GROUSE HUNTING $3.99 THE EASTERN COYOTE Savage Model 99 Lever-Action Rifle GAME COOKBOOK SECOND EDITION PENNSYLVANIA GAME COMMISSION GAME COOKBOOK SECOND EDITION Pennsylvania Game Commission Game Cookbook, Second Edition, is now available. The 108-page, softbound book is printed in full color and priced at $9.43, plus sales tax, plus shipping added to all mail orders. Makes a Great Gift! cookbook cover 7x9.indd 1 10/8/2014 10:25:02 AM Call 1-888-888-3459 or visit “The Outdoor Shop” at www.pgc.state.pa.us with credit card, or make check payable to Pennsylvania Game Commission and mail with order to: Pennsylvania Game Commission; Department MS; 2001 Elmerton Avenue; Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797. Find patches, books, prints and other products at the “The Outdoor Shop.” Shipping & Handling $1.00 to $6.00 = $1.25 $6.01 to $20 = $2.95 $20.01 to $35 = $4.95 $35.01 to $60 = $6.95 $60.01 to $100 = $8.95 Volume 86 • No. 6 P E N N S Y L V A N I A JUNE 2015 (USPS 426180) Tom Wolf Governor COMMISSION MEMBERS FEATURES David J. Putnam, President 2 Enduring Presence Centre Hall By Joe Kosack Brian H. Hoover, Vice President 8 Adam Glenolden By Leroy M. Young Jr. Timothy S. Layton, Secretary 12 Alien Invasion Windber By Eric Horsh James J. Delaney Jr. Wilkes-Barre 15 Standing on the Thin Green Line Robert W. Schlemmer By John DeMille Export 19 Pappy’s Patience Ronald Weaner By Emily Ann Snyder Biglerville 22 Addicted to Grouse Charles E. Fox By Carl W. McCardell Troy James R. Daley 26 “Horn” a Plenty Cranberry Township By Bob D’Angelo 34 Our Neighbors, the Eagles EXECUTIVE OFFICE By David Wineberg R. Matthew Hough Executive Director Richard Palmer Deputy Executive Director DEPARTMENTS Bryan J. Burhans 30 Research Briefs Deputy Executive Director 32 From the Field By Joe Kosack BUREAU DIRECTORS 39 Field Notes Dorothy R. Derr 45 Conservation News Administrative Services ♦ James Daley appointed Commissioner Paul Mahon ♦ 25-Year Club Automated Technology Services 50 The Naturalist’s Eye Stephen P. Smith By Marcia Bonta Information & Education Thomas P. Grohol 54 Straight from the Bowstring Wildlife Protection By John Kasun John P. Dunn 58 The Campfire Wildlife Management, Acting By Bob D’Angelo 59 Lock, Stock & Barrel GAME NEWS By Bob D’Angelo Robert D. D’Angelo 64 Crossings Senior Associate Editor By Ben Moyer Joe Kosack Associate Editor Patricia E. Monk Administrative Assistant COVER PAINTING BY TOM SCHATZ (Background on p. 53) Carol A. Petrina Circulation PENNSYLVANIA GAME NEWS (ISSN 0031-451X) is published monthly for $18 per year, $45 for three years; to Canada and all other foreign countries, $24 U.S. currency, per year. Published by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797. Phone 717-787-4250. Periodicals postage paid at Harrisburg and additional mailing offices. CHANGE OF ADDRESS: POSTMASTER: Send both old and new addresses to Pennsylvania Game News, 2001 Elmerton Ave., Harrisburg, PA 17110-9797. Allow six weeks for processing. Unsolicited submissions should meet writers’ guidelines, available on request. Acceptance payment covers all rights and title to accepted material, including manuscripts, photographs, drawings and illustrations. No information contained in this magazine may be used for advertising or commercial purposes. Opinions expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of the Pennsylvania Game Commission. Copyright © 2015 by the Pennsylvania Game Commission, an Equal Opportunity Employer, the programs of which are all administered consistent with the goals and objectives of Affirmative Action. All rights reserved. NOTICE: Subscriptions received and processed by the last day of each month will begin with the second month following. PRINTED ON RECYCLED PAPER For questions about your subscription, call 1-888-888-1019. www.pgc.state.pa.us ENDURING PRE The coyote now inhabits most of Pennsylvania. Expect it to become more visible in the future. T’S HARD for some of us to believe But now coyotes are becoming more Pennsylvania is home to thousands noticeable in suburbia, even around Iof coyotes. Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Few of us have seen one. Yet, with The buildup didn’t happen over a each passing year, their visibility is few years. It spans more than six de- increasing. cades. Today, coyotes maintain a stable Hunters for years have reported their statewide population and most wildlife presence is growing in Penn’s Woods. managers who study them believe Farmers, too, have noticed the trend in they’re here to stay. their fields and pastures. And for years, it was mostly a rural thing. Historical records show us eastern 2 WWW.PENNGAMENEWS.COM otes may have occupied southwestern Pennsylvania by way of Ohio in the late 1940s, before eastern coyotes eventu- ally emigrated there from the north. Today, the eastern coyote is Pennsyl- SENCE vania’s prominent coyote. Joe Kosack Tom Hardisky, Game Commission Associate Editor furbearer biologist, believes it became apparent Pennsylvania had a coyote population in the 1960s, but their numbers were a fraction of today’s population. “In the 1970s, coyotes were classi- fied as ‘eastern coyotes’ and we believe Pennsylvania’s northeastern counties became the nucleus for coyote range expansion,” Hardisky said. “From there, coyotes pushed west across the state’s northern tier, then south. Claiming unoccupied range, coyotes increased quickly through the 1980s and ’90s. In the ’80s, about 25 percent of to- day’s coyote population was in place, Hardisky said. In the ’90s, it neared 50 percent. Since then, coyote popula- tions have probably doubled, he said. Josh Clark “Their increased numbers and ex- panded distribution over time reflect the coyote’s adaptive ability to survive and thrive on nearly any landscape,” coyotes began appearing in Pennsyl- Hardisky explained. “Each passing year, vania in the 1940s. They have been there are fewer places in Pennsylvania traced through DNA studies to matings coyotes haven’t been.” of western coyotes and Great Lakes gray wolves that occurred earlier in the Coyotes are cognizant of people and 20th century. generally keep their distance, but some, The progeny of these matings were particularly in suburban and urban set- eastern coyotes, which began to drift tings, relax their buffer to fit in. Other- from the Great Lakes region south wise, there’d be no way they could have into New York and eventually into infiltrated areas in and around major Pennsylvania. cities such as Philadelphia, New York This research – by Roland Kays, City and Washington, D.C. Abigail Curtis and Jeremy J. Kirchman The coyote’s willingness to (2009) – also shows that western coy- indiscriminately eat all kinds of avail- JUNE 2015 3 The pages of Game News from the 1940s forward have illustrated the coyote’s migration into Pennsylvania. This 42-pound coyote was shot Dec. 3, 1946, during buck season by Walter Schucker, of Clearfield, in Goshen Township, Clearfield County. He was a member of the New Birch Spring Camp. The photo appeared in the January 1947 issue of Game News. able prey, mast and leftovers helps it moving into unoccupied range. make almost any landscape home. It’s no secret coyotes prey on white- It’ll scarf up roadkill and food from tail fawns, might come running to tur- pet dishes routinely. Wandering neigh- key calls and have been photographed borhood cats and small dogs, over- by trail cameras visiting deer carcasses. crowdings of resident Canada geese, Those actions surely match the true or hatches of cicadas all are fair game. opportunist this animal is. But to what Ditto for grapes, berries, acorns or litter end? alongside the road. “Coyotes are one of the most adapt- Suburban and urban areas have able creatures on earth,” Hardisky said. much to offer coyotes, because the “They always seek prey that are the increased densities of people lead to easiest to catch, not necessarily the more garbage, litter and roadkills. oldest or weakest individuals. Their Prey species also can be abundant in quarries often are livestock, domestic these areas, because of the difficulties pets and other prey animals with little associated with hunting and trapping fear of predators.” them, and the limited availability of A 16-month fawn mortality study predators. in 2000 and 2001 by the Game Access to more pets and strays just Commission and Pennsylvania Co- sweetens the pot. These opportunities, operative Fish and Wildlife Research and the coyote’s talent for managing Center at Penn State University con- trouble, suggest that it’s not yet done firmed coyotes are predators of fawns. 4 WWW.PENNGAMENEWS.COM But they were one of several – including “Pennsylvania’s hunters have been bobcats and black bears – responsible asking us to take another – closer – for killing about 22 percent of the 218 look, and given the gains of coyotes fawns monitored with radio collars in since the last predator study was the study. conducted, it is a reasonable and re- Another fawn-mortality study is sponsible step for this agency to take,” underway to take a closer look at fawn Putnam said. “Whitetails remain one predation in Pennsylvania. This time, of Pennsylvania’s most important re- researchers will seek to achieve a bet- sources.” ter understanding of the community structure and relative abundance of The last time Pennsylvanians lived forest predators in two study areas to in such close proximity to a substantial shed more light on how these preda- population of free-roaming, large ca- tors compete for and partition prey nids like the eastern coyote was at least resources, said Matt Lovallo, Game 125 years ago. But at that time, there Commission Game Mammals Section were fewer residents, less development.