Mobility devices, fly tyers and a roundup of more outdoor news

Posted on: April 13, 2018 | Bob Frye | Comments

Fly tyers and mobility devices are in the news.

Anglers unable to walk may soon be able to use ATV’s and other “mobility devices” to access more fishing in Pennsylvania.
Photo: Pixabay

A roundup of outdoor news from around the region, state and country…

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is updating its rules to allow disabled hunters and trappers better access to its properties.

Now the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is following suit.

Up for final approval at the board’s April meeting is a proposal to allow anglers unable to use one or both legs “in a manner that significantly limits mobility” to apply for a permit to use a “mobility device” on commission-owned properties.

Allowable “off-road motorized vehicles” are trail bikes, ATVs, Tote Gotes, air-cushioned vehicles, track vehicles, hydrofoils and similar devices.

The change is being made to keep the commission in compliance with Americans with Disabilities Act, or ADA, guidelines.

It wasn’t necessarily before, said Corey Britcher, chief of the commission’s bureau of law enforcement.

“We realized that we were actually, I won’t say in violation of the ADA, but we hadn’t kept up with it as it changed over the years,” Britcher said.

A new permit application has already been developed. It’s on the commission’s website for the first time, too.

It’s not required of people who use things like motorized wheelchairs, said Laurie Shepler, the commission’s chief counsel until recently. Those have always been legal.

“This only covers vehicles that would typically be prohibited on commission property,” she said.

The commission is not building trails or otherwise suggesting its properties are suitable for vehicle use, its proposal reads. It’s merely making it legal for properly permitted people to use the vehicles where possible.

Fly tyers

Now here’s a pretty powerful lineup.

The 8th Annual Fly Tyers Reunion is set for 6 p.m. April 27 at Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Champion. It will be held in the Sporting Clays Lodge at 777 Waterwheel Dr.

Some of the country’s finest tyers will demonstrate their fly skills and showcase their most effective fly patterns. Headlining the event this year will be Joe Humphreys, Bob and Bobby Clouser, Tom Baltz, Greg Hoover, Ted and Bob Patlen, Scott Loughner, Joe and Jody Messinger, Tim Cammisa, Bob Mead, Josh Miller, Randy Buchanan, Greg Heffner, Gordon Chesney, Jack Fields, Chuck Furimsky, Curtis Fleming and Andy, Jocelyn and Stone Fresch.

And that’s not all.

Len Lichvar, a member of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission board and co-author of the book “Keystone Fly Fishing” will be there. So, too, will another co-author, Jay Nichols. Together they’ll discuss angling destinations locally and around the state.

But the best part? The event is free to the public. There will be door prize drawings and beverages for sale.

For more information contact Justin Sparklin at 800-452-2223, extension 7899, or fishing@7springs .com.

Deer harvest

The deer hunting in New York is pretty good, it seems. Just not equally everywhere.

Hunters killed an estimated 203,427 deer in the 2017-18 seasons, according to the state’s Department of Environmental Conservation. That includes 107,804 bucks and 95,623 does.

A couple of things stood out about that.

First, 53.3 percent of the bucks harvested averaged 2.5 years or older. That’s an all-time high.

As many as 70 percent of the bucks taken annually in the 1990s were yearlings.

Antler restrictions are not mandatory in New York. But the department is encouraging hunters to pass up young bucks with a voluntary “let young bucks go and watch them grow” campaign.

Second, the hunting was – as would be expected – far better in some places than others.

The state is broken down into wildlife management units. In the best of them, hunters killed 14.5 deer per square mile. In the worst, they got 0.5 deer per square mile.

Of the hunter-killed deer, 2,402 were tested for chronic wasting disease. None were found to have it.

Sunday hunting

It’s official: Sunday hunting is now legal on public lands in West Virginia.

Gov. Jim Justice signed Senate Bill 451 into law. It had earlier passed through the legislature by overwhelming majorities.

In approving the measure, Justice said it will boost the state’s economy, as hunters will no longer leave or pass through West Virginia on their way to hunt in state like Ohio and New York, where Sundays are already a part of hunting seasons.

A study by the National Shooting Sports Foundation projects Sunday hunting adds $155 million to the state’s economy each year.

The new law – which goes into effect in June — opens up an additional 1.5 million acres to Sunday hunting.

It’s the latest step toward Sunday hunting in the Mountaineer state. Last year, West Virginia legalized Sunday hunting n private land with the written permission of the landowner.

Chronic wasting disease

A Midwestern University professor believes it may be possible, in time, to breed deer resistant to chronic wasting disease.

Nicholas J. Haley, an assistant professor at the College of Veterinary Medicine at Midwestern University, has been examining the genetics of deer on captive facilities. He says there are “genetic traits in a small minority of deer that impart higher levels of resistance to CWD.”

“By expanding the prevalence of these traits through selective breeding, CWD resistance could grow among farmed deer, in the same way the sheep industry has successfully bred for scrapie resistant animals and has all but eliminated the disease in domestic sheep in North America over the last decade,” reads a press release from the American Cervid Alliance.

Various organizations representing deer and elk farmers are funding the research.

Wild trout

Last summer, the Fish and Boat Commission held its first-ever wild trout summit.

It was a gathering of scientists, anglers and others. All gathered to look at the state’s wild trout fishery and talk about how to improve it.

Now, some opportunities for real action are being identified.

Commissioner Len Lichvar of Somerset County convened a wild trout work group. It consists of agency officials, anglers and others.

Their goal is to take what was learned at the summit and identify a few specific, concrete directions to pursue, Lichvar said. That list was whittled to 10 initially. It’s in the process of being cut to three now.

Lichvar will present an update of the group’s activites to the commission board at its April 23-24 meeting in Harrisburg.

Gun battle

Some teachers and bankers are distancing themselves from firearms.

Bank of America announced it will stop lending money to manufacturers who make AR-style rifles.
“It’s our intention not to finance these military-style firearms for civilian use,” Anne Finucane, a vice chairman at Bank of America, said in a Bloomberg Television interview.

The firm has had “intense conversations over the last few months” with those kinds of gun manufacturers to tell them it won’t finance their operations in the future, she said.

Meanwhile, American Federation of Teachers President Randi Weingarten is, according to media reports, talking to Wells Fargo over the latter company’s investments with firearms manufacturers.

Reportedly, if Wells Fargo continues that involvement, the teachers’ union will end its association with its mortgage program.

Hunter pink

Say “hunter orange” and sportsmen know just what shade you’re referring to.

But till they similarly recognize “hunter pink?”

After all, that’s a new thing in Maryland.

Two young girls who took their hunter safety class in October of 2016 began lobbying shortly afterward for lawmakers to legalize bright pink safety gear for hunting. Six others states had already done so, they said.

Maryland lawmakers decided to do the same.

Legislation that recognizes “daylight florescent pink” as legal hunting attire recently passed both the state Senate and House of representatives. It goes into effect July 1.

Mountain lions

Anti-hunters have ended an attack on mountain lion hunting in Arizona.

The Humane Society of the United States was attempting to ban lion hunting. The group blamed that on lawmakers, saying new legislation regarding ballot initiatives had a detrimental and chilling effect on grassroots initiatives.”

Still, the group promised to continue working on behalf of animals there and across the country, however.

Bob Frye is the everybodyadventures.com editor. Reach him at 412-838-5148 or bfrye@535mediallc.com. See other stories, blogs, videos and more at everybodyadventures.com.

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