doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com The history behind Iron Man Phil

I posted this picture on that bat shooting thread. You guys want to know a little more about that amazing catch well here we go.

Phil Brown out of Lancaster County PA made the catch of 1285 fox. There was a one page clip on him in the May Outdoor life mag this year. I am frineds will Phil and helped him count and put that catch up on his barn that day.

Here's the stats on this unreal catch. Remember he works for himself pouring concrete, your talking about a guy leaving the house at 2am and returning at dark for 89 days. Running non stop and if it wasn't for his understanding wife it would have been tough. She prepares all his meals, wash...... he comes home that night skins and goes to bed.

1202 fox caught in 90 days
1200 caught in 89 days
1185 fox in picture
11 fox threw away for mange
6 fox threw away dog ripped
9247 traps check in 90 days
13 fox average a day for 90 days
683 males
519 females
24 days with 20 or more fox a day
Best day 34 fox-135 traps
mabe best day 30 fox-90 traps
worst day 0 fox 48 traps,only 0 day this year
skinned 964 fox myself
streched,and dried 888 fox myself
best 8 strait day catch 210 fox-1178 traps checked
Best 7 strait day fox catch 187 fox-1043 traps checked.
Also caught:
16 mink
50 muskrats
58 possum
68 coon
21 skunk
2 coyote.






Here we are getting the first row up.

Like I said he lives in Amish country.





Here's a few trappers that I am friends with also.

Getting down to the final 10

Here's a good day's run.

Working the snow.


I'll post more if you want.

If you think mentioning killing a few bats is bad for PR for the anti-hunting crowd, just let 'em see this photo ...

AMEN!

Amazing, I new a gentleman 25 years ago that lived in Bath, Pa. Delivered grain in New York, New Jersey, and in Pa. On the side he trapped fox. Showed me how it was done, no clothing you wore on trap line in house, rubber boots when he got out of his vehicle. Shortened the chain, boiled traps and coated them with some specific coating, and carried two hard wood sticks on the lines. Asked him why he didn't just shoot them, he said blood, so he used the sticks, fox would grab on to one and he would wack it on the top bridge of it's nose. He also trapped mice around the barn and used the ones with the eyes open facing out of a hole, the other ones facing into the hole. Said a fox will circle on one going into the hole but will try to rush in on a facing one.
I wish he were still alive to see these pictures, and I'm sure that he would get in touch with him.
This was when there were still wild pheasants in the area.
How many miles does his trapline cover, it must be huge. He must be doing it for the pleasure, are the fur prices still way down? This gentleman I knew of would sometimes turn the ears in for the bounty of $5.00, but his daughter was a designer and she used some of the fur for coats or wraps.

The anti-hunters always pick on small states first, New Jersey, Rhode Island. They stopped the use of leg hold traps, said it was inhumane. Now you have to use conibers or snares. There will be no releasing of any animals now.
The only way that trapping will be stopped in Pa. is if the trappers themselves quit, a big state for trappers.
Also before anyone can say that an amimal caught in a leg hold trap cannot be released because of it's leg being broken, that is false. If you check the trap every 24 hrs. like you are supposed to, they can be released with no harm. I have done this with raccoon and fox 30+ yrs. ago.

Those fox are in storage due to a drop in the reds, He'll get his 22.50 this fall. His line takes him about 250 miles a day and 300 full bore. Trapping is a hobby for Phil like myself. I am a mink trapper and will 200 miles a day with hopes of 100-125 in a 5 week period. Pa has the largest trappers per any state and he runs into some stiff competition.

Thanks to Micheal Vick he's taken some of the pressure off trappers for a little while.

Someone should hire this guy as a gamekeeper!

You don't post for years and then come back with this.

Very cool!

I once commented to a farmer in PA that I had seen a fox while deer hunting on his property. He asked where the corpse was. When I told him I hadn't shot it he told me that was my last chance. If I didn't shoot every fox I saw from that moment on, I was not welcome to hunt on his farm........