President — Tom Peterson, phone: 918-241-2677
Vice President — Shannon Sheffert, 1301 Old Bumpy Rd., Stillwater, OK 74074; cell phone: 405-742-7884; e-mail: ssheffert@odot.org
Secretary — John Weygandt, 4720 S. 26th W. Ave., Tulsa, OK 74107; phone: 918-645-5667;
e-mail: j.weygandt@maccor.com
Treasurer — Vivian Scott, P.O. Box 179, Alderson, OK 74522; phone: 918-426-6918;
e-mail: littlerockmeme@msn.com
FTA Director — Terry Thornton, Rt. 2 Box 71, Hartshorne, OK 74547; phone: 918-297-2073
NTA Director — Leo Farmer, phone: 918-616-7662
Membership Options:
• 1-year membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $20
• Family membership with subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
• Lifetime (Over 70) with subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $150
• Lifetime with subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $300
• Youth membership — $10
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
OFBA, Treasurer
Vivian Scott
P.O. Box 179, Alderson, OK 74522
918-426-6918; littlerockmeme@msn.com
http://oktrapper.com
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
I hope you all had a good Christmas and Santa was good to you. I wish everyone a happy and prosperous new year.
If it wasn’t for bad luck, trapping season could have started off a little better. With the low fur prices and the blizzard, things are looking pretty bleak. I don’t know how many of you know much about setting in the snow. I have never trapped in snow and if I had any traps out, they would be 2 to 3 feet under drifts, and some parts of the state had more than that.
Along this same note, the kids camp had to be canceled because of the bad weather. Thanks to all involved for all the preparation that I know went into the planing for this event. For those of you that don’t know the history of the youth camp, I will quote from the e-mail I received from John Weygandt.
This started seven years ago with Darrell Woodward and Richard Thornburg taking a boy scout troop out for a weekend. Six years ago, we took it upon ourselves to make it an official camp of the trapping organization.
I love to see the looks on the kids’ faces as they discover an animal in the trap that they have set. It has been tough at times, but it has always been fun. This is our first and hopefully last cancellation and I hope this does not speak ill of us or the OFBA organization, but we had to think of the safety of the kids over our wishes or the anticipation of the kids.
There will be a meeting for all those in District 5 on Feb. 13 from noon to 2:30 p.m. Cody Presley has put this together for a time of good food and fellowship for everyone in the district. I think this is a good idea to get together and talk trapping and in general get to know others in the club and maybe this might bring more members to the fall convention.
The meeting will be at the Golden Corral in Shawnee, 2513 N. Harrison. Call Cody at 405-275-8725 if you need directions or questions. The boundaries for District 5 is bordered on the north by I-40 down to the Texas line and from I-35 east to US -75, but please know that this gathering is open to all and EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO COME. If you would like to get something like this going in your district and need some help or ideas, call Janice Johnson at 918-367-3810.
— Tom Peterson
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
I am starting this report with some sad news. One of our past presidents of our Oklahoma Associations, Dan McCoy passed away after a long battle with a brain disease. Dan was very active in the Oklahoma Fur Bearers Alliance and I think that he had been involved with the original Oklahoma Trappers Association. Dan lived in the Midwest City area and is survived by his wife Jamie, kids Sarah, Jason, Christopher and Andrew and many other family members. He will be missed by many.
I was going to write a report on the Youth Trappers Camp, but the weather changed that for us. John Weygandt made the right call to cancel the camp this year because the safety of the families traveling across the state is most important. Besides the safety of travel, then we had the issues of getting around the camp and even if we could get out to make some sets, the freezing and thawing because of the deep snow would have made trapping all but impossible. I bet we would have been happy to catch one opossum for the whole week. That was a hard call to make, but canceling was the right call this time.
The last thing that I want to reaffirm is that we are still planning on holding two fur sales this February, 2010. The first will be on Feb. 6 at Okemah at the new fairgrounds building on SH-56 on the east side of town. The second will be on Feb. 27 at the Canadian County Fairgrounds in El Reno. Both sales will have the doors open at 8 a.m. and the auction starts at 9 a.m. Furs can be brought in stretched and dried, green or on the carcass. This year, you would probably be better off to have your furs stretched so if you are not satisfied with the prices (and I bet all of us will be disappointed) you will have other options and not have to worry about your furs slipping on the way home.
Properly stretched and dried furs will bring the most money available, or you can send the furs to other auctions like those in Canada or send them to get tanned at places like Moyle Tannery in Heyburn ID, or USA Foxx. Both tanneries are big supporters of the trapping associations. The thing that I want everyone to remember is that the fur buyers are going to give as much money as they can, hoping that they can still make a profit at the end of the day. If the prices are low at our sales, and they will be this winter from what I have heard, our buyers at the fur auction will look bad because they are not offering much money, but again, their buyers that they sell to are only going to pay so much. There are lots of ’coons and ’cats out there in storage from last year that have not sold and the buyers cannot afford to put much money into the fur lottery.
Please don’t be frustrated with the fur buyers with the low prices. Once again, keep your options open by having your furs stretched and ready to sell or save and sell later. Please call John Weygandt for pre-registration of lot numbers for each sale. John will be taking reservations and this way, you won’t have to get there early for a late afternoon sale with a high lot number. John’s number is 918-645-5667. There should also be some trapping supply dealers at the fur auctions to replenish your lures and supplies. One last thing that I heard about at another state’s fur sale is that they were going to have a short demo session on fur handling during the auction. If we can get this together and have someone who can help put on a demo, we might try to have this happen at our fur sales. We will see.
Good luck on the trapline. I hope that 2010 brings good weather, higher fur prices and just a better economy over all and good health for all of us.
Look forward to seeing you soon.
Also, please keep our troops that are away from home in your thoughts and prayers.
— Shannon Sheffert
