With the Pennsylvania Game Commission expanding its Mentored Hunting Program to include both adults as well as children younger than 12 years of age, this year’s annual tour of State Game Lands should be more popular than ever.
Regionally, two tours are scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 5, of State Game Lands 141 in Carbon County, with registration from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m., and State Game Lands 57 in Luzerne and Wyoming counties, with registration from 7:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Another tour is scheduled for Sunday, Oct. 19, of State Game Lands 110 in Berks and Schuylkill counties, with registration from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
“These driving tours are designed to provide an opportunity to give both the hunting and non-hunting public a perspective into Pennsylvania’s wildlife, habitat and hunting heritage,” Pennsylvania Game Commission executive director Matt Hough said. “This year, with the expansion of the Mentored Hunting Program to include adults who have never purchased a hunting license, we believe these tours will be especially popular.
“These tours provide an opportunity to show the public the many things being accomplished for wildlife and for Pennsylvania’s hunters. Our state game lands system provides hunting and trapping opportunities on more than 1.4 million acres statewide, and many game lands tracts are stocked annually with pheasants raised through the propagation program.”
State Game Lands 141 consists of nearly 17,048 acres, and the tour will begin at the large parking lot along Route 93 on State Game Lands 141, Nesquehoning Township. PGC personnel will be in attendance to supply each vehicle with a map and explain various points of interest and wildlife habitat-improvement projects.
Four-wheel-drive vehicles with high clearance are recommended for this 9-mile, self-guided driving tour, which travels east on a game lands road toward the Lehigh Gorge State Park and back to Route 93, exiting at the parking lot across from the game lands shooting range.
This tour will pass habitat-improvement projects completed by the game lands Food and Cover Corps crew located in Carbon County and the National Wild Turkey Federation, The Nature Conservancy and the Ruffed Grouse Society. Representatives from the PGC and conservation organizations will be available to explain the projects and answer questions.
State Game Lands 57 consists of nearly 44,600 acres, and the tour begins at the headquarters building complex, Ricketts Station, Forkston Township, Wyoming County. PGC personnel will supply a map to each vehicle and explain various points of interest and wildlife habitat-improvement projects.
Four-wheel-drive vehicles with high clearance are required for this 30-mile, self-guided driving tour of habitat-improvement projects completed by game lands Food and Cover Corps crew, the National Wild Turkey Federation, the Quality Deer Management Association and Ducks Unlimited. Representatives from the PGC and conservation organizations will be available to explain the projects and answer questions.
State Game Lands 110 encompasses nearly 10,150 acres of historical, scenic and recreational property, and the 9-mile trip will begin at the PGC parking lot on Mountain Road, midway between the Shartlesville exit of Interstate 78 and Route 61. This tour will exit onto Route 183, between Summit Station and Strausstown. PGC wildlife conservation officers will be available to answer questions relating to agency programs and activities.
Since 1919, the PGC has had the authority to purchase lands for the protection, propagation and management of wildlife and provide areas for public hunting and trapping.
Today, tracts of state game lands exist in all but Philadelphia and Delaware counties and collectively game lands make up a land base greater in size than the state of Delaware.
For the most part, SGLs were purchased using revenues from hunting and furtaker license sales; timber, coal, oil, gas and mineral operation revenues; the state’s share of the federal excise tax on sporting arms and ammunition, known as the Pittman-Robertson Wildlife Restoration Program; from Working Together for Wildlife artwork and patch sales; and from the Pennsylvania Waterfowl Management stamp and print sales.