President — Scott McAuley, 621 13th St. S.,
Wisconsin Rapids, WI 54494-4910;
phone: 715-423-3229; e-mail: scott@wcts.net
Vice President — Lee Sillars; phone: 715-218-5041;
e-mail: Isillars@aol.com
Secretary — Dorothy Abrahamson, 508 E. 9th Ave.,
Stanley, WI 54768; phone: 715-644-0644
Treasurer — Ellen Elia, P.O. Box 367, Fremont, WI 54940-0367
NTA Director — Chris Bezio, 5479 Hawthorne Dr., Pulaski, WI 54162; phone: 920-822-3427
Trapper Education Coordinator — Nicke Shumaker,
P.O. Box 28, Caroline, WI 54928; phone: 715-754-2121;
e-mail: wctep@mwwb.net
Public Relations Director — Ken Kasper, P.O. Box 367, Fremont, WI 54940; phone: 920-446-3815;
e-mail: wtapr@centurytel.net
Trapper Correspondence Course Director — Mike Widner, P.O. Box 483, Baraboo, WI 53913;
phone: 608-356-3621

Membership Options:
• Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
• Junior (under 17) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $12
• Lifetime (under 62) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $300
• Lifetime (over 62) with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $100
• Husband & wife lifetime — $400

Complete membership application on first page of
association section and send dues to:
WTA Treasurer
Ellen Elia
P.O. Box 367, Fremont, WI 54940-0367
http://www.wistrap.org

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Think,

Are fur prices up so high that you can gamble on losing trapping? Can you make enough money that next year does not matter?
Remember, you are responsible for your own actions. And something else, you are responsible for others also. How can that be? If you see a questionable trap set somewhere and don’t do or say anything. You may as well set the trap yourself. Let’s police ourselves, so the public does not have too. As a whole trappers are very ethical and legal. It just takes a few to upset the cart. So turn in illegal sets and be careful yourself.

That’s enough bitching. Now let’s talk about wolves. As of Monday September 29th wolves are again endangered. What that means is the federal government takes charge of managing them. The state can no longer control depredators and landowners and farmers are out of luck on protecting their property and livestock. So we start over again I guess. We will see how this turns out. Last August the NTA gave a conservation award to the governor of Alaska Sara Palin. They liked her idea of shooting wolves to save caribou and moose. Go figure.
Our convention is over; it was a good one again! I would like to thank everyone that helped to put on another great show. At the meeting Saturday night, the membership voted to nullify the vote for president and NTA representative, reopen nominations, and hold the vote at the March meeting. Nominations by February 15th will be on the ballot.

Well it is election time. I can tell by the number of ads on TV and radio. Ask the candidates how they feel about the things that are important in your life. Clean water, air and places to get outside are important to me. Public land and access to it is also important to me. What is important to you? Vote and vote smart. Have a great season. — Scott McAuley

DISTRICT 5 REPORT

By the time you read this, you are probably doing some dry land trapping already and getting busy preparing for the rest of the season. Weather permitting, I wish everyone the best season they have ever had.

The state rendezvous in Marshfield was well attended and everyone I talked to thought fur prices would hold about the same as last year. But anything can happen and usually does. I would like to thank Junior Prudlick, Chuck Glowcheski, Ron Redsten, Jim Kehrmeyer, Tom Roskos and his nephew and Jim Hilgeson and his wife for all their help at the auction. I hope I didn’t forget anyone. Also, I would like to thank Mike Abrahamson for helping put up the street signs on Thursday and clerk the auction on Friday night. Mike is the director of District 2 now and they were in charge of the gates. I think a part of him is still with us. I know he enjoys our wild game feed at the January meetings and hope that he and Dorothy can make it again this winter.

The election for WTA president didn’t take place at the annual meeting because of a ballot issue. It will be held at the Spring Banquet meeting in March.

An alert Perry Trim has led to purchases of a 5×10 cargo trailer. It is a used trailer in great shape for a great price.
Just a reminder, we will have an election of officers this winter at our January meeting. We need some people to step up.

DISTRICT 8 REPORT

The leaves are starting to turn, the nights are getting a bit more chilly and there are flocks of birds gathering and getting ready for their journeys this fall.

It has been a very busy summer and fall. I apologize for missing the September issue. The days get shorter when you get older!
Our Aug. 23 Gander Mountain Trapping Day was lightly attended. On the good side, our district trapper ed fur collection and trap collection drew good attention and we did have about 15-20 non trappers view demos and participate in the day. Our brat and soda sales covered our costs and will pay for Sheboygan and Manitowoc Counties affiliation fees with the county sportsmen clubs. Big thanks to the Clarks for their skinning demonstration. Chris Bezio and others also did several demos while I was tending the stand.

The WTA fall rendezvous was very well attended. Again districts 8 and 10 were responsible for the setup and management of the demonstration tent and program. A big thanks to Scott Stewart and his crew and Tod Zitzelberger and the Calumet County group for setting up this year. I got my trailer of stuff over and had to be in Illinois for a family funeral and it is great to see our members rising to the occasion.

Thank you to all who helped keep the demonstrations rolling and on time. I am always amazed and impressed to see the quality of the demonstrations that we have at our rendezvous. I trust that our demonstration presenters enjoy being at our rendezvous as much as we enjoy listening to their messages.

I will be contacting county directors later this fall for ideas on our winter meeting as to date, time, location, etc. Last year we made a nice profit on our winter meeting. At the July meeting of the BOD, it was voted that the districts would work harder to support the state WTA raffle and not conduct as large of raffles for each of their own districts. The proceeds from the state raffle sales would be divided such that the WTA would get 50 percent and each district would receive an equal share of the remaining 50 percent. This is going to be the procedure for the next three years. We will need to address how we as a district will want to explore ways to increase statewide ticket sales and also create revenue generation for our district.

The Manitowoc County Trappers Association will donate a Charles Daly 12 gauge shotgun for the very large fall Manitowoc Conservation Clubs Fall banquet.

Bryce Larson will be offering trapping related seminars at the large Sportsmen’s dinner held this year at the Chilton High School. The event typically draws 700-1,000 area sportsmen. Bryce will hold two trapping sessions that may reach 100 attendees. Chris Bezio will participate as well and man the booth we will have in the gym where all 1,000 attendees can view our exhibit.

I want to thank members from District 8 for nominating me for district director of the year. I won that award this year at the banquet and you need to know that each and everyone of you are a part of that award.

The next WTA BOD meeting will be Saturday, Oct. 4, 2008, at Fremont, WI.

I have much to do to get ready for trapping season. I started very early this year and thought I was ahead of the curve. Then “life is what’s happening while you are making other plans” took over and I need to set some priorities and get going.

Have a safe and productive season. When you meet a fellow trapper on the line this year, greet them and ask them if they are a member of the WTA. Being involved takes time and energy and resources, but then anything worthwhile does. — Bryce Larson

DISTRICT 9 REPORT

Howdy District 9 members,

OK here are just some things that you need to remember. Our spring meeting is on Feb. 28, 2009 at Boscobel. At this meeting, we will have a vote for director’s job. If you know of someone that would like there name in the hat, please let Dennis Knuth know before the meeting. In the last issue of the WTA mag, did you notice all the life members our district has? Plus all the regular members and we only get maybe 10 to 12 showing up at our meetings. We will have only three regular meetings before the 2010 national. We need to really hunker down. There was another great trapper ed class in Leland on Sept. 20. And one more to go for this year, Nov. 1 in Lafarge. So far, the students really thought the free trap tags from the district was really great. So, if there is anything you want to bring up at the meetings or would like to help please stop by. — Tom & Dan

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