District 8
Director: Brad Wobbrock
Co-Director: Jim Blakley
Distric 8 Director of Minnesota Trappers Association
Director Report
Greetings To All:
Everyone should have sore hands from setting traps by now. The fall has been good in our area so far. No rain for the dry land trapper and most water animals should be around what water is left.
At the Board Meeting on September 24th, Ken Soring explained the site validation process. The DNR wanted to keep it similar to the big game and turkey validation process.
Non-Resident Trapping Survey – total of 377 surveys returned – failed.
New trapping instructors will soon need to have a minor background check, sign a Code of Conduct and have a waiver from student’s parents and insurance from the MTA.
December 15th is the deadline for any donations for the Legal Defense Banquet.
The MTA Tanned Fur Project needs fur. Help out if you can and donate.
Reminder that the MTA Winter Meeting is in Askov at the East/Central High School – January 7, 2012.
Richard Davis and I held a Trapper’s Ed Program on September 10th and 11th. We had three students, two instructors and our area Game Warden – Chris Howe. It was a good time. We had one student that came all the way from Aitkin. Chris Howe was in attendance both days and he had very good input – from the law side of things. Thank you Chris.
One of our most recent students has been in contact with Richard and me with his trapping this season. It is a great reward to have one of your students call you with questions along with their successes in trapping!
Richard and I put on an Introduction to Trapping Class for a local school’s Ag Class on October 11th. It was an hour and a half class. We had a couple of trappers in the class. We took what I have for fur and some traps and snares. There were many questions from the students and we answered what we could in the little time that we had. The instructor made his contact through the Steele County Fair – our MTA Booth. We need to do more of this in our schools and communities. Please consider asking your school districts if you could put our magazine in their libraries. My wife works in a school district, I called their Media Specialist and he welcomed the idea of having our magazine in the Media Center. All of this will help us in the long run – to keeping our trapping good – long into the future.
From our District 8 Fall Meeting – I want to thank all of you folks for allowing Jim, Bill and myself to serve another term. If at any time you members have a concern or want something posted in the newsletter or the TPC , please call or email any of us. We are here to serve District 8 the best we can.
Best Regards
Brad Wobbrock
bradleydwobbrock@live.com
District 8 Co-Director of Minnesota Trappers Association
Co-Director Report
No Report At This Time
District 8 Co-Director of Minnesota Trappers Association
Co-Director Report
Hello everyone,
By this time the trapping season is well under way. I hope everyone is adjusting to the low water levels. I would like to start out by thanking Terry McElmury for nominating me for the Co-Director position, and the rest of District 8 for voting me in. I will do my best. I would also like to thank a member of district 8 that made a very generous donation of $500.00 to our district. I am unsure of the spelling of his name but you know who you are, thanks again. I would also like to thank the Cumberland’s for the raffle donations as well as hosting our district 8 meeting during their customer appreciation day. It was a fine event and I hope you enjoyed it. I also would like to thank everyone that helped out at the Steel County Fair, it was nice to see the dedication. The fair went well, sales were down a bit as were the crowd numbers. I had the opportunity to sell one of our striped furbearers to a group visiting from Australia. I also talked with a group from France. There were many interesting stories. I also had the opportunity to tour the new Steel County Historical Society’s Museum while under construction. In the future, they are going to have a display of antique traps and trap memorabilia. They are asking to borrow traps and memorabilia for a couple of months in the summer and through the NTA convention. If you have any traps or memorabilia to borrow you can contact Lloyd Kaplan at 507-684-3171. Terry & Jo McElmury have decided to step down as Souvenir Coordinators. When you see them please thank them for their many years of service. If you are interested in taking on this task you can contact Terry at 507-523-2316. The Nonresident Trapping Survey had very poor participation, thankfully we were not voting on a anti tapping amendment. 377 ( 14% of members sent in surveys ) 194 ( 7.3% opposed non-resident trapping) 183 (6.9% in favor allowing non-resident trapping ) the survey results will be recorded. Our next general membership meeting is January 7th at the East Central High School on Hwy 23 near Finlayson. There will be someone from the DNR there to tag otter and bobcats. There should be someone from Fur Harvesters and NAFA to pickup furs for the auctions. Fur buyers will be buying fur as well. Remember the tanned fur project, if everyone from District 8 donated a piece of fur the tanned fur project would be sitting pretty well. Donations for the Legal Defense Banquet need to be in before Dec 15th. There are also tickets available for this banquet, contact Gary Meis if you need a ticket. I guess that’s all for now, good luck and be safe.
Bill Ruhland