Around the Game Commission •If you've been trying to get a permit to hunt or trap a bobcat in Pennsylvania, just wait. You're time is coming. Game Commissioners have given preliminary approval to a proposal that would guarantee a permit to anyone who applies often enough. Since 2003, hunters and trappers have earned one preference point each time they applied for a permit. Because permits are chosen at random via computer, however, it's still possible to earn the maximum number of points and still not get a permit -- even while other people have been awarded a permit more than once. Under this new plan -- which is expected to get final approval in April and go into effect in time for the 2008 season -- the commission will guarantee permits to people who earn six or seven preference points. That would likely amount to between 100 and 350 "guaranteed" permits each year. Agency officials believe they can handle that many without hurting the bobcat population or negatively impacting the chances of a first-time applicant of getting a permit. • If you're looking to do planting for wildlife this spring, the Game Commission is willing to help. The agency has devoted a section of its Web site to offering guidance on what to plant and when and where to do it. Go to pgc.state.pa.us, click on "Forms and Programs," then choose "Howard Nursery Seedling Program." By going to the site, you can also buy tree seedlings from the commission's Howard Nursery, which has been producing bare-root seedlings for state game lands since 1954. Seedlings are available for 15-to-50 cents each, plus tax, in bundles of 25. A complete list of species available can be found on the commission Web site. Information is also available by calling Cliff Guindon at the nursery at 814-355-4434 • Crow hunters may very well have some extra time to pursue their sport this coming year. When Game Commissioners gave preliminary approval to seasons and bag limits for the 2008-09 hunting season, one change involved expanding the crow season to 120 days. If commissioners give final approval to the change in April, crow season will run from the final Friday in June to the first weekend in April. Hunting will be allowed from Friday through Sunday. Around the Fish & Boat Commission •If you bought a trout stamp last year, you might soon be getting a phone call. The Fish and Boat Commission is in the process of updating its trout management plan and has contracted Responsive Management, a national polling firm, to conduct a phone survey of trout fishermen in the state. The survey is still being refined. As of last week, it would have taken 18 minutes to answer its questions, said Leroy Young, director of the commission's bureau of fisheries. Responsive Management has suggested getting that down to 15 minutes, he said. Once that's done, the company will call a sampling of 2007 trout stamp buyers. That work is expected to begin any day now. A draft report based on responses is due to the Fish and Boat Commission by March 31. A final report is due April 30. • Anglers might notice the results of an ongoing experience this coming trout season. For the last few years, the Fish and Boat Commission has been experimenting with tiger trout, a cross of a brook and a brown trout. The idea was to see if the fish -- which sport tiger-like stripes -- would grow any faster or more efficiently in hatcheries that purebreds. So far, they do not. Still, the commission is continuing to raise it to monitor results. The fish, numbering a few thousand spread across the state, are generally released into waters that get loads of brook trout.

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