
President — Anna Hermanson, P.O. Box 922, Hot Springs, SD 57747; phone: 605-440-0227; e-mail: aghermanson@jacks.sdstate.edu
Vice-President — Ray Maize, 28658 Tree Farm Place, Pierre, SD 57501; phone: 605-295-0416; e-mail: sdtrapr@mncomm.com
Exc. Sec./Treasurer, Public Relations FTA Director — John Almquist, 521 2nd St. NE Watertown, SD 57201; phone: 605-886-8501; cell: 605-880-4165; e-mail: jcalmquist@aol.com
Secretary — Terry Olson, 921 North Harth, Madison, SD 57042; phone: 605-256-6311; e-mail: trapperto@yahoo.com
Youth Education Coordinator — Aaron Doyscher, Box 247, Volga, SD 57071; phone: 605-627-6558; cell: 605-690-4095; e-mail: trapperad@yahoo.com
NTA Director — Jerry Westphal, 17342 297th Ave., Agar, SD 57520; phone: 605-258-2142;
e-mail: Rodeoking@hotmail.com
Tanned Fur Coordinator — Steve “Pete” Peterson, 22251 448th Ave., Ramonda, SD 57054; phone: 605-482-8131; cell: 605-291-8945; e-mail: trapperpete@alliancecom.net
Membership Options:
• Individual membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $20
• Junior membership with subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $13
• Family membership with subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $30
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
SDTA, Treasurer
John Almquist, 521 2nd St. NE
Watertown, SD 57201
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Greetings All,
I look forward to seeing you all very soon at our Fall Rendezvous. I wanted to take this opportunity to give you a rundown of what to expect. As you likely know, our Rendezvous are scheduled for September 17th and 18th at the Flandreau City Park in Flandreau, SD. The park is located ½ mile east of Flandreau, SD. Facilities present include public shelters, rest rooms, shower building, softball and baseball fields, basketball court, RV camping area, tent camping area, and a shooting range. The Japanese Garden building and adjoining building will be utilized by the SDTA for educational displays, SDTA membership information, merchandise, membership meeting, dealers, a used equipment auction, raffle draw, and meals.
Friday evening will kick off our list of events. We will be featuring several demos. The SDTA will host a wild game pot luck dinner where we invite everyone to bring a dish, salad, or dessert to share. Friday evening will not be lacking in activity by any means. We are hosting a catfish tournament again this year. If you aren’t into fishing we will be having a Texas Hold’em Poker Tournament as well.
The convention will feature a variety of dealers and tailgaters. Some dealers expected to be in attendance include Peterson Furs, SD, M&M Furs, SD, Dakota Line Snares, SD, The Fur Shed, MN, RK Trapline Products, NE, Dakota Prairie Baits, SD, Dead Coyote Snares, MN, Groenwald Furs, IL, North American Fur Auctions, WI, and Grizzly Rose Trapline Products, SD.
We have several demos planned. Please keep in mind the times listed here are tentative. Please check our website for the most up to date schedule of demos www.sdtrappersassociation.org On Friday evening we have planned Muskrat Trapping by Richard Kaspar from Crete, NE and Raccoon Trapping by Mark Steck of Canton, SD. For Saturday morning we have tentatively planned Coyote Trapping by Brian Fischer of Courtland, MN; Coyote Snaring by Shannon Cohrs of Dovray MN; and Mink, Muskrat, and Raccoon Water Trapping by John Almquist of Watertown, SD. For Saturday afternoon we are planning on having a demo by Greg Schroeder of Cambridge, WI on fur grading.
Saturday afternoon will also be when our business meeting will be held including director elections. If you know of someone who wants to go above and beyond to volunteer and help make our association great, please contact them and bring your nominations to the meeting. Saturday evening will also feature a dinner, raffle and grubstake drawing, presentation of our Koffler Award as well as our new Benefactor of the Year Award, and conclude with a used equipment auction.
Events taking place for our younger trappers include our featured Youth Trapping School to be held on September 18th starting at 9:00 AM and wrap up around 4:00 PM. This one day seminar will allow all kids the opportunity to learn basic trapping techniques through hands on learning. The course will include the following topics: our trapping heritage, furbearer identification and sign, furbearer habits, traps, snares, trapping equipment, trapping set locations, water and land trapping methods, and trapping safety. Upon completion in the afternoon, the association will be holding a BB gun shooting contest for youth of all ages and a snare setting contest for kids 11 years old and up.
Accommodations are available at the Flandreau City Park which has 16 RV camping spots with electrical hook ups. Availability is on a first come first serve basis. The Roay River Casino is nearby. It has a hotel, restaurant, and 20 RV camping sites with full electrical hook ups. For Casino information & reservations call 605-997-5333.
If you have any questions about this event please feel free to contact Anna Hermanson, John Almquist, or Aaron Doyscher. Phone numbers and email addresses are listed in the SD contact info at the beginning of the South Dakota Trappers Association column.
— Anna Hermanson
REPORT
Dear Fellow SD Trappers:
On July 17th Martha, Gary Fawbush, and myself did a trapping and Dutch oven show at Oakwood Lakes State Park. Gary F. brought the SDTA canopy and tables for us to use.
The State Parks labels this weekend “A Journey Through Time.” The show is set up at Mortimer’s Trapping Cabin. A trapper by the name of Mortimer built this cabin in 1869 in order to trap this area.
It’s a very nostalgic place to do this type of show that I’ve been developing. We show all types of trapping memorabilia, SD furs, and hand forged traps to the modern more efficient traps of today. Some of the old items are snowshoes, ice skates from the early eighteen hundreds, beaver hooped using a willow branch, hand forged fire iron set, trade kettles, buffalo mitts, old fleshing tools and even some old hand forged traps, etc. I also show the hand tools that would have been used to build a cabin like this one. I also added a show case with the tools the Indians used to process fur for the fur trade. I like to think of the show as a old fur trade rendezvous and of course food was a big part of the old rendezvous; thus the Dutch ovens and food. The audience is given samples of the food cooked the old way. It’s a very fun show to do. What a beautiful place for the SDTA to get exposure.
We try to set the emphasis on the old to the new. The food is cooked the old fashioned way with the Dutch ovens with modern day recipes. A big thank you to Marty, Gary Fawbush, Nancy Heydens, and Randy Pitts who made this show possible. The State Parks hospitality was outstanding.
I had no report on Prairie Luce Days on June 12th because when we were ready to set it up they cancelled because of the wet grounds. Thanks Terry Olson for bringing out the canopy and helping to get it set up. Also thanks to Gary Fawbush for coming out and helping get the canopy down and back to Terry.
— The Poppengas