President — Joel Blakeslee (Sherri), 7455 Star Hill, Sparks, NV 89436; phone: 775-425-0900
Vice President — Scott Byrd, 530 Reservoir Rd. Lovelock, NV 89419; phone: 775-273-3140
Secretary/Treasurer — Judi Curran, 4170 St. Clair Rd., Fallon, NV 89406; phone: 775- 867-2239
Fur Manager — Jim Curran, 4170 St. Clair Rd., Fallon, NV 89406; phone: 775-867-2239
Membership Options:
• Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $17
• Husband & wife with subscription — $20
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
VICE PRESIDENT’S REPORT
Wow! What a wild summer!
Here are the highlights:
NDOW trimmed the bobcat season by about six weeks. The season on gray fox will open on Nov. 1, as in years past, but bobcat season will open Dec. 1 and will continue through Feb. 19. The NVTA worked with NDOW personnel to come up with what we felt was the best possible solution, given the data and the alternatives presented.
The data collected by NDOW demonstrated poor kitten production, not over harvest. Some trappers in the state wanted to curtail the season by more than six weeks, and some trappers wanted to leave the season unchanged from the previous Dec. 1 through Feb. 28 time frame. It was truly a situation where “you can’t please everyone,” so NVTA personnel worked to achieve what appeared to be the best alternative for everyone involved, and for the resource.
On Sept. 12, 2009, we had our annual Trapper Education Day in Kyle Canyon, just 20 minutes from Las Vegas. It was a great event with a much larger turn out than last year. John Sullivan gave a very informative and enlightening canine trapping demo, followed by some hands-on experience learning about and identifying legal and illegal sets and traps, as well as other trapping-related equipment. Bill Ilchik gave an outstanding ’cat trapping demo, followed by NDOW Furbearer Biologist Kevin Lansford. Kevin and his law enforcement counterpart provided insight into the biological, ethical and law enforcement issues concerning Nevada’s furbearers. It was very valuable information and generated many questions from an eager audience.
Our NVTA president Joel Blakeslee finished up with a skinning and stretching demo, showing how to properly remove the tail from a gray fox!
Joel’s demo sparked tremendous audience participation from the kids, each of whom ended up with at least one animal to skin on their own. We also had a fine lunch cooked for us by Mike O’Neill. Mike isn’t a member of our association, but comes every year just to cook — and he brings his own cooking equipment to do it. Thanks to Mike, and to all the other folks that helped carry out a wonderful event. Go to the NVTA Web site to see photos of the Trapper Education Day: http://www.nvtrappers.org.
That’s it for now. By the time you receive this issue of the T&PC, trapping season will be underway. Good luck to everyone and I look forward to seeing you at the sale in Fallon.
— Tracy Truman
