Lehigh Valley Outdoors
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other
  • Home
  • Hunting
  • Fishing
  • Boating
  • Archery
  • Sports Vehicles
  • Golf
  • Shooting Sports
  • Other

Lehigh valley outdoors

By Nick Hromiak

Pheasant hunting season opens Oct. 22 and includes a Sunday hunt

10/16/2022

0 Comments

 

Upland hunters can look forward to some pheasant and rabbit action this Saturday when the first of three pheasant and rabbit hunting season opens. It’s one of three  seasons where this initial season runs Oct. 22-Nov. 12 and Sunday, Nov. 13, the latter is one of two Sunday small game hunting opportunities. 

If you read last week’s column, it was explained that the once popular pheasant season is not what it was 20-30 years ago when the Pennsylvania Game Commission (PGC) stocked local farm and private lands that were part of the PGCs Farm-Game Co-Op program. It was subsequently replaced with the Hunter Access Program that has similar functions. The former would allow the agency to stock farms and private lands with pheasants and in turn the owners would get pine and shrub seedlings to plant on their property and be given signs to post to denote their lands were open to hunting, plus other benefits. 

Today, the majority of lands that get stocked with birds are state lands. This is attributed in part to development of farm lands and loss of habitat. 

In Lehigh County, only State Game Lands #205 in Lowhill Township receives birds according to the PGCs stocking map. 

The PGC says they have or will have stocked 11,750 males and 4,340 females for the Junior Hunt; 120,170 males and 44,170 females for pre and in-season; and 41,630 males and 15, 400 females for the winter season  here in the Southeast Region. 

When consulting the PGCs website pheasant stocking map, SGL #205 received eight releases of 4,310 birds in 2021. 

Despite these numbers, there is a survival rate that considers predation by hawks, owls, foxes, and coyotes. The PGC says that overall, 53 percent of males and 41.1 percent of females were harvested. Harvest rates were similar between other public properties (50.7 percent) and SGLs (48.7 percent), but were significantly higher than harvest rates on Hunter Access properties (37.3 percent). 

For hunters with a hunting dog, your chances are better of scoring as these planted birds, despite the PGC’s best effort to keep them wild while being raised, have a tendency to run instead of fly. A good pointer can solve this. 

As for rabbits, I contend there are more in parts of the city of Allentown than there are in the farmland fields and woodlands. Perhaps the reason for the latter is that a growing population of coyotes and foxes in suburbia have kept their once high numbers in check. 

LIL-LE-HI TROUT NURSERY GETS RAINBOWS
​
For the past five years, the Lil-Le-Hi trout nursery in Allentown did not receive rainbow trout from the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission for rearing and stocking. Reason being, there was a rash of gill lice affecting rainbows. But after the PFBC did a 30-day study of a sampling of trout at the nursery and finding no lice, the agency deposited 11,400 rainbow fingerlings last Wednesday into a rearing tank at the nursery. “These fish will grow and be stocked in area streams in two years,” said James Schneck, a member of Pioneer Fish & Game Association and a nursery volunteer worker. In addition, the PFBC also sent 125 sizeable  golden rainbow trout to be stocked next year. 




0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Nick Hromiak has been an outdoors and automotive  writer for over 30 years. He's been published in numerous national and state-wide outdoor magazines and newspapers. 

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016

    RSS Feed

      Subscribe!

    Subscribe to Newsletter
Proudly powered by Weebly