Shooting aficionados no doubt have heard of trick-shot artist Tom Knapp.

The Team Benelli exhibition shooter has been thrilling crowds for years with tricks, such as tossing 10 claybirds in the air with one hand and then shooting each one with individual shots from his semiautomatic shotgun before they hit the ground.

Even if you're not a shooting enthusiast, you probably have seen Knapp's performances on commercials that air regularly on The Outdoor Channel.

Well, the man that very well could be the next Tom Knapp is coming to Lancaster County on Saturday, July 12.

That's when Team Benelli shooter Tim Bradley will perform at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m. at Penn Dutch Sportsmen's Club off Paes Road in East Earl Township.

He is performing as the guest of The Sportsman's Shop in New Holland.

Besides watching Bradley shoot at the club, visitors can test-fire several firearms that will be on display through The Sportsman's Shop.

The event is open to the public and there is no admission. Due to limited parking, a shuttle bus will run to the club from the store at 101 W. Main St., New Holland.

Call 354-4311 for more details.

A native of Arkansas, Bradley is a martial arts expert and former bounty hunter.

He has been honing his shooting skills for decades and caught the attention of Knapp and the Team Benelli organizers in 2006.

Since then, Bradley has been traveling and performing alongside the aging Knapp.

At Penn Dutch July 12, you're likely to see Bradley perform tricks such as shooting a golf ball out of the air with a pistol; throwing nine claybirds in the air by hand, then shooting each one with his shotgun before it hits the ground; and firing at moving targets while holding the shotgun left-handed, right-handed and upside down.

"He's going to put on a show," said Joe Keffer, owner of The Sportsman's Shop.

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The Pennsylvania Game Commission is planning large timber cuts in the Furnace Hills over the next year or so to take down trees killed by gypsy moth caterpillars.

Local hunters will find these cuts on State Game Lands 145, 156 and 46, which encompass some 14,000 acres in Lebanon and Lancaster counties.

While the cuts are intended ultimately to benefit wildlife in the long run, you probably won't want to hunt near these areas in the short term.

Logging work is sure to disturb and displace game animals and birds, and, once the work is completed, the areas probably won't be suitable for deer, turkeys and squirrels for a year or two.

Dave Henry, the agency's chief forester in the southeast region, on Wednesday led a tour of one of the areas that will be cut on SGL 145 (To read more, see "Caterpillars clear forest of trees").

Besides the cutting of large stands of trees, the Game Commission also plans to kill all the understory in the area so that oak seedlings that will be planted have a chance to grow.

So what he's saying is that these areas will look like they were hit by a wildfire as soon as the work is finished.

A few trees will be left standing over a barren forest floor.

Any work being done during the upcoming hunting seasons will be restricted to weekdays, Henry said, and no work will be done on any season openers that fall during the week.

Those of you who have hunted the large area of SGL 156 on the south side of the mountain that was cut about a decade ago know how the cutting will benefit wildlife two or three years after the work is done.

That cut-over area is now one of the most productive on SGL 156 for deer every year.

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Hunters and trappers harvested 356 bobcats during the 2007-08 bobcat seasons.

Harvest numbers for 2007-08 by wildlife management unit are: WMU 2A, 3; WMU 2C, 23; WMU 2E, 21; WMU 2F, 31; WMU 2G, 127; WMU 3A, 33; WMU 3B, 72; WMU 3C, 27; and WMU 3D, 14.

"The 2007-08 bobcat permit holder success rate was the third highest since the season began in 2000," Matthew Lovallo, Game Commission furbearer biologist and author of the agency's bobcat management plan, said.

"We expect that, if average winter conditions prevail, the permit holder success rate will range from 39 percent to 42 percent during the upcoming 2008-09 season.

"All of the tools that we use to monitor the state's bobcat population indicate increased abundance and continued geographic expansion outside of the established harvest area."

The addition of WMU 2A in 2007-08 increased the available harvest area by 10 percent.

Similarly, the addition of WMU 4D for the 2008-09 season will increase the allowable harvest area by 14 percent, Lovallo said, and will better distribute the harvest throughout the established bobcat range.

During the 2006-07 season, 258 bobcats were taken; 221 bobcats in 2005-06; 196 bobcats in 2004-05; 140 in 2003-04; 135 in 2002-03; 146 in 2001-02; and 58 in 2000-01.

Last year, the Game Commission awarded 1,010 permits from an applicant pool of more than 6,000.

In 2006-07, the agency allocated 720 permits from an applicant pool of nearly 5,000; in 2005-06, 615 permits were awarded from an applicant pool of more than 4,600.

The agency will award 1,435 permits for the 2008-09 bobcat hunting/furtaking seasons at a public drawing in its Harrisburg headquarters on Friday, Sept. 12.

As part of the public drawing for the allocated permits, those applicants with six preference points (five previous points and one for this year's application) will automatically receive a bobcat permit.

Applications are now being accepted for the drawing.

Mail-in applications are on page 85 of the 2008-09 Pennsylvania Digest of Hunting and Trapping Regulations, which will be provided to each license buyer. All mail-in applications must be postmarked no later than Aug. 15, or submitted to any agency region office or Harrisburg headquarters no later than Aug. 15.

Or you can apply through "The Outdoor Shop" on the agency's Web site (www.pgc.state.pa.us).

The 2008-09 hunting season for bobcats is set for Oct. 20 through Feb. 16, and the trapping season is set for Oct. 21 through Feb. 17.

E-mail: preilly@lnpnews.com