Iowa Trappers Association January 2011 Report

President — Craig Sweet, 1825 Kirkwood St., Saint Charles, IA 50240; phone: 641-764-2758

Vice President — Randy Mitchell, Iowa Fall, IA; phone: 641-648-6787

Secretary — Patty Kempf, 3371 130th St., Jamaica, IA 50128; e-mail: itasecretary@iowatelecom.net

Treasurer — Chris Grillot, 2769 110th Ave., Wheatland, IA 52777; phone: 563-374-1074;
e-mail: itatreasurer@fbcom.net

FTA Director — Gene Purdy, 521 Edwin Place, Fontanelle, IA 50846; phone: 641-745-8841

NTA Director — George Scalf, 123 N. Madison Ave., Ottumwa, IA 52501; phone: 641-682-3937;
e-mail: iantadtr@mchsi.com

Membership Options:

• Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $15
• Lifetime membership with subscription — $250

Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:

ITA Secretary
Patty Kempf
3371-130th St.
Jamaica, IA 50129

http://www.iowatrappers.com

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Greetings to all. Hope you had a good Thanksgiving.

Hope everyone is having a good trapping season so far. Mine started Saturday morning in Hancock county riding along with Spencer learning about flat land, no terrain, dredge ditch trapping. I did learn one lesson that also applies to my area that I had never even thought about before. It is funny how little simple things get totally overlooked until someone points them out to you. Got to feeling bad that afternoon and ended being down for opening weekend. Was the first opening weekend I had ever missed getting traps of my own set since 1974 when I began trapping. I did set some of Spencer’s, so I guess I really didn’t miss the opener, just didn’t have to deal with the WORK required the next day. I called Sunday and he was having to free-up freezer space to have room for everything. Sorry Spencer that I bailed out on you.

Got a call from a neighbor wanting know if I would partner with him to go after some rats – why not!!! The pond was about 20-25 acres and had plenty of houses located at the upper end. We were going to set on Friday then pull on Sunday. Day 1 not too bad – a one-man duck boat with 2 people, one oar & gear in it – I found a long sturdy stick to help maneuver for that day. Day 2 – heavy rains, high winds, white caps, one oar, one shovel (2nd oar), water over the sides at times, stay close to shore if we sink, then the 1/2 mile of paddling into the wind required to get to the rats. Due to the rain we couldn’t launch from our normal spot The 2nd weekend went good. 3rd weekend – ice. Ice and a 2 man duck boat get no where FAST. Finally figured out that there was just enough ice for me to crawl on top to move from house to house to pull some sets & reset others. The water depth was only about 1’ to 3’deep. Did have fun and a few laughs over those 3 weekends plus some other situations that can’t be mentioned here – the video will be for sale soon!!!

As everyone knows by now, the bobcat & otter quotas were filled in about 2 weeks. The bobcat was filled on Nov 21st & the otter was fill Nov. 22nd. Congratulations to everyone that got to help fill those quotas. Remember, after the quotas are filled the animals need to be turned into the DNR. If you have a sighting of either animal, get that info on a card and sent in to the DNR. Only by doing this can we possibly get these quotas raised in the future. Those last 3 days before the quotas were filled resulted in about 70 bobcat & 115 otter being caught – this should say something about populations. We trappers need to get this info turned in so maybe sometime in the future those quotas will be removed all together.

The ITA Fur Auction will be held Saturday January 8th at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Boone starting at 9 A.M. It will be limited to 100 sellers. Sellers need to contact Eric Rector at 515-293-1229 or Cody Hutton at 641-201-0452 to registered and get your seller number Help will be needed during the day, so if you have a few hours it would be welcomed. Food and drink will be for sale on-site during the day.

January 28-30th the ITA will have a booth at Pheasant Fest in Omaha/Council Bluffs. There will be a need for some help during the weekend as it stays very busy the whole weekend. If you would like to help, contact Spencer Hill or me for more info.

The next Directors Meeting will be Feb.6th in Ames with the location to be finalized here very soon.

Better go for now. Have a safe and happy holiday season. Til next time.

— Craig Sweet

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