President — Herb Sobanski Jr., 46 Douglas Drive, Enfield, CT 06082; phone: 860-741-0728;e-mail: trapper43@hotmail.com
Vice President West — Fred J. Becker, 23 Riverside Dr. Apt. B2, Clinton, CT 06413; phone: 860-669-2847; e-mail: FKMBecker@comcast.net
Vice President East — Mike Cote, 50 Hopevalley Rd., Hebron, CT 06231; phone: 860-228-2404;e-mail: littlemike96@hotmail.com
Secretary /Treasurer — Danielle Madore, 819B Little City Rd., Higganum, CT 06441; phone: 860-345-1070; e-mail: niteringtailrunner@yahoo.com
NTA Director — George Finch, 100 Allen St., Groton, CT 06340; phone: 860-445-2514
Membership Options:
• 1-year membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $30
• 2-year membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $48
• 3-year membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $64
• 15-years and under — $10
• Lifetime — $350
Complete membership application on first page of
association section and send dues to:
CTA, Secretary/Treasurer
Danielle Madore
819B Little City Rd.
Higganum, CT 06441
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
I hope you all had a safe and successful season and what a season it was! It sure was great having the extended beaver season, 16 extra days on the trapline! I was fortunate enough to have harvested 40 beavers this year. It was a lot of work but well worth it.
As you know, I won’t get rich harvesting the fur, but the wealth is obtained by being in the outdoors, experind facing the challenges of three seasons. For me, it was all well worth it.
First off, I want to thank you all for meeting our goal in our 2009 annual raffle. The CTA raffle is currently our main resource for maintaining a reasonable Legal Defense Fund. Our early 2010 raffle is currently underway and we can use the same attention you gave to last year’s raffle to this one. We must ensure that we are prepared with the necessary resources for our next legislative battle, and we all know it will come again sooner or later.
The CTA Executive committee meets monthly at the DeKoven House in Middletown. Our meetings start at 7 p.m. and are scheduled for the last Wednesday of the month. All CTA members are invited. Please feel free to call me if you need further details.
We have put together a number of committees that can use your help. We have established Finance, Legislative, Rendezvous and Fur Sale committees. Each committee needs CTA membership participation. Remember that this is your organization too! Your participation will go a long way in protecting our trapping rights here in Connecticut.
We sure don’t have it easy keeping our heritage of fur trapping safe in Connecticut. Besides the constant threat of new legislation looming in the future and weak fur prices, we also have the DEP depending upon us to manage targeted furbearers during the regulated trapping season, It has come to our attention that there have been discussions underway at the DEP on examining the current beaver nuisance process during the regulated trapping season.
There was a request to allow the NWCO’s the ability to trap beavers without the current restrictions during the regulated season. Current restrictions enforce special permits and a process that allows the landowner the ability to select a fur trapper free of charge. We believe the current process works just fine and have requested the DEP to keep it as is!
If you are a beaver trapper, please get involved in the DEP volunteer beaver program. Not only does this program allow you the ability to obtain private land permission to trap during the regulated season, it also allows proper maintenance of the beaver population and reduces the nuisance complaints.
The CTA Fur Sale occurred on April 10 this year. With the extended beaver season, the CTA Fur Sale committee and the Executive members picked this date so members would have ample time to have fur prepared. We had hopes that we would have fur buyers and members attending. Unfortunately, this date did not work out as well as we expected.
We had one fur buyer in attendance, Bill Spear, and a small amount of fur lots (27 to be exact).Thanks to Mike Cote, Sonny Hamel, Fred Rich, Danielle Madore and Scott Ballou for making this fur sale a success.
We also presented George Finch with an Award of Appreciation for his nine-year term as President of the CTA, Thanks again George!
The CTA Fur Sale committee will re-examine next year’s options and ensure that a better date for the fur sale is scheduled. Below is a summary of the CTA Fur Sale.
Listed by Quantity, High and Average
Brn Rats — 457 $5.75 $4.37
Blk Rats — 1 $6.00 $6.00
Raccoon — 159 $10.00 $5.32
Red Fox — 16 $12.00 $8.63
Grey Fox — 17 $10.50 $9.35
Mink — 39 $9.00 $7.13
Weasel — 0 $0.00 $0.00
Otter — 22 $38.86 $33.59
Beaver — 169 $13.00 $9.72
Coyote — 12 $12.50 $7.75
Skunk — 8 $1.50 $0.94
Possum — 7 $1.25 $0.89
Fisher — 56 $41.00 $37.79
Castor/lb. — 14 $34.00 $22.81
Finally, some good news! The Connecticut Trappers Association might be hosting the 2011 NTA Northeast Regional Convention! I have been in discussions with the NTA and have informed them that we would be honored to host next year’s convention. So far, we are examining Connecticut fairgrounds for a suitable location.
We will organize a Convention committee when the affirmative notice has been given to us from the NTA. We will need many volunteers and CTA members’ involvement in this event. This will be a great experience for us that will benefit our organization in many ways.
Please feel free to call me (860-874-3172) or e-mail me at trapper43@hotmail.com for any questions or concerns.
Regards. — Herb Sobanski Jr.
ASSOCIATION REPORT
The warm weather eventually turned to snow and ice. Ah perfect, the woods in its winter blanket. A joyful wonderland. All of the critter’s signatures marked down to read.
No antis nipping at our heels, (not yet anyway).
Our booth at the trade show was lively and fun, especially for the kids. They really like to touch the furs and question about the traps. I think a few might join our ranks.
Soon we will have our Fur Auction, and before it all starts again our Rendezvous will be here, before the season opens once more.We would love to have trappers from all over come to visit us. The Rendezvous will be a good time.
Back to the woods, the weather warmed to cold rain and snow. High water came, and so did the otters, gotta love it.Well that’s all for now, mark down on your calender to come and visit us Sept. the 26. Spend a while get to know us we’d love to have you.
May you fetch a high price. — Chris Sanzaro