Pennsylvania Game News - March 2010 - 35

Can’t Do It LYCOMING — I checked several hunters with bears, and many of these sportsmen had harvested their first bears. Also, though, I encountered several violations, with the most common one being loaded firearms in vehicles. This is both a violation of the law and a major safety concern. — WCO KRISTOFFER A. KREBS, WILLIAMSPORT It’s Appreciated PERRY — Sally Tengeres, from the Perry County Conservation Office, along with volunteers from the West Perry High School, Loysville Youth Development Center and the Abraxus School in Cumberland County, recently gathered on State Game Lands 88 to clean up an illegal dump site. The workers removed 210 tires and about four tons of trash that had not only been an eyesore, but had also clogged a culvert under Route 74. A huge thank you to Sally and her crew for donating their time to restore the area to its natural beauty. — WCO JIM BROWN, LOYSVILLE Shocking Event CENTRE — A woman called about a dead hawk in her yard that was clutching what appeared to be a kingfisher. She thought we would be interested because the hawk was banded. Upon arrival I found a banded peregrine falcon, and in its talons was a green heron. It seems that the peregrine had snatched the heron and then attempted to land on a power line. I could only surmise that the heron had touched a second line while the falcon was landing, acting as a ground and electrocuting the falcon. This was one time that a little green heron caused the death of a mighty peregrine falcon. — WCO ERIC L. SETH, MILESBURG Wrong Assumption INDIANA — Littering is common on rural roads here, and I recently had a farmer tell me that he felt hunters were responsible for most of it. I explained that just because hunters park in the area does mean they throw out a refrigerator every time they go hunting. — WCO JACK A. LUCAS, BLAIRSVILLE Decoyed In DAUPHIN — I’ve heard tales of geese being frozen into a pond, but never believed them until one morning a person reported two geese stuck in the ice on a local pond. Sure enough, I found two Canadas embedded in the ice a few yards from shore. I went back to my truck for my chest waders and axe and began breaking the ice, working my way toward the trapped geese. The geese sat there awfully quiet and calm, despite the racket I was making. Then something occurred to me, so I picked up a pebble and tossed it at the closest goose. It bounced off with a hollow bonk, and I realized that I had been trying to rescue two plastic decoys. — WCO MIKE DOHERTY, HARRISBURG Just Another Prop I was working the Reedsville bear check station when a gentleman asked if he could take a picture of me with his son. I told him that would be fine and that we’d wait for another bear to come in to get the photo. The man proceeded to tell me that a bear wasn’t necessary, as he had forgotten his son’s permission slip to miss school, and just needed proof that his son missed school for a good reason. — PGC BIOLOGIST STEPHEN J REPASKY, PITTSBURGH MARCH 2010

Pennsylvania Game News - March 2010

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