Director — Kenneth Cordoza Jr., 150 Lost Coon Tr., Whitefish, MT 59937
Director — Don Bothwell, 110 Cardiff Ave., Kalispell, MT 59901
Director — Rick Hawk, P.O. Box 381, Kalispell, MT 59903
Director — Robert Howard, P.O. Box 164, Martin City, MT 59926
Director — Larry Keyes, 235 Martin Camp Rd., Whitefish, MT 59937, P.O. Box 3481, Kalispell, MT
e-mail address: mtfurs@gmail.com
Membership Options:
• Regular Membership — $25, includes Trapper & Predator Caller subscription
• Sustaining Membership $20 – No Magazine
• Junior Membership (under 18) $15 – T&PC subscription
• Family Membership — $30, T&PC subscription
• Charter Membership — $100
• Foundation Membership — $200
DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Guys and Gals,
I just wanted to give you our current MFCA situation report. I know with summer upon us there are a lot of other things on our minds besides the trapping season. The Board of Directors has been busy since the legislative session fiasco that killed our trapper education bill.
Our group now has the first batch of trapper ed. instructors “certified” by the state. We got our FWP instructor applications turned in and processed/recorded in Helena. On June 18th we held a trapper education class using the new curriculum. Unfortunately, we don’t have a Montana manual yet, so we made do with the North Dakota student manual. We just had to emphasize the Montana specifics. We had 15 students register for the class and 12 actually showed up. The students ranged in age from 60+ to 11. They all said they enjoyed the class despite getting soaking wet during the rainstorm we had during the snaring demonstration, and they all learned a lot. All of them said they were going to buy fur bearer licenses this year. The class was held at the clay target club and the hands on portion was done across the driveway on the adjacent section of state land. We owe thanks to Trapper & Predator Caller, Trapper’s Post, Trapper’s World, and Predator Extreme for supplying us with copies of their magazines for our students. I’d also like to thank Minnesota Trapline Products for catalogs to hand out and Montgomery Trap and Supply Company for their catalogs and lure samples. The students really loved all of the hand outs.
Our next big event is our annual picnic/rendezvous. We will hold that on Saturday, August 6th from 9AM to 5PM at Logan State Park on the shores of Middle Thompson Lake. That is on Hwy 2 West between Kalispell and Libby. We will supply the burgers and hot dogs and ask attendees to bring a side dish or some chips. We are working on a demo schedule and any volunteers are very welcome.
Another project we’re working on is a fur sample box. We hope to get a fur from each fur bearing species in Montana so that we can use that as a resource for outreach programs and trapper ed. If anyone would like to donate a fur please let me know what you’ve got. Once I get a list together I’ll let you know what we can use. I don’t want to end up in a situation where we’ve got a bunch of one type of fur and none of any others.
Along that same line we’re also trying to build a trapper ed. box that will have all of the resources we need to run a class. Since the class is now more hands on oriented we’re hoping to get a couple dozen traps for students to use in set making, a couple trowels, a couple sifters, etc.. What we’re hoping for here is cash donations so we can build a standardized kit. Any contributions you want to make would be more than welcome. Include a note that you want it to go to the trapper ed. program and that’s exactly what we’ll use it for.
As always, your input is greatly appreciated in the running of this organization. If you ever have any questions, comments, or suggestions please let us know. We NEED your feedback.
Have a great summer, don’t forget the trap prep. Be safe.
— Don