A proposal by the Pennsylvania Game Commission board of game commissioners to create a permit that would be required for those not holding a valid hunting or furtaker license, but who use designated trails on state game lands for bicycling, snowmobiling or horseback riding has been tabled and executive director Matt Hough has been directed to work with staff to re-evaluate the proposal and bring new recommendations to the board at the working group meeting Thursday, Dec. 11, at PGC headquarters in Harrisburg.

Among other things, the commissioners said they want to make clear in the proposal that those using previously approved trails such as Rails to Trails would be exempted from needing the permit. Many on the board said they continue to believe action is necessary to curb damage occurring on game lands through heavier impact uses that occur not only on authorized trails, but in other areas of game lands where such uses are unauthorized and illegal.By requiring a permit, the PGC would have a vehicle for providing information about game lands and the regulations that apply there, commissioners said. Southeast Region commissioner Brian Hoover, who recommend the feasibility study into the proposed permit, said the permit itself does more to benefit the PGC than the fee associated with it.Commissioner Dave Putnam also recommended stepped-up enforcement on unauthorized trail use on game lands as a means of directly addressing the destruction of wildlife habitat caused by unlawful recreational riding. In reworking the proposal, PGC staff will inventory authorized and unauthorized trails on game lands, as well as the presence of signage marking the trails.Included in the proposal that was tabled was the privilege to use designated trails on game lands to those provided by the existing $30 permit that enables purchasers to use shooting ranges on state game lands. While non-hunting recreational uses traditionally have been allowed on game lands on a limited basis, the primary use of state game lands is to provide wildlife habitat and create hunting and trapping opportunities for the Pennsylvanians.State Game Lands are unlike state county parks, which often are purchased with tax dollars, but Pennsylvania's more than 1.4 million acre state game lands system was created primarily with funding provided by the state's hunters and trappers, through license sales and other means. It is the goal of the proposed permit to recover some of the money spent on trail maintenance associated with recreational riding that's not related to hunting, and preserve the game lands as prime wildlife habitat.*******Pennsylvania's newest state symbol - the Pennsylvania Longrifle - will be celebrated at the Jacobsburg Historical Society's Market Faire and Rendezvous, today and Sunday at the Pennsylvania Longrifle Museum, 402 Henry Road, located off the Belfast exit on Route 33.In addition to competitive matches for flintlock rifles and demonstrations, the market faire and rendezvous is family-friendly with a living history encampment representing many periods of American history, including the Pre-Colonial, Colonial and Fur Trade Eras. Demonstrations and events include primitive archery, blacksmithing, blackpowder seminars, children's games, a scavenger hunt, a market faire of 18th and 19th century traders and individual blanket traders.Demonstrators of Early American arts and crafts will present their skills in leatherwork, horn work, rope making, quillwork, shoemaking, and gunmaking near the Nicholas Hawk Gun Shop. Open hearth cooking demonstrations will also be provided in the summer kitchen.Only primitive camping is available and public visiting hours are today, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sunday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. For information call (610) 759-9029 or access the website at

www.jacobsburghistory.com.*******Sunday's edition of "Experience The Outdoors," winner of the Pennsylvania Outdoor Writers Association's best outdoors radio program award hosted by award-winning POWA member Doyle Dietz, at 7 a.m. on 1410-AM WLSH, at 9:30 a.m. on Magic 105.5-FM and on the Web at

www.wmgh.com by clicking the link to the program, features dog trainer Charlotte Williams of Char-Will Kennels, New Ringgold.*******Two limited archery/flintlock muzzleloader hunts for antlerless deer have been scheduled for the controlled access areas of the Pennsylvania Game Commission's Middle Creek Wildlife Management Area, Hopeland Road, Kleinfeltersville, Wednesday, Dec. 17, and Wednesday, Jan. 14. These hunts will be held outside of any regular statewide deer season; the only hunting occurring within the management area on these days will be by those hunters with special permits.Hunting will be by special permit only, and 100 permits will be issued by random drawing for each hunting day.