First time experience hunting monster whitetail in Pike County Illinois through the eyes of a cameraman.

Chasing Monster bucks in Pike County Illinois during the rut.

Truly thankful on this Thanksgiving!

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission officials today announced that hunters started the 2009 black bear season by taking a preliminary harvest of 1,897 black bears in 50 counties on the first day of the three-day statewide bear season.

HARRISBURG, Pa. The Eastern Sports & Outdoor Show, the largest consumer event of its kind in North America, will be bigger and better when it comes to the State Farm Show Complex, Harrisburg February 6-14, 2010.

Scouting Matters: Pre-season and in-season scouting are critically important to any trapline. Furbearer activity centers sometimes shift, based on the availability of food and den sites. Scouting helps a trapper determine where it’s best to put traps. After all, traps set in areas where targeted furbearers aren’t available will only waste your time and fuel. Be efficient. Don’t guess. In the process, you’ll squeeze plenty of excitement into your morning trap-checks and become a better trapper.

Each year, Pennsylvania Game Commission field officers and foresters develop game and furbearer forecasts for the areas they work to share with interested hunters and trappers. Observations on local furbearer populations are always a part of this annual offering. The Pennsylvania Game Commission’s “Field Officer Forecasts” can be found centered on the homepage of the agency’s website (www.pgc.state.pa.us). Developed to share field officer perspectives and observations on game and furbearer trends in their respective districts and to help hunters and trappers get closer to the action afield, this information helped many sportsmen and sportswomen have more enjoyable days afield last year.

HARRISBURG – Many of the state’s furbearer trapping and hunting seasons are underway and, based on comments from Pennsylvania Game Commission field officers, hunters and trappers should have a good year. The general trapping season – for coyotes, foxes, raccoons, opossums, skunks and weasels – opened Oct. 25 and runs through Feb. 21. The season for mink and muskrats is Nov. 21 to Jan. 10; beavers, Dec. 26 to March 31.

The omission of a regulation that has been in place for decades in this year’s digest has caused some hunters and trappers to wonder whether they still are required to display their licenses in the middle of the back as has been done for many, many years. Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe answered, “Yes, it still needs to be displayed.”

The Pennsylvania Game Commission counts on hunters to provide information on the deer they harvest. And, to make reporting a deer harvest easier, the Game Commission reminds hunters that they can now file their harvest reports through the agency’s new online system.