Reading the Pennsylvania Outdoor News newspaper, Mark Nale had an interesting article about the upcoming coyote and predator hunt contests in Pennsylvania this winter. He stated there will be at least 28 different contests, and these hunts provide added incentives to get people outdoors this winter to do some predator hunting.

The larger, well-established contests, such as the Mosquito Creek Sportsmen, the Pa Trappers Association District 9 and the Cresson Sportsmen have kept their contest rules and prizes pretty much the same for 2020. However, the District 9 contest at Tunkhannock made a decision to raise their entry fee, and kept the same eight northeastern counties in the hunt on January 24, 25 and 26.

The Mosquito Creek Sportsmen's contest is the largest hunter entry contest of all. They will be sponsoring their 29th annual Coyote Contest that is open to the entire state of Pa. They had the largest paid-out-prizes last year of over $48,000. A $12 entry fee plus a $15 membership gets you in the contest. A polygraph test for the top four hunters and top two female hunters is mandatory.

Some other organizations have contests and have prizes for the heaviest coyote, as well as red and gray fox.

Mark did mention our coyote contest that is held in New York State on February 7, 8 & 9 and sponsored by the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County, NY. He listed all our prizes and website address and phone number to call for applications and also listed the six counties from Pennsylvania that are invited to participate.

NYC Reservoirs

Boating Program!

2019 marked the eighth year of recreational boating at NYC reservoirs, Cannonsville, Neversink, Pepacton and Schoharie. A total of 1,331 canoes and kayaks were registered or rented through a local business. In addition, local non-profit groups led outings for dozens of visitors, including school and summer camp groups. Of the tallied visits, 711 boats were rented from local businesses and 620 boats were registered each day with DEP.

Neversink Reservoir led the way with 590 visits, followed by Pepacton with 517, Schoharie with 152 and Cannonsville with 72. Also rental boats were available at the reservoirs for the 6th year.

In addition to the DEP's $70 million payroll and $168.9 million in annual taxes paid in upstate counties, DEP has invested more than $1.7 billion in watershed protection programs. DEP has a robust capital program with $20.1 billion in investments planned over the next 10 years that will create up to 3,000 construction related jobs per year.

For more information, visit www.nyc.gov/dep.

Jack Danchak is the President of the Federation of Sportsmen's Clubs of Sullivan County.