Last week, I went to the mountains of Pennsylvania for a couple days and it was just as hot up there. With Gary Bennington, Ed Coscia and Ross Blake, we hoped to see some of the elk herd established there. Thankfully the place where we stayed had air-conditioning and all travel was in a car with AC.

For those who haven't heard, Pennsylvania has an elk herd large enough that they have a controlled hunt each year. The numbers taken are closely governed to keep the herd in a healthy state. The hunt is regulated and handled by a drawing and a Pennsylvania hunting license is required.

Of course, the animals were smart enough to stay in heavy cover during the heat. We were lucky enough to see one cow elk feeding in a shaded area.

On the way to see the elk we saw a rattlesnake in the road. The head was much larger than it should have been in comparison with the body. It was also very sluggish, a sign it had just fed. The black faze snake was about 3 feet long with several rattles.

We saw only five deer, only one of which was a buck. We did get to see a black bear the last day as we packed to come home. The young bruin played around the yard for about 15 minutes before going on its way.

We saw several nice looking lakes and streams but the heat was too great to even think of fishing. It was great to be in the mountains but it seemed to be even drier there than here. All lawns and fields were brown as they would be in winter. Crops such as corn were less than knee high and didn't look like they would produce.

Anyway, we had enough of good food and good company to make the trip a great success.

Local fishing is good, but please make sure you have plenty of water and don't over extend yourself.