President — Cody Sikes, 27020 Old Trilby Rd., Brooksville, FL 34602; phone: 352-398-5945; e-mail: southernlandservices01@yahoo.comVice President — Bill Crowder, P.O. Box 510, Madison, FL 32341; phone: 850-973-6540; e-mail: wildbillc@shareinet.net
Secretary/Treasurer — Carol Lokken, 7047 Spinnaker Blvd., Englewood, FL 34224; phone: 941-475-1206; e-mail: beachbum5253@comcast.net
NTA Director — George Dykhuizen, 8110 Casa De Meadows Dr., Englewood, FL 34224; phone: 941-697-7634; e-mail: principal1@embarqmail.com
Membership Options
• Family membership, including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
• Associate membership (without magazine) — $15
• Lifetime membership (without magazine) — $100
• Lifetime membership with two year subscription — $125
Complete membership application on first page of association section, and send dues to:
Carol Lokken
7047 Spinnaker Blvd.
Englewood, FL 34224
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Hello fellow trappers! I hope everyone is having a great trapping season and staying warm. It has been pretty cold down here in sunny Florida. The weather has been rough, wet and cold, but the raccoon trapping has been going well. I do need to get some more cages, having a hard time keeping up with my meat buyers. I am putting up all of my biggest ’coons this year and plan on seeing how they do at the auctions. The fur market is looking much better than it did at the start of the season. We still have a while left in our season, so I will be shipping for the last auction. To those of you, who are still putting up fur, shop around some for your best offers.
By the time you read this article, we will know more on the status of our fox and coyote run pens here in Florida. I hope to have some good news for next month’s article on this issue. We hope to lend our support to the fox hunters in this state in keeping these pens open and easy to operate within the laws. As of now, this is the only market for our coyotes down here. Other than the trappers who do nuisance work, there really is not much motivation to target coyotes. This being said, coyotes might be our biggest asset in getting our traps back. Coyotes are a big problem to Florida’s large agriculture community. Our association is joining up with larger, more politically active associations in order to try to get our point across to lawmakers.
I hope all of the Florida trappers who received the survey in the newsletter will take time to fill them out and get them in to me. I have received six in the last week, and hope to get many more. The surveys will be used to bring up new ideas for our demos at the convention. Please get them to me as soon as you can, so they can be used at our directors meeting to put the convention together. We are also working on putting some trapper training workshops together, so we need to know who would be interested in attending, either as a student or a teacher. So far, we have two locations lined up for our training workshops, and hope to have dates for our first one soon.
I hope all of our members will return the survey quickly, so their ideas can been heard. I hope that everyone will do well where ever they decide to sell this year. Good luck and safe trapping!
— Cody L. Sikes
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Hello Fellow Trappers,
Rosa and I are still running two wildlife nuisance control traplines with the probability of a third one coming up real soon. ’Coon meat sales are doing very well right now. We just need to catch a few more ’coons to keep up with the demand for the meat. The bait recipe that we made up for use in our ’coon traps is doing very well, however, it is still undergoing testing, and the rainy weather that we have had lately is putting a slight hindrance on our coyote trapping on one of the lines. Hopefully it will start to dry out some soon.
On Jan. 22, I attended a meeting in Branford, FL. It was hosted by Debbie Boyd, state representative, District 11. It was setup to be a fact-finding forum that pertained to enclosed fox and coyote pens. There were approximately 200 people in attendance consisting of pen owners, fox hunters and concerned citizens. The panel consisted of the past president of the fox hunters association, two officers from FWC, a representative from the NRA and, of course, a representative from the humane society.
The concerns and views of the people were heard and will be submitted to the FWC commissioners on Feb. 17 and 18, 2010, in Apalachicola. Cody and I will be attending this meeting. I believe the fate of the fox and coyote pens will be determined at this meeting. We need to give the Florida fox hunters organization our support. The humane society’s main goal is to have these organizations shut down. So when you are buying your dog food, cat food or any other animal food, find out what you can about the manufacturer because a lot of these make huge donations to the humane society, and in a roundabout way, you will be donating to them also. Just something to think about. I will keep you informed on the outcome of the meeting.
Just a reminder to everyone, we need members, members and more members. We recently had a deer hunting club join the Florida Trappers Association. The potential members are out there, we just need to get them joined up. These members can open doors to nuisance wildlife control and will help trappers as much as it will the hunting clubs. I think the Florida Trappers Association is headed for bigger and better times ahead. There are a lot of good things coming forth. Cody, Carol and I will discuss these things in the coming issues. Until then, HAPPY TRAPPING!
— Bill Crowder
SECRETARY’S REPORT
It’s time to start planning for this upcoming year. The officers and directors have been busy putting together a full agenda for our upcoming meeting this March. The ideas and suggestions have been flying fast and furious. And we promise everyone some new and exciting programs. For our members, the details will follow in the April newsletter. Be prepared to set aside some dates.
As you know, we are now affiliated with the US Sportsmens’ Alliance and the FL Cattlemens’ Association. With the increasing need for predator reduction, we are finding that being part of bigger groups will serve everyone’s needs. Please take the time to check these associations out online. They contain a wealth if information (www.ussportmen.org and www.floridacattlemen.org).
We want to welcome all our new members. We look forward to meeting everyone at our trapping/training seminars and at the Rendezvous in the fall. Please don’t hesitate to contact any of our officers with ideas, suggestions, questions and stories.
I am still working on making changes on our Web site. And if you have pictures of your catch and trapping experiences, we’ll gladly post them in the pictures section. Just send them on to me and I’ll get them up the Webmaster. The Web site address is www.floridatrappers.org. And if anyone is still having problems with their log in, please e-mail me and I will help as best I can.
Our membership incentive program is still in place. Remember, if you sign up enough new members, we’ll give you a gift certificate. To date, Bill Crowder, our VP, has signed up five new members. Thanks Bill! Contact me for more details.
I keep asking, but am not getting inquiries. Do you have your FL Trappers window decal proudly displayed? And what about the license plate? We have plenty and I will gladly e-mail or snail mail the details and pictures.
Finally, to our members, have you returned the survey that was included in our last newsletter? Please do so. It is very important to us. Your input, no matter how big or small, will help us grow, will help us put together programs and training seminars, will help us with legislation. So return it today. And if you lost it, you know the drill… Contact me please!
— Carol Lokken
NTA DIRECTOR’S REPORT
HB3744 is of interest to trappers everywhere. This bill guarantees hunting, (trapping by definition) shooting and fishing be allowed on federally owned land. The following Florida representatives are among the co-sponsors of the Bill: Ginny Brown-Waite (Dist. 5), Jeff Miller (Dist. 1), and Adam Putnam (Dist. 12). If your Representative is not included, contact them and encourage them to add their name to the list. This is a rare opportunity for trappers to make their desires known.
— George D. Dykhuizen
