BARRETT TOWNSHIP -- One day after authorities say they found explosives in the woods where they are searching for accused cop killer Eric Frein, the Pennsylvania Game Commission decides to ban hunting in the search area.
The game commission issued an order Wednesday to ban hunting and trapping in seven townships in the Poconos where the search continues for the person who is wanted for killing a state trooper in Pike County.
Gene Besko hasn't stopped into his hunting cabin in the Poconos since the manhunt for Eric Frein began last month, and now that Besko is finally in to get the grounds ready for Saturday's archery season, the Pennsylvania Game Commission changed its mind, and decided to put a hold on hunting.
"If they were going to cancel it, they should have coordinated it and canceled it in the beginning, because it's throwing a big curve into everybody's idea of going out into the woods and going hunting," Besko said.
The Pine Lodge Sportsman's Association's cabin sits on about 450 acres of private land deep into the woods near Skytop, near the Pike and Monroe county line where state police have been looking for Eric Frein,
Surveyors got back to work trying to map the land, after the 19-day manhunt for Frein kept them away.
"We can't operate with fear in our minds, just going to try and go out there and get the job done and leave the rest of the work to the local law enforcement," said Peter Rafalko of George Dunda Surveying.
Besko checked some of his trails and put up some of his cameras, ready to take photos of wildlife, or capture one of the FBI's top ten most wanted men.
"Pulled them in just before this happened to put new batteries in and get them straightened out, went to put them back out and I haven't been able to get them back out since," Besko said.
State police have said Frein could be hiding in a number of hunting cabins all throughout the Poconos, but members of the Pine Lodge Hunting Club say they have theirs secure from the inside out.
Inside the hunting lodge, windows are boarded up.
Just a few miles to the south along Route 447, troopers surrounded Alpine Mountain Ski Resort, still actively looking for the man they believed killed a state trooper in Pike County last month, or any other pipe bombs or traps he may have left behind.
Bow hunters like Besko now are prepared to hunt elsewhere, while some agree keeping people out of these woods where pipe bombs have been found is a good idea.
"If they would happen to stumble onto something and get hurt, you know, then we'd have another loss, an innocent victim," said John Brown.
Bow season hunters can hit the woods in Pennsylvania elsewhere, but until further notice, the only people allowed to use weapons of any kind in these woods are law enforcement looking for Eric Frein.