District 7
Director: Leon Windschitl
Co-Directors: Shannon Cohrs & Jordan Budenski
District 7 Director of Minnesota Trappers Association
Director Report
Hello fellow trappers.
Spring beaver trapping this year was cut short with a lot of high water. Most of my favorite locations were heavily flooded this spring. I did, however, manage to catch a few beaver.
District 7 had a booth at the Tracy Area Sportsman Show and at the Worthington Gun Show. Attendance at both of the shows seemed to be down from previous years. With the smaller crowds, it did affect the sales of the raffle tickets, but on a better note tanned fur sales went really well. I talked to a couple of firearm safety instructors, who were interested in the tanned fur that we had on display. They enjoyed the display and bought some furs to show their students. I would like to thank the District 7 members who helped at both of these shows. Your continued help is always appreciated.
On a sad note, we have lost a valued member of the MTA. Former Secretary /Treasurer Richard Raeker passed away. Richard dedicated well over 20 plus years of continued service and support to the MTA. My deepest sympathy goes out to his family.
The summer trapping convention is fast approaching. This year’s convention will be in Barnum on July 30, 31, and August 1. We have had the convention there before and it is a great location. It has a lot of camping area. The work schedule for District 7 will be Friday, July 30 from 7 am – 12 pm at the front gate and Saturday, July 31 from 8 am – 11 am at the souvenir booth. If you are planning on coming to the convention please try to find some time to help volunteer with these duties. Also, District 7 will have a short meeting Saturday morning at 7:45 am outside the dealer building that has the MTA souvenir booth in it. This will be before we have to work the booth.
Hopefully this summer, everyone has been selling their raffle tickets. If you have been selling your tickets and have earned some incentive prizes be sure to pick them up at the convention or make arrangements for someone to pick your prizes up, as the MTA will not ship incentive prizes anymore.
Keep in mind District 7 will be having a fall meeting at Schmitt Enterprises again this year. This will be the same day as his open House. The meeting is being planned for Saturday, August 28. Please be sure to check upcoming reports for more information as not all the details have not been worked out yet. Demos will be going on throughout the day. As more information becomes available, I will try to get the word out to as many as possible.
Leon Windschitl
District 7 Co-Director of Minnesota Trappers Association
Co-Director Report
Hello Trappers,
How has everyone’s spring been? Mine has been very busy with trapping spring beaver and working at my Agronomy Business. As far as the beaver season goes, I say high water is not one of your best of friends. With all of the deep snow we had last winter and the unusual warm March, we had rivers and creeks overflowing for quite a while. We had big goals set, but they were not reached by far. We ended up setting some secondary creeks and lakes to harvest a few. We set on Good Friday and pulled Easter Sunday. Not much of a line for this season, but we have bait for cat season and some nice pelts to put up when things slow down. We are looking forward to next year on the main river for great beaver harvest.
The District meeting we had back in February was well attended with a full house of trappers from near and far. I sure would like to thank all who could make it, and to those who didn’t you missed some great food again. Oh well maybe next time. As far as the rest of the day after the meeting, we had some great demos going on and Jason Weibke was buying fur like mad. After seeing his trailer the last three times stacked to the roof with coyotes, there shouldn’t be many left in southwestern Minnesota. NOT! I have been seeing plenty of sign and hearing of people seeing them also.
Have you been selling your raffle tickets? I have and I’m getting things ready for the Summer Convention in Barnum. It’s going to be another great one with the NTA the week after in Wisconsin. Having them close together draws more dealers from a far, so it’s going to be a good one. I will be staying in Barnum, so no late night Pizzas! District 7 will have gate and souvenir duties again, so be looking for a schedule in this issue
As far as future meetings go, we are looking at having our fall meeting at Schmitt Enterprises again in late August. The MTA winter meeting will be in Isle on January 8th 2011. With that being said, we are looking at having a MTA Banquet after the winter meeting on January 8th also. This is a time to kick back and have some great fun as members of this GREAT organization. A great meal and festivities are planned for you and your family to enjoy. There will be door prizes, games, raffles, and an auction. Cory, Deb, Buzz, Gary and I are working on this, so if you would want to help or have some ideas, get a hold of one of us. Remember this is your Banquet and it’s your place to Relax and have some FUN!
I hope to see you at these upcoming events, so take care.
Thanks,
Shannon
District 7 Co-Director of Minnesota Trappers Association Co-Director Report - None at this time