State Game Lands 314 in Springfield Township will grow by 40 acres after the Pennsylvania Board of Game Commissioners approved the purchase of an interior tract from the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy.

The Game Commission said the purchase price is $41,912 — $23,000 from the Game Fund and the remainder through third-party commitments for compensation of habitat and recreational losses on game lands from previously approved projects.

The conservancy and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service are working to acquire the property through funding from the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Joint Venture Habitat Restoration Protection Grant.

The Game Commission said the property, which can be accessed from Lynch Road, is within an Important Bird Area; at least three species of special concern are on or near the property. A Conrail Railroad right-of-way and a minor stretch of a Turkey Creek tributary are on the property.

No use of the surface for oil and gas exploration, production, removal or sale will be allowed on the property, according to the Game Commission.

Zach Lyons, 12, of Franklin, shot an 8-point buck Nov. 2 with his compound bow.

Lyons and his grandfather, Tom Young, were hunting on the edge of State Game Land 39 in Venango County.Young was in a tree stand and Lyons in a ground blind. He shot the deer from 15 yards after it responded to rattling.

Vote for the NWPA Outdoors Deer of the Year at goerie.com/deeroftheyear. Voting ends Dec. 31, and the Deer of the Year will be announced Jan. 6 in the Erie Times-News and on www.GoErie.com, along with an Editor’s Choice pick.

You can still submit your deer photo to the GoErie Hunting and Fishing gallery.

Bradford Watson, of Fairview, shot a 12-point buck Dec. 1 on State Game Land 314 in West Springfield.

Vote for the NWPA Outdoors Deer of the Year at goerie.com/deeroftheyear. Voting ends Dec. 31, and the Deer of the Year will be announced Jan. 6 in the Erie Times-News and on www.GoErie.com, along with an Editor’s Choice pick.

You can still submit your deer photo to the GoErie Hunting and Fishing gallery.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission has canceled a planned late-season flintlock/late archery deer hunt at the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area because of an outbreak of a deadly viral disease in the deer herd in that area.

Epizootic hemorrhagic disease was ruled as the cause of death for a dozen deer in the region in September. EHD is transmitted by the bites of midges and usually kills infected animals within five days to 10 days. The commission said the untreatable disease is not infectious to humans, but infected venison may not be suitable for consumption.

“Recent frost in the area may hopefully end this year’s outbreak of EHD,” Northwest Region director Keith Harbaugh said. “However, in evaluating the situation in this area, we estimate that 75 percent to 85 percent of the deer herd found on the wildlife management area has succumbed to EHD.

“It would appear that Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area, and portions of the surrounding State Game Land 214 are the epicenter, as we have multiple reports of dead deer from Meadville Junction to just east of Conneaut Lake to Adamsville to Espyville.”

Harbaugh said the commission does expect to have a special hunt in 2013.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission will offer free guided tours of State Game Land 39, in Venango County, and State Game Land 130, in Mercer County, on Sept. 22 at 10 a.m.

Tour participants should meet at the SGL 130 parking area on the right side of Reeds Furnace Road, two-tenths of a mile off Route 965, west of the Venango/Mercer county border. The tour will go on rain or shine and is open to everyone who is  interested in learning about the game lands and their wildlife and habitat management.

The 17-mile tour will display habitat work as well as Marcellus/Utica Shale gas well development, and steps taken to improve habitat and infrastructure on the SGLs. Game Commission officials will talk about the use of a timber sale to promote aspen regeneration. Grassland birds, ruffed grouse, woodcock habitat and more also are on the agenda.

Tour participants also will meet with members of the Sandy Creek Watershed, the Pennsylvania Game Commission and the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

Participants may travel in their own vehicles or set up car pools at the meeting site. The commission said four-wheel drive is not necessary, but vehicles with low ground clearance could scrape bottom.

This tour will make stops and will involve short walks. Pack a lunch or snack.

Directions to the starting point: From Mercer, take Route 62 East toward Jackson Center to the junction of Route 965 Continue East on Route 965 through red blinker light at Route 173. Continue about 5 miles to Reeds Furnace Road, then left onto Reeds Furnace Road. From Franklin, take Route 62 West through Polk to junction of Route 965 then about 5 miles to Reeds Furnace Road and turn right onto Reeds Furnace Road to first SGL parking lot on right.

Year two of the three-year timbering project at State Game Land 314 in northwestern Erie County is leaving the Pennsylvania Game Commission-owned property unrecognizable in many places.

That was the plan all along.

Read the rest of this entry »

The ongoing lumbering and habitat management project at State Game Lands 314 in western Erie County is about to resume.

UPDATE June 25: As of June 24, work had not commenced.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Shayne A. Hoachlander said the project on 800 acres is intended to improve habitat for American woodcock, blue-winged warblers and other shrub-associated birds. About 300 acres were completed in 2011.

“Although the target is shrub associated birds, deer and turkeys stand to benefit greatly,” said Hoachlander, a land management group supervisor. “This project will stimulate a lot of browse production within reach of deer and also stimulate soft mast production and cover.”

In other Northwest Region game lands news:

LMGS Jeffery T. Kendall said there are multiple projects going on with habitat management in Lawrence and Butler counties. “Most obvious to the hunter will be large blocks, some more than 30 acres, of dead vegetation,” he said. “These areas have had herbicide applied to kill the invasive species of shrubs. Large areas of multiflora rose, autumn olive and honeysuckle have been treated in an attempt to get back the native species of shrubs and trees. These invasive species take over areas and crowd out the native plants that are good for wildlife and the habitat. Hunters will go to these SGLs this fall and hopefully be pleasantly surprised at all the hard work and money that has been spent to control these invasive species on many areas on the SGLs.”

LMGS Mario L. Piccirilli reports his Food and Cover Corps crews has been maintaining road and culverts , stocking spring breeder pheasants and maintaining equipment. “The Food and Cover Corps crews also have been operating the upland vegetation cutter which controls invasives and promotes shrub release on SGLs,” he said. “Other projects include spreading lime and fertilizer over food plots on SGLs in preparation of planting season.”

Clarion/Jefferson Counties LMGS George J. Miller reports that 37.32 acres of warm-season grasses will be established, 70.14 acres of native and beneficial shrubs will be planted, and 21.48 acres of non-commercial timber will be cut through the cooperation of seven private landowner enrolled in the agency’s Hunter Access Program who took advantage of the VPA/Hip (Volunteer Public Access/Habitat Improvement Program).

Miller reports that several volunteer projects have recently taken place on Clarion County gamelands to promote beneficial habitat and to clean up the environment. “The Clarion University Bios Club recently pick up roadside litter along Bigley Road on SGL 72, and constructed and placed 21 new bluebird boxes on this same SGL,” he said. “The Allegheny Northwoods Chapter of the RGS planted over 1,400 beneficial trees and shrubs on SGL 330 in an area recently designated to be managed as shrub habitat. The pines in this mix were planted to provide thermal-winter cover, and will be topped periodically to assure they remain low to the ground. By completing this practice, they will remain most beneficial to wildlife in the critical winter months.”

Two American bald eagles were released into the wild Wednesday in Crawford County after rehabilitation from injuries at the Tamarack Wildlife Rehabilitation and Education Center.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission oversaw release of the female eagles at the Pymatuning Wildlife Management Area, State Game Lands 214. Pymatuning was selected as the release site because of its abundant eagle habitat.

A 20-year-old mature eagle, first banded in 1992 near Vernon, Ohio, was captured April 16, 2011, near Union City by Erie County Wildlife Conservation Offcer Larry Smith. The eagle showed wing injures, missing tail feathers, emaciation and dehydration. It had suffered pellet wounds from a gunshot. Recurring infections required a long healing period at Tamarack.

Smith also picked up the immature eagle July 17, 2011, near Six Mile Creek east of Erie. The bird is believed to have suffered from West Nile Virus, which caused its feathers to become deformed during development, prohibiting flight. Rehab workers waited and watched as the eagle’s feathers were naturally restored during molting.

“Tamarack is an excellent facility that we have worked with on numerous occasions, and they have proven themselves to be especially skilled when dealing with raptors including bald eagles,” said Keith Harbaugh, Game Commission Northwest Region director. “Sue DeArment and her team at Tamarack are to be commended for their caring and compassionate work rehabilitating these eagles. We would not be here today to return these birds back to the wild if it were not for their investment of time, skill, energy, and money.”

The Game Commission said the mature female eagle was not returned to the Union City area, where she was an established breeder, because her mate successfully paired up with another eagle during her rehabilitation.

Year One of a three-year timbering project on State Game Lands 314 near West Springfield has left some clear marks on the Pennsylvania Game Commission-managed land. The Audubon Society, which has designated the property as an Important Bird Area, indicates that Aspen, American Beech, White Oak, Sugar Maple, Silky Dogwood and Red maple and Silver maple are found on the land.

The 700-acre habitat improvement project is meant to upgrade “early successional habitat” for American woodcock, among other species of birds, on the huntable land roughly bordered by Route 5, Lake Erie and the Ohio State line.

By clearing 17 cuts, the commission means to restart the forestation process, leading initially to habitat in which woodcock can thrive.

That doesn’t mean it’s all that pretty to look at these days, especially on tracts that less than a year ago were heavily forested. Downed trees line the roads and brush piles are heaped in the cuts. Wood chips betray work done since the project started late in summer 2011.

A timbering project in State Game Lands 314, directly across Lake Road from the Roderick Wildlife Preserve parking area.

At a glance, the cleared land will both attract and allow easy viewing of migrating birds, especially warblers, that regularly stop at the site but which have been all but invisible to drive-by birders. And there’s still plenty to do at 314 — fishing, hiking, eagle watching, picnicking … it’s an interesting place to tour, particularly for a first-time visitor.

The Lake Erie shoreline, looking east, from the popular overlook at State Game Land 314. It's a great place to see gulls, hawks and eagles in flight.

Childs Road has reopened after its closure in 2011. A new drain pipe was laid under the bridge where Childs meets Rudd Road, the main entrance to the game lands, presumably so it could bear the weight of the heavy machinery at work.
However, Elmwood Road, an eastern spur entrance, is closed at Route 5.

This week’s Erie-area fishing report from Randy Leighton, deputy waterways conservation officer for the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission:

Off-and-on rain Monday and an all-day soaker Tuesday brought the the Lake Erie tributary levels up to fast and muddy conditions There is  rain and possible snow in the forecast which may help to which may spawn additional steelhead movement and help keep water levels up and flowing. Catches have been good with anglers doing very well at the mouth of Trout and Godfrey runs and throughout most of the trib areas. The rain triggered some action at the Walnut Creek Marina basin with a good number taken over the past week on shiners, paste baits and tipped jigs. With the on-and-off rainfall, Crooked Creek has been productive and less crowded than the lower sections of Walnut and Elk. Current Lake Erie water temperature is 48 degrees. Area tribs were flowing and muddy as of late Tuesday afternoon.

Perch must be a minimum of 7 inches beginning Dec. 1 through March 31, 2012, for Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay. The creel limit remains at 30 fish.

We again want to emphasize that it is wise to wear at least some orange in the outlying areas of the tribs, especially on Elk, Crooked and Conneaut creeks. With the rainy weather we had for opening day and the kill possibly down, many deer hunters will be out over the next two weeks as the colder weather and possible snow reaches our area. Don’t put your self in their sights, wear some orange. If you are on State Game lands, wearing orange is a requirement during hunting season.