Pennsylvania Elk License Allocations Announced

Mature Bull on Winslow Hill 2005: Killed in elk season that year

In News Release 041-12 dated April 24th, the Pennsylvania Game Commission announced the 2012-13 hunting license year, seasons and bag limits.  We will consider only the elk license allocations in today's post.

19 Bull tags and 46 antlerless tags will be issued for a total of 65 licenses. The allocation does not include the one Conservation Elk Tag, which was auctioned by Safari Club International. We have one unconfirmed report that the tag sold for $37,000.00 this year. This effectively means 20 bull tags and a total of 66 tags. Contrast this with last years total of 56 tags which included tags for 18 bulls and 38 cows. As usual one must consider the Conservation Elk Tag which raised the total to 19 bull tags and a total of 57 licenses. This breaks down to 8 more antlerless tags and 1 more bull tag for this year.

It seems likely that there will be a substantial allocation for Hunt Zone 2, which surrounds the most popular tourist areas on Winslow Hill and it will come as no surprise if a significant  amount of hunting pressure will be focused on the elk around Weedville that received much attention in the media during the past winter and early spring.

According to Carol Mulvihill writing in the April 7th edition of Endeavor News, PGC deer and elk section chief, Chris Rosenberry commented, at a recent PGC workshop, “We are aware of the situation in Jay Township, so we may need to make some adjustment in number of cow licenses allotted for that area in the elk hunt this year.”  Mulvihill goes on to point out that this is what happens when complaints start coming in about the elk in a particular area.

Perhaps the best example of this was in 2003 when 100 elk licenses were issued with 20 of these being issued for bulls and 80 for antlerless elk.  This followed an incident in Sinnemahoning where an elk was killed for crop damage, which resulted in a confrontation between PGC officers, the landowner, and a private property rights group. Of the 80 antlerless tags issued in 2003 10 were for Zone 4 and 10 for Zone 7.  The 2003 Hunting and Trapping Digest specifically states that the Zone 4 and Zone 7 allocations were " to decrease elk densities and address conflicts in the Sinnemahoning area".  This was in the period that Vern Ross, PGC Executive Director  at the time, was excited about expanding elk hunting opportunities and supposedly said 70 licenses this year, 100 the next, and 150 the next.  Whatever the case, the move toward ever upward license allocations came to a screeching halt as a result of repercussions from the 100 license allocation, which was on a herd of 552 animals before the calves were born in 2003 and was estimated to be 650 to 700 by hunting season that year. (DeBerti: Results of Elk Survey)

It will be interesting to see where this all goes, but I think it is safe to predict that we are on a upward spiral again with the steadily increasing elk population and ongoing complaints from areas such as Weedville and Spring Run.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Paul Staniszewski Featured In Art Exhibit

Today (Thursday May 3, 2012) at 3:30PM, State Representative Matt Gabler (R - Clearfield/Elk)will hold a press conference at his DuBois Office, where he will announce the opening of a solo art exhibition by Paul Staniszewski that will last for the next six months.

Young Bulls On Winslow Hill: Photo by Paul Staniszewski-all rights reserved

The display will include eight elk and a half dozen flower photographs. Since his district includes Elk County and Benezette they will also be talking about the elk herd and Paul plans to discuss elk management issues--especially the need to expand the "No Hunt" zone to include all of Winslow Hill.

If you are in the area, you are invited to stop by and view his artwork.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Jacob DeBerti's Tribute To His Father

John DeBerti-Wild About Elk Workshop 2010

 Carol Mulvihill, well known elk enthusiast and outdoor writer attended elk biologist, Jon Diberti's memorial service and was especially touched by a tribute delivered by Jon's son.

Carol graciously agreed to share this with us, so here is the text of her e-mail:

Jon DeBerti, our beloved elk biologist, leaves behind his loving wife Misty and a nine-year-old son, Jacob. The most tender and moving tribute to Jon was delivered at the memorial service, when young Jacob courageously took the microphone and spoke through heartfelt sobs:

 “I just want to say that my dad was very special to me. He loved to take me hunting – especially deer hunting. “He’d want me to wait patiently for a deer to show up, and I’d pester him like heck to shoot the squirrels that were running around the tree stand. I got three squirrels. When we got home, I said, ‘That was great dad, when can we do it again?’ “As you saw in the pictures, I did get my first buck last year on the first day. It was a 6-point. My dad was so happy. It took every ounce of his strength to get into the tree stand, but he did it for me. We waited an hour and 15 minutes for the deer. “He gave all his energy and time to take me hunting.” As he faced the monumental health challenges of his shortened life, Jon kept his family and the time spent with them as his top priority, evidenced by a son who is growing in his image.

Thanks to Carol for giving permission to share this with us. Be sure to read an excellent article by Carol, about Jon DeBerti's career in elk management, which will be published in the May 5th edition of Endeavor News.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.

Photoshop CS6 Beta-First Impressions

I have shot in camera raw since going digital in 2003.  Initially I tried the Canon software that came with the camera, but this was too slow and clunky, so I switched to photoshop.  Ordinarily I do not upgrade to the latest version of Adobe Photoshop until I am forced to do so. The incentive to upgrade comes when you buy a new camera model and discover that  Adobe Bridge will not open the files.  A prime example is in the case of CS3.  This version of CS supported the Canon 10D, and 40D, but since CS3 had been replaced with CS4, by the time I purchased by 7D in late 2009, I found I was not able to open 7D raw files as Adobe does not offer updates to camera raw for old versions of Photoshop.  Adobe's position on this is that they do not force one to buy the latest version of Photoshop, as they offer a free DNG converter, which converts the raw files from any camera into an Adobe DNG  file, which is a raw file that will open in any version of bridge.  While this does work, it creates another step in the workflow, so I quickly upgraded to CS4.

I broke with this pattern when CS5 came out.  My brother Coy of Country Captures shot JPEGs in his 30D and processed them with the old Photoshop 7, but he decided to change to  shooting raw shortly after CS5 came out.  I watched him working one evening and realized that CS5 was a great improvement over CS4.  For one thing the images from it simply looked much better, and there was greatly improved noise reduction, and sharpening available in the camera raw processor along with other features.  I learned an important lesson at this point as I had been using CS4 much the same as I had CS3 and didn't realize that there were a lot more features available in camera raw, such as the local adjustments window, which enabled one to do dodging and burning, etc.  in camera raw.  I had purchased Scott Kelby's CS3 book, but not the one for CS4.  I bought the book for CS5 and found it to be extremely valuable as it told about new features and improved workflows. To my surprise, some of these were available in CS4 also, but I was locked into the same workflow I used in CS3 and missed  these important features.  The point is that if one does not buy a book, watch online tutorials, or participate in discussion groups, it is easy to get the latest version of software, continue with your ingrained workflow, and miss many of the new features that will improve or simplify your work.

Recently I became aware that CS6 was available in a beta version, which one can test free of charge.  It is essentially a trial version of CS6 extended, but Adobe recommends that once CS6 is launched that one should un-install the beta version and download the actual release version, although it is possible to purchase the serial number and activate the beta version.

At any rate I have been using Adobe Photoshop CS6 beta for over a week and am very impressed with it for the most part.  Perhaps it is just me, but I think there has been a further improvement in image quality since CS5.  Perhaps most noticeable is the change in the appearance of the interface, which now has a dark elegant appearance.

CS5 Interface-Note light grey color scheme

CS6 Interface-dark elegant appearance

 Menu and  Crop Tool Options Bar

It is possible to customize the appearance if one does not like the new interface, but I for one think it is a great improvement and will use it as is.

As is usually the case there is somewhat of a learning curve as some controls are not where one expects them to be. I immediately ran into this with the new and "improved" crop tool.  Perhaps in time I will come to prefer it to the one in CS5, but only time will tell.

The crop tool has several overlay options including the rule of thirds, the golden ratio, and golden spiral, which can be useful aids in achieving a pleasing composition.  I use the rule of thirds in most cases.  This feature was first introduced in CS5, but it only had one overlay option, which was the rule of thirds.  Another major change is that the resolution box is gone in the options bar.  Photo size is still there, but to view the resolution one must click on custom in the options bar, which opens a drop down menu where one can access it, or it is simpler to press the R key, which will open a crop image size and resolution box in the top third of the workspace (at least on my machine).

Another important change is that one can grab any of the corners of the crop box and drag it diagonally.  In all previous versions of photoshop, at this point one composed the photograph by moving the crop box over the photograph,  but now one must move the photo about within the crop box to position the image.  Initially this is very confusing as it is easy to reflexively try to do it the traditional way.  One  can select "classic mode" so that it performs like previous versions, but on my machine it k reverts to the default mode when I close an image, so that I must select classic each time I open a new image.  I think I will adapt to the new method, but I do I hope Adobe puts the resolution box back in the options bar,

Based on my experience to date, I think this is a worthwhile upgrade and I intend to purchase it when it is officially released.  At the time I downloaded the beta version, they said that this would be within 30 days, so it should be before the end of May.

Originally published at Pennsylvania Wildlife Photographer by Willard Hill.