http://www.nvtrappers.org
President — Joel Blakeslee (Sherri), 4905 Jackrabbit Rd, Reno, NV 89510; 775-742-1308
Vice President — John Sullivan; 702-493-8342; johnsull4@aol.com
Secretary/Treasurer — Judi Curran, 4170 St. Clair Rd., Fallon, NV 89406; 775- 867-2239
Fur Manager — Jim Curran, 4170 St. Clair Rd., Fallon, NV 89406; 775-867-2239
Membership Options:
• Individual membership including subscription to Trapper & Predator Caller — $20
• Husband & wife with subscription — $22
• Junior (under 16) with subscription — $10
Complete membership application on first page of association section and send dues to:
NTA, Secretary/Treasurer
Judi Curran
4170 St. Clair Rd.
Fallon, NV 89406
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Hello Trappers,
Have been so busy lately, I missed the deadline for submission of this newsletter in to T&PC last month. Sorry about that.
Trapping season will be three fourths over by the time you get this. After all of the time preparing and scouting it goes by pretty fast.
My first month of the season was spent up in some high country in a new area for me and it went ok. Didn’t set any records but didn’t get skunked either. Made some mistakes and learned a lot as always. Got to deal with some snow and bad weather as usual. The fur up there sure looks good. Very heavy for Nov. fur.
In Dec. I put out a line in familiar country close to home. Has been slow going compared to recent years. Picked up fur every trip but nothing to write home about. This area gets a lot of attention in Nov. and I think that is part of it. Mabye Bill has been doing too good of a job at demos and everybody has learned his secrets to success.
Next big event for NVTA is the fur sale in Fallon on Feb. 21, 22, and 23. If you havent already, please call Jim and make your reservation. NDOW will be tagging cats there till 11 am all three days. And NVTA will hold a general membership meeting there on Friday and Saturday afternoon as usual.
On the sore subject of new regs, as most of you know, registration of traps was all set to be a requirement for this year then fell apart because of a technicality. The law was supposed to exempt private property and mouse traps but in the final version it didn’t. So it was decided to send it back to the legislature in 2015 to try it again. Much thanks to Ira Hansen and a handful of other legislators who caught the mistake and snuffed the whole thing.
On visitation, it is still up for grabs. At the last session of the legislature a law was passed (SB213) directing the wildlife commission to “consider” new regs for visitation particularly in close proximity to populated or heavily used areas.
The wildlife commission has a trapping committee in place which is conducting hearings and gathering information in order to make recommendations which will probably become new regulations. A hearing was held in Reno on Dec. 7 towards that end. It was very well attended by trappers and most were not shy about speaking up for what they believed in. I thought that hearing went well, but we still have an uphill battle all the way.
It would be very beneficial for every trapper to contact this committee. Please send emails to Joanne Trendler who is the NDOW staffer working for the committee and she we send them to the whole committee for you. Her email is: jtrendle@ndow.org. Or if you prefer regular mail her address is: Joanne Trendler, NDOW, 1100 Valley View Rd., Reno, NV 89512.
The NVTA position on this is the committee first needs to tell us what the problem is, if there is a problem. At the hearing Joel got up repeatedly and asked the committee to tell him what the problem was. This visitation law has been in place for over 40 years and has been reviewed and endorsed by eight previous wildlife commissions and legislatures. Just because the antis say there is a problem does not make it so. In a lot of these types of battles one side gets to decide there is a problem and then both sides get to talk about what the fixes are to be, meaning more regulations and more restrictions. This in not only unfair, but it is counter productive. Rushing to enact solutions before defining the problems is just plain foolish.
So what is the problem with our current laws on visitation? The antis says it is all kinds of things: it is inhumane, it is because dogs are caught, it is because non targets are caught, it is a public safety issue. Changing regulations to deal with non targets (mostly jack rabbits) being caught would be very different than if trying to address a dog issue or a humane issue or a public safety issue. But until the committee can tell us what it is they are trying to fix, we don’t think they should be talking about solutions or pulling out maps showing new restricted areas.
Well thats is it for now.
Hope to see you at the sale. — John Sullivan
