The Schuylkill County Sportsmen's Association, in cooperation with the Schuylkill County Sportsmen's Advisory Board, will sponsor a chance to win fishing and hunting trips and other outdoors opportunities during the Schuylkill County Fair, Monday-Saturday, July 30-Aug. 4, at the fairgrounds located on Route 895, Summit Station.

Qualified sportsmen have come forward with offers to teach others more about their passions to hunt and fish. Fair visitors simply have to visit the SCSA building and exhibit located along the lower midway to register for various outdoors activities."Schuylkill County has such a great variety of outdoors activities and sportsmen would like to share some of these opportunities with others," SCSA president Gary Slutter said. "One opportunity being offered is fishing from a boat at Sweet Arrow Lake for '"lunker" trout or anything else that bites."Sportsmen's organizations in Schuylkill County are very proud of their accomplishments, and youth field day, the Norm Thornburg Conservation Camp and women's outdoors day are some of the events sponsored by the SCSA. It also sponsors habitat projects in cooperation with Trout Unlimited, Pheasants Forever, National Wild Turkey Federation, Ducks Unlimited and worked with the Pennsylvania Game Commission to provide better access to game lands as well as additional hunting access to water authority lands."SAB chairman Craig Morgan said the goal is to attract both adult and youth to the outdoors and that youngsters winning an event must have an adult chaperon.Winners must be properly licensed, if required, to participate in various events."Everyone is welcome to sign-up for any of the free activities, but we are hoping to introduce newcomers or those wishing to be mentored," Morgan said."We are even offering pheasant, turkey and deer hunting opportunities, as well as trap, skeet and sporting clays shooting and muzzleloader and rifle instruction."**********Registration is underway through Wednesday, Aug. 8, for the Women's Outdoor Day, Saturday Aug. 18, with group assignments beginning at 7:30 a.m., at Friedensburg Fish and Game Association, 169 Stone Mountain Road. Sponsored by the Schuylkill County Sportsmen's Association, the free event, which includes lunch, is open to any women - including those living outside Schuylkill County age 16 and older. For information and registration, contact Christy Zulli at the Schuylkill Conservation District by calling (570) 622-3742, ext. 114, or emailing czulli@co.schuylkill.pa.us.**********Sunday's edition of "Experience The Outdoors," hosted by award-winning Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association member Doyle Dietz, at 7 a.m. on 1410 WLSH and 9:30 a.m. on Magic 105.5, will feature volunteer Women's Outdoor Day instructor Sarah Gaffney.**********Successful Pennsylvania bear hunters can learn the age of the bear they took during the 2011 seasons by accessing the Pennsylvania Game Commission website at

www.pgc.state.pa.us/. To access the database providing this information, click on "Hunt/Trap" in the menu bar at the top of the page, then click on "Hunting," scroll down and click on "Black Bear" in the "Big Game" listing, and then scroll down and click on "Black Bear Age Data" in the "Reference" listing.Ages are available only for bears from which a tooth was pulled, and to access the data and learn the age of their bear, a hunter will need their legal seal number from the check station certificate. If the hunter no longer has the seal number, age data also is provided in charts broken down by county.**********Bear's Head 3-D course is open daily through Friday, Oct. 12, from dawn to dusk daily, on club grounds located off I-81 exit 134, 148 Lofty Road, Delano. For information, call the association at 570-467-0331.**********Schuylkill Spurs Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation will meet, Thursday, Aug. 2, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at 633 Hancock St., McAdoo. For information, call Kevin Titus at 570-668-5903.