www.patrappers.com
President — Brian Mohn, 138 Farview Road, Hamburg, PA 19526; 610-562-1790; papatrees@aol.com
Vice President East — Joel Whitehead, 845 Snake Hill Road, Thompson, PA 19526; 570-756-2714; JFRED@nep.net
Vice President West — Charlie Sykes, 1265 Airport Road, Stoneboro, PA 16153;
trapper_66@windstream.net
Secretary — Don Klinger, 522 S. Pancoast, Reynoldsville, PA 15851; 814-371-1170; advantage16@verizon.net
Treasurer — Donna Spittle, P.O. Box 708, Hummelstown, PA 17036; 717-239-9267; spittlefam@paonline.com
Editor — Ed Price, 3833 Old Newburg Turnpike, Union Dale, PA 18470; 570-679-2318; pricee@nep.net
NTA Director — David Shuttleworth, 5452 Tamarack Drive, Sharpsville, PA 16150; 724-962-4260;
dianeshutts@aol.com
FTA Director — Mark Kasten, RR2 Box 2287, Hallstead, PA 18822; 570-278-2553; willsher@epix.net
Public Relations Director — Barry Warner, P.O. Box 223, Dallas, PA 18612; 570-675-7041; beavernbass@comcast.net
Website Designer — Barbie Bankston; barbiebankston@gmail.com
Membership Options:
Individual membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $30
Individual membership without subscription — $10
Junior, age 16 and under without subscription — $5
Lifetime membership with subscription — $500
Lifetime membership without subscription — $250
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
PTA Treasurer
Donna Spittle
P.O. Box 708
Hummelstown, PA 17036
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
I am proud to serve our members and make the most of every opportunity to promote our lifestyle. I recently testified on behalf of our members at the Pennsylvania Game Commissioner’s meeting on January 26, 2014. I expressed our thanks and best wishes for retiring Executive Director Carl Roe; truly a very professional and distinguished leader who was willing to work with the trappers. To the board: I address our suggestions for seasons and bag limits as they pertain to furbearers. I affirmed to the board our support of Bobcat and Otter management plans and asked that they implement these plans. I encouraged the board to continue to be guided by good scientific data provided by some best biologists in the country.
Our trapping season is now winding down and we will soon be learning how the fur market has developed. I always get asked what is going to happen. If I had this ability I would be living off all my good fortunes, be it as it may I get the most enjoyment from my lifestyle as a trapper, the good fortunes are a bonus.
As we transitions into the post trapping season our membership looks for opportunities to share trapline tips and stories. Please visit our website, www.patrappers.com to find events in your district.
The PTA will have a booth at the NEW “Great American Outdoor Show” Feb. 1-9th in Harrisburg. If you would like to work the booth, contact Wayne Gemmill (Show Chairman) at 717-993-5526. Plan to attend the PTA STATE BANQUET on March 8th, 2014, at the Hughesville Fire Company Social Hall, Doors open at 4:00 p.m. Please Contact Joe Mast at 570-568-0175 for tickets or Pete Rake at 570-437-2679 for more information or any donations you would like to contribute.
“OUR IMAGE IS OUR FUTURE” — Brian
VICE PRESIDENT EAST REPORT
Hello Fellow Trappers: Hope your season is going well. Hope you are all happy, healthy, and enjoying the great outdoors. Hope your fur check is fatter than the ‘rats you are catching.
I’d like to thank everyone who has helped me learn to do a better job. This time of year we pause to look back. Last year Ned Weston retired from the board. Happy Trails, Ned. Heard you are in N.C. Trapping. Good for you. Saw the picture of the Bench D-2 erected in your name. Looks good.
From Ned I learned to speak from the heart. Thanks.
Last year you elected me as your delegate to the PFSC. I have been able to make most of the meetings. The Susquehanna County branch elected me as VP. Thanks, Will. The Spring Convention will be March 28, 29, 30, at the Radisson Convention Center in Camp Hill.
Remember our motto ‘OUR IMAGE OUR FUTURE’. Remember to trap ethically, and help others, too. This year is an election year in Pa. Be sure to register and VOTE! Vote for your candidate for US Senate, Congress, Pennsylvania State Legislature, County Row Officers, and Township Officials. Choose candidates who will help fight the “anti’s”.
I have a lot of Faith in the next Generation. They are the smartest and best educated people on Planet Earth. Keep your common sense.
In closing, I would ask each of you to support the PTA, NTA, FBU, FTA and KIFE as your resources allow.
Be careful. Your VP East. — Joel Whitehead
VICE PRESIDENT WEST REPORT
I would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year. I hope everyone’s trapping season is going well. On November 9th, I was at the Harthegig Conservation Club in Fredonia, PA, where I helped 42 young ladies earn a Girl Scout badge. Even though I had to give up a Saturday during my favorite part of the year, it was well-worth it to introduce these folks to trapping, because many of them had preconceived notions about trapping. It was a fun day of learning for all.
God Bless. — Charlie Sykes
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
Hello trappers. I am writing this report as 2013 comes to a close. What a great year it has been. It has been my pleasure to represent my fellow trappers of District 1. I really have enjoyed educating the public on the truth about trapping, whether it has been watching a booth at a fair, speaking to churches, schools, scout troops, and community events.
Warren County has been working on getting things ready to hold a booth at the Warren County Sportsmen’s Expo. It is being held on January 11th and 12th.
The 10th annual gun raffle will be held at the Sparrow Pond in Waterford on April 5th. The next gun raffle meeting is being held at the Kings Restaurant on February 23rd at 2:30pm. I would like to urge everyone to attend who can volunteer their time to assist in making this another great gun raffle. If you would like to help by selling tickets, contact Jim or Donna Murphy.
Remember the money we raise from the gun raffle pays for our trapping school and helps us educate the public about trapping.
Our Image Is Our Future. — John W. Chase
DISTRICT 2 REPORT
I hope you all had a Merry Christmas and your fur sheds are filling up! As we start the New Year, make sure you mark the following district events on your calendar.
January 12th: Meeting at Happy Hunters Club in Fennelton, Pa. The building will be open at noon, with the meeting starting at 1:00 p.m. There will be food and drinks available, 50/50 raffle, and 5 for $1 table.
February 15th: Annual Fur Sale at Burnt Ridge Club in Cowensville, Pa. Anyone wanting to sell fur needs to be a member of some Trapping Association as well as have their current Fur Takers License with them. There will be a 4% commission on the furs sold. The sale will be from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m. No furs will be allowed in the building before 8 a.m. The only exception will be the workers and dealers setting up in the building. Applications will be available for anyone needing to join the association.
March 9th: Meeting at Happy Hunters Club in Fennelton, Pa. The building will be open at noon, with the meeting starting at 1:00 p.m. There will be food and drinks available, 50/50 raffle, and 5 for $1 table.
March 15th: Annual banquet at the VFW in Mars, Pa. The doors will open at 5 p.m.
June 19th through 22nd: Annual State Convention Washington County fairgrounds, Washington, Pa.
July 20th: The picnic at Sugar Creek Park (located off of Rt. 268 west of Kittanning). Please bring a covered dish/dessert to share. Other food and drinks will be provided by the district. Your families are invited to share the afternoon as well.
September 14th: The district’s annual fall expo will be located at East Butler Sportsmen’s club. Dealers should call district 2 for a spot and check availability of tables.
October 12th: Meeting at Happy Hunters Club in Fennelton, Pa. The building will be open at noon, with the meeting starting at 1:00 p.m. There will be food and drinks available, 50/50 raffle, and 5 for $1 table.
DISTRICT 3 REPORT
Hello All,
Happy New Year to you all, hard to believe its 2014 already, seems the years go faster all the time. Hope you’re keeping up in the fur shed and your traplines have been good to you. The weather has been really beating on us, 72 and record highs one day, 26 and snow the next, but you have to work with what you get. Only a couple updates in this report, I want to remind you of the fur sale on January 26, at the Washington County Fairgrounds. Sale starts at 9:00 am, with a 4% commission, please remember to bring your furtakers license with you. We will have a convention meeting at the conclusion of the fur sale, meeting time will be determined that day depending on turnout at the sale.
District 3 is once again having a booth at the Allegheny Sport, Travel, and Outdoor show in Monroeville, February 12-16. I will be out of town for the show, but our assistant director Matt Pappa will once again take over this event. If you can help out manning the booth during the show, give him a call at 412-651-1079 and let him know so he can work out a schedule. Thanks Matt !
‘till next time. — Dave Eckels
DISTRICT 5 REPORT
The district 5 fur sale will be held February 9th, 2014 at the Bedford County Fair Grounds in the 4H building. Doors will open at 6:00 am and food will be available. Please plan to sell your fur at the sale as this is a good way to support district 5 and the PA Trappers Association.
The Spring Meeting is scheduled for May 18th, 2014 at Gander Mountain in the meeting room. Election of officers will be held at this meeting.
I got caught up in hunting this year and as always didn’t trap as much as I had hoped but I did get out enough to enjoy the season. I hope you did the same. A small 5 x 4 bull elk for me and a mule deer buck for my Dad finished out our Colorado hunting trip. No one got sick and the truck didn’t break down, another good trip.
Our district officers are as follows: Don Sager – Director, Jim Griffith – Assistant Director, Pat Wess – Treasurer, and Deborah Sedlmeyer – Secretary.
Please feel free to contact Pat Wess @ (814) 262-9455, Don Sager @ (814) 443-3185 or me with any information you would like to see in this report or any questions you might have. I can be reached at (814) 686-0497 or e-mail me at bdstern@atlanticbb.net Thanks for reading. — Brian Stern, Tipton, PA
DISTRICT 7 REPORT
PTA State Banquet sponsored by D-7 is March 8 at the Hughesville Fire Company Social Hall, 10 South Railroad Street, Hughesville, PA. 17737. For tickets contact Joe Mast 866 Swartz Road, Lewisburg, PA. 17837 or call 570-568-0175. For more information contact Pete Rake – 570-437-2679. April 6 is our fur sale at the Hillsgrove Fire Company starting at 9 am. 4% commission and you must be a PA Trappers Association member to sell. All D-7 members will be getting a postcard about the Banquet and the March meeting. — Pete
DISTRICT 8 REPORT
Hello all. I hope everyone is having a successful trapping season. We had our last meeting of the year at Blain Picnic Grounds on October 20. We finalized the date on our outdoor show next year. It is going to be at the same place we’ve had before in East Waterford on September 12 & 13, 2014. Our next meeting will be at New Bloomfield on January 19. Hope to see everyone there. — Andrew “Pete” Hartenstine
DISTRICT 9 REPORT
Our fur sale will be held on Saturday, February 8, rather than on Sunday as previously reported. We will be charging 4% commission on all fur sold at the sale again this year. Make sure you bring your furtaker’s license and your membership card.
Here’s wishing you all success on winter beaver trapline, and don’t forget our motto: “Our Image is Our Future”. — Ed Price
DISTRICT 10 REPORT
Hello to all. By the time you read this, the season should be winding down. I hope everyone had a successful season.
The sports show at the Agricultural Hall in Allentown will be coming up on February 28, March 1 & 2. District 10 will have a booth there and will need help to set up and man the booth. If you can help out for a few hours call Steve at 610-797-7944.
Not much going on right now. I will have more events next time after our planning meeting. A few dates to remember: Northumberland County Youth Field Day – June7; State Convention – June 19 – 22; Fall Convention – September 26 & 27.
I want to thank Dan Kroll for getting Al Flory on the cover of the November/December issue of Trappers World and writing a short article about Al. Both Al and Dan were very active in District 10 in the past. Al had a stroke several years ago and is confined to a wheel chair. Dan has multiple sclerosis and gets around in a Hov-A-Round. Thanks again to both of you guys for your support for so many years.
Nathan Roberts is our new public relations director. He is very good with a computer. His e-mail address is patrapd10pr@yahoo.com. Please feel free to send him any questions or information you may have.
That’s it for now. Good luck to the beaver trappers and be safe out there. — Scot Mucha – 610-863-9759
DISTRICT 11 REPORT
As I write this on the last day of 2013 we are recovering from another heavy rain that put us out of commission on the trap line. The forecast is for very cold temps the next little while so we will all remake and start again.
There is not much new news to report to you this month. Our next business meeting will be on Thursday evening, February 13, 2014 at 7PM. The meeting will be held at the Conewago Township building in Dauphin County, just off Rte. 743 between Etown and Hershey.
We will have a business meeting at the Schuylkill County fairgrounds on Sunday, April 6th at 2PM.
The Great American Outdoor Show will be held Feb. 1-9 at the farm show complex. If you want to help out at the PTA booth let Wayne Gemmill know.
I don’t usually use this column to share personal stories but I’m sure you guys will like this one. I got a call one afternoon about 3 pm from a young trapper. He caught a muskrat in his trap and something ate part of it and he wondered if it was still worth anything. I told him he had to bring it to the shop so I could see it. 10 minutes later he is there. The head was gone and part of the front shoulders. I paid him a couple dollars and skinned the muskrat while he waited. I told him to take the carcass back to the creek where he caught it and dig a pocket and set one of his good traps in front of it. I told him whatever ate the muskrat was most likely a mink or raccoon and it would be back for the rest of it. He said okay and out the door he went. At 7:15 p.m. that evening he was back in my shop with a big buck mink. I couldn’t have been happier if I had caught it myself.
See you farther down the trail. — Mike Spittle
DISTRICT 12 REPORT
Hello from the Southeast again. I hope this finds everybody healthy and happy for the New Year. I also hope this finds you busy in the fur shed. I’ve heard a lot of you were out and about this season and that is good. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that the market stays stabile
The sportsmanship show at the Oaks Expo Center is from February 13-16 this winter. The district will have a booth there again this year. I need more volunteers to man it. Please call or email me to sign and help. It’s a good PR event.
I also am looking for an assistant director. This would be to help cover for me when I can’t make the State meetings. Alan has been doing it for me but cannot anymore. I thank him for doing so in the past. See me at the spring meeting if you’re interested.
Spring flyer will go out in late February.
Also a thanks goes out to Steve Senn, Chester County Leader, for taking care of the calendar lotto raffles. It needs more participation but it’s a start.
One last thing. Some of you may have read about a certain trapper bashing the director of district #12 on a web site. All I can say is you can’t believe everything you read on the internet. Most of you know me and know what we have accomplished, with your help in the last ten years. We had a good foundation to start from and are working to build up. We will continue to do so until someone else decides to take the over the reins.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing at all” – Edmond Burke
Alright – break’s over. More coon to scrape.
God bless. — Rick Ameisen
