Tennessee Fur Harvester Association November 2009 Report

President — Gene Gagstatter, 565 French Mill Rd., Dandrige, TN 37725; phone: 865-621-8114

Vice President — James Lord; phone: 731-614-2531 or 731-968-7581; e-mail: jlord2003@aol.com

Secretary — Lora Daniel, 13740 Birchwood Pike, Birchwood, TN 37308; phone: 423-595-0486

Membership Secretary/Treasurer — Nancy Rogers, 235 Burke Lane, Dayton, TN 37321; phone: 423-570-8467; e-mail: nrogers03@bellsouth.net

State Organizer — Tei Gagstatter, 565 French Mill Rd., Dandrige, TN 37725; phone: 865-621-8114

FTA Director — Bob Beckwith, 156 Brush Wood Dr., Sparta, TN 38583; phone: 931-935-5602

Legislative Director — Doug McKenzie, P.O. Box 284, Madisonville, TN 37354

NTA Director — John Daniel, 13740 Birchwood Pike, Birchwood, TN 37308; phone: 423-595-0986; e-mail: johndanielgc@yahoo.com

Please send all correspondence to:

TFHA
565 French Mill Rd.
Dandridge Tn. 37725

This is to keep all records organized.

Membership Options:

• Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $22
• Junior membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $12
• Lifetime membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $250
• Senior lifetime membership (70 or older) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $100

Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:

TFHA, Membership Secretary/Treasurer
John Curry
2911 Tazewell Pike Suite 196, Knoxville, TN 37918 phone: 865-385-4100
http://www.tfha.net

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Hello TFHA members and trappers,

Trapping season is almost upon us, and it is that time of year for scouting, getting trapping equipment ready and getting land owners’ permission. Hope you all have a great year and have a lot of fun. Be sure to take a kid along when you can. They are our future.
There is a Fur Preparation Seminar taking place at Joe Hawkins place on Nov. 14. If you can, be sure to check this event out. This will be a great time for learning how the Top Lot winners put up fur. Directions to the event are: Take I-40 to exit 355 and go north on Lawnville Rd. Go 1.7 miles to Lower Gallaher Rd and follow the signs to 141 Lower Gallaher Rd. For more information, contact Joe Hawkins 865-660-0279.

We will have two fur sales this coming season; Crossville Feb. 6 and Bulls Gap Feb. 20. For more info on the Fur sales or locations/directions, see the State Organizers report in coming issues. Also the fur sales should be listed in the Calendar of Events of T&PC. Trappers and Fur Buyers from surrounding states are more than welcome and we hope you can make it. Contact the State Organizer for more info.

Also, a new Award we will be having for TFHA members at all fur sales held by TFHA, is the new TFHA Rocky Top Award, which is an award consisting of a Certificate to the seller with the highest bid paid on each furbearer species; and a TFHA Rocky Top Award hat and a Certificate will be sent to the seller with the highest bid paid from all accumulated fur sales for the season. To receive this award, you must be a member of the TFHA. So to be able to get top dollar for your furs, take pride in finishing your fur and, if you can, go to the Fur Prep Seminar to help you with the process.

TFHA now has a new Web site for anyone wanting to go online and look for upcoming events, contact elected officials or just see the photos posted by members. The Web site address is www.tfhaonline.net.

Thanks to all the folks that help make TFHA what it is, and that’s a great organization to be a part of. If anyone has any questions, call or e-mail anytime.

— James Lord

VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT

At the time of this writing, our fall meeting at Fall Creek Falls is two weeks in the past. As your new vice president, I have been in close contact with all of the new officers, and am looking forward to working with them on behalf of you the T.F.H.A. membership.

I am very proud to be a part of such a good group of people. I feel like we have one of the best trapping associations in the country. James Lord hit the ground running and started taking on his responsibilities even before he officially took office. I believe James is going to do a great job as well as all of the other officers.

The trapper training camp in Shelbyville, TN was a huge success. We had a good crowd, and good weather. Congratulations Jerry Bowman and all who helped make it a success.

By the time this year is over, T.F.H.A. will have held four trapper training events throughout the state. Let’s keep the momentum going, it is paying off.

Next year Fall Creek Falls will be moved to Oct. 22-24. This is to hopefully allow some of our members to attend who haven’t been able to in the past due to other obligations. Plus what a pretty time of the year with the leaves in full color.

It was great to see Mrs. Tommie Vernon at F.C.F. Thanks so much Tommie for all of your support to T.F.H.A. You are truly one of our greatest assets.

In closing, I am always available for any trapper and will do my best to do the wishes of our association and preserve trapping for future generations.

Have a great fall.

— John Daniel

SECRETARY’S REPORT

Hello fellow trappers. I would like to open this up to give thanks to everyone who helped at our Fall Convention at Fall Creek Falls. It was also a great pleasure to see Mrs. Tommie Vernon at our Fall Convention. Of course, this was our election year and here is how it went:

President – James Lord

Vice President – John Daniel

State Organizer – Paul Antczack

Treasure/Membership Sec. – Nancy Rogers

Secretary – Lora Daniel

The elected officials of the Lady Fur Harvesters are:

President – Laura Smith

Vice President – Amand Smith

Congrats to you all and it’s going to be a pleasure to work with everyone. When this gets published, we’ll already be done with the Muddy Pond Trapper Training Day hosted by Earl Crabtree and Mark Smith and family of T.F.H.A. Our next event will be Cherokee and after that Joe Hawkins Fur Handling Day on Nov. 14.

For more info, contact Joe at 865-660-0279. Fur sales are around the corner and the dates will be Feb. 6 and Feb. 20. I will get further info in next issue. If there are any questions that you would like to ask me, contact me at 423-227-5704.

— Lora Daniel

STATE ORGANIZER’S REPORT

I’m proud of this trapping association. We have been in the right direction for a long time and we are going to continue on that path.

The trapper training camp (Jerry Bowman show) was a huge deal! If you missed it, there will be more in the future. Everybody that was involved needs to pat themselves on the back. And maybe the next time Jerry can catch a little more than a ’possum.

John Daniel is setting the pace for us in the TFHA. Todd resigned as the NTA general organizer due to work issues. The executive council appointed John as the new general organizer. Good job John!

Fur auctions are around the corner and by a vote TFHA decided to cut one fur action out of the line up. The two auctions that are scheduled are Crossville and Bulls Gap. Crossville will be on Feb. 6 and Bulls Gap will be Feb. 20. The decision for dropping one auction was due to the decrease in fur value and the expectation of a low harvest. That will also make for the two auctions to have more volume of fur and will be more attractive to fur buyers.

Joe Hawkins will be having a fur handling day on Nov. 14. You can contact Joe at 865-660-0279 for directions and info. Joe is a fine trapper and is an excellent fur handler.

A trapping contest is in the works for this year. The details are being worked out. Note that this is a fundraiser. But there will be first through third cash prizes and plaques given out at the spring meet. This is a great opportunity for fellowship and good clean fun. We as TFHA members work hard educating and putting together events and functions and we need to reward ourselves with what we love to do — TRAP!

So stay tuned for details of how it the contest will go. Call, e-mail or send me your info so I can mail you the rules and location.

On a personal note, I need to thank a friend. Mike McMillan put me to work after I got off of last fur season. Mike took me under his wing and showed me some things about ADC work. After a few months, he pushed me to start my own business and I did.

Thanks Mike for your wisdom and support.

Hope all your chains are pulled tight!

— Paul Antczak

NTA DIRECTORS REPORT

At the time of this writing, trapping season is less than two months away. I hope everyone has had a good summer. I sent my Sept. report in to the T&PC, but for some reason the fax wasn’t clear and they couldn’t read my report. Sorry about that. Anyway, because of this problem, I will give you my convention report now. The National Convention in Lima, Ohio was the best I have ever attended. The Ohio Trappers Assoc. did a great job. The demo area was one of the most detailed I have ever seen.

The meetings went well, the lawsuit in Maine was discussed in great length. This is a very important issue because it could get a precedent that could be used in other states as well. Every trapper should follow this closely and contribute to the cause as much as possible. Montana, New Hampshire, as well as a couple of other states also have issues coming up. Massachusetts has an opportunity to possibly get some of their trapper rights back.

In late August, James Lord and I met with Rusty Johnson, Dan Skurski and Chris Johnson in Calhoun, GA at the site of the 2010 S.E. NTA Conv. The meeting went very well, the Chamber of Commerce is very cooperative and willing to help make this venture a success. We are going to need somewhere around 15 volunteers for this project. So if you can help, please let me or James know.

Along those sames lines, T.F.H.A. is going to provide five hotel rooms for our members who volunteer to work the convention. We can mark some items at the Fall Creek Falls Auction for this purpose. We raised $303. We need about $1,000 to cover this cost. So we are asking for members to donate some fur at the auctions to help cover the cost. Also we are trying to organize a trapping contest in late January with the proceeds going towards this same goal.

I attended the GA State Convention, also in August. The GA members are really committed to making the convention a success and are looking forward to working with TN on this joint venture. They are a great group of folks and I’m sure both associations are going to benefit greatly from this partnership. This is shaping up to be an exciting year for T.F.H.A., a year T.F.H.A. should take a lot of pride in, so let’s everyone pull together and make it a success.

Until next time, keep your boots dry.

— John Daniel

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