District 8 Chair & Co-Chairs reports.
Districts
Minnesota Trappers Association
District 8 Reports
Director 
Co-Director-----------------------------------------------------
Outgoing Director - Brad Wobbrock
Fall 2021 Report (Final report for Outgoing Director)
Greetings All:
It sounds like the convention was well attended and enjoyed by many.
Kathy and I could not attend this year due to some health reasons and I was helping my mother move to an assisted living home. I had my knees replaced 6 years ago and now my left hip is trying to give up the race. It has been a trying time in life for both of us - they call it the "Oreo of Life". We have our kids and granddaughters, ourselves, and our parents. I guess we are the cream filling.
My trapping the past year has mostly been beaver damage control. It seems like I keep going back to the same locations. I plan on trying to get back at it this fall and trap some coyotes. When I look out my kitchen window and see a coyote, I know it is time.
District 8 Fall Meeting will be held on August 28th at Cumberland’s. I want to sincerely thank the Cumberland Family for all that they have done for our district, our meetings and also for you my fellow trappers. It has been a pleasure to have been your District 8 Director and represent you for the last 12 years. The best being our spring and fall meetings. Also getting to know most of you over time, encouraging people to be members and watching the kids grow up to be successful trappers. We have made many friends along the way and for that we are very grateful!
I want to thank my past and current co-directors for all of their help and contributions to our district, the association and to trapping!
We have a new president and vice president, so please take the time to read their information in this newsletter. With the State Leaders that we currently have in St. Paul, not much is happening or changing, unfortunately. Keep the fight for Non-Resident Trapping and continue to work for a wolf season.
We will continue to be a part of the MTA; we will just be on the other side of the table.
Take Care –
Brad Wobbrock
Progressive Trapper
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Co-Director - Bill Adler
Fall 2021 Report
It's been a long time coming. Our district meeting, held at the convention, was sparsely attended but it was an informative one. We discussed the board meeting updates, raffle ticket sales, attendance at the convention, keeping the discussion about setting Dps within 50 ft of permanent water alive, a proposed otter season expansion and increased catch limit. Also discussed was how important turning in incidental otters (fisher, bobcat, etc.) has become. The DNR sets catch limits on the known resource. If there are lots of incidental otter catches in any given area, it means the otter population has grown and would be able to handle higher catch limits. The proposed 8 otter catch limit is based on incidental and in-season catches, meaning that data has worked to our benefit. An expanded otter season would help reduce the hours spent by DNR personnel to record incidental catches. All things considered, the DNR is in favor of this.
The wolf issue is still being resolved. Gary Leistico told the Board resolution is coming, but it isn't in time for the 2021-22 season. A lot still has to be done and it may still take a while.
The fall district meeting will take place at the Cumberland's customer appreciation day on August 28. As the MTA website District Meetings webpage indicates, Brad Wobbrock will not be running for district director again. Please consider this as an invitation to nominate someone for director and co-director.
Bill Adler
-- Could 'ave, Should 'ave, Would 'ave...
As a conversation starter, I always ask people I've come to admire, where they got their drive to succeed. And if they could bottle it, I'd buy it by the case!!
The answers vary. Most are younger than I am, and they have the intestinal fortitude. They also don't need 8-hours of sleep and usually have a lot more uninterrupted miles of critters to harvest than I have. Excuses, excuses, I can hear it coming already.
Anyway, that's the way it always seems to go. I open up the conversation, people laugh and then I get told my desire for sleep and lack of personal drive are my own recipe for.... failure? Actually, it’s not failure, but it is a feeling I could have achieved more. Seriously, I should have knocked on more doors. Telling folks, I was there for the coon, skunks and possums ALWAYS gets an invite to more conversation. Especially when I suggest you can get closer than 5 feet to a skunk and not get sprayed. Or, that skunk essence is worth about $20 an ounce if you can scrape enough off your shirt to sell it. 'Should have” are the optimal words. Hot is hot and I hate sweating on a front step talking through a door to someone who is enjoying air conditioning. Looking worn out already doesn't inspire confidence in what I'm proposing in exchange for their permission.
At the National convention in Spencer, I met a guy who had the magic elixir I was looking for. (This year, I'm on a cherry essence kick. Next year, it'll probably be something else). Anyway, I just had to ask him about where his drive comes from and if he'd bottle it, I'd buy it by the case! His answer was a little different—or maybe I started to listen to what he was implying instead of what I wanted to hear. He said he traps each year like it was going to be his last. He said all of us will probably be in some sort of old folk's situation, sitting around, BS-ing about our accomplishments. And if we are going to be in that situation, having good stories about what we did in trapping would bring us comfort.
It was an eye-opener. I bought his only two magic-in-a-bottle jars and spoke with him several times over the course of the convention. Could 'ave, should 'ave, and would 'ave are sort of excuses for “must do”, “must have” and “definitely did”. Excuses aside, 'would have' doesn't stand a chance against the personal drive it takes to have more permissions, scout more areas, set and rotate more traps. Numbers and experiences come to those who do, rather than those who didn't.
It's look'in like a great year to be on the 'line. And I'll trap like it was my last year to be there.
Bill Adler