Pennsylvania Game News - February 2020 - 38

weather prognostication.
If Candlemas be fair and bright,
Come, Winter, have another flight;
If Candlemas brings clouds and rain,
Go Winter, and come not again.
The inclusion of a Candlemas animal
didn't occur until the holiday was introduced to Germany where, according
to German lore, if a hedgehog saw his
shadow on Candlemas there would be
a "second winter," or six weeks more of
bad weather, the club reports.
When Germans immigrated to Pennsylvania they brought along their
Candlemas tradition. But there were
no hibernating hedgehogs here to measure how much winter remained. The
groundhog stepped in.
It's unclear whether Freas' idea for
Groundhog Day stemmed, as well, from
Candlemas, but it stands to reason that
it did.
Groundhogs also are known as
woodchucks and whistle pigs. In the
Pennsylvania Dutch farm country I
roamed as a youngster, they commonly
were referred to as "grundsau," and if I
popped one with my .22, my Deutschspeaking grandfather, Allen Herring,
always was grateful for the meal. But
I don't recall him ever mentioning
"Grundsau Day."
For the Herring family and many
other Pennsylvania Dutch farmers, the
groundhog offered sport and plenty of
tasty meals on startup farms through the
Great Depression and into the 1960s. As
recently as 50 years ago, groundhog was
served on more farm tables than you'd
probably figure.
In my first hunting encounter with
38

a groundhog, I spooked one while
between the animal and its den. With
its escape route blocked, the groundhog
shimmied up a black walnut. To say I
was surprised was an understatement.
And even though I had that 'chuck dead
to rights, I simply couldn't squeeze the
trigger. To me, it had to be the most
talented groundhog on the planet, and
I reasoned it would have been a shame
to cut short its life.
That encounter occurred in the early
1970s, when I knew nothing of Gobbler's Knob, which was still building
its following. What really brought the
hordes to Punxsutawney was the 1993
film, Groundhog Day, which wasn't
even shot in Punxsutawney, but served
to inject more charm and magic into
the place.
Today, tens of thousands descend
upon the town to take part in its Feb.
2 festivities. If you can't make it, rest
assured, all the major television networks will be revealing Phil's forecast
as soon as he arrives at his decision.
Meteorologists who analyzed Phil's
predictions determined he's been about
40 percent accurate over time, but their
subpar report card did little to dim the
spotlight.
So, this year when Phil comes out,
sometime around 7:20 a.m., enjoy the
spontaneity of his moment, hopefully,
not in the sun. He likely will be among
the few Pennsylvania groundhogs on the
landscape at that time.
And there seems little doubt the commotion on Gobbler's Knob, the potentially cold air and a lack of prospective
mates do little to inspire Phil to share in
our celebration of his celebrity.
He'd surely prefer to stay curled up in
his warm hibernation chamber, like other
groundhogs in Penn's Woods.

Pennsylvania Game News - February 2020

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