E-Mail From Paul Staniszweski: Change In Visitor Center Operation Schedule

The following is a letter to the editor so as to speak, which was sent in the form of an e-mail.  This is from Paul Staniszweski, a retired educator who is currently a Pennsylvania Wild Juried Artist and a volunteer at the Elk Country Visitor Center.

Willard, I would like to comment on your blog: First of all, I would like to go back to October and the dedication of the Elk Country Visitors Center.... At that time, I mentioned that there was a noticeable absence of any representation from the PA Game Commission... Everyone that I talked to said that the reason was that there is an ongoing conflict between the Game Commission and the management of the Keystone Country Elk Alliance.... In my opinion, I think that more is involved. I feel that the vast majority of attendees to the "grand opening" were against the elk hunt and the Game Commission didn't want to have to answer questions about the hunt being unethical and giving new meaning to the word "sportsmanship". In truth, I believe the the PGC is embarrassed about the hunt and they know that it is a joke.... And the PGC knows that this hunt amounts to "shooting fish in a barrel".

Acclimated Bulls Sparring On Winslow Hill: Photo by Paul Staniszewski

The following are concerns I have about the hunt:

• The elk hunt should NOT be promoted as a trophy event.
• The "no hunt zone" needs to be extended to include Winslow Hill (I Understand that bugling was going on there throughout the hunt).
• The elk hunt does not need to be an annual event, but conducted on a "need to have" basis.

Willard, again, these are only my thoughts and now I will get off my soapbox... Sorry for the long post...

Paul

Paul also informs us that the days and hours of operation of the Visitor Center have changed.

"The management of the visitors center has announced a change in their hours and days of operation for the upcoming months as follows: For November and December, it will be closed on Tuesdays and Wednesdays and for the open days, the hours will be 9:00 AM til 5:00 PM.... And for January, February, March,
and April it will be open on Saturdays and Sundays only from 9:00 AM til 5:00 PM."

Originally posted at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill

PGC Releases Elk Hunt Results: 100% Success Rate On Bull Elk

While many claim that Pennsyilvania Elk are as wild as any and that the hunt is fair chase, we once again find that bull hunters were extremely successful.  In fact this year's success rate was 100% and last year only one bull tag was not filled. The success ratio on antlerless elk is always somewhat less.  It seems likely this is because a cow hunter is not as likely to hire a guide and is more likely to give up if they are not sucessful within the first few days of the season.



Acclimated Elk Near Boundary Of Hunt Zone 2: Photographed in 2008

We stand by our position that there needs to be a larger No Kill zone to afford  protection to more of the acclimated bulls that frequent the viewing areas.  While many bulls travel long distances to Winslow Hill during the rut, several do remain in the area and these have been hit hard since elk season resumed in 2001. 

On a postitive note the Pennsylvania Game Commission must be commended for eliminating the combined hunt zones on Winslow Hill in 2009 and allowing only hunters with zone 2 tags to hunt in zone 2.  (For a period zones 1,2,3,10 were combined which allowed a hunter with a valid tag for any of these areas to hunt wherever they chose within those 4 zones. This gave the potential for an extreme amount of hunting pressure to be directed at the elk in Zone 2, near the viewing areas on Winslow Hill. This year 2 bull  and 6 cow tags were issued for Zone 2.

Reprinted below is the official PGC news realease for the elk season which ran from Monday Nov.1 through Saturday Nov. 6th.  Please visit their website for more information on Pennsylvania wildlife.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 09, 2010
Release #120-10
Source: The Pennsylvania Game Commission
ELK HUNTERS HARVEST 41 ELK IN 2010

HARRISBURG – Pennsylvania Game Commission Executive Director Carl G. Roe today announced that 41 of the 51 licensed elk hunters were successful during the 2010 elk season, which includes a possible new state record for the typical elk category.  Of that total, 18 were antlered elk and 23 were antlerless elk.
  “Elk are one of North America’s premier big game animals,” Roe said.  “Pennsylvania is privileged to offer this unique hunting opportunity, a product of successful wildlife management that supports Pennsylvania’s rich hunting heritage.  It’s an unparalleled experience for hunters, particularly those who can’t afford to go on an expensive one- or two-week guided elk hunt out West.”
           The heaviest antlered elk was taken by John A. Murray Jr., of Grindstone, Fayette County.  He took a 880-pound (estimated live weight), 7x7 on Nov. 1, in Benezette Township, Elk County. 
           Those hunters rounding out the top five heaviest (all estimated live weights) antlered elk harvested, were: Charles H. Stowman, of Westover, Clearfield County, took a 868-pound, 8x7 on Nov. 3, in Grove Township, Cameron County; Domenic V. Aversa Sr., of Woolwich, New Jersey, took an 867-pound, 7x7 on Nov. 1, in Jay Township, Elk County; Richard R. Lundgren, of Kittanning, Armstrong County, took a 852-pound, 8x9 on Nov. 1, in Jay Township, Elk County; and James F. Wolfe, of Mercersburg, Franklin County, took an 823-pound, 7x7 on Nov. 1, in Covington Township, Clearfield County.
           Roe noted that the antlers from Aversa’s elk green-scored at 389 and seven-eighths on the Boone & Crockett Club’s official scoring system.  If that score holds after the required 60-day drying time, it will set a new record for Pennsylvania state typical elk taken with a firearm. The current record is held by John A. Polenski, of Meyersdale, Somerset County, who, in 2009,  harvested a 6x7 antlered elk that scored 370.
The heaviest antlerless elk was taken by Mark E. Gowarty, of Johnstown, Cambria County, who harvested a 582-pound (estimated live weight) antlerless elk on Nov. 2, in Benezette Township, Elk County.

How To Access Our Ideas On Pennsylvania Elk Management

Elk In Hunt Zone 2 October 31, 2010: Photo by W.Hill

 Today I return after being in Pennsylvania Elk Country since Friday Oct. 29 to observe first hand events leading up to the hunt and activity on the first three and 1/2 days of elk season.While we will delve into specific details of the trip in future posts, today I wish to address the core beliefs that drive this blog. At one point I joined several persons in contributing to the Support PA Elk Blog.  The mission statement that blog is as follows:




"The Pennsylvania Elk Herd is a unique and valuable natural resource that should be managed for all of the citizens of the Commonwealth. Hunting may be a necessary management tool at times, but it should be used only to control populations and not promoted as a viable trophy hunt. At present much of the herd is comprised of acclimated animals, which raises serious questions as to the fair chase nature of any hunt. The herd is of far more value as a viewable resource to the citizens of The Commonwealth than a limited hunt can ever be and a truly satisfying tourist experience cannot be based on a herd that flees at the sight of humans. A significant expansion of the No Kill Zone is essential! We also need to support some method as to gain funding for the PGC from tourism as this would give them a vested interest in tourism rather than as it is now when they receive little to no income from it."



One of the major disadvantages to a blog versus a website is that the material is being continually updated and important informant is eventually lost in the shuffle.  This is especially true of our personal photo blogs where the management/issue related posts are scattered among posts dealing with a wide range of subjects.There is little point in re-writing the same articles over and over, so for those who are interested in Pennsylvania elk management issues, I have compiled a list of certain posts from the SupportPAElk Blog.  Another option is to simply go to the Support PA Elk Blog and read all of the posts.

I bring this up as I was talking to a person that was interested in elk management issues and referred them to Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer blog as a source for information on elk management from the non-consumptive users point of view, but after they left I realized that one has to sort through a lot of material to find the elk management related writing and that the links to other elk information are not the most intuitive.  Hopefully putting this information in one post will help new readers interested in elk issues, until I can come up with a better layout for the blog. Simply click on the title to go to that specific post on Support PA Elk.
 
Why Hunt Our Elk?: By Coy Hill-Explores the reasons for the Pennsylvania Elk Hunt.

Scientific Wildlife Management? By Willard Hill-Raises the questions-does science dictate that we have an elk hunt and have our elk management policy decisions always been based on sound science?

Who Really Pays For Elk Mangement -Is A Change Needed? By Willard Hill- Raises the point that much of the public land in the elk range is owned by DCNR, which is not funded by hunting license dollars so to a certain extent the hunting public is being subsidized by taxpayer dollars.

More Questions Than Answers? By Coy Hill-Asks the important question-who really owns the elk?

Pennsylvania Elk: The PGC & The Money By Coy Hill-Further explores elk funding issues.

Pennsylvania Elk: Two Compelling Reasons To Expand The No Kill Zone: By Willard Hill-Discusses why there should be a larger No Hunt or No Kill Zone.

Pennsylvania Elk Management: A Need For More Mature Bulls: By Willard Hill-Discusses the size and composition of the elk herd , includes PGC Elk Biologists Jon DeBerti's thoughts as to herd size and large bull survival.

Genetics And The Hunt: By Jim Borden-Discusses the possibility that we may be damaging the genetics of the elk herd by removing the biggest and best.

Also be sure to visit Benezette Elk on Facebook for interesting discussion and photographs

Pennsylvania Elk Harvest Report

For the past two years the Pennsylvania Game Commission elk check station has been located at the Food and Cover Corps maintenance building along the Quehanna Highway near Karthaus. All successful hunters are required to bring harvested animals to the station so that biological and other data may be gathered.

PGC Elk Check Station Quehanna Highway:Photo by W.Hill

The following statistics are what were posted on the informational board outside the maintenance as of late morning on Thursday November 5, 2010.

Bulls: 15   Cows: 16.  This is from a total allocation of 17 bulls for the November season and 33 cows.  Counting the Special Conservation Tag bull taken earlier, the total number of bulls taken as of late Thursday morning was 16.

The bulls broken down by Hunt Zone and points are: Zone 2: 7x7, 5x6, Zone 3: 7x6, 5x6, Zone 4: 6x6, Zone 7:  9x7, Zone 8: Hunter had tag for Zone 8 but filled it in Zone 11, Zone 9: 7x7, 6x6, Hunter had tag for Zone 9 but filled it in Zone 11, Zone 10: 8x9, 7x7, Zone 11: 7x6, 7x7, 7x7. I asked for clarification above the Zone 11 situation  and was told that anyone with a tag could fill it either in their designated unit or in Zone 11.  I asked no further questions as I assumed that this Zone would be shown in the Hunting Digest, but it is not in my copy of it, so at this point it is unclear just what area Zone 11 encompasses. 

PGC Personnel Process Elk: Photo by W.Hill

While the regular elk season ends on Saturday, there is a week long season outside of the Elk Management Area, which runs from November 8-13, 2010.It requires a valid Elk Hunting License with an unfilled tag and a limit of one antlered or one antlerless elk, depending on what license the hunter originally obtained. At this point it appears likely that there will be several unfilled cow licenses, but there should be few if any bull hunters still qualified to hunt during this season. One guide pointed out that there is a discrepancy in the hunting license digest between the map of the area which is off limits to hunting during this season and the text describing the same situation. Giving accurate advice on this situation is beyond the scope of this article, but hunters would be well advised to obtain accurate information as to where hunting is permitted before venturing into a questionable area.