Pennsylvania Game News - July 2010 - 37

A Whole Album Full
WESTMORELAND — With the tremendous amount of snow we received last winter, I learned really fast how to walk in snowshoes. It’s difficult at first to get adjusted to the walking style, and I fell a couple of times, ending up in awkward looking positions. Luckily, no one was around to witness it, because I was deep in the woods. I invited classmate WCO Matt Kramer to join me on a bear den expedition. Matt is from Beaver County and didn’t have nearly the amount of snow that we did, and he also had never been on snowshoes. We had a great day, as we located three radio-collared females. I also made sure to take enough pictures of Matt falling in the snow that I could use them for years to come. — WCO SETH T. MESORAS, DELMONT

There’s No Place Like Home
The Venango Food & Cover crew was demolishing an old storage shed on SGL 47. After collapsing the walls and crushing the roof with a bulldozer, when they were ready to break up the floor, two porcupines that had been there all day finally made a break for it and waddled off to the woods. — LMO JAMES J. DONATELLI, MERCER

True Furtakers
TRAINING SCHOOL — I found the Field Necropsy class very interesting, but I have to admit when it was our turn, Cadet Singer and I drew a roadkilled bobcat to work on. We both looked at each other and shook our heads, as we so badly wanted to be extra careful not to damage the nice pelt. — CADET SHAWN MUSSER , HARRISBURG

Tremendous Contribution
LANCASTER — HTE instructor Everett E. Denlinger completed 50 years as an instructor last year. After working with a long line of WCOs and being 95 years old, Everett has decided to pass the torch to the younger men and women instructors in the Paradise Club. I just hope that I was able to measure up to the former WCOs he worked with. — WCO DENNIS R. WARFEL, HOLTWOOD

Not a Smart Thing
PERRY — After a local man received a new chain saw for his birthday from his wife, he decided to try it out on some nearby trees. Unfortunately, the trees were on SGL 88. I found a stack of freshly cut wood behind his pickup and his chain saw back in the woods, after he walked out from a different direction and told me he was just enjoying a walk in the woods and didn’t know anything about the wood piled behind his truck. After awhile he spoke those words that every investigator loves to hear: “I have a confession to make.” My guess is that he never told his wife that her birthday gift cost an extra $159 in fines and court costs, but at least he knew that the saw worked just fine. — WCO JIM BROWN, LOYSVILLE
JULY 2010

Questions from Down Under
VENANGO — I was showing a school group a variety of furs and telling them about Pennsylvania mammals. When I showed them a mink pelt and asked if anyone knew what animal it was, someone guessed that it was a platypus. I explained that the platypus is found only in Australia and went on with showing the furs. When I showed the next pelt, someone blurted out kangaroo. Maybe I should have been teaching geography. — WCO LEONARD C. HRIBAR, OIL CITY
37

Pennsylvania Game News - July 2010

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pennsylvania Game News - July 2010