The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s Pymatuning Wildlife Learning Center will open for season April 6.

Hours are 8:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the third week in September. The center is located at 12590 Hartstown Road, Linesville, Crawford County.

The adjacent Linesville State Fish Hatchery, operated by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, also opens April 6 with an open house.

Deer harvest figures jumped significantly this past hunting season in the three wildlife management units in northwestern Pennsylvania, according to Pennsylvania Game Commission statistics released this morning.

The Game Commission’s preliminary harvest figures indicate there was a 2 percent increase across the state in deer kills during the 2012-13 seasons over the 2011-12 seasons. Hunters killed 343,110 deer compared to 336,200 a year ago.

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Audubon Pennsylvania and the Presque Isle Audubon Society are accepting volunteers to help with a work day March 23 at Gull Point on Presque Isle State Park.

Volunteers must preregister by e-mail to Sarah Sargent at ssargent@audubon.org. Plan to meet at the Beach 10 parking lot, near the Gull Point trailhead, at 9 a.m., and to work until noon. Dress for the weather, and wear footwear suitable for the hike to the point.

New access trails to the relocated observation platform are being established. Posts and signs will be installled and rope strung between them from the boundary trail to the platform. “Area closed” posts will be placed around the point, facing Lake Erie, to alert boaters not to land. The Pennsylvania Game Commission also will provide signage.

Gull Point access is restricted each year between April 1 and Nov. 30 because of the area’s importance to birds during migration and nesting seasons.

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.

Hunters killed 30 fewer bears in 2012 than they did in 2011 in the Northwest Region, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission final harvest results released today.

There were 365 bears shot in the nine-county region including a high of 94 in Warren County. There were 395 bears killed in 2011 including 119 in Warren County.

Hunters killed seven bears in Erie County, the same number as in 2011. Clarion, Venango, Jefferson and Butler each had more reported kills in 2012 than a year earlier; Forest, Crawford and Mercer counties had fewer — 34 fewer in the Venango, which had 90 kills in 2011 and 56 this past year.

Robert A. Pitts, of Meadville, shot a 620-pound male Nov. 17 in Roulette Township,
Potter County, that is the fifth-largest harvested during the 2012 season.

The overall state harvest was 3,632 bears, the third-most in Pennsylvania history. The record is 4,350 in 2011.

Wildlife Management Unit 1B had 38 recorded kills, or 26 fewer than in 2011. WMU 1B includes all of Erie County, most of Crawford County and parts of Warren and Venango counties.

The final bear harvests by Wildlife Management Unit (with final 2011 figures in parentheses): WMU 1A, 4 (13); WMU 1B, 38 (64); WMU 2B, 6 (1): WMU 2C, 268 (226); WMU 2D, 162 (150); WMU 2E, 50 (79); WMU 2F, 285 (345); WMU 2G, 829 (1,086); WMU 3A, 342 (564); WMU 3B, 279 (479); WMU 3C, 146 (299); WMU 3D, 305 (318); WMU 4A, 139 (72); WMU 4B, 84 (70); WMU 4C, 163 (148); WMU 4D, 403 (355); WMU 4E, 110 (79); WMU 5A, 1 (1); WMU 5B, 2 (0); and WMU 5C, 16 (1).

Final county harvests by region (with 2011 figures in parentheses):

Northwest: Warren, 94 (119); Clarion, 77 (47); Venango, 62 (56); Forest, 56 (90); Jefferson, 51 (45); Butler, 11 (9); Erie, 7 (7); Crawford, 6 (16); and Mercer, 1 (6).

Southwest: Somerset, 94 (75); Fayette, 79 (67); Westmoreland, 37 (24); Armstrong, 35 (66); Indiana, 24 (33); Cambria, 11 (35); and Allegheny, 4 (1).

Northcentral: Lycoming, 341 (336); Clinton, 265 (205); Tioga, 227 (381); Potter 179 (399); Centre, 143 (129); McKean, 134 (258); Clearfield, 102 (154); Union, 82 (49); Elk, 76 (153); and Cameron, 67 (100).

Southcentral: Huntingdon, 125 (73); Bedford, 86 (44); Mifflin, 62 (48); Blair, 50 (32); Juniata, 37 (33); Perry, 32 (13); Fulton, 25 (15); Franklin, 14 (13); Snyder, 14 (29); Adams, 2 (0); and Cumberland, 2 (4).

Northeast: Pike, 108 (116); Monroe, 102 (88); Luzerne, 100 (99); Bradford, 86 (126); Wayne, 73 (208); Carbon, 67 (45); Sullivan, 60 (180); Wyoming, 57 (57); Susquehanna, 41 (92); Lackawanna, 37 (25); Columbia, 36 (26); Northumberland, 26 (11); and Montour, 3 (0).

Southeast: Dauphin, 48 (46); Schuylkill, 39 (34); Northampton, 21 (4); Lehigh 3 (3); Berks, 7 (2); and Lebanon, 4 (13).

A hunter from Pittsburgh killed one of the state’s largest bears this season in Forest County.

Michael J. Kelly shot the 573-pound male black bear Nov. 21 in Harmony Township. It’s No. 9 on the list of heaviest bears this season, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s preliminary harvest results.

The No. 5 bear belongs to Robert A. Pitts, of Meadville, who shot 620-pound male Nov. 17 in Roulette Township, Potter County.

The by-county preliminary harvests for the four-day hunt in the Northwest Region: Warren, 88; Clarion, 74; Venango, 62; Forest, 51; Jefferson, 50; Butler, 8; Erie, 7; and Crawford, 6.

A Meadville man shot the second-largest black bear recorded during Saturday’s opening day of the annual four-day Pennsylvania hunt.

Robert A. Pitts shot a a 620-pound male in Roulette, Potter County. It trailed only the 652-pound male that Timothy J. Moffett, of Barto, shot in Smithfield Township, Monroe County.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission said the top 10 bears processed at its check stations by Monday each had estimated live weights of 530 pounds or more.

Lycoming County, with 151 bears, had the top opening-day harvest. Warren County was fourth with 63 bears.

The Northwest Region first-day harvest, by county: Warren, 63; Clarion, 42; Forest, 30; Jefferson, 28; Venango, 26; Erie, 5; Butler, 4; and Crawford, 3.

A St. Marys man shot the heaviest antlerless elk harvested during the annual Pennsylvania elk hunt Nov. 5-10.

Sylvester Kronenwetter shot a 616-pound elk Nov. 9 in Huston Township, Clearfield County. It was one of 52 elk killed during the hunt, according to the Pennsylvania Game Commission.

The heaviest antlered elk was Richard Tratthen Jr.’s 8×8, which weighed an estimated 840 pounds. The Lackawanna County hunter shot it Nov. 7, in Jay Township, Elk County.

The Pennsylvania Game Commission will offer hunter-trapper education courses in northwestern Pennsylvania on the following days and times:

Keystone Gun Club, Erie, Friday (6-9:30 p.m.); Saturday (9 a.m.-5:30 p.m.)

Stoneboro Volunteer Fire Department, Stoneboro, Sunday (4:30-8:30 p.m.); Monday (5:30-8:30 p.m.); Tuesday (5:30-8:30 p.m.)

Jennings Environmental Education Center, Slippery Rock, Tuesday (5:30-9:30 p.m.); Wednesday (6-9:30 p.m.); Nov. 15 (6-9:30 p.m.)

Greene Township Municipal Building, Tuesday (6-9:30 p.m.); Wednesday (6-9:30 p.m.); Nov. 15 (6-9:30 p.m.); Nov. 24 (1-4 p.m.)

For availability and other information, call (814) 432-3187, or visit www.pgc.state.pa.us.

An improvement project for at Raccoon Creek Park broke ground today at the 195-acre site in Springfield Township.

The Department of Conservation and Natural Resources said it has invested $152,000 through its Community Conservation Partnerships Program, and the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection Coastal Zone Management Program is providing $136,000.

A new pavilion and restrooms will be constructed, along with a food preparation area, utility room, picnic shelter and landscaping.

The project will feature energy-efficient lighting, low-flow plumbing fixtures, a tankless hot water heater and native plantings.

“The health and vitality of our communities is reflected in the quality of their parks and trails, access to waterways, open spaces, and opportunities to be active outdoors,” DCNR Secretary Richard Allan said in a news release. “This project is sure to increase visitors who are looking for great fishing opportunities, access to Lake Erie or a great place for their children to play.”

Sen. Jane Earll also took part in the groundbreaking.

The DCNR grant money was provided through the Keystone Fund generated from a portion of the real estate transfer tax.

The DCNR said the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which stocks Raccoon Creek with steelhead, has indicated an interest in making stream improvements once the park rehabilitation is complete. State Game Lands 314 also borders the park. The DCNR said the township intends to partner with the Pennsylvania Game Commission on trail improvements, security and limited archery hunting.