President — Brian Mohn, 134 Fairview Road, Hamburg, PA 19526; phone: 610-562-1790; e-mail: papatrees@aol.com
Vice President East — Joel Whitehead, RR#2Box 90, Thompson, PA 18465; e-mail: JFRED@nep.net
Vice President West — Ned Weston, 120 Swope Road, West Sunbury, PA 16061; phone: 724-894-2239; e-mail: Nweston@netzero.net
Secretary — Tereasa Houtz, 300 Flint Lane, Landisburg, PA 17040; e-mail: PTASecretary@embarqmail.com
Treasurer — Chad Kijowski, P.O. Box 614 , Dayton, PA 16222; phone: 814-257-9846;
e-mail: HKijowski@yahoo.com
Editor — Russ Ford, 309 Pine Dale Road, Carlisle, PA 17013, phone: 717-249-7271, fax: 717-249-8509; e-mail: Ptaeditor@pa.net
NTA Director — David Shuttleworth, 5452 Tamarack Drive, Sharpsville, PA 16150; phone: 724-962-4260; e-mail: Dianeshutts@aol.com
FTA Director — Mark Kasten, RR2 Box 2287, Hallstead, PA 18822; phone: 570-278-2553;
e-mail: willsher@epix.net
Public Relations Director — Mike Gontor, 87 West 7th St., Jim Thorpe, PA 18229; phone: 570-325-4974; e-mail: FuFiGa@ptd.net
Membership Options:
Individual membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
Individual membership without subscription — $10
Junior, age 16 and under without subscription — $5
Lifetime membership with subscription — $300
Lifetime membership without subscription — $100
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
PTA Treasurer
Chad Kijowski
P.O. Box 614
Dayton, PA 16222
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
I am working with the officers and directors to add some changes to the proposed regulations for body gripping traps. Nobody likes to see changes, but we need to modify the way we are using some of our devices to prevent future altercations with domestic animals. I have always looked at this issue as a lack of education. On our end we must reach all trappers on the proper use of body gripping traps. Than we must present the safe and ethical use to the general public who share the outdoors with us.
This is an election year and the ballots will be mailed soon, Please return them in the self addressed envelope included with them.
Once again our PTA sweepstakes is underway, first prize is a Polaris 500 Sportsman along with nine other great prizes. Tickets are $5 each or 5 for $20 one packet will be mailed to you soon and more are available from Beverly Mohn 138 Far View Road Hamburg, Pa 19526 or 610-562-1790 or ask your district director. We all need to do our part to make this a successful fundraiser.
I would like to thank Wayne Gemmill and all the workers who manned the booth at the Eastern Sports Show. We had a great response of visitors stopping by the booth and asking questions about trapping and wildlife identification. Presently we are looking for some new faces to help at our busy booth. If you are interested in helping next year, please let me know. This is a great place to meet some interesting people.
Happy Spring Trapping.
— Brian Mohn
EDITOR’S REPORT
Hello Once Again,
One more season is over. And I’m looking forward to the next one coming, not soon enough for me. But I have the next 5 or 6 months to get ready for this coming fall,
Like many of you, I “Plan , Prepare & Play” with this game, nearly 12 months out of the year. That’s one thing I like about it, all ways something to do, when you are a Trapper.
No time for boredom!
From the Fur Sales Reports, it seems like there’s a bit of improvement in prices for some furs. Although, it remains to be seen, if these prices will hold into next season, it’s a glimmer of hope for now.
What is not looking very hopeful is, the rising prices of many things that we must pay for, to pursue “Our Thing” . You have to “Pay to Play” so we’ll have to bear what lies ahead. Hopefully it will all be bearable.
As you read this, warmer & nicer weather, should be in our “Neck of the Woods”. Time to start playing in the dirt if you’re a gardener. Planting seeds is akin to planting Steel. It is done, in hopes of a good harvest Spring is welcomed by most of us. And it sure is a nice break from the past few months.
Enjoy the months ahead. Take care.
— Russ Ford
ELECTION CHAIRMAN’S REPORT
Soon everyone should received their ballots in the mail. Even though the ballot may not have a lot of contested positions, it is still important to cast your vote. You can vote for the person running for the position or write in a candidate’s name in the space provided. If you did not receive a ballot and you are a current member, you can request one by contacting me via email at trapper_66@windstream.net or via phone at (724) 866-4286. Photocopied ballots are not valid and will not be accepted. Remember ballots can be mailed back to me by June 12th or they can be dropped off during the convention at the state booth before 6PM on Friday. I look forward to seeing everyone at the convention.
God Bless.
— Charlie Sykes
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
Hello Members. Venango County will be hosting District One’s Spring Meeting. It will be held at the Venango County Coon and Fox Club on April 9th, 2011 at 9:00 AM. The address is PO Box 546, 2 Mile Run Road, Franklin, PA 16323.
Don’t forget to sell your Spring Gun Raffle Tickets. If you need tickets or have any questions about the raffle, please contact Jim or Donna Murphy at (814) 382-2561. The gun raffle will be held on April 2nd at Sparrow Pond in Waterford, PA.
There is a biologist from Grove City College who will be conducting a study on coyotes. He is requesting frozen coyote livers, for his testing process. For more information on where the coyote livers go, please contact Jim Stoops at (724) 992-1143.
Please note when you get your new Hunting & Trapping Digest that there are changes on the beaver trapping regulations and the 160 conibear regulations.
The district still has state canine books and window decals if anyone is looking for one. Contact me if you are interested in one.
God Bless.
— Charlie Sykes
DISTRICT 2 REPORT
We had our Fur Sale on Feb. 19th. We had 4 Buyers and a large turn out for most of the day. I would like to thank the Buyers for coming and a Big thank you, to all who helped. It was nice to see so many young people at the Fur Sale. It looked like everyone had a good time.
Next year we are going to have to ask the Fur Buyers to help us out. When a Trapper brings in poorly put up fur, to ask the trapper to stop at our district table. There we can give the trapper a “FBU” bag with the NTA handbook and “Trap line to Fur Shed” book and other information. That way we can educate trappers in need and the Fur Buyers will end up getting proper put up fur. The district could maybe give memberships to the young trappers. And give information on upcoming events, like Trapper Schools or The Fall Expos or Youth Field Day events and such.
Remember to READ the book you get with your license. There are so many changes every year and you need to keep up with them to stay legal.
There will be 5 Youth Field Days coming up in our district. We will need workers at each. Our Fall Expo will be on Step. 17th.
For more info, call Greg
— 724-895-3731.
DISTRICT 3 REPORT
Hi all,
Hope you’re all over the winter by now. Just a reminder if you receive this in time for our spring meeting, March 20, at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds. The meeting will start at 1:00. We’ll be going over all of our yearly events as well as holding district elections. Hope you can make it.
You should have received your spring newsletter by now, if for some reason you didn’t, give me a call and I’ll try to get you one asap.
Our 7th annual D-3 banquet planning is well underway, don’t forget to get your tickets ordered. The banquet will be on April 23, at the Youngwood Fire Hall, and the ticket application was sent with the newsletter. Hope to see you there!
‘Till next time.
— Dave Eckels
DISTRICT 7 REPORT
I would like to thank everyone who has helped at the sportsmens shows that we had a booth at. Our meeting will be on March 13 and I will have a report in the next T&PC. We will have a booth at the Lycoming Mall from March 24 to 27 for channel 16- WNEP- sportsmens show. We can use some help manning it from 9 am to 4 pm each day. The fur sale will be April 3 at the Hillsgrove Firehall starting at 9 am,4% comm. You must be a member of the PTA to sell or pay a $5 sellers fee. 437-2679
— Pete
DISTRICT 8 REPORT
We will be holding our next District 8 General Meeting April 10, 2011 at Mifflin County Sportsmen`s Association Lewistown, Pa. (Mifflin County). The meeting will start at 12:00 Noon. Lunch is at 11:30 AM. Bring a covered dish. Drinks are provided. Come early to reminisce. NOTE: Nominations for District 8 Officers are still open. DIRECTIONS: to M.C.S.A. from Harrisburg take Rt. 322 go west to Lewistown, Pa. to Burnham / Yeagertown exit turn right to the Ferguson Valley Rd. approximately 2 miles to Ellen Chapel Ln., turn right, go through “yellow gate” and follow road past large pond, left to Clubhouse. For More Info Call: Charles Filler Jr. at 717-953-2013 or Allen Eppleman at 717-486-7573.
Nelson Hosler is in the process of making up a District 8 Stretcher Board to be auctioned off to raise money for the association. We are asking members of District 8 to send your trap tags for on the Stretcher Board to: Nelson Hosler, 4416 Ridge Road, Beaver Springs, Pa. 17812. Or you can bring your tags to our District 8 Meeting. We thank you all for your support.
For More Info Contact me at Allen Eppleman, 4232 Carlisle Rd., Gardners, Pa. 17324, or phone at 717-486-7573 or 717-226-9623, or email aleppleman@comcast.net.
— Allen Eppleman
DISTRICT 9 REPORT
District 9 members have been quite busy since my last report. I will attempt a recap of all that has gone on:
· We had a great meeting in Carbondale on January 23 hosted by Don Perry. We voted to renew our affiliation with the FTA, and that payment has been sent out. Bill Kalinauskis, Joel Whitehead and Will Kasten had reports from the January State O&D meeting, and it sounds like the State officers and directors have a full schedule planned for 2011. The State sweepstakes will be held again this year, and we will once again be supporting that effort 100% in the District.
· We held the Northeast Regional Coyote Hunt on Feb 4, 5 & 6. The weather did not cooperate, especially for the guys who run dogs. The deep, crusty snow we received this year hampered the efforts. A scant 21 coyotes were taken in the 3-day event. The winner was Jeff Baker from Hop Bottom with a 46.2 pound yipper using hounds as chasers. If anyone would like to see the results I can e-mail them a copy, or send one by USPS if you send me your address.
On a side note, we had the most successful rifle-scope raffle package that we have ever had. The Kimber 22-250 with 3-9x Zeiss scope really stirred some interest. I believe we sold over 2000 tickets. We are looking at a similar package for next year.
· We held a very successful fur sale on Feb. 12. The fur sale results are attached at the end of this report. We are looking at reorganizing things so there is not so much confusion for next year, especially in light of the fact we are only having one fur sale for the season now. Any input on a way to streamline things would be appreciated.
· On March 5 I am planning on doing a trapping seminar at the Springville Baptist Church annual Sportsmen’s Dinner. I will probably be calling on some other members to help me out. We get great exposure from this event every year.
· Looking to the future, we will be holding our next meeting on March 20 at Stoll’s Natural Resources Center in Wysox. Bill has lined up a fur handling demo for us as there was some pretty rough-handled fur at the last sale. If you are going to do this sport, you may as well do everything right and get top dollar for your fur. We see some great fur come through the door at our sale, which is the reason you see some high offers on that fur by the buyers.
· If you are interested in attending our 2-day trapper training school on Sept. 10 & 11, now is the time to get on the mailing list. Send your name and address to pricee@nep.net, or Ed Price, 3833 Old Newburg Turnpike, Uniondale, Pa. 18470. When I get the applications made out, I will send you one. There is a $25 fee for the 2 days, which covers your meals, overnight stay, classes and PTA membership. A great deal for a great event.
I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all our loyal members who help with all of our events throughout the year. The stuff we do would not be possible without your support. Many hands make light work, and the camaraderie we share is very special.
You will be receiving your State election ballot in the mail sometime in April. Make sure you vote for the candidate of your choice. We need your input to run this organization.
— Ed Price, Treasurer, District 9, PTA
District 9 Fur Sale Results February 12, 2011
$36,679 Gross Sales, 4 Buyers, 102 Fur takers
Listed by Species, Pelt #, Avg. and High
Red Fox — 654, 15.99, 25.00
Gray Fox — 265, 21.67, 25.00
Coyote — 162, 20.58, 35.00
Bobcat — 8, 34.37, 40.00
Raccoon — 732, 10.30, 19.00
Muskrat — 765, 6.40, 8.00
Beaver — 165, 16.40, 28.00
Mink — 75, 13.68, 18.00
Opossum — 146, 1.45, 2.00
Skunk — 15, 3.53, 4.00
Weasel — 5, 2.00, 2.00
Fisher — 1, 30.00, 30.00
Ginseng — 400.00 lb.
Castor — 11 lbs., 35.73, 42.00
DISTRICT 11 REPORT
We had a real good turn out for our February meeting at Conewago Township in Dauphin Co. Jason Gehman ran the meeting in Ralph’s absence and did a good job. We reviewed the fur sale in much detail and with everyone’s help we made about $4000 for the district. Thanks once again to everyone that helped with this.
We made a final decision on our logo for the Rendezvous T-Shirts and patches so we can get these made up. We talked a bit about advertising for the Rendezvous and had some flyers made for those present to take and distribute. If anyone is interested in having an ad in the Rendezvous booklet let Ralph or Jason Wagner know. We will cover more on the Rendezvous at our April 10th meeting at Schuylkill Co. fairgrounds at 2PM. There have been a good number of volunteers that have come forward but there is still room for you to get involved. Even if you only have a couple of hours one day, we will find something for you to do to help out. Please try to make the April meeting if you can. We will also have a meeting at the Fairgrounds on May 15th at 2PM to do some final planning.
We do have dates tentatively set for 2 trapping schools. Lancaster County will have a school at Millcreek Sportsmen’s Association on August 27 and Dauphin County will be at DCAC on Sept. 17.
It was mentioned at our meeting that Bob Bailey is not in good health so please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.
I was flattered by the endorsement given by Russ Ford for me to run for editor of the PTA. I am instead giving my support to Ed Price for this position. Ed will do a far better job than I would ever be able to do. There is however, one Spittle running for a state office and that is my wife Donna. She is running for the treasurer’s position on the state board. I know she will do a great job and would appreciate your vote for her.
Hope to see you at the April meeting.
— Mike Spittle, (717) 367-2637
