productive areas of Pa.

[foxtrot]

I always find it interesting when we have are club sponsored hunts that the same areas of the state seem to always out produce others or so it seems.Is it because there are more fox or more participation from hunters in those areas?If you check the game commissions information on harvests there are other parts of the state that should be very productive but you never hear any success stories  on here from these areas.
  Why is that?

[jeremybrua]

i hear on the eastern side of the state you cant kick a bush without a fox running out of it.  over here on the western side there are a good number of fox.  but i know around me they are trapped hard and often shot at by all kinds of hunters and farmers.

[Buckwheat]

There are good spots all over the state. There are places in the state that I have called in more coyotes in one night then I can call all season any other place in the east. There are places that I have called in more gray fox in one night then you can shake a stick at. But for red fox the entire southern part of the state can be great red fox hunting. The key to seeing more is all about scouting for what critter you have in your area or going to were each critter has high numbers. This can take years to learn. If you say trappers are getting them that just means you can too. You just have to put the time in and be good at it. Example is it took me a few years until I killed my first red fox in the east. Today I have spots all over the state that have good numbers of critters to hunt.  I do hower think that the east has a highest number of great predator hunters in the state. Most predator hunters today only have a few years under there belt. In the 80,s you could hardly find a predator hunters any were else but in the east and they were few and far.  In the last 10 years predator hunting has been a growing sport all over the state and we will soon start seeing guys with high kill numbers more and more all over the state. A lot of the good guys never tell anyone how many they call and kill each year. There are a few I know that kill over a hundred critters a year and never post a thing on any boards about there numbers. My point is how hard you hunt has a lot to do with how many you get. A die hard hunter will find the good spots even if he has to drive a long ways. Like all types of hunting that you can kill all you are allowed to kill  only 10% of the hunters kill 90%
of the game. Crows, ducks, doves are examples to relate to.

[foxtrot]

Your sure stepping on alot of toes when you say the best predator callers are in the east.The fact is there are seven times as many fox reported harvests in district five as compared to district two or four.So someone hunting in district two might only harvest fourteen but if they put forth the same effort they could potentially harvest 98 in a more productive area.I will agree it takes a good hunter to capitalize on numbers like that and the east certainly has some guys that can do it.But there are some great callers in other parts of the state that don't see large harvest numbers because of geographics.I quess it really doesn't matter as long as you enjoy what your doing but everyone likes results and unfortunately some of you need to work a little harder.

[Buckwheat]

You are correct to some degree, geographic area sometimes has a lot to do with the kill numbers. But a die hard hunter will find good locations. My gray fox areas are over 125 miles from home. My coyote areas are 170 miles from home and my red fox areas are were I live. I consider a good predator hunter that has over 20 kills a year a good hunter. Maybe you know more in the west that kill more then that every year. I only know a few that kill over a hundred a year in the east.

[Critterslayer51]

As far as number of hunters in the ppha that participate in hunts, D2 leads in numbers with 74 and D4 has 69 members. For instance, D5 has like 16 members, there are more chances of reported kills because there are just so many hunters from the south central and south eastern corners of the state. There are also many many predator hunters in this area that are not members, and the competition is very high with callers and trappers.

[beastman]

It has never seemed to me that in my part of the state, nw corner that predator calling was all that popular.  When I was a younger man in the late 70's early 80's I knew a few people who tried a couple of times but I have never ever met anyone else out calling.  It has always seemed odd to me, even back in the 80's when there was so many gray's in my area it was ridiculous.  It was back then what texas must be like for coyotes, like the predator pursuit guys said at the expo, scouting for them was a waste they just looked for likely spots and called.  That's what I used to do and I had way more success with my homemade call then I have today.   And buckwheat I admire you, 170 miles to kill a coyote makes me feel ashamed about myself, if I have to travel more then 20 miles I feel like I'm really on the road, lol

[bigben]

I believe it is because there is more participating hunters in that section of the state.  as far as how many you have to kill to be considered good?  I think if someone worries about what others think of them and how good they are then they need to step back and think about why they are hunting in the first place.  JMO. 

[coyotenightmare]

I live in an area where there are good numbers of fox and a few coyotes. Competition is very heavy where I call. Which is only within 10 miles from where I live. My typical year will produce around 10-15 fox and 5 coyotes. There are a couple really good trappers that trap where I call, as well as a handful of callers that either are good callers or good educators. If I would get a little more motivated and cover some miles, I might be able to kill close to 100 predators in a year. With a wife and 8 month old son, it makes it kind of tough.

[Buckwheat]

Yep, the time spent hunting, scouting, and finding a good numbers of critters and not missing what you call in = success!!  And success is what ever you personally set for ones self. Some just set there goals higher. I just think there are a lot of people in the east that have high goals.

[bigben]

Yep, the time spent hunting, scouting, and finding a good numbers of critters and not missing what you call in = success!!  And success is what ever you personally set for ones self. Some just set there goals higher. I just think there are a lot of people in the east that have high goals.

I agree with you there buckwheat.  to be successful consistently you need to put time in.  There are more pieces of the puzzle but that is the big one I think many people over look.  Set a goal at the start of the season and aim for it. 

[Renny]

Just like anything in life... you get out of it what you put into it.  Animal populations do make a different in success rates.  Back in the late 80's and early 90's I use to have very high responce rates compared to today.  The dynamics of my critter population changed and I had to learn to change calling techniques to be  more successfull.

[foxtrot]

The areas that are hunted and trapped on a yearly basis seem to have the most prolific populations.There were some areas I hunted last year that supposedly hadn't been hunted in quit some time and the results were disappointing,where as areas that get hunted every year produce consistently every year.I quess by harvesting every year the population stays healthy and litters are larger.As far as scouting and setting goals I agree absolutly that your success will improve and being part of an organization like ppha helps to give you the motivation and knowledge to take it to the next level.But as far as productive areas some areas of the state just have more carrying capacity.

[Brushwolf]

Agree with you foxtrot 100%

[jeremybrua]

being a trapper i know that the south eastern part of Pa has a large fox population.  no one can dispute that fact.  there are stable fox numbers in my area, but that's all they are is stable.  many big time trappers i know here in western Pa will take around 20-30 fox in a good year.  out east you have people like Phil brown who take on a average 1000 fox a year. 

now with more callers out east there could be a lot of educated fox.  but there are a lot more fox that would have to be educated to make an impact.  around me there are a few callers i know and less fox, so if a hunter is out educating fox it causes more of a problem.