There never has been another book like our featured selection for this year\u2019s suggested reading material for holiday gift giving for those who enjoy the outdoors.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoacher Pursuit: Game Warden vs. Wildlife Killers\u201d reads like a crime novel and each of the 20 chapters is a horror story unto itself. Written by retired Pennsylvania Game Commission Game Warden Timothy C. Flanigan, who served 30 years in the field, it follows his book \u201cNight Killers: Blood Lusting Poachers,\u201d but takes the action up a notch.<\/p>\n
While performing his duty protecting wildlife and the rights of sportsmen, Flanigan had his life, his family\u2019s and his property threatened by poachers he apprehended for their criminal activity. Working in Bedford County and rural Pennsylvania near the Mason-Dixon Line that is the state border with Maryland, he encountered many out-of-state criminals \u2013 many repeat offenders \u2013 while upholding and enforcing the game laws.<\/p>\n
Patrolling at night and often alone served as an invitation to some criminals to threaten Flanigan with a firearm \u2013 and for a few to fire a shot. Others chose to flee and led him on high-speed chases through towns, back roads and even Interstate Highways.<\/p>\n
Sadly, Flanigan and other Game Wardens did not always get the support of their superiors when taking cases to trail. He is happy to report that has changed in the 20 years he has been retired.<\/p>\n
Today, Flanigan\u00a0is an award-winning outdoors writer and nature photographer. His book \u201cGrouse & Woodcock: The Birds of my Life\u201d has been added to the Pennsylvania State Library Special Collections section.<\/p>\n
\u201cPoacher Pursuit: Game Warden vs. Wildlife Killers,\u201d softbound, 253 pages, $16.95, available from Amazon.com.<\/p>\n
Here are some affordable publications that should be part of every outdoors library.<\/p>\n
\u201c2025 Pennsylvania Big Game Records\u201d edited by Bob D\u2019Angelo, Pennsylvania Game Commission; 117 Pages; Softcover $10; available at www.pgc.pa.gov or calling 1-888-888-3459.<\/p>\n
Since 1965 a joint project by the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association and Pennsylvania Game Commission has been compiling Boone & Crockett Club scores of big game taken in Pennsylvania. Highlights for 2025 are a new No. 2 bull in the non-typical archery category in Clinton County that scored 417-0\/8 and the No. 5 buck in non-typical archery category in Northumberland County that scored 203-2\/8. Of the 71 racks brought to the first scoring session held at the Great American Outdoor Show taken 47 qualified for the record book.<\/p>\n
Categories and minimum scores for inclusion in Pennsylvania\u2019s 2026 book are: Typical Whitetail Deer Firearm, 140-0\/8; Typical Whitetail Deer Archery, 115-0\/8; Non-typical Whitetail Deer Firearm, 160-0\/8; Non-typical Whitetail Deer Archery, 135-0\/8; Black Bear Firearm, 19-0\/16; Black Bear Archery, 17-0\/16; Typical Elk Firearm, 300-0\/8; Typical Elk Archery; 200-0\/8; Non-typical Elk Firearm, 325-0\/8; and Non-typical Elk Archery, 275-0\/8.\u00a0To enter a big game animal or for more information about the PGC Big Game Records Program, contact Boone & Crockett Club certified scorer and coordinator of Pennsylvania\u2019s program Bob D\u2019Angelo at rdangelo@pa.gov or call 717-787-4250.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Game News; Published monthly by the Pennsylvania Game Commission; 64 Pages; Subscription Plans: 1 year for $20, 2 years for $35 and 3 years for $50 at www.pennsylvaniagamenews.com.<\/p>\n
Official publication of the Pennsylvania Game Commission publishes features, technical subjects, wildlife-management issues and problems. Contributors are PGC staff members, outdoors writers and first-person submissions.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Boater & Angler; Published bi-monthly by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission; 46 Pages; Subscription Plans: 1 year for $20.97 and 3 years for $48.97 at www.fishandboat.com.<\/p>\n
Since 1931 \u201cPennsylvania Boater & Angler\u201d has been the official publication of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission. In addition to how-to and where-to articles on fishing and boating, there are special PLAY (PA League of Angling Youth) features, Fishin\u2019 from the Kitchen, photo contests and more.<\/p>\n
Pennsylvania Outdoor News; Published bi-weekly; 32 Pages; Subscription Plans: 1 year for $30 and 2 years for $55.<\/p>\n
Content ranges from outdoors features to editorials dealing with timely topics. Regular content includes statewide hunting\/fishing reports, a lake profile complete with map, statewide calendar of events, season and permit dates, legislative updates, hunting\/fishing tips, in-depth fishing and hunting news, reader photos and letters to the editor. Republican Herald outdoors writer Tyler Frantz is now a columnist for the publication.<\/p>\n
(Dietz is a member of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association. Contact the writer: outdoors@republicanherald.com)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There never has been another book like our featured selection for this year\u2019s suggested reading material for holiday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":54067,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[708,28,30,29,726,289],"class_list":{"0":"post-54066","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pennsylvania","8":"tag-outdoors","9":"tag-pennsylvania","10":"tag-pennsylvania-headlines","11":"tag-pennsylvania-news","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-things-to-do"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54066","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54066"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54066\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/54067"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54066"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54066"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54066"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}