Director: Tom Marks
Co-Directors: Leon Windschitl and Bob Hanson
Greetings Fellow Trappers,
Another winter meeting is over which means we will be looking at the summer convention coming in Aug.1-2-3, 2008, in Fergus Falls MN.
The winter meeting went well. It was great to see everyone there. The law suit was discussed, and there are 220 issues again! Also discussed was how to bid for traps to be earned as incentives for selling raffle tickets.
District 5 and District 7 held a co-meeting at Johnson Fur, Willmar MN, on Saturday Feb 2. We had a great turn out. Lots of people brought in fur to sell to Scott.
Scott always puts on a great meal. Those pork sandwiches always hit the spot. We had quite a few young people there which was really great to see. I know there were at least 2 first timers there, because one of them was a student I certified. He came with his dad who is trapping fur also for the first time. They are having a ball and it's fun to hear how excited they get when they catch fur. Kids can't wait to get home from school to check traps. Their Dad said they always go right to the fur shed to see what he has caught while they were in school...
I took all my notes from the winter meeting with me to the Willmar meeting and left them there so I don't have everything that was discussed at that meeting. I am sure another director will cover the meeting. District 7 has another meeting on Feb 23 in Dovray, MN. We will be having Elk served at that meeting for dinner.
Thanks to District 5 for letting District 7 come to their meeting. I brought up the 220 issue again. We have to be really careful with these or we will be seeing restrictions on 220's. It's a very good tool and I would not want to see any changes in the use of the 220. Even if you have permission to be somewhere you will always be in the public eye if someone's pet is caught. I know it's not right but that's the way it is. It's not a matter of being right, even if the dogs are running where they don't belong and are caught, the trapper always gets the black eye. That's just the way it is. We need to adjust and be ever watchful where we put these traps. Why take the chance? Even though I know it can happen, even if you're really careful.
Hope to see all of you at the summer convention. Always remember without the MTA members we don't have a MTA. Many times thanks aren't given to people who help out the MTA. So I am saying thank you to all those people, and don't stop helping; we need members like you.
Tom Marks
Hello fellow trappers.
The state convention has come to pass and if you could not attend you missed another good convention. There were so many things going on you didn’t know if you should be looking for supplies in the dealer buildings, watching a demo or visiting with other trappers. Sometimes it felt that there just wasn’t enough time in a day to take it all in. Attendance seemed close to last year’s convention and by Saturday night the campgrounds looked full. Both auctions had big crowds and competitive bidding. I was unable to attend but our own co-director Shannon Cohrs did a demo on snaring coyotes. I was told he did a good job and was very informative. Thanks Shannon.
To have a convention the size that Minnesota puts on takes a lot of work and support by its members. I was very glad to see the trappers of District 7 who volunteered to help at the convention. It was also good to see new people helping out. There was a mix-up with the work schedule and we some how ended up with doing an extra shift on Saturday at the souvenir booth. I would like to thank all who helped out and special thanks to those who helped work on the extra shift.
If all goes as planned, we are trying to put together a fall meeting for District 7. Please watch for postcards for a meeting middle to end of September.
Next year’s convention will be in Chisholm on August 14-16 at the St. Louis County Fairgrounds hosted by District 1. The fairgrounds are the newest in the state just 10 years old. It will also be Minnesota’s 50th Anniversary in 2009. So to celebrate it, we may have a MTA 50th Anniversary Trap. More details after the next board meeting in October.
Leon Windschitl