Notes off a soiled cuff: Stiffer penalties coming for trail cam vandals in Pennsylvania?

As we approach the June 14 opening of traditional bass season in Pennsylvania, it’s hard to believe that it has been 25 long years since the state made a major change to its fishing regulations.

In 2000, the Fish & Boat Commission changed bass season dates. Prior to that, fishing for bass was prohibited until mid-June. The change resulted in a softer start to the bass season, with anglers able to fish for bass from mid-April to mid-June but requiring them to release fish they catch.

I’m sure many readers remember when fishing before and during the bass spawn was widely despised and when the mid-June bass season opener was nearly as widely anticipated as the trout season start in April.

* Have you heard that some deer hunters are rethinking their use of cellular trail cameras – those that send images to phones – because they suspect that mature bucks are avoiding them, somehow sensing the cellular signal?

You can read hunters’ claims on social media that big bucks can mysteriously detect, and then avoid, cellular trail cameras. As a result, some hunters apparently are switching back to non-cellular trail cams.

Seems far-fetched to me. But if you wonder, like I do, if there is any science behind the claims, read the Field & Stream feature here.

MORE COVERAGE FROM PENNSYLVANIA OUTDOOR NEWS:

Bowhunter buck kill passes rifle harvest in Pennsylvania for the first time as crossbows lead the way

This year, all Pennsylvania hunters can get a doe tag

Debate continues around later opener for Pennsylvania’s spring turkey season

* Speaking of trail cameras, a legislative effort is afoot to reduce the theft and vandalism of those used by hunters. On May 13, by a 26-0 vote, the House Game and Fisheries Committee moved H.B. 800 to the full House for consideration.

That bill, sponsored by Rep. Joe Emrick, R-Northampton County, increases the penalties for those “who affect the condition or placement” of trail cams “intended for use in the lawful taking, viewing, photographing or video recording of wildlife,” to “impair or prevent their use.”

According to the bill, those who take or move a trail camera would face a first degree summary offense with a fine ranging from $1,000 to $1,500 and may be sentenced to imprisonment for up to three months. The violator also would lose hunting and trapping privileges for a year.

* As I get older, I’m reluctant to make declarations about the weather, but the last month seemed more like March than May to me. I can’t remember it being so cold and windy in central Pennsylvania in the spring, so I assigned the story that ended up at the bottom of Page 1 in the June 6 print issue.

I sure didn’t expect to read that “a big chunk of the state had a warmer than usual May.” But according to a top meteorologist in State College, most places in Pennsylvania were “2-4 degrees above where we should be on average.” … Just goes to show how our perceptions are often mistaken.

– In previous issues, we have had stories about elected officials in counties in the Northern Tier with vast tracks of state forest and state game lands being dissatisfied with payments made in lieu of taxes. Now, Rep. Martin Causer, R-Cameron, McKean and Potter counties, is trying to do something to help struggling municipalities.

In a cosponsor memo circulated May 22, Causer revealed that he intends soon to introduce legislation to force the Game Commission and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources to direct 20% of total revenue collected from the sale of timber, oil and natural gas from state-owned land to local governments.

Also, the bill will give a slice of revenue from placement of radio towers, rent and royalties from energy development on state-owned land to local governments, as well as a share of revenue from state park user fees.

Certainly, the Game Commission can afford it.