Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009 - 37

Out of Its Element MERCER — Early one morning a beaver was found inside Sylvan Byler’s dairy barn in Perry Township. The family dogs were not exactly the welcome wagon, though, and the 30-pound beaver was a formidable foe. Outweighed maybe five to one, an 11-year-old terrier charged into the fray and suffered a pretty good wound from the powerful beaver. The collie was able to avoid any visible injury as she tussled with the beaver before the owners could control the dogs and confine the beaver. When I arrived I couldn’t explain why this beaver would venture across a quarter mile of open field and pasture and get inside the barn with dozens of cattle. I had to dispatch the beaver and submit it for rabies testing. — WCO DONALD G. CHAYBIN, GREENVILLE Working Through Lunch As my wife and I pulled into a parking spot at a pizza shop she commented on two camouflaged hunters inside. I said that I didn’t know them and we picked up our order and headed to our car. I glanced at a truck that was parked beside us and noticed an untagged gobbler in the bed. Thanks to a pizza and a turkey, the two hunters and I are no longer strangers. — LMO JONATHAN S. ZUCK, LOYSBURG Eagle Territory BRADFORD — At a Field Day event at Round Top Park for all of the fifth grade classes from the Athens School District, Jason Petlock, from the Bradford County Conservation District, showed off some birds of prey from a local rehabilitation center. When Jason asked if anyone could identify a particular falcon, one guy blurted out, “Atlanta Falcon.” — WCO JOSEPH WENZEL, ATHENS Must Have Dozed Off CRAWFORD — On the first day of the spring gobbler season I pulled into a parking lot on SGL 214 to check hunters who would be emerging from the woods. While sitting in my vehicle drinking a cup of tea I caught movement and then watched a mature gobbler stroll within 20 yards of my vehicle, walk into the woods and gobble for more than 25 minutes. I expected to hear a shot but none ever came. Shortly afterwards this same gobbler came back out of the woods, but this time with two other gobblers in tow. I didn’t have the heart to tell one hunter who emerged later on that three gobblers were within the immediate area. I think the hunter, who looked really tired, must have fallen asleep. — WCO MARIO L. PICCIRILLI, LINESVILLE AUGUST 2009 Appreciated by All ERIE — I regularly fed a pair of bald eagles in the Albion area roadkilled deer during the winter months. The landowner put the deer carcasses on top of a round bale of hay so the eagles could feed and not be disturbed by other predators. During the day other birds of prey also fed on this bait and at night coyote’s jumped up on the bales to feed. An easy meal during the tough months is easily located by several species of wildlife. — WCO MICHAEL D. WOJTECKI, MCKEAN 37

Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - August 2009