. — PGC FORESTER GARY J. GLICK, LINDEN On the Run WAYNE — As I walked into a local diner to have a cup of coffee, an individual asked me if my work load had gotten lighter since the close of the hunting seasons. I promptly began to list the duties WCOs are responsible for during our “off-season.” After I recited a list of duties, ranging from prosecuting court cases, to serving arrest warrants, to trapping and banding turkeys, to tagging nuisance bears, to surveying eagle nests, to public speaking engagements, to teaching HTE courses and annual mandatory officer training, he promptly asked, “Then who picks up roadkilled deer?” I told him that we do that, too. The next thing I heard him say to the waitress was, “Better give him that coffee to go.” — WCO FRANK DOOLEY, TYLER HILL You Never Know PIKE — I recently found two chickens someone had released in a parking lot on SGL 183. It took several attempts, but I managed to get the hen in a large fishing net. The rooster, however, eluded me. The hen was given to a family who recently had several chickens killed by a nuisance bear. I’m just glad the only one that saw me running around the parking lot was the rooster that got away, and I don’t think he’ll be writing a Field Note. — WCO MARK KROPA, GREENTOWN Ironic BLAIR — Several Southcentral Region officers were invited up to the Northcentral Region to attend training on how to handle the increasing numbers of mange-infected bears we encounter. Going up there gives us a chance to catch up with old classmates from the training school and officers not seen much. What really struck me as odd was the number of officers who had lost hair, unless that was planned to become less susceptible to mange. Many of the officers who still had hair now have gray hair. I’d like to think that we’ve become more distinguished the longer we’re around. — WCO A.G.ZELLNER, MARTINSBURG 41 Jonah YORK — I was trout fishing on the east branch of the Codorus Creek when I noticed a black-crowned night heron perched in a tree. The bird flew to a rock, where it caught a nice size trout and then swallowed it. The heron attempted to fly back to the branch it was previously perched on, but it couldn’t gain any altitude, so it regurgitated the fish onto the bank and flew back to its perch. The trout then wiggled back into the stream. — DEPUTY GEORGE “JAKE” SMALLWOOD, RED LION JULY 2009

Pennsylvania Game News - July 2009

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