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
We all look forward to the start of trapping season, but this season someone is riding their trapline in style, with the new four wheeler they won in our sweepstakes drawing.
Congratulations to all the winners, and thanks to all who supported this fundraiser. A list of the winners will be available on our website or through your director at a future meeting.
I would like to remind everybody while they are running their trapline this season to be responsible on where you place your sets, especially with the use of body gripping traps. Even if it is legal to set your trap there, is it right? By implementing this thought we could avoid most of the conflicts.
In September District 11 hosted the state banquet in Lebanon, PA and I want to thank Ralph and his helpers for doing so. They had so many donations and prizes some people needed to have others haul their winnings home. Tom Hardisky gave a presentation on what could become the new beaver management plan for the state. I had the privilege of presenting an outstanding Youth Trapper of the Year award to Brayden Chubb. This young man is our future and I’m sure we will see his name again sometime down the trail. Also in attendance were Miss Pennsylvania, Courtney Thomas and Miss Pennsylvania Outstanding Teen, Jocelyn Gruber. These two ladies thanked the trappers for our support and were grateful for their fur coats. If you get the opportunity to meet them this year mention you are a member of the Pennsylvania Trappers’ Association.
As I write this report on the last day of September, the streams and rivers are coming over their banks which must mean trapping season is soon upon us. I hope you all have a safe and fun season.
— Brian Mohn
EDITOR’S REPORT
Hi to ALL,
From SUNNY NEW MEXICO, I am sending you this short report. As many of you know, I have been here from Sept. 1st. I came out here to catch some of those High Price Cats.
Am learning the area some & finding some sign. Lots of rocks & no water! Should be interesting trapping come November, & I’m looking forward to it.
Hope you all have a Great Season! Take care!
— Russ Ford
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
By the time you get this, archery season will be well under way. Hopefully all of your traps are ready to go.
Our Fall District Meeting was held on September 25, 2010. Thanks to Crawford County for hosting it. We had a cable restraint class and certified more than 40 people as new CR Trappers.
Elections were held and everyone on the board will be serving in the same capacity for the next two years. Trapper of the Year was awarded to Jim Howe from Forest County. County of the Year was awarded to Jim Murphy and Crawford County. Congratulations to these individuals for their awards and a specials thanks for their contributions to the promotion of trapping. A Lady Trapper of the Year award was not given this year.
Our Spring Meeting will be hosted by Venango County. More information will be announced later.
Crawford County will be doing the Pumpkin Fest. If you can help, please see Jim Murphy.
Erie County will be having their own trapping school this year.
This District’s Trapper’s Training school was held on September 11, 2010. There were 34 kids and 6 adults in attendance. Thank you to Derrick Cross and Kayce Hyde for their efforts, as well as all the instructors and other helpers. The school went really well.
The Spring Gun Raffle meeting will be held on October 17th at 2:30 PM at King’s Family Restaurant on 322 in Meadville.
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 (814) 758-8551.
Forest County had a Trapper’s Day on September 26, 2010, where they had the PA Game Commission there to speak. They also had numerous demonstrations
The district would like to express our thanks to Walter and Daniel Greathouse for their help at the booth at the Stoneboro Fair.
I hope you all have a safe and happy trapping season this year.
God Bless.
— Charlie Sykes
DISTRICT 2 REPORT
We had our Fall Expo on Sept. 18th. It was nice to see trappers from all over come to the Expo. We had a FoxPro caller in the Raffle. It was donated by the “Fennells” of Fur Taker Lures. Thank you both for the donation. It helped with the rental expense of the Club for the day.
We had demos going on throughout the day. Thanks to all who helped and those who put on the demos.
We are getting closer to the upcoming season, good luck to all, and be safe.
We are going to need someone to step up to take over the Directors position, in District #2. For more info contact Greg. 724 224 2197
DISTRICT 3 REPORT
Hello All,
Hope everyone is caught up on their work and chores because somehow summer ended and fall snuck in. Before you know it, your time of the year will be here.
The winner on our rifle raffle ticket from the Washington and Westmoreland Fairs was John Kovac, from Monesson, Pa. I didn’t get that in the last issue.
I was able to attend the state banquet in Lebanon, Pa. Thanks to District 11 for hosting this event.
Our trapper’s school was held on September 25, at the Indian Creek Valley Sportsmen, in Acme, Pa. Thanks to Greg Grimm for lining up the spot for this year’s school. We had a few no shows, but for the 22 students that did show up, they enjoyed a full day of learning along with a great lunch. I couldn’t make the morning of the school due to a family funeral, but I do want to thank the D-3 crew for doing a bang up job of teaching, along with another lunch put on by the Poorbaughs, with a little bear stew from John Wilkinson. Thanks to Greg Grimm, Bob Jameson, Ron Shriver, Don Stiffler, Dan Weiss, John Wilkinson, Doug and Chris Bergman, Matthew Pappa, Rege Denne, and John and Jim Poorbaugh for giving up a Saturday to promote our sport.
I’ll give an update on the scholarship winner in the next issue, thanks to all who sent in an essay.
The fall rondy will be over by the time you read this report, so I’ll give a report on it as well.
Till next time.
— Dave Eckels
DISTRICT 4 REPORT
I hope you all had a chance to attend the district 4 convention on Sept 25 & 26. It was a great show this year. I think it gets a little better every year, but this year was by far the best ever. The weather was perfect and attendance was outstanding. Thanks to all the great dealers that attended, the trapper training school instructors, the kitchen help, the wives at home, baking pies, the district officers for all their hard work and all the D-4 members that help over the weekend. It is each and every one of you that made the weekend an outstanding success. Thanks again.
Convention 2012 is under way and we are currently signing a contract with the Clearfield County Fairgrounds. The dates will be June 21th-24rd 2012. Right now we are in the planning stages and we can use all the ideas and help you can give. I am sure that you have some great ideas and talents that are needed so please plan on attending our future meetings. I really think the great thing about hosting a convention is the unity it brings to the district. I had several people from D-4 I did not know approach me this weekend and volunteer to help and say that they wanted to get more involved. Thanks. Our next district meeting is scheduled for Saturday January 15th at 1:00 pm at the Sacred Heart Activity Center in St Marys.
Our annual fur sale is scheduled for January 15th 8:00 am -1:00 pm at the Sacred Heart Activity Center in St. Marys. It will be followed by the district meeting. To help support those that support the PTA, this year PTA members will pay no commission charges for selling fur. You must have your PTA membership card with you. All others will pay a 4%comission. I hope you all have a great trapping season and pack the place with fur. Best wishes. (814) 371-1170
— Don Klinger
DISTRICT 7 REPORT
Upcoming events for D-7—December 18, Christmas party at the Mazeppa Community Hall, starts at 6 pm. Please bring a covered dish and a $5 wrapped gift. January 16, fur auction at Washingtonville, starts at 9am, must be a PTA member to sell or pay a $5 selling fee. 4% commission. All Dist. 7 events will be held regardless of the weather. Past events, August 14 we held a trapper training day with 22 attendees, we also held a C-R class at the same time and place. September 18 we held our mini-convention at the Booneville campground.
I would like to thank everyone who helped at these events. Megan and I went to the state banquet at Lebanon , Sept. 18. Dist 11 did a great job again of organizing and running the banquet. For more information call me at 570-437-2679.
— Pete
DISTRICT 8 REPORT
Well folks I hope you all are glad to see autumn arrive. We surely had a long hot summer. Now that it will be getting cooler you can get out there and set those traps. The fur season is here already. I hope you all have your gear ready for the season. This year for the first time all trappers in Pa. will be able to purchase a permit to harvest one fisher and one bobcat in the new seasons set by the PGC. You will only be permitted to harvest them in the specified WMU`s set by the PGC. Good luck to you all on your trap lines!
This summer D-8 had a display table set up at several shows and events. I would like to thank anyone that helped out with the table. I know we did not have as successful year as in the past but we got in a lot of good P.R. for us trappers. I know this economy made it harder to move raffle tickets. We did do well considering the times we are in.
District 8 held our trapper training school August 28 at Mercersburg Sportsman Association with a great turn out. We had 76 students very eager to learn trapping techniques taught by our instructors. I would like to thank Mercersburg Sportsman Association for the use of their facilities. Thanks to all the members that volunteered their time to help be an instructor to the kitchen crew that was there early to prepare breakfast and serve a wonderful lunch. And thanks to the students that come out to farther their fur taking knowledge. I hope everyone had a great time at our school.
We held the Tuscarora Valley Extravaganza Show at East Waterford, Pa. September 10th, 11th, and 12th. I received a lot of good comments on the show. There were just a few people that thought we should go back to Marysville. The tailgaters liked the bigger spaces, people parking there vehicles had a roomy parking lot to park and did not have to climb a hill to get to the event. The volunteers told me it was easier to park the vendors and the gate crew did not have to work out on the highway. The show was very well attended Friday and Saturday. Late Saturday afternoon the vendors and tailgaters vacated the grounds like the plague was coming through. There was not much of a show on Sunday. We will be taking a look at this event and see where we can make changes to make the show better for next year. We may change the dates to a week later so we do not have it the same time as the Juniata County Fair and the big race weekend at Port Royal. I will tell you that I have been contacted from vendors and tailgaters that want to sign up for next year. After we get the dates set and grounds reserved for next year we will be contacting the vendors and tailgaters that was at this year’s show before we reserve tables and spaces to new ones.
A big thanks goes out to anyone that made the Tuscarora Show a success. Thanks to the vendors and tailgaters that made the show interesting. To the food vendors for the great foods they served. Thanks to the folks that came to see the show and patronize the vendors. Thanks to everyone that donated to our auction and helped support District 8. Thanks to all the volunteers that gave their time to make this a very successful event.
Note at our next District 8 General Meeting October 17, 2010 at Blain Picnic Grounds, Blain, Pa. we will be open for nominations for District 8 Officers. We will vote for new officers at our spring meeting in 2011. I am not running for D-8 Director next term. Time for some new blood to take over. I will have served two terms as Director and it has been a great experience. I feel there are trappers out there ready for the challenge!
You may contact me at 717-486-7573.
— Allen Eppleman
DISTRICT 11 REPORT
We conducted 4 Trapper Training Schools throughout the district in August & September. Attendance at the schools was less than usual but the interest and enthusiasm of the students was as good as it has ever been. Everyone participated well and was eager to learn. Not enough thanks can be given to the guys and gals that work each year to conduct these schools. I know they all enjoy doing their part and look forward to sharing their time and talent in this way. On behalf of the district, Thank You to each one of you. We had a special thing take place at the school I run in Dauphin County this year. We had 4 generations of Spittle’s participate. We put Luke, our newest addition, in charge of lunch this year. He got some help from his mom and grandma and together they did a fine job. He needs to get some experience on the trapline before we let him be an instructor though.
We hosted the PTA State Banquet on September 18th and attendance there was far less than we had hoped for. We had a great evening together and once again enjoyed a fantastic meal. Tom Hardinsky presented a program on beaver management, Miss PA and Miss Teen PA spoke to our group, signed autographs and got in for a few photo’s. We had our usual assortment of fundraisers – live auction, silent auction, dart board and bucket raffles. We realized a profit for the evening of a little over $4,200. We have to give a great deal of credit for the success to Ralph & Sharon Wagner. There were so many items on the tables and auctions that they were able to get because of the time they put into it. I was amazed at all the places Ralph made requests for donations from. It seemed like wherever there was a door, Ralph was knocking on it. I know they weren’t the only ones who did this, but I wouldn’t be afraid to say they got more items than all the rest of us combined. On behalf of the District I do want to thank all of you that brought items and helped with the raffles, dartboard and all the other events that made the evening a real success. Special thanks are also due to our speaker and to Jamie Lovins, our auctioneer for the night; he can really make an auction fun for all.
By the time this gets to you, trapping season will be started. Whether you start the first day or you wait till the fur primes up is entirely your choice. Where you sell your fur is also your choice. I would like to encourage you to sell your fur at the District 11 Fur Auction. It will be held January 8, 2011 at the Berks County 4-H Center in Bernville, PA. You must be a PTA member to sell fur at this sale. Doors will open at 7:00 a.m. and the sale will start at 9:00 a.m. There is a $5 registration / accounting fee and a 4% commission on all fur sold. We normally have 8-10 buyers at the sale. All licensed fur buyers are welcome. We will have the kitchen open at 7:00 a.m. and throughout the day. A feature that has evolved the last couple of years is the sale of extra baked goods which I’m sure we will do again if we get the amount of baked goods that we have been getting the past couple years. We are always looking for help in running the sale, setting up and cleaning up. So if you would like help out, let Ralph or me know.
This was a long article but there was a lot to report. Now it’s time to hit the trapline. Be safe, have fun, enjoy all the good things God has created for us. If you get a chance, take a youngster with you, speaking of that, where is that grandson of mine, we gotta go.
Catch you later.
— Mike Spittle
