Bert Highland

2018 – NOMINATION OF BERT HIGHLAND FOR THE MTA HALL OF FAME

Bert Highland has been the District 1 director for the last 10 years. Because of his leadership, attendance at district meetings has increased tremendously. He has always accurately and completely relayed information from the board of directors meetings and has effectively entertained discussions about these issues all while bringing district one’s concerns back to the board. Over the years, Bert has also made every effort to attend meetings for other districts as well as local/state meetings that have been important for the good of the sport of trapping in general. Bert is one of those people who can always be counted on to step up to the plate and do the job admirably and effectively.

Bert has organized a trapping class every fall for many years with an average group size of about fifteen students both young and old. In addition, he has assisted with the instruction of other classes in Northeastern Minnesota as needed.

Bert has faithfully written district one’s reports for our magazine and for the Trappers Post without ever missing an issue.

Bert can be described as not only instrumental, but also a workhorse, in various MTA projects ranging from the building/tracking of pine marten nesting boxes to advocating for the sport of trapping by seeing to it that a booth has been manned during the 5-day Duluth Boat, Sports, Travel, and RV Show. He is the “man behind the scenes” who does all the organizing to attend to every detail necessary to pull off 5 days of scheduling volunteers, arranging for all materials to be on-site, raising money for the MTA, and generally informing the public with accurate information about a controversial sport such as trapping. During his tenure as a District 1 Director, he has provided the leadership to do everything it takes to host a couple of summer conventions in Barnum; each has been a tremendous undertaking but a huge success because of his organizational skills and commitment to doing things right and doing them well.

In my opinion, Bert is one of the best overall trappers in Northeastern Minnesota. He excels at mink trapping with phenomenal numbers each season. He is an exceptional beaver and otter trapper with both conibears and footholds. It doesn’t matter if it is soft or hard water. Every fall, he takes his grandson out on the first day of the season, even before he starts himself. In addition, he is an excellent snareman on canine and bobcats. During the off-season, he makes his own lures.

Bert has a very good working relationship with the conversation officers of Northeastern Minnesota. They continue bringing him fur to put up for our tanned fur project, which he graciously does. One warden recently brought him fourteen marten, four bobcats, four fishers, and four otters all in one day, and Bert donated his time to put them up. He then personally delivered them to Tim Caven.

Bert and Tweety have a combined family of six children and numerous grandchildren. Bert plays an active role as a father and grandfather to all. On one day, you can find him watching a ball game, and the next time he will be watching a granddaughter cheerleading at a football game, or he might be found at a grandson’s little league game.

Bert is a man who makes friends easily and remains loyal to all He is truly a gentleman. For many reasons, a few of which have been described above, he is very deserving of selection to be inducted into the Minnesota Trappers Association Hall of Fame.

Submitted by “Trap ’til I Die,” Frank Brula