Emergency response team offers aid and more outdoor news

Posted on: October 11, 2017 | Bob Frye | Comments

Emergency response teams on the lookout for those needing help.

Swiftwater emergency response team members search for victims of flooding in Texas.

Texas called and they went.

Six members of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission’s “swiftwater emergency response team,” known as SWERT, traveled to the Lone Star State in the wake of Hurricane Harvey.  The goal was to do waterborne search and rescue, looking for and rescuing people trapped by the floodwaters.

They went to work in ways unexpected, though.

Emergency response teams sometimes had to walk in the water.

An emergency response team member helps guide a boat while looking for those in need of aid.

The six men traveled as a team. Two are volunteer instructors. The others are waterways conservation officers. They’re empowered to do law enforcement work.

So, when they got to Texas, they were split up, said Corey Britcher, chief of the commission’s law enforcement bureau. Those four officers were assigned to different teams to provide security in the event of things like looting.

They rode around in “LBRBs” – little bitty rubber boats – and aided those who needed it.

The team left Pennsylvania on Sept. 1 and arrived in Texas a day later. It worked until Sept. 5 and was home by Sept. 8.

Larry Furlong, assistant chief of the law enforcement bureau, put the cost of that at $38,000.

“When it’s all said and done, though, it really doesn’t cost us anything,” Britcher said.

Texas is a member of what’s known as the Emergency Management Association Compact. Pennsylvania is, too.

States that need assistance can call on others for help in times of crisis. Those that respond are reimbursed out of a collective pool of money.

“Now, it might be a year until we see it. But that money will come back,” Britcher said.

More importantly, participating in the compact makes this state eligible for help if that time ever comes.

“If something like that ever happens in Pennsylvania, we’ll quickly run out of assets,” Britcher noted.

Rabid whitetails

It’s not just raccoons. White-tailed deer can contract rabies, too.

So far this fall, wildlife officials in New York and North Carolina are investigating cases of rabid deer.

In New York, according to WYNT News, a Troy man was actually attacked by a rabid 10-point buck. He was hurt badly enough to require medical treatment.

The station reported the man was taking out his trash when he sensed something behind him. He turned around to see the deer approaching him.

The buck charged and rammed him into a fence. The man had to defend himself with couch cushions he’d been throwing away.

The deer was later found dead.

In North Carolina, meanwhile, rabies was confirmed in a deer found dead in Cherokee County.

Pheasant permits

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is stocking fewer pheasants this year than last. That’s roughly 170,000 instead of 220,000.

Pheasant permit sales are going slowly.

There will apparently be fewer pheasant hunters afield this year.
Photo: Pixabay

But the ratio of birds to hunter is going to be up significantly.

Pennsylvania’s statewide pheasant season begins on Oct. 21. This year, of course, only those who buy a $25 permit can participate.

So far, not many are buying.

In 2016, Pennsylvania had 74,953 pheasant hunters.

As of Oct. 4, though, the commission sold 25,967 permits, said Travis Lau, communications director for the commission.

What that means is, barring any late rush on permits, the number of pheasant hunters figures to be about a third of what it was even last season.

New gear

On another front, Game Commissioners approved some new tools for use in the woods.

At their recent meeting, commissioners made legal for hunting four electronic devices: electronic decoys in hunting waterfowl; electronic dove decoys used solely for hunting doves; electronically heated scent or lure dispensers; and electronic devices that distribute ozone gas for scent-control purposes.

It will take six to eight weeks for the rules to become official. That means it may be next season before hunters can actually use them.

Roads open

Allegheny National Forest and the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources are opening additional roads for hunting season.

The roads on the Allegheny are listed on the forest website and will remain open through Feb. 2, weather and conditions permitting.

Meanwhile, when it comes to state forests, roads are opening in 18 of 20 districts. They will remain open into January in cases.

The openings put 90 percent of state forest land within one-half mile of an open road.

At the same time, the Department has a new interactive map aimed at helping hunters find newly opened roads, timber harvesting activity, forestry office contact numbers and more.

Anti-hunting initiative

Is mountain lion hunting coming under attack.

Hunting of mountain lions may soon be an issue.

Mountain lions may be the subject of a political fight in Arizona next year.

The Sportsmen’s Alliance says yes.

The groups said the Humane Society of the United States plans to ask Arizona voters to ban mountain lion, bobcat and other big-cat hunting in November of 2018. It won’t do it under its own name, but as “Arizonians for Wildlife.”

To get the idea on the ballot, the Society needs to collect more than 150,000 signatures by July 5.

The Alliance said the proposal would not allow the Arizona Fish and Game Department to manage mountain lion and bobcat numbers “to prevent over population that can result in dangerous encounters with people and livestock loss.” Nor could it manage predation on species like bighorn sheep.

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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