Greenhouse Fire

On Wednesday March 10 the McConnellsburg Vol. Fire Co. was dispatched to a commercial building fire in the Village of Knobsville. Firefighters arrived on the scene to find 3 greenhouses and a flower and gift shop fully engulfed in flames. The fire chief immediately started calling for tankers from surrounding fire departments. All in all approx. 15 tankers and other equipment were sent to the scene. Despite their best efforts the buildings were a total loss. Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading into a residence that is located just beside the greenhouses.

The top photo shows Co. 56 placing their 100 foot tower in service to start an elevated water stream on the fire.

This is a longer distant shot of the fire scene.

This shot skows a firefighter in the bucket of the tower with the owners of the business in the bottom right corner.

Our hats off the the many VOLUNTEER firefighters who gave their best, and many of whom missed a days work to try to help their fellow neighbors. Firefighters were on scene for approx. 5 hours till the blaze was extinguished.

All photos are courtesy of Joseph May.

Road Hunting

The regular firearms deer season in Pennsylvania opened on Monday November 30th. As a Deputy Wildlife Conservation Officer I am sometimes torn between trying to take my oldest daughter hunting, who has yet to get her first deer, and trying to get out and patrol for violations. On of the most problematic violations is ROAD HUNTING. Some people get tired of setting on stand and just start riding around looking for deer from the road. This is illegal in Pennsylvania.

The deer in the picture below is just a dream come true for someone road hunting. Or is it really. This particular deer is a decoy used by conservation officers to attempt to deter road hunting. The deer is used only after we get written complaints from citizens about road hunting. Then it is placed in that area and officers wait for road hunters to shoot it. Shooting is done anywhere from stepping out of the vehicle and shooting from the road or over the top of the vehicle, to sticking the gun right out the window and shooting



Today we were able to apprehend 3 different individuals road hunting. Below is a shot of Conservation Officers making an apprehension. Each violator is issued a non traffic citation and sent on their way. Fines can range anywhere from $75.00 - $500.00 depending on the individual circumstances.




For thoes hunters who hunt in an ethical manner my hat is off to you. For the road hunter, beware of a deer that looks too good to be true, because it probably is.

Sideling Hill Camp

Today as I looked back through some old pictures I found these of the Sideling Hill Camp.
The Sideling Hill Camp was built in 1933 by The Civilian Conservation Corps. Some of the buildings from the camp have since been torn down. The camp is located on State Forest property in the Buchanan District of Fulton County along Oregon Road.



This is all thats left of the camp today, a log cabin that serves as a hunting camp. The cabin is owned by Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources (DCNR)
The cabin is then rented to private individuals on a yearly lease.

I can only imagine how nice it would be to obtain a lease for such a place and have such a place for a week end get a way. No electricity or running water but I thinh I could get along for a day or so anyway.

Archery Deer Season ( The Wrong Way )

Today I decided to post a case I was involved wih earlier this fall during the archery season.

The tree stand in this picture is a typical stand found in the woods of rural Fulton County this time of year. Hunting from an elevated platform gives the hunter a much better view of the area. Nothing wrong with it by istself.


When you look at the next picture you can clearly see why I became involved. The individuals using this particular stand were placing bait under it to entice deer. In PA this is a violation of the Game and Wildlife Code. This is very common especially during the archery season as one must be able to get very close to a deer to get a good shot with a bow.



In this particular case the hunters were using shelled corn and pears as bait. They had dumped well over 100 pounds of shelled corn on the ground between the 2 stands. As you can see this is a large pile of corn. Upon further investigaton it was determined that one of the hunters did not have a valid hunting license because he had been cited the previous year for killing an illegal deer and his hunting privledges had been revoked. Needless to say this will add another year on to his revocation.

There is nothing sporting about killing a deer when it is comming in to your stand for supper.

I can only say I am glad we were able to apprehend these individuals before they were able to kill anything this time. Both individuals have since pled guilty to hunting over bait, and also one count of hunting while on revocation.

Skywatch Friday

For this weeks Sky Watch I thought I would show a shot of the Farm next to my house. I shot this one morning as the fog was just lifting off the valley. Hope you like.

For more beautiful skies from around the world visit http://www.skyley.blogspot.com

Snow White & the 7 Dwarfs

This weekend my youngest daughter Sierra was involved in a musical at her school. Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs was this years play. She had the part of a tree. Below is a shot of the entire cast.



Here are a couple shots of Sierra during the play. The shots are not as clear as I would have liked, but they had to be taken without flash and I left the tripod at home.



Either way she done a goos job and I am very prod of her. The entire cast worked very hard on this and I think they done a wonderful job.

Thanks for looking, and check back soon. Thanks Ranger

A trip to Shenandoah national Park

As the alarm sounded at 2:00 Am it is usually hard to drag oneself out of bed. Today however was different. I was traveling with Coy of Country Captures to Shenandoah National Park to photograph whitetails. This would be my first trip in around 5 years. Once we arrived however we were somewhat disappointed at the amount of deer we saw. I did manage to come away with a couple of decent shots. Oh well as they say " a bad day hunting is still better than a good day at work". i hope you enjoy these shots.


One of the first things we saw was a flock of turkeys. I managed to shoot this one as he jumped up on the stone wall that borders the road. Did I mention that shooting from the vehicle is legal when you use a camera.

Then we came accross this young buck standing along the road. After a little manovering I was able to get a good shot of him against the mountain.

And this guy was just simply not in the posing mood today, and hurried out of the area.

Hopefully now with the longer evenings, and maybe a little less time in front of the TV I will be able to keep up with the blogging once more. I sure missed it.

Thanks Ranger