Published: July 26, 2009 12:15 am      

Outdoors in brief 7/26/2009

Club will host groundhog hunt

Jerome Sportsmen’s Association will host its third annual groundhog hunt on Aug. 29. The hunt will be held during legal shooting hours as specified in the Pennsylvania Hunting and Trapping Digest and all participants must possess a valid Pennsylvania hunting license.

Groundhogs must be harvested Aug. 29 only and brought to the clubhouse, 3220 Jerome Hill Road off Route 601 in Jerome, between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m.

Scoring will be determined by combining the animal’s weight plus its length (tip of nose to tip of tail).

All entries will be weighed and measured by club officials using club equipment.

The hunter with the highest score will have his or her name and score engraved on a plaque.

Registration is $5, and registrations will not be accepted once the hunt begins.

Information: Adam Deist at 629-7342.

Bobcat, elk deadlines near

Hunters and trappers seeking to participate in Pennsylvania’s upcoming bobcat seasons have until Sept. 1 to submit an application via the new Pennsylvania Automated License System (PALS) to be included in the public drawing to award 1,780 permits. This can be done at any issuing agent or through the “Buy Your Hunting License Now” icon in the upper right-hand corner of the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Web site (www.pgc.state.pa.us). There is no paper application process this year.

There is a $5.70 non-refundable application fee to be entered into the drawing.

Details on the season can be found on Page 76 of the 2009-10 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting & Trapping Regulations.

Hunters looking to participate in this year’s elk season have until Aug. 28 to submit an application through PALS.

Applicants must pay a $10.70 non-refundable application fee to be included in the drawing.

Details on the elk season and drawing are available on pages 89-91 of the 2009-10 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, which is provided to license buyers.

Local instructors honored

As part of its 50th anniversary of hunter education, Pennsylvania Game Commission officials recently honored 24 dedicated volunteer instructors who now have been teaching hunter education for half a century.

“This corps of instructors has witnessed the historic events that have changed the world and our lives over the past 50 years, and rolled with the changes that have defined hunter education in Pennsylvania along the way,” said Keith Snyder, Game Commission Hunter Trapper Education Division chief. “We offer our sincere thanks and appreciation to these individuals, as well as all of our volunteer instructors, for their service that is a keystone in the Game Commission’s efforts to pass along our state’s rich hunting and trapping heritage to current and future generations.”

Those instructors honored include Claude Dranzik, Forbes Road, Westmoreland County; Arthur Olsen Jr., Stoystown, Somerset County; Clifford F. Riffle, Ligonier, Westmoreland County.