Ben Moyer

Columnist at Herald Standard

I love life. Period.

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Articles

Ben Moyer: Trip from Pennsylvania to Minnesota's Lake of the Woods worth the miles to extend ice-fishing season

2 months ago | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

My wife’s observation summed it up. “Do you realize you are going in the opposite direction of 99% of people traveling this time of year?”“Uh, yep!”That exchange followed a disclosure that my friends and I hadn’t had enough ice-fishing during the two-week window of safe ice we’d enjoyed in mid-January, the longest span to grace southern Pennsylvania waters in several winters, and that friend Eugene Gordon and I were headed to Lake of the Woods, Minnesota.
Ben Moyer: Will hellbenders really get endangered species listing? Don’t hold your breath

Feb 24, 2025 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

Never has there been a more unfortunate endangered species than the hellbender. Actually, the hellbender is a candidate Endangered species, not yet officially listed as Endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the federal agency which administers the Endangered Species Act, made law by the elected 93rd Congress in 1973. The service did, however, declare its intent to list the hellbender as Endangered in December 2024, a long, long time ago in the upended realm of federal actions.
Ben Moyer: Pennsylvania's Under 7 mentor rule a beneficial filter

Feb 14, 2025 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

You can’t call it a controversy, and certainly not a conflict.
Ben Moyer: Will winter-kill of whitetails return to Pennsylvania this year?

Jan 31, 2025 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

The complexity of managing white-tailed deer in today’s world has become apparent to all stakeholders. But deer management may be about to become even more complicated because of the possible reemergence of a variable we haven’t thought about for decades in Pennsylvania – winter mortality. Readers who lived through the 1960s and ‘70s recall deer winter-kill was a continual concern among hunters and wildlife managers.
Ben Moyer: A treasured (but illegal?) text alerting me to a buck's location

Jan 16, 2025 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

Hopefully, in our age of instantaneous communication, all hunters understand it’s illegal to use a cellphone or electronic device as an aid in the taking of game. The pertinent regulation in Pennsylvania states this:“Portable two-way radios and cellphones may be used for general communications with another hunter, but may not be used to direct or alert another hunter of the presence or location of live game or wildlife.
Ben Moyer: Pennsylvania bear trends clear on PGC’s harvest data page

Dec 31, 2024 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

Maps are useful in understanding wildlife management matters, and maps have come a long way. I miss the maps once published in PA Game News that expressed the deer kill by county. That map sparked my interest in the geography of my home state, which I harbor even now. Because it’s difficult to stop thinking about hunting after the season (deer) is closed, I happened across a page on the Game Commission website that, for me, was a new discovery.
Ben Moyer: Merits of a longer, limited deer season in Pennsylvania

Dec 18, 2024 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

By many measures, deer season 2024 was a good one. It was the first one in recent memory when our group wasn’t buying bags of ice to stuff inside our kills. Most of Pennsylvania had snow on the ground through the entire first week (Some locations had too much), and ideal temperatures allowed you to hang a deer and take your time with the processing without concerns about the meat freezing solid. No matter the weather, deer season is an enjoyable and even a festive event in our state.
Ben Moyer: In the outdoors, a good partner makes the day

Dec 6, 2024 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

Many things make a good day outdoors. One is the right partner, whose likes and skills are fitted to that outing. I’m fortunate to have enjoyed woods and water with different good partners on various kinds of excursions. A recent trip is a fine example of a day made better by who you share it with. This content is restricted to subscribers of OutdoorNews.com. If you are already an OutdoorNews.com subscriber, you can log in here.
Ben Moyer: Fur war backfires on native wildlife in Pennsylvania

Nov 21, 2024 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

Unintended consequences. These often haunt human intentions. It’s likely outdoor people who value clean water, fish and wildlife, and public lands will be lamenting a lot of those in coming years, but this column is about an unintended – unimagined – consequence that’s already happening.
Ben Moyer: Magazine ad a public lands wake-up for Pennsylvania

Nov 7, 2024 | outdoornews.com | Ben Moyer

An ad in a current outdoor magazine points out what Pennsylvanians’ future access to public land for hunting and fishing could lose if politicians who have stated we have too much state game land acreage prevail in their aims. They have pointed out game lands but be sure that all public lands are their potential targets. The ad is full-page and color – not cheap to run – in a national magazine read from Boston to Los Angeles, and from Alaska to Florida.