Oct 18, 2014 3 min read

The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission announced a couple of weeks ago that it was reducing the price of yearly fishing licenses in 2015 by $1.

While the decrease in price surely gave the commission a nice public relations bump, I’m not so sure it’s going to have the intended effect, which, according to the commission, is to entice more people to give fishing a try.

“We believe the price cut will catch the attention of many people who haven’t fished in a few years, or who have wanted to try fishing, but mistakenly have thought that prices have increased like they have for other products and activities,” executive director John Arway said when announcing the decrease.”

At a time when inflation has driven up the costs of many things, the price of a fishing license hasn’t increased since 2005. The commission should be lauded for that.

But we’ve also seen fewer fish stocked, lakes closed and a general reduction in services during that time.

Most anglers would have been willing to continue to pay the extra dollar if the commission would have put that money back into the product.

• Sitting in the office at the Observer-Reporter, there is one constant that can always be heard, the local police scanner.

Though we’re only a couple of weeks into archery season, I have already heard a couple of calls for hunting accidents, both of which involved hunters falling out of tree stands.

Many tree stand accidents happen when the hunter is climbing into and out of a tree stand. Please take special care when making these moves.

A 10-foot fall out of a tree might not seem that bad until you consider what’s falling with you, such as arrows, a knife, etc.

• The weather has turned cooler and the fall foliage around the state is now in full view.

Want to check out the best place to check out how things are looking around the state before you climb into the car to view your favorite spots?

Check out www.leafpeepers.com. The site offers fall foliage reports from around the state, along with suggesting scenic drives.

• The Pennsylvania Senate voted this week to ban live pigeon hunts by a 3-1 margin. The measure will now go back to the state House for consideration.

By itself, it doesn’t seem like a big deal. There weren’t many live pigeon shoots in the state.

But some of the explanations for the ban do cause me to pause a bit.

Some senators who voted to ban the shoots derided them as inhumane and a throwback to “another age.”

Guess what? Hunting is considered by some to be a throwback to “another age,” as well.

So once you start banning things based on that criteria, you’ve now opened the door to keep on moving in that direction.

I understand that launching birds into the air to be shot at might be distasteful to some. But are they really that much different than “caged” hunts?

Those are still OK in Pennsylvania and around the country – at least for now.

Outdoors Editor F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.