http://www.marylandtrappers.com/
President — Butch Glenn, 9 Jeanna Lane, Falling Waters, WV 25419; 301-465-0196
Vice President — Brian Elder, P.O. Box 603, Solomons, MD 20688; 443-532-5500
Treasurer — Kate Webb, 2919 Chestnut Grove Road, Keedysville, MD 21756; 240-818-4245
Secretary — Jaime Glenn, 9 Jeanna Lane, Falling Waters, WV 25419; 301-465-0197
Membership Secretary — Reed Muse, 3499 Niner Road, Finksburg, MD 21048; 410-790-6475; frmtrapper@verizon.net
NTA Director — Gene Garrett, 6361 Powellville Road, Willards, MD 21874; 410-251-3570
Membership Options:
• Yearly individual membership including T&PC — $30
• Yearly individual membership without T&PC — $15
• 3-year individual membership including T&PC — $84
• Lifetime individual membership including T&PC — $300
• Lifetime individual membership without T&PC — $105
• Yearly family membership with T&PC — $33
• 3-year family membership with T&PC — $96
• Lifetime family membership including T&PC — $480
• Yearly junior (17 and under) membership with T&PC — $15
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
MFT Membership Secretary
Reed Muse, 3499 Niner Road, Finksburg, MD 21048
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Trapping season is one month away, the geese are flying and leaves are turning. This is my favorite time of year. We just finished up our Maryland Fur Trapper’s Advanced Trapping Course on September 6-8 2013 at Camp Hickory in Garrett County, Md.
The events started on Friday afternoon with everyone arriving, registering, and getting settled into the bunk rooms. The staff at Camp Hickory had supper waiting for all, soon after we got settled in. The rest of the evening consisted of presentations by Robert Colona covering trap locations, animal dispersal, furbearer biology, and Richard Garrett did a slide presentation on water trapping.
On Saturday morning after breakfast, Richard Garrett covered Snaring techniques. Shortly after that everyone was divided into four groups to go into the field for the day. Each group spent the morning learning how to correctly set foothold traps on land. Everyone was then sent out to make their own sets.
After a bag lunch in the field, everyone switched gears and learned how to properly set body grip traps, dog proof coon traps and foothold traps in water trapping situations. Once again, after the instruction, all were sent out to make their own water sets.
Supper was served back at Camp Hickory Saturday evening when the groups returned. After supper, the instructors did a “round robin” demo on their favorite sets, and presentations were given on predator calling, various trap types, trap ethics, laws and regulations and the team members from Wildlife Services gave presentations on the Nutria Eradication Project that is ongoing on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
After breakfast on Sunday morning, the groups went back out into the field to check traps. An interesting collection of animals were taken, including red fox, coon, beaver, and muskrats. Traps were pulled and everyone returned to Camp Hickory for lunch. After lunch the students were shown how to skin and flesh the different animals. There was also a “test out” given to those who wanted to qualify for the trappers education required by the State of Maryland to purchase a furbearers permit.
By 2pm, everyone was packing up to head home, hopefully armed with lots of new information to make their upcoming trapping season as productive as possible!
The Advanced Trapping School is offered every September by Maryland Fur Trappers. The instructors are highly skilled trappers with a wealth of information to share. The knowledge that can be obtained during this weekend is worth its weight in gold to anyone who wants to become a better trapper. Come spend a weekend with us next September, you won’t be disappointed.
Find you district directors on our website; http://www.marylandtrappers.com/contact.html and participate in your local district meetings. Good luck setting steel. — Dan Baker III
DISTRICT 8 REPORT
Here comes trapping season. Some guys on Trapperman.com have traps in the ground and it is still September. If you do not have all your traps ready and supplies bought, you better get busy.
Not much to report on. My shoulders do not hold up well to shooting my compound bow, so I made the decision to go with a TenPoint crossbow. First shot and I harvested a decent 9 pointer. The crossbows are not the challenge of a regular bow, but us older folks have to make adjustments.
District 8 will resume meetings in October. A point to remember. Dist 8 meets the fourth Tuesday, and that is not always the last Tuesday. For example, this year October and December have five Tuesdays. Make sure you do not show up a week to late. The December meeting date will be changed as our date falls on Christmas Eve. We are all dedicated trappers – but not that dedicated. We will decide the corrected date at our October meeting.
Each year Dist 8 donates a Federal Duck Stamp to our host Bob Calloway as part of our thanks for he and his wife Verna for hosting our meetings. The stamp has again been delivered and once again put a big smile on Bob’s face. We just can not do enough to repay them for all the hospitality they continue to provide us.
Dist 8 meets the fourth Tuesday during trapping season at the home of Bob Calloway at 7:00 PM. His address is 14313 Cherry Lane, near Tuckahoe State park between Centreville, Md and Ridgely, Md. Call Bob at 420-634-2501 for further directions.
Additional information is available at marylandtrappers. com.
Trap on. — Roger Ringgold
