It's a great time to be a trapper in Pennsylvania, say leaders of the Pennsylvania Trappers Association.

Since 1936, the association has been connecting trappers and educating people about what trapping is and what wildlife conservation means.

Charlie Sykes, the vice president west of the association, said the group's mission of working with the Pennsylvania Game Commission and supporting conservation and ethical trapping practices has helped to spark a sea-change in trapping opportunities.

“This is an awesome time to be a trapper in Pennsylvania,” Sykes said. “We have bobcat tags available, fisher tags available, and for the first time in over 60 years we have a very limited but new otter season,” in areas around the Pocono Mountains.

“As far as opportunities, we really are blessed with things we didn't have when I was a kid,” he said.

Sykes got his first taste of trapping at the age of 6, a year after his parents bought a farm in Mercer County and he started catching rats trying to get into the family's chicken feed.

His first catchers were raccoons, but Sykes soon moved on to animals like muskrats and trapped his first fox at age 10.

He said the association's other mission is to provide education and guidance to young and beginning trappers and to create publications that help teach conservation and proper trapping practices.

“I thought at that time (age 10) I had it all figured out,” Sykes said. “Now, at 49, I realize I learn something every year.

“I wish I would have been led toward a membership when I was younger. It would have helped with the learning curve.”

The association itself has changed along with the times, said Joe Fennell, the assistant director for District 2, which includes Butler, Clarion, Armstrong, Lawrence and Beaver counties.

Fennell has been a district administrator for about five years, but has been an association member since 1981.

Fennell, who had been trapping since the 1970s, drove to an association convention in Lawrence County that year. He remembers going by himself because he didn't know any other trappers.

Fennell has been a member ever since, and he said one of the association's most important jobs through the years has been connecting trappers with each other. That used to be a tall order before the days of Facebook and smartphones.

“Back in those days you didn't have any social media to speak of,” Fennell said.

These days, he said, it's much easier to cultivate a community of trappers and keep them in contact with each other.

The association also puts out publications 10 times per year and holds educational events to pair experienced trappers with those new to the pastime.

One mainstay of the association's educational lineup is an all-day trappers school they host every August. Fennell said the events draw people of all ages.

“I have 'em 80 years old and 8 years old,” he said. “They come to this thing, and it is worth its weight in gold. It gets a lot of people started off on the right foot.”

The popularity of its programs and publications has helped to build the association into the largest collective of trappers in the country, according to the PTA website.

Fennell said that's been true for years, and he expects the association to remain healthy well into the future.

“It pretty much holds steady,” Fennell said of trends in association members.

He added the PTA's popularity among trappers stems from its even-handed approach to advocacy.

“We've always pushed sensible laws and ethics,” Fennell said. “The big thing is, we want people to be educated and see all these improvements to trapping. All of that has been developed and pushed by trappers themselves.”

Fennell is a professional trapper who also runs a trapping supply business out of his home.

The association's yearly educational event features six different demonstrations on different kinds of trapping, ranging from animals like raccoon and muskrat to foxes — an animal Fennell said has been struggling to compete with Pennsylvania's growing population of coyotes, which filtered in from New York state and Canada decades ago.

The local species is much different from the desert coyotes most people think of, Fennell said. Pennsylvania coyotes are “a lot bigger, more muscular and more aggressive,” than most give them credit for.

The competition has been especially hard on the red fox, which likes open spaces and get run down and killed by the larger, faster coyotes.

Fennell said that while coyotes aren't necessarily a so-called “nuisance animal,” a big part of many trappers jobs deal with the removal of those kids of critters.

Fennell, who is licensed for nuisance wildlife removal year-round, said he looks at those calls as a chance to educate people about what trappers do.

“I try to educate them, because you can tell they have no clue. None,” Fennell said.

“It's kind of fulfilling to deal with those people who are open-minded and willing to learn about trapping.”

For information about the group, visit the association's website at www.patrappers.com.