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The Pennsylvania Game Commission will be holding a meeting today, Friday, September 25, at 8:30 AM. The Commission is requesting public comments. They will be live-streaming the event on YouTube. A …
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John S. Van Etten
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9/25/26
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A friend, Mary Heinle of White Sulphur Springs (a wonderful selfless lady who, by the way, has donated enough pints of blood over the years to almost fill an Olympic-size swimming pool), called the …
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John S. Van Etten
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9/11/26
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The other day I noticed a yellow birch tree with a grid pattern of elongated holes in it. Knowing it to be the work of a type of woodpecker called a sapsucker and having seen these similar groups of …
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John Van Etten
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9/4/26
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The Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs of Sullivan County will be hosting its annual Kay Danchak Memorial Youth Outdoor Expo at the Grahamsville Fairgrounds on September 5. The Sullivan County …
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By John S. Van Etten
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8/28/26
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In the Sportsman section of the Little World’s Fair in Grahamsville this past Saturday, there was a master craftsman carving out a longbow. It was fascinating to watch him work. Not knowing much …
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John S. Van Etten
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8/21/26
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New York State has eight PRISMs (Partnerships for Regional Invasive Species Management). In recent years, a powerful new tool has been added to their combat arsenal. Our canine companions can be …
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John S. Van Etten
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8/14/26
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The Pennsylvania Game Commission has announced that their Elk Cam has started up for the season. Some of our readers may not be familiar with Elk Cam, but it’s a pretty big deal. It’s a live …
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John S. Van Etten
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8/7/26
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There is a swarm of very small bees working the blossoms of the trumpet vine this morning. Much smaller than the familiar European honeybees and bumblebees, I’m not sure what kind they are. …
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John S. Van Etten
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7/31/26
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Many animals are threatened or endangered as they continue to lose habitat to humans and our insatiable quest for development. But every once in a while, we hear about a species that is actually …
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John S. Van Etten
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7/27/26
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Back in 2011, I was in the Town of Liberty Building Department office and was shown a flyer on the bulletin board about Giant Hogweed being discovered in Sullivan County. The NYS DEC had been there …
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John S. Van Etten
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7/21/26
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Leave No Trace is a national organization dedicated to training folks on how to protect the outdoors while enjoying it. They are partners with state agencies such as, the Pennsylvania Department of …
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John S. Van Etten
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7/13/26
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Birding is a very popular pastime for folks, and many of us feed the birds. According to estimates from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, approximately 7.4 million …
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John S. Van Etten
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7/3/26
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Back in March the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation proposed some changes to the regulations for hunting deer. They asked for public input and after receiving more than 1000 responses, …
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John S. Van Etten
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6/29/26
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Red knots are a medium size shorebird. They are some of the largest members of the sandpiper family, with six known subspecies. Red knots have one of the longest migrations on record.
The red …
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John S. Van Etten
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6/18/26
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Welcome to the thirteenth annual Invasive Species Awareness Week in New York. There are four basic categories of invasives: insects, plants, animals and pathogens. According to the Department of …
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John S. Van Etten
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6/12/26
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced a new program called “These Lands Are For Everyone”. It’s designed to open up State land and make it more accessible to …
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John S. Van Etten
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6/5/26
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The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation has announced that approximately 227,032 deer were harvested during the 2025-26 season. That is up 2 percent from the previous year and …
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John S. Van Etten
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5/29/26
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Most of our readers are familiar with the little Red Eft, a terrestrial juvenile stage of the Eastern Newt. It’s common to see these little salamanders in moist areas while out in the woods. They …
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John S. Van Etten
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5/22/26
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New York is home to three different weasels: the Long-Tailed Weasel, the Short-Tailed Weasel and the Least Weasel. Let’s learn about these tenacious little predators.
Weasels are members of …
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John S. Van Etten
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5/15/26
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NYS DEC Commissioner Amanda Lefton has just announced a new Hunter Achievement Awards (HAA) Program. Hunters and trappers in New York will be eligible for the new awards for successfully …
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John S. Van Etten
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5/8/26
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Last year around this time, I wrote about the NYS DEC’s exciting new HuntFishNY program. Anne McNamara and John Milo, from the DEC Hunter Education Program (HEP) for Region 3, held their annual …
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John S. Van Etten
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5/1/26
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Saturday’s rain may have dampened the spirits of some who had hoped to spend time out of doors but was really just what our rivers and streams needed - the inch or so of rain that fell raised water …
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Judy Van Put
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4/28/26
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The Pennsylvania Game Commission adopted season dates and bag limits for the coming year at its April meeting. They also approved some changes to the rules and regulations.
Some significant …
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John S. Van Etten
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4/17/26
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One of the great success stories of modern conservation has been the reintroduction of the North American river otter to areas where it was wiped out due to pollution, loss of habitat and overharvest …
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John S. Van Etten
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4/10/26
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The Pennsylvania Game Commission reported a 6 percent increase in the deer harvest for this past season versus the prior year. New York released the bear harvest numbers for last season the same day, …
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John S. Van Etten
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4/3/26
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