PPHA Forums
Predator Hunting => Predator Hunting => Topic started by: muttbuster on January 01, 2009, 12:24:21 PM
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Hi guys. I'm new to this site but I'm not new to the great sport of predator hunting. Foxpro51 is my hunting partner and he has been keeping me up to date about this years state wide predator hunt. I'm not trying to offend anyone but I would like to toss in my two cents. First of all, the balance of hunters is very lop-sided across the state. It is kind of like the Custer fighting the Indians contest. A hand full of hunters will never be able to compete with an army of hunters. I propose we eliminate the district hunting program and level the playing field by either hunting solo or a two man team. This way everyone has an equal chance. Second, why include Coons. Coons are not in any way as difficult to hunt as a Fox or Coyote. I think hunting predators that think you're dinner is much more of a challenge. Coons resemble my first wife, to dumb to know when the shi* is about to hit the fan. Lets go for the killers and lets do it fair.
Thank you and I'm looking forward to assisting the club in the future.
Muttbuster
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Alot of areas in Pa have alot more fox then others.I hunt in wayne and lackawanna counties and the fox population here cant even compare to that of the southeastern portion of Pa.Theres 10 to 12 greys for every 1 red fox in my area but those 10 to 12 greys are very hard to find.Theres only a handful of decent predator hunters in my area.
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Lackawannafox,( Good point. ) Someone made a statement here that is the way this contest has allways been. (That doesn't make it right.) Look at General Motors. They also said that's the way its allways been done. (They are allmost banckrupt.) Look at our membership. How much has it dropped in the last 5 years? Ever wonder why? You can blame the economy but that is not the only reason.
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Every section of this state has its plusses and minuses. One plus we all have are the raccoons.
Mutt and LF , I'll be looking for your applications at the post office and looking forward to meeting up.
DC
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This statewide hunt has always been billed as a "FUN" hunt and memers are allowed to hunt anywhere in the state. If you're looking for rewards beyond comraderie and internet "fun-poking", may I suggest the "Skeeter Creek" money hunt.
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Muttbuster~
having racoons in the mix allows every participant a chance to gain points. raccoons are found all throughout the state...therefore as Dreamcatcher stated all participants have an opportunity to score no matter where they live/hunt. some have no reds...some have no grays...and coyotes are quite hard to kill. so i vote to keeping the raccoons in the scoring bracket. plus, this allows youth hunters an opportunity to earn points as well....because they are easy. you don't get a youth into fishing by handing them a flyrod on a stream...you give them a snoopy pole at a farm pond and let them hook bluegills all day long. thus allowing them to participate and bring fur to the check in, thus keeps their interest in hunting and calling up...thus having a participant year after year. having raccoons in the bracket is not the cause of membership loss. ???
there is no rules excluding 2 man teams....3 man teams or whatever floats your boat. just no dogs...calling only. thus, there are no rules mandating two man teams....some prefer to go solo and do quite well at it. making them team up will only discourage them from participating. we need and want as many participants during these events as possible. its not like there will be 6 guys hunting together all wekend long against a solo guy in the next district. we encourage members living close together to team-up and have fun...its the whole point....hunting with others in your area and having a b.s. session when its all over at the check-in.
some members are competitive...some could care less about the trophy or braggin rights. we gotta keep things in the middle to allow all interests a chance to have fun.
glad to have another member in Dist. 6....hope to meet you at some point down the road!
~Woody
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Keep the raccoons.There a ton of fun to call.When the fox arent responding I'm sure anyone that knows about furbearers can find some coon to call.I call for my love of this sport.Every fox/coon we harvest we give them to my uncle to skin/sell.Its a win/win for us
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BP, I am allready in the Hall of Fame Muesum and comfortably retired so winning a small trophy and money means nothing to me..
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Woody, youth hunting is a wonderful thing. I take young hunter any time I can. How many youths will participate in this hunt? I still feel that a predator hunt should be for the more difficult animals. My point about two man teams refers to the districts. If a district has twenty hunters and another district has four hunters how can the district with four hunters even compete with twenty hunters in the scoring department? If each hunter kills a fox thats one hundred points. If four hunters kill a fox thats twenty points. Thats my point. Either solo hunt or two man teams will make it fair. Just not district.
Bp. All hunting is fun. Just needs to be equal so everyone has a chance to win. No "internet-poking" intended. I would like to try the "Skeetercreek" hunt. Sounds fun. Problem is, not everyone has the time or resources to travel state wide for these fun hunts. Only the guys that want more than comraderie.
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this hunt is a fun hunt. in a perfect world this hunt would be lopsided. but this isnt a perfect world. hunter participion is the key thing in this hunt. we have a group of diehard hunters that hunt all of these hunts. most member dont even bother to participate. last years hunt we had 20-25 hunters state wide in this hunt. so saying its like custard & the indians is far from how it is.
the reason we have these hunts is to begins members together & have some fun & fellowship.
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i understand about the #'s issue Muttbuster. it all really comes down to participation. so far it seems like District 2 and District 6 are the only two area's rallying their troops. 4 guys in one district can win it over 10 guys in another. its happened before and can always happen int he future. how hard they hunt and how well the weather cooperates determines the outcome at the check in. one two man team who bust their keisters can win over 10 guys in another area....seen it with my one two eyes.
i know that not a whole lot of youth will make it out that weekend...but in the same regard we cannot make this a vetran hunt either. the reason there are not alot of 'rules' is to keep it as light and loose as possible to get the most participation. too many rules and the fun goes away.
;)
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Guys I dont know anything about this hunt how and where does it take place.Where and how do I sign up.Is this hunt only once a year.Whats the point system.At the end of this hunt does everyone meet at one location.Thanks sorry for all the questions
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Hi Tom P. Nice to see someone else feels it is lopsided. My question is why don't more members participate? The reason they joined is because they love the sport.
Woody. What are the reasons why only two districts are rallying the troops? It just seems to me that something needs to change for more members to want to join the hunt. I understand membeship is on the decline. The first step should be to try to find the reasons.
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I hate to even throw this out there for fear of offending anyone but my thought is this. If the district is lopsided it's up to the members and head of the disctrict to recruit members (I'm no different). Memberships are affordable and everyone has a nephew or a cousin that would like the chance to hunt something new. I am a first generation hunter and I would have jumped at the chance and still would. Like I told longhair the other day, The only time I ever heard of this organization was from a magazine that I only seen once in the stores and never seen again. I think it was called predator hunter? maybe? I mean for the price of a box of bullets someone can be a member of PPHA. Uniotown has a woodland world, maybe one of our great callers can put on a seminar and recruit members that way. Same as the gander mountains. Again I might be speaking out of turn, pushing alot of this on you guys (because I'm still in the low kill status) but I've been a member for almost a year and only heard of one meeting in that time and the forum has become the only sign of life for this district for me. I'm still hoping to hunt with one of my district 6 pros in the near future.
As far as contest for money, That has already hurt me. I lost so much propery that I hunted because the land owner don't want the fox hunters to scare his coyotes away cause he's trying to win a contest. I don't know what contest but I know it's not ours.
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Predator 77. That may be one of the reasons membership is on the decline. Very little membership activities and the guys go away.
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lackawanna--the points & dates are in the members forum under ppha events
each district will have a check in spot in that district plus ill have a checkin spot at my house as well so there will 7 check ins across the state.
joe b. aka dreamcatcher is your district director he'll probably post the checkin spot shorty
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Thanks tom
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NOTE~ 1st...the dates for this hunt is 5pm friday jan 30 thru sunday the 1st at noon.
2nd.. from noon friday till sat midnight can coon be hunted. Therefore from midnight sat till sunday at noon it's fox and coyote only.
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NOTE~ 1st...the dates for this hunt is 5pm friday jan 30 thru sunday the 1st at noon.
2nd.. from noon friday till sat midnight can coon be hunted. Therefore from midnight sat till sunday at noon it's fox and coyote only.
huh? ???
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As far as contest for money, That has already hurt me. I lost so much propery that I hunted because the land owner don't want the fox hunters to scare his coyotes away cause he's trying to win a contest. I don't know what contest but I know it's not ours.
There are so many Coyote hunts in this state with large purses. With that in mind, why would a property owner want some guy(s) to hunt his dogs if he has a chance to win some money.
At the rod & gun club I belong to reports on these hunts every year. The largest 1st place prize I hear about every year is like $7000-$8000 for first place. Maybe this is why many members don't participate in district hunt. Because they are trying to win money in these other hunts and are spending every minute they have working on killing the biggest coyote the can kill. The money is what got me interested in predator hunting.
This is my first hunt and I've only been a paying member of PPHA for little more then a month. I have a lot to learn before I can call myself a seasoned predator hunter.
I found the PPHA during a web search, after getting a trail cam picture of a coyote. I contacted Woody via phone for advice on how to hunt the critter. Check my post in the photo section and you'll see how it turned out.
I guess the point I'm trying to make here is this. If you want membership to grow and be stronger. Maybe offering a hunt with a prize package i.e. calls, decoys, or training videos. Maybe appealing to some people. Or even getting envolved with some of these other hunts, offering membership to the PPHA for registering in the hunts.
Just my thoughts.
Swarter2
a..k.a Dave Swarter
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i have a question, this hunt is the same weekend as the hunt in Tunkhannock, if i get a coyote can it be entered into both hunts?
As far a youth participation, we need to have something like a kids shooting day at the local range, then have some of our memembers give kids type seminars and some free calls to give away.
Thanks
Scott
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i dont see a problem with entering your fur in 2 different hunt that weekend.
as far as your suggestions on the youths---the ppha does numerous youth field days each year.
at last years predator expo we had a youth seminar. the kids got a dood bag with a couple calls. we're planning on having the youth seminar again this year at the expo.
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As far as contest for money, That has already hurt me. I lost so much propery that I hunted because the land owner don't want the fox hunters to scare his coyotes away cause he's trying to win a contest. I don't know what contest but I know it's not ours.
There are so many Coyote hunts in this state with large purses. With that in mind, why would a property owner want some guy(s) to hunt his dogs if he has a chance to win some money.
I'm not sure what contest he's in but I guess he figures if he already has them on his farm, why not make money off them. Are you from my area (Fayette City)? Hunting around here is every man for himself. Private propery is everywhere however permission is not. Some excuses have been ,The place was promised to some other guys and I wouldn
t want to mess them up by letting you hunt here, Nah, my dogs look alot like foxes (full grown collies). Nope this is for deer hunters only.. The list goes on. My opinion is if you need money to get anyone off their hump to hunt coyotes maybe they don't need to hunt them at all, cause alot of us would love to do it for free. Sorry for the quote, I don't know how to work the forum yet.
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Yeah, i think the the kids seminars are great at the expo, but how many of those kids are there because they are with someone you already hunts predators, chances are they are going to hunt them anyway because it is in the family. I think if we have a kids pellet gun tournement at a local club and make a day out of it we can draw from outside of our group. Just a thought.
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My opinion is if you need money to get anyone off their hump to hunt coyotes maybe they don't need to hunt them at all, cause alot of us would love to do it for free. Sorry for the quote, I don't know how to work the forum yet.
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These coyote contests I'm talk about predator77 aren't the hunters paying the property owner. The hunters pay a fee to be in these contests and the prizes are high. There are so many properties in my area with dogs on them. That the live stock is being effected. If you ask the farmer/property owner thats in their 70's to hunt them. They laugh at you and say no cause they are hunting them for money.
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SWARTER, I am not sure why this certain property owner is doing this and I don't know what contest he is in but I'm starting to feel like your calling me a liar. This guys name is William Elliott 724 326-8880 (it's in the book not an unlisted number) call him and ask him why. That's what he told me. He lets people deer hunt the place to death so it's not like he dosen't let people hunt at all and even last year I hunted fox there with his permission (unsuccessful). His family owns a couple hundred acres of farmland. I asked the guy and he said no, cause fox hunters scare his coyotes and he wants to win a contest. I can understand if coyotes were a problem and there was a bounty on them but people go their whole lives never seeing a coyotes in Pa. Going hunting is the prize. Enough said on this. Call him to get your answers.
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predator 77. if you know were there are some coyotes. call me. I have ideas.
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Foxpro51, I've been trying. I drove around for 2 hours yesterday trying to gain access to new places. There is a couple of people that are supposed to get back to me. No landowners were home yesterday,so I gave my info to their wives. Alot of great places if they call. I will surely PM you if I gain access.
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I like giving cherry pies for small properties. Big properties gets alot more. lol
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Extended National Weather Forecast for state predator hunt.----- Eastern Pa. will get 24 inches of snow followed by freezing rain. 40 MPH winds expected with heavy fog at night. Western Pa. will be sunny and cool.
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Western PA is just naturally more cool. Just compare NFL teams.
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Foxpro51, I've been trying. I drove around for 2 hours yesterday trying to gain access to new places. There is a couple of people that are supposed to get back to me. No landowners were home yesterday,so I gave my info to their wives. Alot of great places if they call. I will surely PM you if I gain access.
P77, Now isn't the time to get your foot in the door to gain access. Start in the spring and work your way from there. Shoot'n GH's on a work'n farm is a good start.
I'll bet ya that the owner isn't the only one hunt'n THAT property. Check the fringes when sceeter creek is on and you may be suprised. Matter of fact, if ya see some hunters, look for some knarly little thickets the opposite direction. That's probably what a yote would do. Don't ya think ?? ;)
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I keep seeing how you and foxpro51 keep saying how this hunt is lopsided. this is a fun hunt. a little friendly competition nothing for money. the original idea was to get out and hunt within your districe. not get a hold of your hunting buddy and hunt like you allways do. I have been hunting a total of 4 times this year and each time I was with a new predator hunter or someone I do not regularly hunt with. you foxpro51 seem to be taking this hunt too seriously. I will make it a point to be out hunting all weekend no matter how bad the weather is. the last two years I have not really hunted hard. I normally hunted with a new hunter or another ppha member. you just made yourself a target bubba.
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what do you mean picking on a sissy. I never ever called him that. I just think he does not and still does not understand the point of this hunt. it was more of a comraderie thing rather then a I am better then you thing. if he wants it to be that way I will try my best to challange him. if he wants to do a fun thing then I aplaud him for it. just to let you know district 4 was not talking smack I was. mainly to prove a point. I made a I think four posts I think about this hunt. one to poke george in the ribs. one to correct someone the one above and then this one. I might have forgot one. you provoked more then others. have fun ernie.
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I just like to hunt. Yes, i would love to win in competition but its not that important to me at my age. To tell you the truth i like seeing the younger kids win. Keeps em out of trouble.
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SWARTER, I am not sure why this certain property owner is doing this and I don't know what contest he is in but I'm starting to feel like your calling me a liar. This guys name is William Elliott 724 326-8880 (it's in the book not an unlisted number) call him and ask him why. That's what he told me. He lets people deer hunt the place to death so it's not like he dosen't let people hunt at all and even last year I hunted fox there with his permission (unsuccessful). His family owns a couple hundred acres of farmland. I asked the guy and he said no, cause fox hunters scare his coyotes and he wants to win a contest. I can understand if coyotes were a problem and there was a bounty on them but people go their whole lives never seeing a coyotes in Pa. Going hunting is the prize. Enough said on this. Call him to get your answers.
Predator77,
I am not calling you a liar. I'm just trying to say there are alot of contests going on this time of year for money. These contests have little prizes and some have some very generous prizes to be won. And most likeley this is why property owners are saying no to predator hunters because they are trying to cash in on the prizes themselves. That is all I'm trying to say. Trust me that is what I'm facing in the Bucks county area. The other thing I'm seeing is that the older farmers that are retired and can't hunt deer any more are hunting coyotes from their porches or hay lofts in the barns. Another reason its hard to get permission to hunt in my area is because the property owners are affraid they are going to be sued if the hunter gets hurt on their property.
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Swarter 2, I thought the game commission has a rule against that? You can't sue a landowner?
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Actually, as an individual hunting on a property with or without permission. You can sue a landowner if you can get hurt on their property. Now, as it goes from the PGC, if a hunter hunting on private property, injures, wounds or even kills someone beyond the sight of the target. The hunter is held liable not the property owner. There should be something about on the PGC websight. There was an incident in Lehigh Co. where a hunter shot at a deer, the bullet went down range and struck a pregnant lady in her drive way. Don't remember if she lost the baby or not. But she tried to sue the land owner and the hunter. Long story short, only the hunter ended up being held acountable.
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THEY SHOULD CHANGE THAT LAW. If a hunter hunts on someones property and gets permission and hurts himself the farmer should NOT BE RESPONSIBLE. A law like that will open up more property. Futhermore, If a hunter could give a farmer a card stating that it will open hunting big time.
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It falls under the personal property laws. I have met with the attorney of the property owner where I hunt to sign papers to be able to hunt there.
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Foxpro51, I've been trying. I drove around for 2 hours yesterday trying to gain access to new places. There is a couple of people that are supposed to get back to me. No landowners were home yesterday,so I gave my info to their wives. Alot of great places if they call. I will surely PM you if I gain access.
P77, Now isn't the time to get your foot in the door to gain access. Start in the spring and work your way from there. Shoot'n GH's on a work'n farm is a good start.
I'll bet ya that the owner isn't the only one hunt'n THAT property. Check the fringes when sceeter creek is on and you may be suprised. Matter of fact, if ya see some hunters, look for some knarly little thickets the opposite direction. That's probably what a yote would do. Don't ya think ?? ;)
I think you are 100% right but I come from a long line of stubborn Hungarians,lol. Seriously, Alot of these properties are corn fields and to tell you the truth I'm not a big ground hog hunter. I do it but but I'm not that crazy about bugs and snakes. I understand what your saying though. Maybe I'll have to get more involved in helping a farmer save a tractor to be able to hunt later.
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The only thing I ask in return is that I be premitted to use my quad. In return for that permission I help them in any way that i can. Like if a fence is down, hearding cattle, policing the farm, or just pick'n up some trash. Not to mention the GH's.
When the property owners/farmers see this and you have proven yourself to them, it may and usaully does, get you free roam on their land.
BTW~heard'n cattle......I've learned,the hard way, to take all the hunt'n stuff off the quad first. The quad and myself are sometimes covered in cow chit when I'm done.Heck, a couple of times my wife had to hose me down too !!!!! :P
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Geesh,not certin i want to join this club.
One fellow wants to use a quad for this hunt.
One a silencer.
Can i use grenades? ;D
Guess im in the dark ages when it comes to predator hunting.lol
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Looks like I'm gonna need a trailer for my quad. Maybe mount a recliner on the trailer for TO. ;D
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Looks like I'm gonna need a trailer for my quad. Maybe mount a recliner on the trailer for TO. ;D
I have a 5x8 it will fit on your hitch,but i need a couch back there,gotta have my happy naps. ;D
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BuckWheat do you have curly hair like i seen as a kid.
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BuckWheat do you have curly hair like i seen as a kid.
I'm sure BP has something. ;D
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51
They are just gray now.
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Looks like I'm gonna need a trailer for my quad. Maybe mount a recliner on the trailer for TO. ;D
Hey! We're partners right?
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Yea, you're carry'n me. ;D
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Western PA is just naturally more cool. Just compare NFL teams.
Steelers are going to loose to the Chargers and the Eagles will defeat the Giants once again this year.
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Swarter 2 NO NEGATIVE VIPES. LOL
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Looks like I'm gonna need a trailer for my quad.
Just make sure you city boys fill thebottom of that trailer with fur.
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If need be, I'll get big red out of heibernation. ;D (1 ton dually)
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You may need it,you and BP,just look for nudeist colony road,the fur is there waiting for you fellows.