Vol. 13. No.: 2 An Official Publication of the Virginia Trappers Association January 2017

Huh… What’d you say?! OK, it all started with a phone call. The wife of

a man we had trapped beavers for several years ago,

called and wanted to know if we were still trapping.

Of course, I said yes, especially beavers. She gave us a

name and telephone number and said to be sure and

call before 8 pm ‘cause they go to bed then. As soon

as I hung up I called the number and a Mr. Coleman

answered the phone. “This is Linda Eanes and Mrs.

Scott told me you had some beavers you wanted to

get rid of”. Mr. Coleman answered, “No, I don’t have

any beagles for sale, but my neighbor might, let me

find his number…”. “No, no, no”, I said, “beavers, B

E A V E R S, beavers”. “I’m sorry”, Mr. Coleman said,

“I don’t have any beagles. I’ve been wanting to get a

dog, but I don’t want a beagle, maybe a big dog like a

lab”. “No, Mrs. Scott called and said you had some

BEAVERS you wanted to get rid of!” I yelled.

Somehow, he understood me this time. “Why yes, I

do”, he replied. “They’ve been eating my pines for

years”.

Finally, we are on the same page and we

arranged a time and place to meet. The next day it

poured rain so we postponed it until Wednesday.

When I called Wednesday morning to make sure we

were still going to meet, Mrs. Coleman answered the

phone. “Mrs. Coleman, this is Linda Eanes, is Mr.

Coleman around?” I asked. “What you say?” hollered

Mrs. Coleman. “IS MR. COLEMAN THERE?” I

hollered back. “I’m sorry, I can’t hear you. If you’ll

call back later my husband will be here and he can

hear better than me. Good-bye.” she said and hung-

up. Wait, wait don’t hang-up. Too late. Oh well, we’ll

just go anyway and hope someone will be home that

can hear.

We got there around noon, I knocked on the

front door and this little ole toothless, grey-haired

lady answers with tobacco juice running down the

cracks around her mouth. She grabs me and gives me

a crushing bear hug and says how happy she is to see

me. About that time her husband comes around the

corner and I explain who I am. They must be able to

read lips because they understood me. I asked where

the pond was and he pointed over his shoulder and

said about 300 yards that way. I then asked if it

would be OK to drive our truck through the yard and

he said no it was too wet. I told him I had too much

stuff to tote that far and he said we could load

everything on his tractor and he would take it down.

I loaded up the tractor and then asked where I could

stand. He told me I had to walk. Good thing I had

that hip replacement two years ago.

Continued page 7

The Effectiveness of the Snare

Photo by Dom Smyth

Photo by Morgan Perkins

Photo by Dennis Boswell

1

VTA Officers & Executive Board President Art Foltz 6706 River Road Fredericksburg, VA 22407 Phone: 540-412-9607 Mobile Phone: 540-630-1756 Email: president@virginiatrappers.com

Vice-President Norman Mullins P.O. Box 1703 Ceder Bluff, VA 24609 Phone: 276-963-0642 Email: nbmullins@gmail.com Treasurer Annette F. Greenwood P.O. Box 516 Saluda, VA 23149 Phone: 804-824-4073 Email: agreenwood4@verizon.net General Organizer Ed Crebbs 175 Waldrop Road Gordonsville, VA 22942 Phone: 540-832-2708 Email: organizer@virginiatrappers.com

NTA Representative Roy Wood 1184 Beahm Lane Rileysville, VA 22650 Phone: 540-743-5906 No Email Membership Secretary Kurt Butler 1193 Old Church Road Mechanicsville, VA 23111 Phone: 804-779-2382 Email: membership@virginiatrappers.com

Recording Secretary Tim Shifflett 48 Pakaho Drive Mount Solon, VA 22843 Phone: 540-746-4450 Email: secretary@virginiatrappers.com

Communications Director John Gullion 681 Porter Valley Road Marion, VA 24354 Phone: 276-378-6605 Email: webmaster@virginiatrappers.com

Training Coordinator Norman Pierce 315 Harpers Bridge Road Rawlings, VA 23876 Phone: 804-478-4523 Mobile Phone: 804-720-0809 Email: training@virginiatrappers.com FTA Representative Travis Bandy 231 Gillespie RD Pounding Mill, VA 24637 Phone: 276-210-7105 Email: travisbandy@ymail.com

State District Directors * Districts 7 & 8 are vacant District 1 Travis Bandy 231 Gillespie Road Pounding Mill, VA 24637 Phone: 276-210-7105 Email: travisbandy@ymail.com District 2 Bill Wright 215 Autumn Drive Collinsville, VA 24078 Phone: 276-692-6466 Email: wrightpiping@gmail.com District 3 Gregg Mason 407 Twin Lakes Road Evington, VA 24550 Phone: 434-525-7266 Other: 434-480-1609 Email: mason63@jetbroadband.com

District 4 Jeffry Hart 5591 New Line Road Gum Spring, VA 23065 Home Phone: 804-556-6025 Cell Phone: 804-512-7998 Email: jfryhartsburial@aol.com District 5 Bryan Nelson P. O. Box 257 Shenandoah VA 22849 Phone: 540-435-4849 Email: advantagewildlifesolutions@yahoo.com

District 6 Wynston Holbrook, II 15000 Namozine Road Amelia, VA 23002 Phone: 804-698-9780 Email: wholbrook@rdhva.com

District 9 Dennis Boswell 179 Boswell Lane West Point, VA 23181 Phone: 804-892-6139 Other: 804-370-4300 Email: boswellglass@vabb.com District 10 Bud Jenkins 33424 Seacock Chapel Road Ivor, VA 23866 Phone: 757-556-4548 Email: buddlynne@aol.com District 11 Tom Tyree P. O. Box 546 Bloxom, VA 23308 Phone: 757-894-4330 No Email

2

TELL EVERYONE YOUR STORIES

Share your trap line

experiences with your fellow

trappers. Send me your

trapping story and a clear

photo to be published in the

next issue. Send mail to Jessi

Perkinson; 2291 Doctors Rd;

Louisa, VA 23093, or email

me at

editor@virginiatrappers.com.

President’s Report The new year brings in the election cycle for

our Association. Please consider being a part of the

solution to make the VTA better by running for one

of the officer positions. Optimally, we need at least

two candidates for each position so the membership

has a choice of talent to select from to lead the

Association. Even if you don’t want to run for office,

talk to those you think would be good for the VTA

and ask them to consider running for office.

Unfortunately, I won’t be able to attend the

Fur Sale in March due to a 3-month job commitment

but it’s looking to be a good event regardless of the

fur market; great food, trapper comradery, and

raffles. A Board of Directors (BoD) meeting, chaired

by Norm Mullins, is scheduled at the event and they

have a plate full of issues to work on your behalf.

BoD meetings are open to all so plan on sitting in to

see what your Board is doing for you. We lost money

at last year’s fur sale due to the depressed fur market

so we thank Josh Fitchett for allowing us to use his

facilities this year at no cost. The free facility coupled

with the ability to sell food should put us back in

black. Additionally, we changed the fur sale fees for

the upcoming auction. The buyer’s commission has

been suspended with the anticipated results of higher

bids being submitted for your fur and we’re charging

a flat rate for sellers and shippers of fur; $10 for VTA

members and $20 for non-VTA members.

We have a number of special committees

working on issues; 1) The Nominating Committee is

managing the election process, 2) The Redistricting

Committee is developing proposals to change or

district’s geographic footprint, 3) The Legislative

Committee is working with the VDGIF to draft the

regulation allowing us to sell furbearer products, and

4) The Convention Committee is planning for the

2017 Convention. Each committee will be presenting

an update at the March BoD meeting; your

attendance at the BoD meeting will let you know the

status of each committee. The Nominating and

Convention committees need members to assist with

their duties. If you can help, please let us know.

I hope you’re having a great trapping season.

Please contact me if you have any questions or

concerns or any ideas for improving our Association.

Art Foltz

3

District 5 Report Happy New Year district 5! I

hope you all have had safe and productive seasons. Early season weather was pretty awesome, but things have gotten more normal - cold and muddy. Ha ha.

Mike Dreska from Illinois was the winner of the district’s 50th anniversary Golden Boy 22. Thanks to everyone who bought and/or sold tickets. Special thanks to Eddie Sealock, who surprised me when he told me that he didn't want to be reimbursed for the cost of the rifle and

that it was his donation! Thanks Eddie!

The fur sale is being held at Josh Fitchett’s place located at 17232 Taylor's Creek Rd; Montpellier, VA 23192, on March 11th. Fur prices to date have been pretty depressing and that has kept a lot of trappers out of the field, a short catch may result in better prices later - we shall see.

The convention is going to be July 14th-16th at the Five County fairgrounds in Farmville.

Our first district meeting will be May 14th and it'll be in the Sperryville/ Amissville area. I'll put out more details when I get them firmed up.

That's all I have for now, if I can be of assistance to please don't hesitate to contact me at 540-435-4849 or email me at advantagewildlifesolutions@yahoo.com.

Bryan

Little Jon and Robin Hood Trapping in the Forest My first mentor, Cory Pheasant, who just so

happens to be my brother-in-law, is somewhat a beginner trapper himself. I have him to thank for really encouraging me to not give up and that trapping is no easy task. Cory started trapping a couple seasons ago and I remember seeing all these beavers that he would bring up from his canoe and thinking, that is so freaking cool. Everything from setting, catching, skinning and stretching, I wanted in on it. I'm the kind of girl that was never super outdoorsy, but when it came to critters if you left me out, I was mad. When hunting season came around and they got themselves a couple deer and didn't let me skin them, I was mad. Cory would always ask me, what all do you wanna catch when you start? And I thought well I'm not a huge fan of canoes or water really for that matter especially when it's eight degrees, but k9s and cats were at the top of the list and I've always loved coons and always wanted to catch a skunk. The first sets I made were sloppy, and I didn't catch a darn thing. I kept watching YouTube and reading articles on trapping forums and was like, what am I doing wrong? I'm on sign, fox scat everywhere! I noticed things about my new sets that I was making. They were bedded better, not shaky, nice, neat and tight. I kept getting better, my sets were looking good and after every new set I would think, there is no way I'm not going to get a fox. I got a good bait, lure and urine- I got this! No fox. Meanwhile, during my moping for my lack of foxes I got permission to trap my neighbors land. He had what he assumed was a coon problem where the bandit was stealing his cow feed. Cory, who is checking every set with me every day, like the good brother that he is, hands me a Duke DP and a Z trap

and says have at it. I caught a 13lb boar coon three days later. I was so relieved and excited I had finally caught something! Two days later another boar coon, and still nothing in my fox sets. I was happy but discouraged. Happy that I started catching something and upset because I have foot holds with different variations of fox sets over a decent span of land and the only thing I've caught is two coons out of one Z trap inside of a barn. Two days later I caught myself an opossum and two days after that another one! I was so excited, I thought you’re starting to get this. Still no darned fox! I would've asked Cory, but unfortunately besides reading, he really had no experience with land critters besides in DPs. I thought ok that's it, sets have been out over a month, my sets are looking spot on. I called another mentor and told him what was going on, how some mornings I would have fresh scat 10 yards from my set and then they wouldn't mess with them for a couple days. I had one fox dig up my trap and another destroy my dirt hole and step everywhere besides my pan. He asked me if I would like to have him come out and show me a couple sets and some different lures and long calls. I all too happily agreed, I couldn't be more excited. I thought, a real long time trapper is going to show me how it's done and I'm finally going to catch a fox. He showed me a lot of things to improve on. He told me about making more than one set in a location, saying if it's good enough for one why not two or three? After he said that it made perfect sense. He introduced me to a number of things like peet moss, flake anti-freeze, cooky cutter trap bedders, (Oooo fancy) and long call.

Continued on page 9

4

Recording Secretary’s Report Hello all,

I hope every has had a nice Christmas and started the New Year out on a positive note. I find it very difficult to write effectively weeks or months ahead of publication. I know it can't be different, I guess the trapping season is wearing me down and my old brain just wants to rest when the day is done.

The VTA has gotten a grant we can use for trapper education at the 2017 convention which will be in Farmville VA in July.

The VTA fur sale will be in Montpelier VA at Josh Fitchett’s place.

The VTA has purchased raffle tickets on an otter blanket from FTA which I think is a poor way to spend member funds but so be it, it is done.

I made motion for the board to take to the membership in July at the convention a proposal for approval to send $5000 to Montana Trappers Association to help replenish the money spent on keeping Federal Lands open to Trapping. By the board comments I could see it was not going anywhere so I retracted the motion. As for me, I belong to trapper associations to protect trapping. The VTA can do more and should. It is far more

important to put up money for the fights than to give away trapper training.... believe me it is much more important. What is the point in knowing a tad bit about trapping if it is not legal anymore or so restricted its just sport? Trapping has been a means to life, a trade a profession and those that want to make it a sport should take up golf. Not many are going to make a living at it but we should never let it be restricted to just grins and giggles. Anyway, I am disappointed at the lack of sensitivity to other plights in protecting trapping. VA has a lot of federal land and had Montana not fought hard it would have passed and came right to our door.

Budget approval will be on the agenda. I will be asking to take away the travel funds for FTA and NTA reps. I don't feel the membership is being informed proper of what is going on and I don't think the membership cares to pay expenses and not get adequate reporting on the goings on. I hope you members let me know if I am right.

Director non-participation is killing our association. We directors that do not hold any meetings for years and don't come to board meetings but when someone needs their vote on

something being done via email they are right there. It’s not what we voted on in Luray in 2009 (I think that is the right year) Email business was to be emergency issues. When it was implemented into the bylaws that was changed to discretion of the president. Well, it is absurd. I have something like 600 emails and actual meetings only last about 2 - 3 hours. I would like to stay on the board but I can't do this crap. Go to a meeting and have things worked out then come home and go through a bunch of rigmarole to see it all changed (by those that can't make a meeting or come to a meeting prepared. To quote Don Shumaker " there are higher callings in life". Me, I would rather just trap than spend my days watching email and begging for members to volunteer so board members can attend to actual VTA business.

Don't forget to step up and run for office. Younger healthy people can maybe get it done but for the gray beards it’s a plate full.

Happy Trapping, see you at the fur sale in March.

God Bless you all.

TimS

Pictured are new and seasoned members of district 4 enjoying a brisk afternoon of food and fellowship. District director, Jeffry Hart organized the event and Ed Crebbs hosted.

5

Virginia Trappers Association Fur Sale Procedures

Location of Sale: 17218 Taylor’s Creek Road; Montpelier, Virginia 23192 Date of Sale: Saturday, March 11, 2017 This year there will not be a 3% commission charged the sellers. There will be a flat fee of $10.00 per seller or shipper if a member of the VTA and $20 if a non-member of the VTA.

Pre-registration for sellers will begin on Thursday, March 2nd at 9:00 a.m. and close on Thursday, March 9th at 6:00 p.m. Pre-registration will be made through Ed or Charlaine Crebbs at 540-832-2708. Any phone calls or emails made before 9:00 a.m. on March 2nd or after 6:00 p.m. on March 9th will not be accepted. Email pre-registration will be accepted, based on its time stamp, when read by the Registrar and the seller will be notified of his or her sequential number. All pre-registered sellers will be processed before any walk-ins are accepted. NO walk-ins will be processed before 8:30 a.m. The VTA will announce the estimated time of the next round of selling at the end of the preceding round. All sellers are encouraged to pre-register to provide all concerned with a list of the amount of fur to be sold and a guess-estimate of a time line for the day.

All sellers will provide an accounting of the quantities of each species of fur when registering. The count will be taken in the following order:

1. Coyote 2. Red Fox 3. Gray Fox 4. Bobcat 5. Raccoon 6. Opossum 7. Skunk 8. Otter

9. Beaver 10. Muskrat 11. Mink 12. Nutria 13. Squirrel tail 14. Castor 15. Quill/skunk essence 16. Other

No pre-registration will be accepted unless these numbers are provided. 6-8 copies of every seller’s inventory must be made prior to that seller’s fur going on the table so an accurate inventory is essential in preventing time delays. Any changes in a seller’s numbers provided to the registrar may void that seller’s registration number and require him/her to go to the end of the line and re-register. (This is an issue for the auctioneer and the administrators and causes many delays.) Any pre-registered seller not arriving in a timely manner and staying in the vicinity of the auction, as to enable his or her fur to be placed on the tables without undue delay, will be placed at the end of the current list and given a new number. It is estimated that about 15 sellers will be on the tables for each round and each round should take 1½ hours. Seller numbers 1-15 should be ready to check in with their fur at 7:30 a.m. The first round of the auction will begin 30 minutes after the last fur is in place on the tables, or at 8:45 a.m., whichever comes first. Pre-registered Sellers not answering the call at 7:30 a.m. – 7:45 a.m. will lose their position and be reassigned a number at the end of the line. All others should check in without their fur and only bring their fur into the building when told to do so. This is a noise and space concern. Doors will open for VTA Workers at 6:15 a.m. Doors will open for Buyers at 7:00 a.m. Buyers will begin inspecting fur upon placement on the table. Buyers who arrive late will abide by the time-line.

6

Fur Sale Procedures – continued Doors will open for Pre-Registered Sellers at 7:30 a.m. All sellers will check-in with the Teller at the registration table upon entering. The Teller will verify their membership, collect their fee, and direct the sellers from there. Check-in will open for non-pre-registered sellers and shippers at 8:30 a.m. All walk-in registrations will have to keep their fur out of the building until all pre-registered sellers’ fur is on the tables awaiting sale and they are told to bring it in. Three rows of tables will be in place for the sellers and they will be directed to their place on the tables as quickly as possible. Only a certain amount of table space will be provided for a seller’s fur. If the quantity of fur exceeds a reasonable amount of space due to a large quantity of one (or more) item(s) then a representative sampling of that species will be placed on the table and the rest of that species will be placed under the seller’s table. All selling begins on the rear row and progresses from the buyers’ left to right and rear to front. Once a row of tables has been sold and cleared then a VTA worker will direct the appropriate sellers to exhibit their furs on that row of tables. Youth volunteers and other VTA workers will assist in moving the sold fur to the designated buyer or to a holding area if unsold. Once all three rows of tables have been sold the buyers will have 60 minutes to examine the next round of fur to be auctioned. Extra time will be afforded the buyers after round 2 (if needed) to enable them to eat lunch. There will be a designated area for those sellers waiting to move, by direction, to the tables as they clear during the auction. Any youth selling less than 5 items of fur will be given head of the line privileges and assigned a letter to follow an existing number, such as 8-A. This would enable the youth to enter the table between numbers 8 and 9. Sellers are required to be members of the VTA. Non-members will be allowed to join at the Auction prior to selling. Any member whose membership has expired will be required to renew with the Membership Secretary when he/she checks in. Any person shipping all their fur and not selling any may, once they have registered, paid their fee, and filled out an inventory form will proceed directly to the shipping agent. The beginning of an auctioning round will be preceded by a five-minute warning whistle. It is anticipated there will be from 30-40 sellers and the auction will last until 1:00 p.m., possibly later. It is anticipated there will be 4-6 buyers. The VDGIF will have representatives on hand to provide CITES tags for otter and bobcat. Sellers are required to check-in prior to having CITES tags attached. Pre-registration will begin on 9:00 a.m. March 2nd and close at 6:00 p.m. March 9th. Contact ed.crebbs.1949@gmail.com or Ed or Charlaine Crebbs at 540-832-2708, between 9:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. Buyers should register with Corresponding Secretary Tim Shifflett at 540-746-4450 no later than March 9th to ensure you have a table.

7

District 4 Report I don't know about you guys, but it's been cold at

my house. I know that some awesome catches are being made on the trap line, although overall, the weather has been rather mild. Deer season makes it a little tricky here, with dogs running around everywhere, to make land sets. I seem to have heard more stories of trap thieves this year. If patience is a virtue, then trappers are in good standing. There could be a little more emphasis on the seriousness of tampering with someone's traps in the hunter education programs, and law enforcement interactions a little more aggressive, when investigating a tampering complaint.

Remember the redistricting effort, and share your thoughts with your director and friends. Technically, I should have had a notice of re-election for a new director for our District 4. With the possibility of a new district layout, I let it get by me. It is possible that the districts will change, so if you are looking for a position in the VTA, it would be a great time to step up. Whatever the changes may be, I will support and help the new director, in any way I can. After the spring gets here, I will try for a district meeting.

See you at the fur sale! Jeffry

What’d you say?! - continued I took off across the field with him riding

alongside me in the tractor. We get to the pond and he starts telling me where to put my traps. I can see the lodge on the far side and asked if he has a boat. He said, “I had one, but I ran over it with the tractor last week”. Oh well. I set a 330 in a well-worn path on the dam. After I finish, Mr. Coleman says, “Is that it? On TV they get in a boat and go out into the water and set leg traps”. I replied, “I’m gonna put several more conibears in and around the pond, that was just the first one”. “Well why are you tying them down, aren’t they dead?” Mr. Coleman asked. “Yes, but I don’t want them floating away.” I replied. “Well on TV they would put them here, here and there and use leg traps.” Mr. Coleman continued. Boy am I glad Kent is in the truck and can’t hear what is going on. I decided to pretend I had gone deaf like he is and finished putting in my traps. “Now you be sure to check them every day and call when I have something.” I instructed. “OK,” he replied, “is it OK to leave it on your answering machine if you are not home?” Lord God I thought, what does he think answering machines are for.

As I walked back up to the house his wife is on the back porch. “How many did you catch?” she hollered. What have I gotten myself into I thought. The next day he called. We had a beaver. When we get there, he was waiting for us on his lawn mower! Now what, I thought, maybe he’ll let me use the mower to drag my beaver up the hill. He waved us down and proceeded to tell me we could drive our truck through the pasture to the pond; just follow him. We followed him around the hayfield, past a barn and along a fence row when he suddenly pulls over to the side, jumps off his mower and starts walking the rest of the way, all the while gesturing right, left and straight ahead with his arms and

hands. Then he puts both hands up for me to stop. The pond still isn’t in sight. He comes over to the truck and tells me to be sure and keep my left wheels on the bank and my right wheels in the ditch. Finally, we get to the pond.

After I remake my set he starts to tell me where to put in 3 more sets and redo another 2. He brings me brush and sticks and tells me how to block off paths and make new trails. I explain to him that I believe there is only one beaver, there just isn’t that much sign and he’s not stopping up the overflow pipe or building dams. “Oh no!” he exclaims, “there is at least 6 more beavers in here and we need to nip this in the bud”. I put in two more sets just to placate him and then tell him I must go.

A week has passed and no word from Mr. Coleman. Finally, on the tenth day he calls and said he believes the other six beavers left and for me to come get my traps.

Good riddance! Submitted by Linda Eanes

Newsletter Editor Contact Information Jessi Perkinson

2291 Doctors Road Louisa, VA 23093

804-727-9016 editor@virginiatrappers.com

8

Officer Jessica Whirley started

trapping workshops in

Meherrin, VA 3 years ago and

all have been a great success.

The Virginia Trappers

Association has been proud to

give her a hand in putting on

these classes using the VTA program. we also use programs from Fur Takers of America to add to her

program done by the Game Department. Sign up is required so watch for the next class coming in October

2017. A big hand goes to Brandon Martin and his wife Katie, Dwayne Shores, Ryan Lingerfelt, Josh Bruce, one

USDA Trapper, and Norman Pierce.

9

Editor’s Corner Happy winter and I hope the new year is treating

everyone well. The transition of the newsletter is

continually getting smoother and I want to thank those

who have helped with the process one way or another. I

would like to encourage those who have email to receive

the newsletter in that format. The only difference between

the paper version and the email version is the email

subscribers get the benefit of full color! If you would like to

receive the newsletter by email, and help the VTA save

money, please contact me or go to the website,

www.virginiatrappers.com, and complete the simple

survey signing up for the service.

Since we are starting a new year, I would like to

take this opportunity to dedicate this January issue to the

memory of our friends and fellow trappers that were lost

in 2016, Dallas Ozmore and Darin Freeborough. If there

were others that I was not made aware of I apologize. I

have a thank you letter from the family of Darin

Freeborough that reads:

Tim, Carol & The Virginia Trappers Association,

Thank you so very much for the basket sent to honor

Darin. He was one of a kind and blessed us all with his

love, his energy and his laugh. He certainly enjoyed

coming down to see you all! I hope you keep his passion

and spirit alive.

Thank you all for your love and support.

Lindsay, Mirley, Katie Freeborough

Marla and family

Jessi

Little Jon – continued He also taught me the different ways you could layer in your dirt holes like bait first then maybe a gland lure in a

bit of sheep's wool and then for the cherry on top a little red fox urine on your backing. The one thing that he did not have to correct me on was bedding my traps and making them look natural or maybe going for that fresh dirt look. So, I waited. I waited almost two whole weeks and as I was passing my sets on my way to work, I stopped short because I couldn't believe it... I had gotten a big, beautiful red fox! Needless to say, I called work and told them I would be late, gosh darn it, I had a fox to take care of! If I learned anything my first season so far is to not let yourself get discouraged. My brother-in-law was there every step of the way bringing me up when I hit a low. Getting so impatient that you wanna give up, when in all reality, they are just tricky little bastards that just need some time. Stay vigilant and keep your chains tight!

Submitted by Rachel Pheasant

Source for Beaver Tail Sales Dane Bligh is looking to purchase 1000 - 2000 beaver tails in 2017 to

make wallets and other products. See his site at

www.TheSouthernTrapper.com. His price points are; $3 - $5 per tail (full tail

on bone), if they are at least 10 inches long and 4.5 inches wide, with few

scars/blemishes. He will offer more than $5 for fleshed and salted tails.

If interested, please contact Dane at 630-479-4505 or

TheSouthernTrapper.info@gmail.com. REMEMBER – We are currently

prohibited from selling furbearer products to individuals. The regulations to

allow sales like this are due to be changed this fall and be in effect on July 1,

2017.

Advertising Information

*sizes are approximate*

Business Card (2 X 3)

1 Issue $25 / 3 Issues $70

Quarter Page (3 1/2 X 5)

1 Issue $50 / 3 Issues $135

Half Page (8 X 5)

1 Issue $100 / 3 Issues $275

Deadline for Entries

December 1st/ January Issue April 1st/ May Issue

August 1st/ September Issue

10

Virginia Trappers Association Membership Application

Name: Address:

Email: City: ________________________ State: Phone: Zip Code: County: Mobile Phone: Age: (for Junior Memberships) ___________ Check your membership choice: * Must be under the age of 16 Mail/ In-Person Online

Regular 1-Year with Trapper's Post Subscription $25.00 $27.00

Regular 1-Year without Trapper's Post Subscription $15.00 $17.00

Regular 2-Year with Trapper's Post Subscription $48.00 $50.00

*Junior 1-Year with Trapper's Post Subscription $18.00 $20.00

*Junior 1-Year without Trapper's Post Subscription $9.00 $11.00

Lifetime with Trapper's Post Subscription $300.00 $315.00

Lifetime without Trapper's Post Subscription $150.00 $158.00

Organization 1-Year Membership $40.00 $42.00

Organization 2-Year Membership $75.00 $78.00

Organization Life Membership $350.00 $368.00 Join or renew at virginiatrappers.com or send a check or money order with this form to:

Virginia Trappers Association

Attn: Kurt Butler 1193 Old Church Road

Mechanicsville, VA 23111

Above is Page County Sheriff, Chad Cubbage, VTA’s NTA representative, Roy Wood and longtime life member, Charles Jenkins drawing the winner for the 50th Anniversary Bear Trap Congratulations to the winner, Roy Erickson of Bismarck, ND.

Congratulations to Mike Dreska

of Genoa, IL for winning the District 5 50th Anniversary gun

drawing!

District 1 Meeting

2nd Sunday of Every Month

District 1 Fur Sale will be March 18th in Wytheville, VA at the Live Stock Market. The sale will start at 8 AM. There will be vendors and food available on-site. To

pre-register contact Travis Bandy, 276-210-7105.

Jessica Perkinson

The Virginia Trapper

2291 Doctors Rd

Louisa, VA 23093