Officer & Director Reports
Presidents Report
Hi Guys,
It seems like a short Summer now that it
has passed. The District Clinics are in full swing and lots of folks are
attending, we have had big groups. It has always been interesting to me how much
I can learn from being at these clinics. We like to say that the clinics are for
the youth or beginning trappers, but every place I go I think I learn more than
I teach. Those of you who have had the opportunity to volunteer to help know
what I am saying. The more you give, the more you receive.
Something I
have noticed is that the attitudes of people I meet in other places. We have
come full circle in the way people think about trapping. We are not the people
that are using wildlife only as a money game, but rather we are the wildlife technicians,
balancing nature. This has taken some real work from guys like you at
places like the barber shop and Walmart.
The attitudes of people
have changed towards trapping. One of the main reasons these changes have come
about is because of folks like you. You drive, you give your time, and you
donate gas and motels at your expense, all for the future of trapping.
I know we have an
Association that realizes the importance of the way of life we live. We have all
learned to use words and phrases like, "dispatching",
"irreversible unconsciousness", and " mechanical restraining
device". You are all to be commended!
The Association always
does and always will need help to continue to grow. If you have some time you
could give and would like to get more involved, we have some key positions that
need some help. Please step up and volunteer. you will learn more than you
think.
The season will be on us
before we realize. Be safe. Have fun. Respect
yourselves other folks and their property, and the wildlife.
Thanks
Doren
Vice Presidents Report
Hi Everyone,
I hope everyone had a safe and
enjoyable trapping season this year. We ended up having a pretty mild winter
and I know a lot of you had to deal with a lot of rain. With the mild winter
, I am sure a lot of you were able to keep a water line going longer than
usual. Here it is the end of January and and we still have open water. Other
places in the state we didn't get quite as much rain, and it was a good year
to run a land line without as many problems on their fox, coyote, bobcat,
and lets not forget our opossum lines.
The The January 28th fur auction
was another success. Another record year on the number of raccoons
that went through the sale. There was a total of 12,430 raccoons that
went through, most of which were stretched and dried with a total of 11,252
raccoons. It also looks like fur prices are on a pretty good
rise. Otter were once again selling for over $100.00, red fox topped
out at $43.00, coyote topped out at $46.00, there were muskrats selling for
$13.50, bobcat averaged $81.00 with one very nice looking cat brought
$300.00, and let's not forget opossum topping out at $2.75. We still
have time to trap beaver, otter, and muskrats, so get out there and enjoy
the great outdoors and don't forget to take a kid along.
Don't forget to attend the Spring Meeting. Read
Clay McDaniel's article for details. I will update you later on our
2012 Fall Rendezvous soon. That is about all I have for now, so keep
your chains tight and be safe.
Robbie Page
Treasurer Report
Hi everyone.
Spring is finally here and we are working in the garden and yard.
So we can get ready for crappie fishing and trout lining on the lake,
District #6 had had two meetings about the fall rondy.
Robbie and Dale have got things rolling real good.
We are going to need a lot of help so if you can pitch in and help a
little or a lot we would appreciate it.
Give Robbie or Dale a call. I
think both of these guys will have more in their articles.
Well my boat is ready and the fish are
calling so it is time to go. Till next time be safe and don't eat to many fish or
mushrooms.
God Bless
Paul
Conservation Directors Report
Hello fellow trappers.
Well another
National Convention has come and gone, and in spite of the weather finally
catching up with us, it was a pretty good convention. We did have a few
glitches, but heck, what would you do if you didn't? It would be boring. We
don't have the final figures yet, but we figured there were 3,000 more or
less that attended.
Saturday night
was the dance with the band, Str8-Arrow. It seemed that the attendees really
had a good time, and some of our officers/members showed some pretty good
dance moves on the floor.
There are so
many people to thank that I do not know where to begin. I would like to
thank everyone that helped from working the gate to helping put up tables,
organize vendors and what ever else needed to be done. After all, it would
not be possible to get it all done with out the help from our members. Thank
you to those who helped make it a success.
I have not been
able to meet with our conservation man Jeff Beringer. He has been busy
keeping up with the bear population in Missouri and I have been busy with
the convention. The convention is over, and soon the bears will be
hibernating for the season, so hopefully we will meet up soon. We were able
to talk for a few moments at the convention regarding some trapper issues.
We did discuss the South Dakota ruling to keep non-resident trappers out of
their state the first and last part of the trapping seasons. All in all not
a good decision for the rest of us.
Remember the
Fall rendezvous is coming up in September at Chillicothe MO. The dates are
September 15th through the 17th. We hope to see a lot of you there. It will
be the last time to buy your supplies to get ready for the season here in
Missouri. We have a great state that is rich in natural resources and plenty
of opportunity to enjoy them. If we miss you in Chillicothe, I hope you have
a great season and hope the fur prices are as good if not better than last
year.
Have a safe
season, Rick
Way's and Mean's Report
NTA Director Report
Public Relations Report
This is a busy time for trappers. Gary House, Bob Porter, Bob Wray, Delbert
Chestnut, Robert Ruehlow, David Christensen, and Charles and Pam Samuels helped
with a booth at the St. Joseph Gun & Sports Show on January 20, 21, and
22nd. We had lots of intrest from the 5,000 attendees. We sold some new
memberships and collected some renewals.
I will be ordering more cards from Fur Takers. We are going through them
at these events. The kids really like them. I need District
Directors to let me know as soon as possible about dates for your Fall clinics.
There have been more trappers out in this part of Missouri than I have seen in
years. From some of the sets I have seen, they need to attend a clinic to
improve their skills. With the higher coon prices, we have had both
illegal trapping and spotlighting. We need to impress upon people that
this hurts all trappers and gives the "anti's" more newspaper and
media ammunition.
We are moving forward with setting up a new 501c3, which will provide funds for
trapper clinics and other programs.
Don't wait to be asked to do something, call your District Director and volunteer!
If you have a public event in your area, I'll help you with a display and
handouts. Let me know what you need
Karl Rice
Public Relations Chairman
Nominations and Election Committee Report
Due to the change in the MTA By-laws a new
voting procedure will go into effect for the upcoming 2011 voting year.
Ballots will NO longer be mailed to every
MTA member who is eligible to vote. Ballots will only be mailed to those who
request a ballot in writing from the Nominations and Elections Committee
chairman between June 20th and July 25th of the election year.
The Nominations and Elections Committee
chairman will send out the requested ballots NO later than August 1st of the
election year. This will assure ample time to return the ballot in compliance
with the MTA By-laws.
For those MTA members attending the Fall
Rendezvous the year of an election, they may pick up their ballot at the MTA
booth anytime from the start of the Rendezvous until 1:00PM on Saturday.
If you have any questions feel free to
contact me at;
Henry Wendt
P.O. Box 123
Couch MO. 65690
(417)
938-4519
Missouri Mountain Maids Report
Report from the President of the Missouri
Mountain Maids
Good day to all of you,
The Missouri Mountain
Maids has started rebuilding the group. At the Fall Convention in Chillicothe we
signed up some new members. We also voted Officers to finish the year until
elections can be formally held at the Fall Rendezvous in September of 2012. I
will serve as President and Elaine Webb will serve as Secretary/Treasurer.
I want to thank Charlene
Kelsick for all her efforts to keep the Mountain Maids together even when the
group was less than a handful. It is up to all of us to make the auxiliary grow.
It was voted at the Fall
meeting to make a by-laws change. All members have been mailed the change. The
change is to align our by-laws with the men's language to allow non-resident
members to have voting privileges. This proposal will be voted on at the Spring
meeting in District 3. A by-laws change does require a 3/4ths vote to pass. We
will need members present for the vote in order for it to go forward.
Please be thinking of
ways for us to raise funds. I want to thank Leanda and all the others who jumped
in to provide an evening meal for the auction Saturday night. Having a meal is a
good way to keep the crowd at the auction. It was a "hurry up" job,
but it netted us some funds. "GOOD JOB LADIES".
I look forward to seeing you March 17th.
Lynn
District 1 Report
District
1 has cotton twill button down shirts with pockets for sale. They have
the MO Trappers Assoc. emblem/logo stitched on the left breast above the
pocket. Name is free with purchase of the shirt - if desired.
Must
have a minimum order of 15 shirts before orders will be placed - $35.00 per
shirt. Colors vary.
We
are placing an order hopefully before the end of June and before the end of
July (for National convention).
$3.00
per shirt goes to District 1 as a fundraiser.
Contact
Jennifer Pantry for additional information.
___ Jennifer Pantry
District 2 Report
District 3 Report
Hello District 3,
Well to start off with, we had our Fall
meeting Saturday at the Rendezvous in Chillicothe. We elected officers, Sharon
Zelch will retain the office of secretary/treasurer and I will once again serve
as district director. Sharon has done an outstanding job for the district and
for that I applaud her. All of you directors out there that have secretaries,
next time you see them tell them thank you. I also want to thank the members of
the district for giving me the opportunity to serve you as your director. I have
had loads of fun and I feel I am starting to settle in that role. If you need
anything, please call or e-mail me.
Once again we had an outstanding MTA Fall Rendezvous.
Carl Rice and the crew up there did a bang up job, my hats off to you all.
Carl came through on the promise that we would have Air Conditioning at this
years rondy, but dang man you didn't have to set the thermostat that low.
I took the boys up with me this year and we almost froze to death Thursday
night, but we are trappers and we made it through. On the way home the
boys asked me, "dad can we go with you again next year?". That
made it worth it to me. I can't wait till next years rondy and from what I
hear the ball is starting to roll down there in the south west corner.
Now for the clinic. Man what a good time. I had a
ball and I hope the students had half as much fun as I did. It was held at
the Prairie Star Barn in Bland, MO the 22nd and 23rd of Oct. We had
23 Students, I think, both days. We had some really good instructors and
darn good grub, outside of the stale donuts, sorry. I want to thank a few
people, but I am not going to try and name everyone. I don't want to
forget anyone, so you all know who you are that helped out and for that I thank
you from the bottom of my heart. A big thank you goes out to Bruce and Jan
Sassmann, the owners of the "Barn". Thank Aunt Joanie Glandon,
Sharon Zelch and Jan Sassmann for cooking and setting up the food. Jim
Baily for the hamburgers and brats. Thank you to Kyle Larimore for being
our representative from the MDC. There were so many more people who helped
out with this clinic, thank you, thank you. The ones I want to thank most
are the students, without the students it would be pointless to have a clinic
and they are the people that are going to keep trapping alive in the
future. I found out clinics are a lot of work, but they are so rewarding
and are very important for our future.
We caught a pretty good bunch of fur and ended up with 2
coyotes, several coons, possums and 1 skunk, which I thought was a good
achievement. All the students walked away with a good pile of trapping
goodies and all the young students got at least one trap. One young
student got a grand prize which included a pack basket, hammer, trowel, sifter,
3 MB 450"s and 5 bottles of lure and bait. The adult grand prize
winner walked away with a $50.00 gift certificate from Minnesota Trapline
Supply. All the prizes were purchased with the grant money from the Missouri
Conservation Commission. All in all it was a good time and I hope to do it
again next year.
I have not got the district spring meeting set up yet, but I
will get it lined up and I will let you all know when and where I have got a
spot for the MTA spring meeting and it will take place at eh Bland Middle School
in "downtown" Bland, MO. You find the times and directions to
the meeting elsewhere in the MM. As always if you need anything
don't hesitate to call me or send an e-mail. Till next time, may your
traps be full and stay safe on the line.
Clay McDaniel
The first photo is of the students and instructors from the
district 3 clinic, they caught several critters and had a great time.
The second photo is of Buck McClain, it looks like he may
have stayed too long in the hot tub at the clinic on Saturday night.
District 4 Report
District 5 Report
District 6 Report
We had a great meeting at the rendezvous
in Chillicothe! The big result is that we now have assistant directors in 12
of the 15 counties that make up the district. I'll be putting out more
information on that soon, if you have any questions please feel free to
contact me. We can Always use more help!
Bob Whitworth was the big winner Sunday
morning at Chillicothe, winning Both of our raffles. Go figure... He won the
Blue English fleshing system and a cage trap from Hilltop Cage Shop. It
couldn't have happened to a nicer guy!
Please keep Paul Webb in your prayers, as grandson
Josh is still recovering very slowly from a car wreck two weeks ago.
Thanks to all for your support, I will be
your district director for at least two more years. Who will step up when I am
done??
Dale
District 7 Report
District 8 Report
District 9 Report