Pennsylvania Game News - December 2008 - 32

Habitat for the Birds It’s no secret that the Game Commission manages some of the best bird habitat in Pennsylvania, but here are some suspect “habitats” I’ve encountered. In May I found a bird’s nest inside a gate lockbox on one of our Huntingdon County State Game Lands. Late in July maintenance foreman Bruce Robertson was checking his email one morning when a red-tailed hawk flew out from under his desk. In early August, a goldfinch decided to spend the night in the cab of my pickup, after I mistakenly left the window open the evening before. — JUSTIN VREELAND, SC WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT SUPERVISOR Stranger Things Have Happened YORK — I received a call about a woman who had trapped a raccoon that had been hanging around a school bus stop and had it in a box for me to pick up at her home. When I picked it up I could smell the aroma of skunk, and knowing that sometimes a raccoon that is sick will fight with a skunk, I didn’t think much about it. As I got closer to my truck the smell became stronger so I thought I’d better check. Sure enough, it was a skunk and she somehow got it in the box without it spraying her. — WCO MICHAEL J. REEDER, LEWISBERRY No Eviction Notice I was archery hunting one evening when I noticed a gray and red squirrel alternately adding mouthfuls of leaves to the same hole in an old oak tree. After about 30 minutes the inevitable happened — they met face to face. Needless to say, the two tangled and the smaller red ran off the gray before returning to its established home. — PGC BIOLOGIST STEPHEN J REPASKY, APOLLO Young Looking FOREST — Waterways Conservation Officer Eric Shellgren and I were patrolling along the Allegheny River when we encountered a canoeist without the required lifejacket. WCO Shellgren determined the man had lost it while canoeing, and we later verified it while talking with another canoeist who found it. While Eric wrote out a warning, the boater started talking about the camp his father bought many years ago. He mentioned how he would cut the grass and ferns using only a sickle. He mentioned that I was probably too young to know what a sickle is, but he was confident WCO Shellgren knew. Little did the guy know that I’m a little older than Eric. People should refrain from insulting an officer when he is writing a warning, but Eric took it all in stride. — WCO DANIEL P. SCHMIDT, TIDIOUTE 32 Not in the Manual GREENE — Catching a beaver in a cable restraint is not too difficult, but releasing the animal can be a challenge, especially when you forget your cable cutters. That was the dilemma I recently faced after I tried to relocate a very agitated beaver that I had taken from its happy home (where it was flooding a gas line) and placed in my deer crate. Talking very softly I stroked the captured beaver’s back, which seemed to calm it down. Trying not to look at the beaver’s big yellow teeth, I continued to talk to the beaver while tugging at the cable trying to loosen it. After a 5-minute struggle I finally got the cable off and watched it waddle off to its new home. For several days after I referred to myself as the “beaver whisperer.” — WCO ROD BURNS, ROGERSVILLE GAME NEWS

Pennsylvania Game News - December 2008

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