Since we’re in the midst of a lockdown of sorts because of Covid19, many sportsmen may not be working so this could be a good time to do some house cleaning of your trophy mounts, be it antlered, bear, birds or fish.

If you have deer mounts in particular, there are a few methods to clean their hair. To do it properly and without ruining a shoulder mount, Bob Danenhower of Bob’s Taxidermy in Orefield, recommends the following: 

*Danenhower says the first step is to remove dust from hair. This can be done by using either a feather duster, canned air or a small brush that usually comes with most vacuum cleaners, to remove the dust. But he cautions to do it carefully with the brush and not apply too much pressure. Long time accumulation can turn to a mud-like substance. 

*Next step is to use a lightly damp, soft cloth and add a touch of Dawn dish washing soap and brush the hair with the grain to remove any remaining dust or dirt. Rinse the cloth often making sure not to saturate it as the deer hair will nap-up. Then lightly go over it with a soft bristle brush in the direction of the hair’s grain.  

*After that, spray a cloth (gun patch) or Q-tip with some Windex and clean the eyes. Follow up with a piece of paper towel to remove any excess. 

*For antlers or horns, clean off any dust then use some furniture polish to regain their sheen. 
*To maintain a deer mounts’ hair, Danenhower uses Cowboy Magic spray that is available from taxidermists. 

*For mounts that may have cracking, split ears or jaws, it’s a re-fresh job that requires a taxidermist as they have the equipment to restore the mount. 

*As for birds like pheasants, grouse, turkey or waterfowl, be extremely careful and don’t go crazy feather dusting it or wiping it down, Danenhower cautions, as birds are touchy and sometimes the job is better left to a taxidermist. 

*For fish mounts, Danenhower recommends also wiping them down with Dawn dish washing detergent. “Sometimes there may be fly or bug droppings on them. The skin could also have oil seepage,” he points out. “Not many taxidermists like to re-work fish because their skin is extremely thin and prone to cracking,” he adds.  

So with these suggestions, maintaining trophy mounts now can go a long way to preserving them in the future. 

LCF&G ANNUAL FISHING DERBY

It’s with much disappointment that Herb Gottschall, Jr., President of Lehigh County Fish & Game Association, had to announce that this years annual Fishing Derby in Lehigh Parkway had to be cancelled. 

Said Gottschall, “After several meetings with representatives with Allentown Police and Parks Department, an agreement was reached to hold this years 87th Fishing Derby on May 16. But that was before the Coronavirus came along. So we had to cancel it.”

Gottschall goes on to say he’s already making plans for next years’ derby which will be the organizations 100th Anniversary, and because of that, it will be a two-day event. 

The clubs’ Booster Night was also cancelled because the hall rental went up 500 percent from last year and the organization was already on the verge of bankruptcy until Midgard Plastics stepped in to be LCF&G’s first corporate sponsor. 
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An exact date will be forthcoming for the next derby. 
 

There will be yelps, clucks, purrs and gobbles emanating from Penn’s Woods when the statewide spring gobbler season gets underway Saturday (May2). And according to the  Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC), the month-long season that ends May 30 should be a good one. 

According to the PGC, the statewide flock, expected to mirror 2019’s estimated spring population of 212,170 turkeys, has been aided by good reproduction last year, declining participation in fall seasons, and a mild winter with abundant natural foods.

Mary Jo Casalena, PGC turkey biologist says, “A strong base of old toms is strutting in our forests and fields in their annual quest for companionship followed by a healthy population of high-spirited jakes. There’s also a good supply of 2-year-olds roaming in some Wildlife Management Units (WMUs). Last spring, hunters took 37,300 turkeys, which was down from 2018’s 40,300. The harvest generated a spring hunter first-turkey success rate of 19 percent and has ranged 19 to 21 percent for the past three years. 

A good number of hunters bought second gobbler tags – 22,517 – marking the third consecutive year second-tag sales topped 20,000. Those second tags led to 4,811 harvests, making for a 21 percent success rate for those who purchased a second tag. Interestingly, only 13 percent of spring-turkey hunters bought a second tag. 

Hunting hours begin one-half hour before sunrise and end at noon for the first two weeks of the statewide season (May 2 through May 16). Hunters are asked to be out of the woods by 1 p.m. when hunting hours end at noon. This is to minimize disturbance of nesting hens, says the PGC. Hunting hours during the youth hunt end at noon. Junior hunters and mentored youth also may participate in the statewide spring gobbler season. From May 18 through through May 30, hunting hours are from one-half hour before sunrise until one-half hour after sunset. The all-day season allows more opportunity at the point in the season when hunting pressure is lower and nesting hens are less likely to abandon nests.

Here are a few hunting reminders from the PGC: 

*Only bearded birds may be harvested, and hunting is permitted by calling only.  
* Hunters should refrain from knowingly harvesting bearded hens. 
* There is no requirement for hunters to wear fluorescent orange during the spring turkey season, though it is recommended that orange be worn while moving.
* Blinds used while turkey hunting must be manufactured with manmade materials. It’s unlawful to hunt turkeys from blinds made of natural materials such as logs, tree branches and piled rocks. Added to that, blinds representing the fanned tail of a gobbler do not hide all hunter movement, and therefore are unlawful to use in Pennsylvania. 
* Pennsylvania resident hunters can purchase a license ($21.90) to harvest a second gobbler in the spring season, but only one gobbler may be taken per day. This license must be purchased no later than May 1. 
* Successful turkey hunters must immediately and properly tag the bird before moving it from the harvest site, and are required by law to report the harvest to the Game Commission. 

Casalena pointed out that this past winter the PGC leg-banded over 300 turkeys statewide. If lucky enough to harvest a leg-banded turkey, or find one dead, she asks hunters to please contact the PGC through either the toll-free telephone number or email address printed on the band. In return, Casalena will  provide details of when and where the bird was tagged. From these reports, the agency can estimate spring harvest rate and annual survival rate by wildlife management unit, which are critical elements of our turkey population model.” 

TURKEY HARVEST PHOTO CONTEST

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is sponsoring its fourth annual Turkey Harvest Photo Contest, and hunters submitting the photos of themselves with their 2020 Pennsylvania gobblers are eligible to win one of two personalized, engraved box calls. Entries will be narrowed to a field of finalists in each the adult hunter and youth hunter category, with one winner in each category then selected by voters on the PGC’s Facebook page. 

But you must enter to win. Hunters should be sure to submit photos of their 2020 Pennsylvania spring turkey harvests by email to [email protected]. Submissions should include the first and last name of anyone in the photo, the hunter’s hometown and the county in which the turkey was harvested. The contest will run from youth season April 25 through Monday, June 1, with the winners selected shortly thereafter.
     




 

​The Pennsylvania Game Commissioners gave final approval for the 2020-21 hunting/trapping seasons and bag limits with some significant changes. They are as follows: 

Expanding Sunday hunting on three days – Sunday, Nov. 15 for archery deer hunting, Sunday, Nov. 22 for bear hunting during the bear firearms season, and Sunday, Nov. 29 for deer hunting during the firearms deer season. 

Adopted a 14-day concurrent firearms deer season for antlered and antlerless deer in 10 WMUs and retaining a split-season in the remaining 13 WMUs. 

Extended the statewide archery deer season to end Nov. 20, giving bowhunters the opportunity to take advantage of peak and post rut activity. 

Opened squirrel season statewide on Sept. 12 to create more opportunities for younger hunters to get afield. 

Shifted the statewide general bear season to run from Saturday through Tuesday – adding an additional Sunday opportunity for bear hunters.

Brought back a three-day Thanksgiving turkey season, running 
Wednesday through Friday in select WMUs; removing the Thanksgiving turkey season in WMUs 1A, 2A, 4A, 4B, 4D and 4E, but making the regular season two weeks (Oct. 31-Nov. 14) instead of one. 

Increased the bear hunting opportunities for archers by adding a week to the archery bear season and creating an overlap in the first week with the muzzleloader deer and bear seasons. 

Moved the start of the extended bear seasons to Monday of the first week of firearms deer season in all WMUs with extended bear seasons.
 
Permitted either-sex pheasant hunting statewide, outside of Wild Pheasant Recovery Areas. 

The commissioners also set the number of antlerless deer licenses to be allocated, as well as the number of elk licenses to be allocated for the coming license year as follows:  

The board voted to allocate 932,000 antlerless deer licenses statewide, which is up from the 903,000 licenses allocated for 2019-20. Some Wildlife Management Unit (WMU) increases were tempered by the addition of a 14-day seasons to WMU’s containing Disease Management Areas. Allocations by WMU are as follows, with the allocation from the previous license year appearing in parentheses: WMU 1A – 49,000 (49,000); WMU 1B – 41,000 (35,000); WMU 2A – 46,000 (46,000); WMU 2B – 49,000 (54,000); WMU 2C – 58,000 (52,000); WMU 2D – 60,000 (66,000); WMU 2E – 39,000 (32,000); WMU 2F – 36,000 (31,000); WMU 2G – 27,000 (26,000); WMU 2H – 7,000 (6,000); WMU 3A – 21,000 (20,000); WMU 3B – 33,000 (38,000); WMU 3C – 49,000 (46,000); WMU 3D – 36,000 (25,000); WMU 4A – 49,000 (41,000); WMU 4B – 33,000 (32,000); WMU 4C – 32,000 (36,000); WMU 4D – 45,000 (46,000); WMU 4E – 37,000 (34,000); WMU 5A – 26,000 (22,000); WMU 5B – 60,000 (67,000); WMU 5C – 70,000 (70,000); and WMU 5D – 29,000 (29,000). 

The board also voted to issue 164 elk licenses (36 antlered, 128 antlerless) across three 2020-21 seasons. For the one-week general season to run Nov. 2-7, 26 antlered and 78 antlerless tags have been allocated. In the archery season open only in select Elk Hunt Zones, to run from Sept. 12-26, 10 antlered and 16 antlerless licenses are available. And there are 34 licenses available for a late antlerless-only elk season to run from Jan. 2-9. 

All elk licenses will be awarded by lottery, and hunters must apply separately for all seasons they wish to be eligible to hunt. Each application costs $11.90, meaning a hunter can enter all three drawings for $35.70. Individuals can be drawn for a maximum of one elk license per license year. 

While carrying firearms generally is prohibited while bowhunting, archery deer hunters long have been permitted to carry muzzleloaders to hunt deer during times when the archery and muzzleloader deer seasons overlap. But a change approved by the PGC Commissioners will allow properly licensed hunters to carry both a bow and muzzleloader afield when an archery deer season overlaps with a muzzleloader bear season, as well. The rule also applies to an archery bear season that overlaps with a muzzleloader deer or bear season. 

A muzzleloader bear season that overlaps with the October muzzleloader deer season and archery deer season was adopted as part of 2020-21 hunting seasons, so a properly licensed hunter will be able to carry a muzzleloader to hunt bears and antlerless deer, as well as a bow to hunt antlered or antlerless deer. 

DEER TAGGING CHANGES

Hunters with multiple deer tags must no longer tag the first deer they harvest before attempting to harvest a second. The board adopted a measure that makes effective statewide the tagging requirements that long have applied in the state’s Special Regulations Areas, where hunters possessing multiple tags may attempt to fill them without first tagging a harvested deer. The PGC said lifting the restriction benefits deer hunters with multiple tags, who no longer are forced to pass up opportunities to harvest additional deer.

MENTORED YOUTH HUNTER CHANGES

Initially open only to youth under 12, Pennsylvania’s mentored hunting program has expanded incrementally in recent years to offer opportunities to unlicensed hunters of all ages. The PGC says that because the program is a tool to recruit new hunters, it only made sense to open it to everybody. But phasing-in program eligibility for hunters of different ages brought about a mix of different rules that many found confusing to follow – potentially undermining the goal of hunter recruitment. As such, the PGC Board adopted new standards that simplify the program and make it more uniform for hunters of all ages. 

First off, mentored hunters of all ages now are eligible to hunt the same species. This expands opportunities in each age class and eliminates confusion about which species different-aged hunters may hunt. 
Secondly, while mentored hunters under the age of 7 will continue to be issued permits that do not contain deer or turkey harvest tags – meaning the deer and turkey tags they use will continue to be provided through transfer from their adult mentors – mentored hunters of all other ages will be issued their own tags. 

Finally, mentored hunters ages 7 and older now can apply for their own antlerless deer licenses and Deer Management Assistance Program (DMAP) permits, as well as migratory bird licenses and pheasant permits. 

With the changes, all mentored hunters may hunt the following species: rabbit, snowshoe hare, ruffed grouse, mourning doves, bobwhite quail, pheasants, crows, squirrels, porcupines, woodchucks, coyotes, deer and wild turkeys. 

Safety requirements that prohibit mentored hunters under 17 from carrying a firearm while moving, limit mentors to accompanying one youngster at a time, and require the mentor and mentored hunter under 17 to possess no more than one sporting arm between them, remain unchanged.
      
     
     
     

There may have been some skepticism regarding the abbreviated trout stocking that I heard about and mentioned in my previous column. 

In case you missed it, I was informed that certain streams in Lehigh County will only get one in-season stocking that took place within the last two weeks. Some anglers couldn’t believe it, so I was able to contact Mike Parker, PF&BC Communications Director, who issued the following statement: 

“We continue to stock trout every day across the state, 7 days a week. Due to the accelerated stocking schedule we are operating under, many waters will only receive pre-season stockings this year. That means that all of the fish that were allocated for a water, both pre-season and in-season, will be combined into a single stocking or two. The same amount of fish will be stocked, just not spread out over the season. I cannot provide any information about specific waters, but overall, this is our approach. Since March 17, we have been operating under the accelerated schedule, without volunteer assistance, in an effort to get our fish stocked before any of our employees became sick or further restrictions were placed on fishing. At this time, we have stocked about 2.25 million trout across the state. That is compared to 1.7-1.8 we stocked by the statewide opening day of trout season last year. There are plenty of fish to catch.”

So that official announcement should put the so-called rumor to rest. 

LEHIGH RIVER TROUT STOCKING 

In past years, the Lehigh River Stocking Association (LRSA) would stock trout in portions of the Lehigh River the week after the state trout season opener. If tradition holds true for this year, considering the early state opener, LRSA could stock next Sunday (April 12). 

STRIPED BASS FISHING CHANGES
For anglers who pursue the hard fighting stripers in the Delaware River, Delaware Estuary and West Branch Delaware River, be aware there has been some significant changes. 

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission (PFBC) announced changes to Striped Bass fishing regulations within the aforementioned waters. And the reason for the new rules is because harvest and delayed mortality of caught and released striped bass have reduced the coastal population below levels needed to sustain recreational angling experiences. Due to the negative impact on the fishery, harvest and terminal tackle restrictions are needed to help rebuild the coastal stock. 

In accordance with a fisheries management plan adopted by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission's (ASMFC), the Striped Bass Management Board intended to reduce fishing mortality by 18 percent. As such, PFBC will change minimum size requirements and slot limits for harvesting Striped Bass in the Delaware Estuary, Delaware River, and West Branch Delaware River, and have enacted a mandatory circle hook requirement for anglers using bait while fishing for all species within the Delaware Estuary. These changes are effective beginning April 1, 2020.

These regulation changes, tackle and registration requirements do not apply to inland populations of Striped Bass or Hybrid Striped Bass. 

Under the new minimum size limits, anglers will be permitted to harvest one coastal striped bass per day that measures at least 28 inches but less than 35 inches in the Delaware Estuary (from the Pennsylvania line upstream to Calhoun Street Bridge) during the periods January 1 through March 31 and June 1 through December 31. During the period from April 1 through May 31, anglers may harvest two Striped Bass daily that measure at least 21 inches but less than 24 inches. In the Delaware River (from the Calhoun Street Bridge upstream) anglers will be permitted to harvest one Striped Bass per day that measures at least 28 inches but less than 35 inches year-round.
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To further meet the requirements, the PFBC will require anglers who use bait to fish in the tidal Delaware Estuary, including tributaries from the mouths of the tributaries upstream to the limit of tidal influence, to use non-offset (in-line) circle hooks. The use of non-offset (in-line) circle hooks is required over offset circle hooks because of their proven ability to hook fish in the mouth, simplify hook removal, and reduce injury to the released fish. Therefore, to address targeted and non-targeted Striped Bass release mortality, the circle hook requirement will apply to anglers targeting any fish species with bait in the tidal Delaware Estuary. This measure offers added protection to adult Striped Bass on the spawning grounds during spring and year-round protections to resident juvenile Striped Bass caught by anglers targeting other species in the tidal reach. For the non-tidal Delaware River, non-offset (in-line) circle hooks are strongly recommended when anglers target any species with bait.

The Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission pulled a fast one on trout anglers. Instead of the consolidated Apr. 18 trout opener that was scheduled, a last minute decision from the PF&BC said trout season opened today, Tuesday, April 7.

According to Tim Schaeffer, PF&BC Executive Director, “We realize this change is a disruption to tradition.” He goes on to say that anglers still need to follow social distancing (6 feet apart and wear masks) and that trout that have been stocked have had time to spread out and so should anglers.

The decision to open trout season immediately is intended to discourage concentrated gatherings of people that may have occurred on the traditional opening day, to minimize intrastate and interstate travel, and to reduce the threat of illegal poaching in waters that have already been stocked, says the PF&BC. And it was approved in conjunction with Gov. Wolf, Pennsylvania Department of Health and Pa’s DCNR.

Mike Parker, PF&BC Media Relations Director said, “Agency staff will continue to stock trout throughout spring, but not all waters have been stocked at this time. To further discourage public gatherings, a stocking schedule and list of waters that have been stocked will not be provided to the public this season. 

In regards to this statement, a source said that the entire seasons allocation in Lehigh County streams had already been done last week. Meaning, if fact, there will not be any inseason stockings. However, it isn’t known if this was true for other Pennsylvania streams and lakes. 

The DCNR will permit fishing and boating in state parks and forests but social distancing must be followed, but noted that restrooms at state park facilities may be closed. The agency is encouraging anglers to conduct outdoor activities within 15 minutes of their homes. 

Also, the Mentored Youth Day will not take place this season, but the PF&BC will honor all Voluntary Youth Fishing Licenses purchased in 2020 for all mentored youth fishing during the 2021 season. 

I did a quick check at 10 a.m., April 7, on the Little Lehigh Creek in the area of the covered bridge in Lehigh Parkway, and saw seven anglers fishing that stretch so some anglers got the word on the revised, surprise opener. Also checked the Egypt section of the Coplay Creek and there were about 10 anglers there. One group did not adhere to the six-foot spacing rule as they were hopefully a nuclear family.

Some local bait and tackle shops were also taken by surprise of this revised trout opener. Bob Danenhower, from Bob’s Taxidermy and Tackle Shop in Orefield said he scrambled to get items priced and live bait containers ready after his phone began ringing early in the morning to inform him of the last minute announcement. 

Willie’s Bait & Tackle in Cementon, had a phone message informing anglers to call and make an appointment to come in for bait and tackle as only a limited number of people were allowed in the shop at one time. The message said the shop was closed Tuesday’s so it’s unknown if that changed upon Willie learning of the new opener. 
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