District 8 Chair & Co-Chairs - Minnesota Trappers Association

Greetings Trappers:

District 8 held their spring meeting in March.  It was well attended about 75 members and 3 DNR officers. We had a great day weather wise for traveling and of course wonderful food at our potluck.

I want to thank Gabby and Bruce for making the arrangements to have the District 8 meeting at the Stewartville Sportsman Club.

We discussed how to get more young folks involved in trapping. For many years now, District 8 has a booth at two fairgrounds – Owatonna and Rochester area.  We all need to start and or continue to take any young people and even older out trapping - even if it is just to “ride along”.  

A question came up about an incidental catch of a bobcat and/or fisher in District 8 and having to turn them in. Mitch – DNR CO that attended our meeting spoke up and said he has had many bobcats and fisher turned in as well.

Mitch went on to say that if you hit one with a car he can give a permit to keep it but if you trap it you need to call the DNR.   He also suggested having the MTA start to get this moving forward and get this changed.

I do recall at a few past MTA board meetings that Jason Abraham had said something about opening the season state wide for these animals.

After our meeting I sent Jason an e-mail asking if there were going to be any rule changes for bobcat, martin and fisher for southern Minnesota. Jason got back to me in a couple days and this is what he said.

“We did discuss this at a recent meeting with regional and program managers from both wildlife and enforcement.  There was no consensus on expanding bobcat and fisher harvest statewide.  Specifically, managers were concerned about opening a season statewide when many southern Minnesota residents are just starting to hear reports about these species.”

“Nonetheless, I think you are correct in that there are areas of the state where harvest zone could be expanded. My plan for now is to look at expanding the zone more gradually, like we did with the otter season. For 2019, however, the zone boundary will continue to be interstate 94.”  I want to thank Jason for his quick and thorough response.

The summer convention is August 1 – 3 at Redwood Falls.  Please attend and as a District 8 and MTA member, please consider helping out.

Progressive Trapper – Brad Wobbrock

Greetings Dist 8,

As I write this I have just finished clearing my driveway and it looks like another 8” of snow is on its way in a couple of days, its ben a long time since I have had this much snow in my yard.  I am praying that we have a slow melt this spring to help control the flooding this year.

 

I hope many of you had time to attend the trappers day at the capitol and visit with your representative to express you concerns on trapping on February 5th. This is a great way to express you concerns about trapping and really get your representative’s attention. If you didn’t get time to attend the trappers day at the capital make sure to Email or write a letter to them expressing your concerns.

As many of you know Tim Caven’s wife is fighting cancer and Tim’s time is very limited. So we have volunteers signed up to help put up furs for the Tanned Fur Project. If you can handle your own fur for the tanned fur project that is greatly appreciated, if you can not, go to the MTA website to find someone close to you that can handle putting up your fur for you. Your donations are very much appreciated.

Before you know it the summer convention will be here. Make sure you get your hotel reservations well in advance. If you would like to help out at the convention you can check with Brian Fischer. Your help is very much appreciated.

See you at the Summer Convention

Bill R.