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
As I write this month’s report the Pennsylvania Trappers Association’s booth is quietly sitting idle at the New NRA Great American Outdoor Show in Harrisburg. We are ready to listen and answer all the questions that come our way when the show opens. We are very glad the show has a new birth on life. This show is our single largest public relation outreach. We all need to thank everyone who helped set up, manned and take down the booth. Wayne Gemmill and group of volunteers do an excellent job for all of us. By no means do I want to slight all the other volunteers who work the numerous sports shows around the State throughout the year. I know we just wrapped up the Early Bird Show in Bloomsburg, and we have several more in the near future. Please don’t hesitate to call the District Director and volunteer some time. The Trappers will be represented in the very near future at the Greater Philadelphia Outdoor Show, The Jaffa Sports Show in Altoona and the Lehigh Valley Show to name a few.
With the exception of spring beaver trapping season most of us are done trapping for this season. We all knew we would be sharing the field and streams with an influx of new trappers and for the most part this occurred without much incidence. The weather was as unpredictable as usual, but you know to count on rain, snow and cold.
It is not too late to make plans 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.
This year’s rendezvous is a joint venture between the FTA and PTA and will be June 19-22 at the Washington County Fairgrounds. I hope to see you at some of these events and remember to bring a friend because OUR IMAGE IS OUR FUTURE”. — Brian Mohn
VICE PRESIDENT WEST REPORT
The Pennsylvania Trappers’ Association will have a booth set up at the 55th Annual National Trappers’ Association Convention from July 24th to July 27th 2014, at the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds (2401 12th Ave. North, Escanaba, Michigan 49829). If you are available to help with the booth, please get in touch with me.
We are also making enhancements to the PTA website. Please take the time to go to our website periodically and see what changes have already been made. If you have suggestions, please let your District Director know, so they can pass this information along.
God Bless. — Charlie Sykes
PUBLIC RELATIONS DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Cable restraints are now legal for use on canines. Please be cautious in the use of this valuable tool. The proper use of this device has been an asset to trappers in capturing canines. Unfortunately, the illegal use of this device has been a discredit to all ethical and responsible trappers.
Beaver season is also in at this time. Be sure to use caution if working on ice.
Just a reminder, please help with the Game Commission’s beaver and or otter study.
The following beaver and otter information is from Tom Hardisky coordinator for these projects:
Beaver Reproduction Project – ongoing. We were unable to gain information on previous pregnancies or litter size from females caught during December and January. I’ll be asking trappers to collect carcasses again this year, but will ask them to increase carcass collection efforts during February and March.
Otter Population Monitoring Project (fecal DNA) – Graduate student Nick Forman was able to detect DNA on 173 otter fecal samples. It appears he will be able to differentiate individual otters based on DNA detected. He will need the help of trappers this winter to locate areas of Bradford, Susquehanna, and Wayne counties where otter frequent.
Please provide assistance with either or both of these ongoing studies. Tom Hardisky may be reached at 570 725 3663 or thardisky@pa.gov. Or you may contact the wildlife management supervisor in your region.
May your 2014 be the most memorable ever. — Barry L. Warner
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
Hello Trappers,
I hope everyone is having a great trapping season. I would like to give a special thanks to Bill, Frank, and others that helped Warren County trappers have such a great outdoor show this past month.
Everyone should have received their spring news bulletin, but there is a misprint in the news bulletin. It states that our gun raffle is April 6th – that is incorrect. Our spring Gun Raffle is Saturday April 5th.
On Feb. 23rd there will be a gun raffle meeting at Kings Family Restaurant in Meadville at 2:30 pm. We are still looking for members that can help with the gun raffle. At this meeting we can turn in our sponsor forms and tickets so we can get a tentative head count. If you need more tickets call Jim or Donna Murphy 814 -382-2561.
On April 5th our 10th annual gun raffle will be held at the Sparrow Pond Camping and Recreation Facility in Waterford on Rt. 19 North. Doors will open at 3:00pm. Remember, you must be 18 years of age to attend and 21 to drink alcohol. The first gun will be drawn around 4:00pm.
April 12th District #1 will hold the spring meeting at the Venango County Fairgrounds 867 Mercer Rd., Franklin, Pa 16323 (Rt 62). Doors will open at 8:00am. There will be vendors, food, demos and our meeting will start at 1:00pm. Also there will be a cable restraint class being offered for those who are interested. Sign up on the PA Game Commission website.
If any member has any questions about events that are coming up in our district, give me a call at 814-823- 5429
Our Image Is Our Future. – John W. Chase
DISTRICT 3 REPORT
I’m writing this report the day after our fur sale at the Washington County Fairgrounds. I want to thank everyone who came out to help set up and run the sale, the fur buyers who spent the day grading fur, and the sellers who came out on a nasty winter day to sell their fur. In all, we had 130 lots of fur and about $58,000 in sales. If we stay at those numbers of lots, we may have to move into the bigger building. I’ll include the breakdown of numbers at the bottom of my report. As far as help goes, I couldn’t ask for a better crew. Thanks to Matt Pappa, Chris B., and Jack Bartram for mostly running the front table, Ron Shriver and Walt Sphar for taking care of the 50/50, my daughter Jessica, her boyfriend Jon, and Bethann Bartram for spending the better part of 12 hours in the kitchen, and the Wilkinson and Keifner clans for clean-up and hauling fur out of the building. I have to also thank the seller who was leaving ten minutes before the 50/50 drawing and handed me his tickets with the instructions to donate the winnings back to the district if his tickets won, and I still can’t believe that’s what happened. After a quick meeting of the minds, Walt came up with the idea to have anyone who had bought a ticket to hold up their hand, and we gave them another ticket for a drawing for a $50 bill. Thanks for a great idea Walt.
After the fur sale, we were scheduled to have a convention meeting, but since the sale ended much later than normal, we had a few smaller meetings during the day and tabled most discussions until our spring meeting. Our date for the spring meeting is Sunday, March 16, at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds. We will go over all planning for the year’s events as well as the convention. I’ll try to have a newsletter in the mail the first week of March.
If you get this report in time, remember that we will have a booth set up at the Allegheny Sport, Travel, and Outdoor show in Monroeville, February 12-16.
Last but not least, our district’s 10th annual banquet will be held on April 19, at the Youngwood Fire Hall. Ticket applications will go out with the Spring Newsletter in March.
‘till next time. — Dave Eckels
District 3 fur sale – Washington, Pa.
January 26, 2014
Listed by Species, Number sold and Average price
Raccoon — 2517, 11.51
Green coon — 399, 6.95
Muskrat — 1684, 9.31
Red Fox — 141, 36.33
Gray Fox — 28, 23.42
Coyote — 86, 16.93
Beaver — 63, 20.61
Bobcat – 2, 72.50
Mink — 50, 16.74
Opossum — 178, 2.48
Skunk — 9, 3.00
Deer Hides – 24, 4.83
DISTRICT 4 REPORT
Just finished the tally from our District Fur Sale. We had an excellent day with some good prices across the board. 51 trappers showed to 3 buyers and all but one lot sold. To me, that was a pretty good day. John Chase made one boy the happiest of the day by buying his only fur at a whopping 65 dollars. Talking around the sale about this year’s season, most everyone agreed being able to read the weather was the downfall. Dry, rain, freezing cold; set in the dry check – in the rain – pull out of the ice. After the sale, a short meeting was held discussing the April 4th sale at the Jefferson County Fair Grounds and the always upcoming youth field days along with the couple conservation schools our District supports. All in all, it was a good day.
Listed by SPECIES, AMOUNT of FUR and AVERAGE PRICE
Raccoon — 386, 15.44
Red Fox — 39, 36.61
Grey Fox — 52, 24.46
Coyote — 32, 22.75
Beaver — 17, 15.88
Muskrat — 159, 9.79
Mink — 17, 17.94
Fisher — 3, 55.00
Bobcat — 4, 85.00
Opossum — 43, 3.76
Thanks for your support. — Jeff Dornisch, 814-781-7539
DISTRICT 5 REPORT
My trapping is finished for the year unless I can get a few beaver traps out before the season closes. The cold weather we had and the ice that came with it discouraged my beaver trapping. I did spend a few days this year setting for bobcat and saw a few tracks but was unable to catch a cat. I hope all of you were more successful than I was this year. The fur sale will be over by the time you read this and if you helped with the sale or sold your fur at the district 5 sale, I thank you for participating.
The District 5 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’ll have more information about this meeting next month.
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
On March 8, the PTA State Banquet hosted by District 7 will be 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. Tickets are $25 each or two for $45 for adults and $12 for ages 6 to 12. We will have a live auction and several raffles. We have several guns, a crossbow, wildlife prints, chainsaws, traps and other items. We also have items for the ladies and kids. This is a buffet meal with roast beef and roast chicken, macaroni and cheese, sweet corn and a dessert. Also included will be hot and cold tea and coffee. Soda and adult beverages will be sold separately. For more information contact Pete Rake, Box 119, Washingtonville, PA. 17884 or call 570-437-2679. March 2 is the deadline for ticket orders.
Our spring meeting will be held March 16 at the Green Township building near Loganton starting at 1 pm.
On April 6 we will have a fur sale at the Hillsgrove Fire Company, Hillsgrove PA. It starts at 9 am. You must be a member of the PTA to sell and there is a 4% commission. I would like to thank everyone who helped at the Early Bird show at Bloomsburg and at the fur auction on January 12. — Pete
DISTRICT 9 REPORT
We just came home from the coyote hunt. It was very successful, as usual. I would like to personally thank all the folks who helped out this weekend in making the hunt another success. You folks are great! We’d also like to thank Triton Hose Co. in Tunkhannock for hosting the event and making the delicious dinner on Sunday.
We had 759 hunters registered in the coyote hunt this year, and there were 35 coyotes taken in the 3 days. The heaviest coyote – 51 lb. – was killed by Art Gately from Lake Como, Pa. Art was using a 12 Gauge 3 ½” when his dogs chased the coyote his way. Thanks to all the hunters who registered and supported the hunt.
Our fur sale will be held on Saturday, February 8. I will have a full report and prices paid in the April Trapper.
Get out there and catch some spring beavers! — Ed Price
DISTRICT 10 REPORT
Hello all,
With another season winding down, I hope everyone’s stretchers were full. Mother nature dealt us a pretty difficult hand this season with the cold, snow, rain, and ice in some parts of the state. I, for one, am ready for warmer weather.
I am writing this several days before our district fur auction, and I will not be able to get everything together by the deadline date, so next time, be on the lookout for our fur auction results. Until then, we have some dates to mark on your calendar and some information on opportunities for young people to spend some time outdoors learning a little bit and having a ton of fun.
Monroe and Northampton counties host Junior Conservation Camps in July every year. Both camps are for boys and girls between the ages of 14 and 17. They will get an opportunity to work with other youth and adults in a hands-on, practical, non-traditional learning experience. This is accomplished through lecture, personal observation, discussion, and problem solving activities. District 10 trappers sponsor a student for each camp every year. If you know of any youngsters interested, please forward their names and information to the District 10 trappers. More information on the two camps can be found online at http://www.ncjcs.org/ and http://www.mcconservation.org/default.asp?contentID=31#ConservationCamp.
Save the date! FREE Trapper Training on September 27th during the Fall Mini Convention at the West End Fairgrounds in Gilbert, PA. If you are interested, we ask that you register by calling Bob Counterman at 610-759-9203 so that we can get a head count. All ages and experience levels are welcome, and afterward you can check out the dealers on site to pick up any items that you think you may need.
Our extended calendar of events is as follows:
February 16- District 10 meeting at Belfast Edelman Sportsman Association 1pm
February 28-March 2- Lehigh Valley Sportsman Show
June 7- Northampton County Youth Field Day
June 19-21- PTA/FTA 77th State Rendezvous
July 13-20- Northampton County Conservation School
July 19-26- Monroe County Conservation School
August 17- District 10 meeting/picnic, location TBD
September 26,27- District 10 Fall Mini Convention
September 27- Trapper Training @ Fall Convention
That’s it for now. Good luck to everyone still chasing the flat tails. — Scot 610-863-9759, patrapd10pr@yahoo.com
DISTRICT 11 REPORT
We had a real nice day and plenty of help at our fur sale again this year. Everyone was well pleased with the prices they received for their fur. Prices are listed in the fur sale report at the end of this article. A great big thank you to the fur buyers that attended and to Keith Witman who did the auctioneering. Keith did a great job, even with the small technical problems we had with the PA system which was able to be fixed in short order. Thank you to everyone that helped make the fur sale a success again this year.
We will go over the results and final figures at our meeting Feb. 13th at 7PM at the Conewago Twp Bldg. located just off Rte. 743 between Elizabethtown and Hershey. We will also plan many of the events for the year at this meeting and I will pass them along to you in next month’s column.
The next business meeting will be held April 6 at 2 PM at the Schuylkill county fairgrounds.
One last thing – the PTA is in need of anyone that has a long arm sewing machine to quilt the PTA quilt for the scholarship program. If you have one of know of someone that does and can help us out please contact Karen Mohn at 610-562-1790.
Till next month. — Mike Spittle, (717)367-2637
Fur Sale Results
Berks County 4-H Center 1/11/2014
Listed by Species, Quantity Sold, $High, $Low and $Average
Red Fox — 711, 65.00, 3.00, 43.63
Gray Fox — 17, 35.00, 27.00, 30.29
Opossum — 154, 8.25, 1.00, 5.29
Raccoon — 1258, 44.50, 1.00, 17.09
Muskrat — 790, 17.20, 2.25, 14.03
Skunks — 17, 9.00, 2.00, 4.81
Male Mink — 108, 26.50, 7.00, 20.90
Female Mink — 44, 17.00, 10.00, 13.57
Beaver — 2, 29.00, 25.00, 27.00
Coyote — 6, 30.00, 12.00, 24.50
Deer Hides — 24, 8.50, 2.00, 6.33
Squirrel Tails — 22, .25, .25, .25
Black Muskrats
Total Trapper Lots: 53
Fur Buyers: 6
— Ralph Wagner, District Director
DISTRICT 12 REPORT
Hello from the Southeast again. Hope this finds you warm and well. Also hope this finds you without frozen pipes and dead car batteries. As I write this it’s about 6 degrees outside. Maybe by the time you read this it will be a little warmer out.
I’ve heard a lot of good catch stories from members in the district. Seems like a lot of you were having good success. I know many were out cabling foxes and I think that’s great. Out our way the foxes got picky real fast and cables seem to do the trick when other methods left you frustrated. Remember to try and stay on the straight and narrow as much as possible because Big Brother has his eye on us more than ever. “Our image is Our Future”!
By the time you read this the sports show in Oaks will have passed and we will be ramping up for our spring meeting which will be Sunday March 16, 2014, at the Lower Perkiomen Sportsman Club. Doors open at 10 and meeting at 12. Hope to see all of you there with fat wallets from a prosperous season.
God bless. — Rick Ameisen