Youth field day tops county council agenda
Warren County Youth Field Day occupied most of the busy monthly meeting of the Warren County Council of Sportsmen's Clubs, July 12 at Brokenstraw Fish and Game Club.
The annual Warren County Youth Field Day will be held July 28 at Chapman State Park, with shooting stations on State Game Lands No. 29, which is adjacent to the park. On-site registration is from 8:00 a.m. to 9:00 a.m.
Youth Field Day has been a major project of the County Council for several years. After being held at Hemlock Lakes Campground for the first few years, it was moved to the state park when participation declined. Last year was the largest in some time with 108 kids participating.
Youth Field Day is open to all youth, but they must be accompanied by a responsible adult. An adult may bring more than one kid. Pre-registration is requested. Pre-register by phoning the Warren County Visitor Center at 726-1222.
The objective of Youth Field Day is to introduce kids to various outdoor activities. Throughout the day the youth, who are divided into groups, move around to various stations. Each station presents a different activity.
Among the traditional Youth Field Day activities are trap shooting, turkey calling, trapping, the Seneca Run, a reptile display, archery, air rifle, muzzleloader, canoeing and boat safety, rimfire rifle and fishing.
Event coordinator Tom Walters is in the process of finalizing the schedule. Instructors are being lined up for each station. As has been the case in the past, there is some difficulty in securing an archery instructor.
Another late chore is getting sponsors to make donations of money, food and prizes.
Feeding bears may result in a fine
Feeding wildlife, once just something we did without much thought, now involves laws which might seem to be confusing. It can be hard to determine what you can feed, where you can feed it, and when you can feed it.
But here is one way to be sure about at least one aspect of laws regarding feeding wildlife. If you have been warned not to do it by a Wildlife Conservation Officer it is not legal, and if you continue to do it you might be fined.
Why is it such a serious thing?
There is a saying in most states where bears reside that goes like this; a fed bear is a dead bear.
Black bears do not have a recorded history of killing people in Pennsylvania. But they are more than capable of doing so.
The problem with feeding bears is that they become too comfortable around people. This is when serious problems can arise. Even if they do not attack people, and they have, they often do a lot of damage. Then people call the Pennsylvania Game Commission demanding that the bears be removed.
Very often bears that are trapped then released elsewhere find their way back to their original location. When they do this too often, or when they threaten people, they have to be euthanized.
Please, if bears are attracted to your bird feeders, take down the feeders and remove any seeds that remain on the ground. Even if you do not mind the bears, some of your neighbors might.
No wake on Conewango Creek
Lately Conewango Creek has become more popular. Canoes, kayaks and even power boats are now common sights where just a few years ago seeing any watercraft was unusual.
As is often the case, increased human traffic leads to problems. One common problem lately has been motor boats operating at illegal speeds. Most of Conewango Creek is covered by 'no wake' restrictions. It is illegal to operate a boat at greater than slow, no wake speed within 100 feet of the shoreline. Since Conewango Creek is less than 200 feet wide in most places, this means boats on the creek virtually always must operate at slow, no wake speed.
Please also note that traveling at high speeds can result in collisions with canoes or kayaks, or strikes with underwater objects.