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Bentworth team does well in state’s Clay Target Tournament

4 min read

Well, I have the results from the Pennsylvania State High School Clay Target Tournament held at Clairton Sportsmen Club. There were 299 students entered this year from the ages of 12 to 18. There were 16 teams entered from the state and the fifth-place team overall was Bentworth and they were only 27 fewer birds away from the first-place team, so it was close. The overall individuals who placed were:

3rd place novice female – Emilie Snyder

2nd place novice male – Rogan Rockwell

3rd place Jr. varsity female – Hailey Lusk

25 straight – Ross Bular

The Bentworth Trap Team in-house results were:

Team high gun – Novice male- Rogan Rockwell (70)

Female – Emilie Snyder (69)

Jr. Varsity Male – Dalton Kinney (85)

Female – Hailey Lusk (77)

Varsity Male – Ross Bular (93)

A great effort from our local Bentworth team. Congratulations!

In a couple of weeks a new license will be needed to hunt. The hunting license in most instances is a one-year deal and the Game Commissions year runs from the first of July to the same day the following year. The only exception that I can think of is the license held by seniors that is lifetime. While like every other human being, I don’t like to spend money, maybe because I never had an excess of it, but is there a better bargain than the hunting or fishing license?

When I think about the subject of hunting cost, I compare it to other things that must be paid for. Take your wife out to dinner and see what that costs. You don’t have to go to a high-priced restaurant to spend more than $30 and that is but one evening’s entertainment. As my friend, Mike Weber, says, you can hunt something every day of the year. If he is not right, then he is close to it. On top of that, most game makes for a great meal when cooked properly.

I don’t need to be reminded that I am talking about one’s hunting license but the same pertains to fishing. I sat at a big storytelling session where the host set out, along with refreshments, battered deep-fried bluegill. I hate to admit it but I couldn’t stop eating them. They were just plain wonderful.

It is the license we purchase that makes these days afield possible. Presently, the price of a hunting license is les than $25 and allows not only small game but a male deer that carries a rack. Just the deer season alone offers days of hunting. When dividing the amount of time by the cost of the license we find the cost to be around $2 a day. So why do hunters grumble so much about the cost? One reason that makes sense, but is not using your head wisely, is a bad experience brought about by that uniformed man approaching.

What a person perceives as a bad experience stays with him or her for a long time. I have been checked by an officer just like other hunters and some have been pleasant and some have not. Usually I am justified in thinking I was treated rudely or politely and quite properly. But my point to mention these meetings between hunter and officer is that it does affect ones feelings toward the Commission. It is that officer in the field that represents the Pennsylvania Game Commission for it is doubtful that he will ever meet those who work in Harrisburg.

It takes money to protect the environment and the state’s wildlife. Like everybody else, the Commission suffers from the increasing cost of inflation. Just go to the grocery store and see what things costs today and it is easy to see why the Commission is asking for an increase in the price of a license.

Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to say we in Pennsylvania have the finest game and fish department in the United States? Instead, if things keep going the way they are going, we will have a Game Commission suffering the pain of favoritism common in politics.

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