President — Shawn Johnson, 6122 McQuade Road, Duluth, Mn 55804; phone: 218.525.4970; e-mail: mcquaderoadfur@msn.com
Vice President — Dave D’Aigle, 29765 Holly St NW, Isanti, MN 55040
Secretary — Linda Salo, 5927 McNiven Road, Chisholm, MN 55719; e-mail: linda.salo@mwcradio.com
Treasurer — Tricia Coons, 403 Wood Ave., Bemidji, MN 56601; phone: 218-444-8244; e-mail: MTATrish@paulbunyan.net
Membership Coordinator — Kathy Peterson, 57124 Cty Rd., Northhome, MN 56661; phone: 218-659-4535; e-mail: kpeterso@paulbunyan.net
Director of Trapper Education — Deb Offerdahl, 14788 Lynx Rd., Milaca, MN 56353; phone: 320-983-6023
Mandatory Trappers Education Director — Shawn Johnson, 6122 McQuade Road, Duluth, MN 55804; phone: 218-525-4970; e-mail: mcquaderoadfur@msn.com
Membership Options:
• Individual membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
• Junior (under 16) with subscription — $15
• Lifetime membership with subscription — $400
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
MTA, Membership Coordinator
Kathy Peterson
57124 Cty Rd., Northhome, MN 56661
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Greetings,
This report is going to be brief as the Newsletter deadline is nearly here and there is much to cover there.
The Redwood Falls convention is in the books and the folks hosting from District 7 did a professional job throughout.
Dave and I ran unopposed for Vice President and President and we look forward to serving another two years in MTA leadership.
Due to the government shutdown the 2011 Hunting and Trapping Regulations Handbook isn’t available yet and neither are the limit species validations for fisher/marten/otters. Jason Abraham from the DNR announced that those that have already purchased their trapping licenses will receive reminder notices in the mail.
I told you I was going to keep things brief!
Please read my President’s Report in the Newsletter for a great deal more information.
Keep your skinning knives sharp.
— Shawn Johnson
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Greetings Everyone,
The Summer convention just wrapped up for another year. Hats off to Leon and his District 7 crew for putting on a great show. The weather was a bit tough but I guess we can’t control that. Seemed to have a good turnout despite the weather. Nice to see all the help at cleanup time on Sunday, sure made it go a lot faster. I’d like to Thank Tim Bauer for all the countless hours he puts in at the conventions. He’s there from early in the morning until late at night taking care of the Vendors and any other issues that come up during the convention.
Next summer we will be hosting the NTA in Owatonna. Looks to be a great site for a convention. Never to early to start making plans. If you can help with the convention for a couple hours or a couple days get a hold of Todd Roggenkamp as he is in charge of organizing the volunteers.
Next up is the winter meeting and legal defense fund banquet on January 7th. The winter meeting is being held at the East Central High School which is 12 miles north of Hinckley on 35W at the Banning Junction exit. This school should work nicely with plenty of room for everything. The legal Defense Banquet is 4 miles to the east in Askov at the community center that night following the convention. We are busy lining up donations and prizes for the event and it looks to be a good time. Buzz Neprud is the chairman of the event so if you have something to donate please contact him. Gary Meis is in charge of ticket sales so if you’re interested in attending contact him. Last years banquet was a great time and this years should be no different.
See you this fall.
— Dave D’Aigle
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
Hello everyone,
I just got back from the convention in Redwood Falls and am hurrying to get this report off before the deadline. The convention was well attended and everything went very well thanks to the hard work of the entire convention organizing team. I was really impressed with the number of District 1 members who made the trek south! Our Sat. morning district meeting was very well attended and it was sure nice to have the help at the gate and souvenir booth. Thanks guys!
I’m planning on having our fall meeting in late Aug. or Sept. I’ll mail postcards out. District elections for director and (2) co-director positions will be done at the meeting. Myself and Frank would be honored to serve for another term if nominated. Arnie has decided to retire. Arnie has been a real work-horse and leader for the MTA for many years, give him a pat on the back and thank him for all that he does! If anyone is interested in any of these positions please call me for information on what the requirements are.
On Sat. Aug. 6, me and Frank will have a MTA booth set up in the education tent at the Tall Timber Days event in Grand Rapids. It should be a lot of fun! We’ll be handing out education materials, talking about the marten nesting box project and displaying a collection of premium tanned fur on the new wood with MTA logo display racks that District 7 Director Leon Windschitl made for us. Thanks again Leon, they’re beautiful!
That’s all I have for now. I’ll have a more detailed report in our fall newsletter. Take care.
— Bert
DISTRICT 4 REPORT
Greetings District 4
I am starting this article on a sad note. Life member Dennis Anderson from Aitkin passed away several weeks ago. Please keep his family in your thoughts.
I just returned from the summer convention in Redwood Falls. District 7 should be proud of themselves as they did an excellent job.
I personally want to thank the following individuals for volunteering their time to work the booth and the front gate: Peter Lindell, Ryan Kuklok, Tim Parker, Deb Offerdahl, Jerry Madsen and last but not least Toby Armstrong, who not only worked every minute of our shifts but several other Districts shifts also! Thanks Toby, you did yourself proud!
New-Old Business: Site tags for marten, fisher and otter will be available from Els sites September 1st. People who bought licenses earlier will be sent a letter from the DNR.
Legal Defense tickets are just about gone, so if you want one, get busy with your order or you could be left out.
Till next time.
— Buzz
DISTRICT 5 REPORT
Hello Everyone,
We just finished our state convention in Redwood Falls, it was a bit warm but was a very enjoyable convention. Leon, Shannon and District 7 did a great job putting it all together.
District 5 will be having a trapping class on Friday, August 26th for the classroom part of the course and field training will be done later in September. Anyone interested in taking the course or helping teach the course please give me a call.
Our District 5 Fall Meeting will be at Mark & Heidi Melby of Melby Furs on Saturday, September 17th. Lunch will be provided by Melby Furs.
Our next board of director’s meeting will be Saturday, September 24th. If you have anything you would like brought up let me know. I will be sending postcards out as a reminder for the meeting.
This is also an election year for Director and Co-Directors.
DISTRICT 6 REPORT
Greeting members,
I just returned from the redwood falls convention. What a great time, And the turn out was a huge success! Hats off to the group of Dist 7 members that sponsored the event, great job! It was flawless. I also want to thank the members from Dist 6 that helped out with the duties we had.
As the saying goes, a few hands make lite work. It’s good to know there are members that go all out to help. Just look around at these conventions and you see most everyone doing their part. And as always the folks that run the MTA booth, souvenir booth, those that work the grounds are a constant dedicated group that insures things go smoothly! If not for these folks it would be chaos! Thank you!
As for Dist 6, there is thoughts of having a fall meeting. If anyone is interested contact me or Drake with your thoughts as to when or where you would like to have one. This is your organization! That’s about all for now. Please use good judgement and ethics when in the field!
— Jim
DISTRICT 7 REPORT
Hello fellow trappers. This report will be a short one as I only have a few hours to write this as I just got back from the Minnesota Convention. The Redwood Falls Convention went smoothly and all activities were well attended. The heat did slow things down a bit but all who were there had a good time.
Friday night’s Wild Game Potluck could possibly be the best one we have had. We served about 300 people with plenty of food for everyone. Thank you to Julia Kicker for making this a big success. Thank you to the guys in the Fun Zone for braving the heat cooking the donated pork and sweet corn.
The kid’s activities scheduled for Saturday were a big hit. Normally when you see kids going crazy it is a bad thing, but on this day those kids were working hard to make pine martin nesting boxes that were being donated for a great cause. Thank you to Frank Brula for bringing the kits for the pine martin nesting boxes. Thank you to Pete Jonas, Jerry Larsen and the Crew for helping the kids make Weasel Boxes. Thank you to Nancy Caven & Arnie Peterson for their weasel demo.
Most of all I would like to thank the members of District 7 for all of their hard work putting this convention on. It means a lot to me that so many stepped up helping with set up on Thursday and especially on Sunday in the heat with the clean up. There will be more detail information on all that went on in the newsletter.
Also, just a note that District 7 will be having their fall meeting September 3 at Schmitt Enterprises in Searles. Gerald has invited Red O’Heran & Brian Fischer to do demos. More information is still being worked on.
Until next time.
— Leon Windschitl, Director District 7
