Pa Game News Three Centuries of trapping Bounties/The Grey Fox

[uncle buck]

Received info from brother Tom:

There are 2 excellent articles in the August 2010 issue of the PA Game News.


1. Three Centuries and Counting- An historical perspective of bounties and trapping in Pennsylvania. Starts in 1643 where pioneers constructed 52 wolf pits or traps to reduce predation on their livestock. Mentions the 283 year bounty era, payouts and it's  termination in June 1966,  Early trappers names and their harvest numbers.


2. Pennsylvania's "Other" Fox
Article about grey fox characteristics, habitat, trapping etc. It also compares Grey's with reds, coyote and raccoon.

[Hern]

Got my issue the other day and it's good to read the history of bounties in Pennsylvania.
I remember, as a boy, getting bounties for Fox (ended in 1966) and bounties for Great Horn Owls (ended in 1965) the end of a 283 year bounty era in Pennsylvania.
Am proud to be part of that history.

These predators were taken to the local game warden for count.
I recall warden cutting a slit in the nose (splitting the nose) of Fox so one couldn't collect bounty more than once.
I was in my leaning years on trap'n Fox and did SO-SO to OK, but hammered Great Horn Owls and Hawks (which were not protected).
I used poles with a trap on top (pole trap) to take Owls. Pole traps were set in open areas so Owls had perch to take advanage to watch open area.

Most of my Fox bounty trapping was den trapping. I would place out a half dozen footholds (all I owned) near den site. Sometimes I would have 4-6 pups on first check and location would go dead. Then I moved to another den site. But I didn't trap Fox as much as Owls back then. Owls were much easier to trap and less work.

[uncle buck]

I was talking to one of the PGC Wardens that told me..When he was a kid they would find a fox den then dig down from the top with the shovel..They would reach down and grab the pups by the skin on the back of their necks..Then pull them out of the hole.  He said this one time he reached down felt fur and pulled up not a pup this time by a MAD adult snarling growling red fox..He never did say if he used gloves but I bet they did...

[Hern]

UB, I never dug a den by myself, but helped John Atkinson of Sunbury, Pa. dig 2 dens. Once was for pups and another time was a Fox we were running with hounds that holed on John's property.
Sure is alot of worked to dig a Fox den.

[uncle buck]

Got my hands on a August PA Game News.  Good stories for sure.....

I think this year I may have to set some legholds in the Fall..