Pennsylvania Game News - January 2011 - 42

Beat to the Punch
TRAINING SCHOOL — When I arrived to my first field assignment in Butler County with my Field Training Officer (FTO) WCO Pilarcik, things got busy fast. I had to trap a pair of beavers that were damming a culvert pipe and flooding a road. While carrying the trap with a 30 pound beaver inside across the breast of the dam I missed a step and fell, filling up my waders. I had a feeling that if I didn’t write this Note, I’d be reading about it from my FTO. — CADET BRIAN C. SINGER, HARRISBURG

Nimble
NORTHUMBERLAND/MONTOUR — One of the most important rules to remember when pheasant stocking is to never leave your vehicle door open. PGC Food & Cover Corps crew member Steve Fester did just that and a ringneck found its way into the cab of the truck he was driving. I don’t know who “flew” out of the truck quicker, Steve or the ringneck, but for an older guy Steve can sure move. — WCO RICKY DEITERICH, DANVILLE

One Man’s Trash . . .
M ONROE — A group of individuals dumped a whirlpool bathtub filled with garbage over an embankment on a State Game Lands. A person witnessed the dumping, though, and was able to supply me with a license plate number. The defendants were interviewed and I requested they clean it up. Upon returning to the location, I found their job had been made easier by someone who had taken the hot tub. — WCO CORY BENTZONI, KUNKLETOWN

Dentine?
I was on a back road on SGL 25 in Elk County during the early fall, passing some food plots that the Food and Cover Corps crew had planted in clover, when I spotted turkeys feeding on the plentiful grasshoppers and crickets in one field. Driving 100 yards farther, in another food strip, I saw a coyote pouncing again and again, and with binoculars I could see that it was catching and eating grasshoppers and crickets, too. At one point it stood there looking at me, chewing away like it had a mouth full of chewing gum. — LMO JOHN P. DZEMYAN, SMETHPORT

Quite the Pair
CLARION — I noticed a female kestrel and a blue jay that appeared to be hunting together. They landed on the same pole several times and even preened each other. I guess there’s something to the old saying that opposites attract. — WCO RODNEY E. BIMBER, LUCINDA

No Sense Equals More Cents
YORK — Deputy Jake Smallwood completed an investigation where a person dumped 120 pounds of rubbish on lands open to hunting. As part of the agreement, the dumper cleaned up the rubbish and took it to the incinerator for proper disposal. The dumper’s costs: $500 citation, $65 court costs, and untold cost in time for clean up. The cost for taking up to one ton of rubbish to the incinerator: $10. I just shake my head at the things people do to “save money.” — WCO GUY HANSEN, RED LION
GAME NEWS

Good Field Experience
WAYNE — On his first day of field training Cadet Eric Erdman learned the importance of maintaining good landowner relations when our state vehicle was pulled out of the mud by a local farmer. — WCO JAMES MCCARTHY, WAYMART
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Pennsylvania Game News - January 2011

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