Oklahoma Fur Bearer Alliance November 2008 Report

President — Shannon Sheffert, 1301 Old Bumpy Rd., Stillwater, OK 74074; cell phone: 405-742-7884;
e-mail: ssheffert@odot.org
Vice President — Janice Johnson, 18197 S. 337th W. Ave., Bristow, OK 74010; phone: 918-367-3810;
e-mail: jjohnson6431@sbcglobal.net
Secretary — John Weygandt, 4720 S. 26th W. Ave.,
Tulsa, OK 74107; phone: 918-557-1282;
e-mail: j.weygandt@maccor.com
Treasurer — Vivian Scott, P.O. Box 179,
Alderson, OK 74522; phone: 918-426-6918;
e-mail: littlerockmeme@msn.com
FTA Director — Terry Thornton, Rt. 2 Box 71,
Hartshorne, OK 74547; phone: 918-297-2073
NTA Director — Darrell Woodward; P.O. Box 580416, Tulsa, OK 74134; phone: 918-625-3891;
e-mail: ibtrapn@aol.com

Membership Options:
• 1-year membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $20
• Family membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
• Lifetime (Over 70) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $150
• Lifetime with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $300

Complete membership application on first page of
association section and send dues to:
OFBA, Treasurer
Vivian Scott
P.O. Box 179, Alderson, OK 74522
918-426-6918; littlerockmeme@msn.com
http://oktrapper.com

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

When you read this newsletter the weather will have changed and we will be just a few short weeks till the general trapping season. As I write this the weather has cooled and when I was out today driving through Southwestern Oklahoma, I saw lots of Monarch Butterflies as they were migrating south. Fall is in the air and winter will be here shortly. The cars have not been nice to the raccoon population recently as the coons are moving and lots are getting hit on the roads. I wish the season was open so I could stop and pick up what would amount to a good portion of my season limit without even setting a trap. A buddy called this morning and asked me if I wanted a fresh road kill coyote, I said that I would be interested in a month but not quite yet, even if the season is opening today, October 1st, in Alaska and Maine. Now is the time to get your last minute supplies and get your traps ready before the season begins. Hopefully you will support the dealers that come to our conventions, like Reginald Murray, Jeb Hollingshead, Dub Shankle, Don Cooper and the dealers that have made donations to our association for the auctions and door prizes. I will try to have a complete list of the folks who so generously made donations.

We just wrapped up three days at the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife’s Outdoor Expo. The event was held at he Lazy E Arena and what a fun event. The first day, Friday was mostly school kids from all across the state. I did not have a single kid or parent who refused to come by our tables because they were opposed to trapping. The Wildlife Department has done a great job advertising the expo and we had a steady stream of interested kids coming by all day to look at the tanned furs, skulls and traps that we had set out. I was told that they had about 6000 kids pre-registered to come to the expo on Friday and I bet that all ten thousand came by our booth! What a great day. The rest of the weekend was just as busy and we had people still at our tables at 5:45 PM on Sunday evening as we were trying to pack up. I want to thank those who worked the event including one who worked all three days. Terry Waggoner was there from the start on Friday morning till we wrapped up on Sunday night! John and Renee Weygandt, Leon Melton, Leo Farmer, Matt Farris, Jonathan Howell, Braxton Speaks, Janice and BJ Johnson, Darrell Woodward, Tom Peterson, Charlie McAmos, TJ and Ashley Norman, Dan McCoy, Jeff Evans, Cody Presley, and Ron and Vivian Scott all worked the tables answering questions and educating the public. The crew listed above did a great job and I know that the general public has a lot better idea of what we do as trappers because of what our members did at the expo. And one last thing, if we have 1/2 of the kids show up at our Youth Trappers Camp as we gave out information, our camp will be huge this winter.
On that note, please see if you can make some time in your schedule to help out at this camp this December. I believe that it is set up for the 28th till the 31st of December on the Turner Buffalo Ranch in Osage County. We are going to need help with camping, cooking, transportation, trap setting, skinning (hopefully) and just crowd control in general. I would not be surprised if we don’t have nearly 100 people this year??? It may not be so big when we get closer to the actual date, but we need to be prepared. John Weygandt is coordinating this again this year so please contact him if you can help in any way.

The last thing that I hope you do is mark your calendar for our upcoming Fur Auctions that we are going to hold again this winter. By the time you read this column, we will have held our directors and general meeting and finalized the dates and locations but I think that we are going to hold three sales again this winter. The dates will probably be on February 7th, February 28th, and then on March 7th, 2009. You don’t have to stretch your furs, but many furs do sell better if they are stretched properly and you don’t have to worry about spoilage. Spoilage is something to not take lightly. I had two freezer turn off this summer when we were on vacation, and I lost the furs that I had inventoried and were holding over, about 1/2 of and elk that is now coyote bait, and strawberry jelly that my wife had put up. If the furs had been stretched and dried, I may not have lost them. Please consider putting an alarm on your freezers if you want to prevent loss of your hard earned pelts.

Good luck during deer season, get some scouting done, talk to your landowners to get your written permission done now and then you will be ready to start setting traps on the first day of the season.

Take a kid or a friend along to show them how much fun we have out there every day. Have fun. — Shannon Sheffert

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