President — Rod Zullinger, 4886 Raccoon Valley Rd., Millerstown, PA 17062; phone: 717-589-7594; e-mail: rodz@tricountyi.net
Vice-President East — Joel Whitehead, RR #2 Box 90, Thompson, PA 18465; e-mail: JFRED@nep.net
Vice-President West — Ned Weston, 120 Swope Rd., West Sunbury, PA 16061; phone: 724-894-2239; e-mail: Nweston@netzero.net
Secretary — Tereasa Houtz, 300 Flint Ln., Landisburg, PA 17040; e-mail: PTASecretary@paonline.com
Treasurer — Ed Price, P.O. Box 327, Union Dale, PA 18470; phone: 570-679-2318; e-mail: pricee@nep.net
Editor — Russ Ford, 309 Pine Dale Rd., Carlisle, PA 17013; phone: 717-249-7271; fax: 717-249-8509; e-mail: ptaeditor@pa.net
FTA Director — Mark Kasten, RR 2 Box 2287, Hallstead, PA 18822; phone: 570-278-2553;
e-mail: willsher@epix.net
NTA Director — David Shuttleworth, 5452 Tamarack Drive, Sharpesville, PA 16150; phone: 724-962-4260; e-mail: Dianeshutts@aol.com
Public Relations Director — Mike Gontar, 87 West 7th St., Jim Thorpe, PA 18229; phone: 570-325-4974; fax: 570-325-4974; e-mail: FuFiGa@msn.com
Membership Options:
Individual membership including subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $25
Individual membership without subscription — $10
Junior, age 16 and under without subscription — $5
Lifetime membership with subscription to The Trapper & Predator Caller — $300
Lifetime membership without subscription — $100
Complete membership application on first page of
association section and send dues to:
PTA Treasurer
Ed Price
P.O. Box 327, Union Dale, PA 18470
http://www.patrappers.com
PRESIDENT’S REPORT
District 5 held their annual fur sale on Feb. 8 and following are the statistics from the sale. Thank you to all who helped out with the sale and made it a success. I would also like to thank the fur buyers who participated as well as those who sold their fur at the sale.
Results listed by species, quantity, total, average and high.
Red Fox — 832, $8,643, $10.39, $20
Gray Fox — 513, $13,174.75, $25.68. $33.50
Coyote — 99, $1,236.75, $12.49, $20.50
Raccoon — 2,597, $24,357, $9.38, $18
Opossum — 278, $1,546.50, $5.56, $3.65
Skunk — 37, $154, $4.16, $6
Muskrat — 1,597, $6,737.10, $4.22, $5.10
Male Mink — 60, $685, $11.42, $14.50
Female Mink — 27, $206.25, $7.64, $13.50
Beaver — 58, $946.50, $16.32, $37
Nutria — 1, $3.50, $3.50, $3.50
Squirrel Tails — 78, $11.70, $0.15, $0.15
Deer — 15, $54, $3.60, $4.50
Grand Total — $57,756.05
District 5 will be hosting the 2009 state convention at the Cambria County Fair Grounds in Ebensburg, PA. This will be the 72nd Annual Pennsylvania Trappers Association Rendezvous and it is being held on June 18 to 21, 2009. I encourage everyone to get involved and help out if you can. Gates will open Wednesday, June 17, 2009, at noon to allow dealers and tailgaters to set-up displays. Dealer Contact Information: Art Crossman: 471-7565.
Advertising contact: Pat Wess 347 Elbert Street Johnstown, PA 15904 814-262-9455. Informational updates will be posted on the Pennsylvania Trappers Association Web site at www.patrappers.com.
Convention planning meetings are under way and the next scheduled meetings are March 19, April 17 and May 22 at 6 p.m. at Gander Mountain. The annual spring meeting will be May 3 at 1 p.m. at Gander Mountain and the final convention meeting will be June 13 at 1 p.m. at the Cambria County Fair Grounds.
Please feel free to contact Pat Wess at 814-262-9455, Todd Harteis at 814-547-0076 or myself at 814-686-0497 with any information you would like to see in this report or any questions you might have. Thanks for reading.
— Brian Stern
EDITOR’S REPORT
Hi All,
This is going to be short and sweet.
I am getting settled in my temporary new home down in in the SUNSHINE STATE.
My stay might be for quite some time as I have to sell this house and settle the estate.
Anyway, if you want to reach me, try any of these ways NEW EMAIL ADDRESS is: ptaeditor@att.net
Land Mail: 24595 SW. 124th Ave. Princeton Fl. 33032
Home Ph. #: 305-257-2902
I do have a new fax, but at this time I am not getting it to work right so please try to send reports and whatever via emailing ptaeditor@att.net.
ALL BOARD MEMBERS: PLEASE send your reports or have whomever writes the reports to me directly by e-mailing or as a last resort land mail. Please do not FAX!
One last thing, I will try to keep on performing my duties to all of you.
Hoping to see you all in June for the Convention.
Take Care.
— Russ Ford
NTA DIRECTOR’S REPORT
Hello members,
The NTA NE Regional will be held at the Warren County Fairgrounds on May 8, 9 and 10. Things are coming along. However, there is still work to be done.
If you need any information, contact Dan Skurski at 231-938-4432 or myself at dianeshutts@aol.com or 724-962-4260. We are still looking for a sponsor for the Trap Setting Awards Plaques.
The Northeast Leadership Conference will be in Malta, NY on April 25. I plan on attending.
That pretty much covers what is going as of now. Again, feel free to contact me if you have any questions.
— Dave Shuttleworth
DISTRICT 1 REPORT
Hello members,
Our district meeting will be held on April 18. It will be hosted by Erie County at the Union City Sportsman’s Club, located at 18520 Hungry Run Road in Union City, PA. Directions: Off of Rts. 8 & 6, turn east on Concord Road. It is four miles to Hungry Run Road. The club is about a mile on the right. The meeting starts at 3 p.m.
Feb. 22 was our gun raffle meeting at Kings Family Restaurant in Meadville. The meeting was not well-attended. We are hoping that even though we did not have a good turnout for the meeting, that everyone is selling tickets. This is our yearly fundraiser, folks. We need to work together to make this a success.
State & District Elections are coming up. When you receive your ballot in the mail, please vote.
As most of you know, District 1 is working with the NTA on a Regional Convention to be held in Pittsfield at the Warren County Fairgrounds. If you can help, please contact Dave Shuttleworth, NTA Director, at 724-962-4260. Things seem to be coming together well for that.
The Gun Raffle will be held on April 4 at the Sparrow Pond Family Campground, located on 11103 Route 19 North in Waterford, PA. Tickets are $10 for 20 prizes. The ticket price includes food and beverage. There will be floor guns, many other prizes and a Chinese auction. If you can help with this event, please contact Jim & Donna Murphy at 814-382-2561.
God Bless.
— Charles Sykes
DISTRICT 3 REPORT
Hello,
Hope this finds you all happy. If the groundhog was right, spring should just about be here. Just a short note this month to catch you up on some upcoming district events. By now everyone should have received their district newsletter. If you haven’t, give me a call at 724-348-6721, and I’ll get you one out. Our annual spring meeting will be held on Sunday, March 22 at the Westmoreland County Fairgrounds. The meeting will begin at 1 p.m. This is an important meeting with district elections, as well as planning for our upcoming events and planning committees and help for the 2010 convention. We will be needing much help for this event, so if you can spare a couple hours, but can’t make the meeting, contact me and I’ll get you on the list.
Our fifth annual banquet will be held on April 18, at the Youngwood Fire Hall. This is our big event for the year, so if you haven’t made one yet, try to attend. Ticket applications went out with the spring newsletter, don’t forget to send them in.
Hope to see you there.
— Dave Eckels
DISTRICT 10 REPORT
Hello to all,
By the time you read this, beaver season will just about be over. I hope you had a successful and enjoyable season.
The District Fur Sale went well. Fur prices were better than I expected, but the amount of fur was only about half of what we usually have. Thanks to the buyers, people who brought fur to sell and everyone who helped out in any way to make the sale a success. Below are the prices of the sale held on Jan. 17. We had 31 lots, seven buyers and $83.54 in total sales.
Species # Sold High Average
Red Fox 303 $23 $11.69
Grey Fox 19 26.50 19.30
Coon 254 14.75 10.58
M Mink 48 13 12.09
F Mink 25 7.75 7.06
Rats 141 4.60 3.61
Possum 74 3.75 2.58
Skunk 3 6.50 4.58
Coyote 6 15.50 12.75
Beaver 8 15.50 12.68
Deer 19 5 4.76
Squirrel 32 .56 .56
I am trying to get information, such as number of lots, buyers, prices, etc. of previous sales from the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s. If anyone has anything, please call me.
The money raffle we did at the Fur Sale went well. We took in $786 and had expenses of $430. Had a profit of $356. Winners were 1st – Randy Schuler, 2nd – Adam Schuler, 3rd – D. Pisko, 4th – C. Beringer, 5th – Rich Burdick. Thanks to everyone who bought and sold tickets.
Highway clean ups will be starting back up, with the first one on April 5. We do a 2-mile stretch of Rt. 33 from Rt. 512 to the County Line. Meet at SW corner of Kmart Plaza, in Wind Gap at 7 a.m. We could use some extra help especially on this first one of the year.
Gathering will be held May 17 at Kutztown Club. Looking for help to set-up, clean up, kitchen, and to do demos. To get to the Club take Rt. 78 to Rt. 737. Go South on 737 for about 2 to 3 miles and watch for sign to turn off.
Other upcoming events:
June 6 – Northampton Cty. Youth Field Day
June 7 – Highway clean up
June 18-21 – PA State Convention, Ebensburg, PA
That’s it for now. Good luck to the turkey hunters and fishermen.
God Bless.
— Scot
DISTRICT 11 REPORT
We had a fairly full house at our February meeting. We went over the fur sale results and all in all we had a good sale. We didn’t have the amount of fur we usually do and the price was about half of last year so our bottom line is considerably less than usual. Brian thanked everyone that had a part in the fur sale, special thanks to Keith Witman for doing the auctioneering.
Because our proceeds from the fur sale weren’t as good as we would have liked them to be, here is a chance for each member to help out the district. Sell PTA Sweepstakes tickets. For each $5 ticket that you sell, District 11 gets to keep $1 of it. All you need to do is sell the tickets, turn the tickets and money into Brian or me and we will take it from there. There are some really good prizes on the ticket; there is something for everyone, not just trappers, so please try to help us out with this project.
This is an election year for state officers so make sure you cast your vote when you receive your ballot. We will be holding our district election of officers at our April meeting. That meeting will be April 19 at the Northern York County Game and Fish. If you need directions, call Brian or me.
We also talked about the Kutztown Gathering to be held Sunday, May 17 at the Kutztown Rod & Gun Club just off Rte. 737. We have several demos lined up for this event and I’m sure the regular dealers and tailgaters will be there as well.
District 11 is going to bid to host the 2011 State Rendezvous, at the state meeting this June. If we are successful we are going to need many of you to volunteer your time and talent for this project. We are considering the Schuylkill County Fairgrounds as a site, but are open to any and all suggestions. The state rendezvous this year is June 18 to 21 at the Cabria County Fairgrounds in Ebensburg.
Ralph Wagner and I will be doing a Cable Restraint class at the Conewago Rod & Gun Club on March 29 from 1 to 5 p.m.
We want to pass along a big Thank You to Wayne Gammel and all who helped him at the booth at the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show in February. There seemed to be a lot of interest in our trapping schools, I got 37 addressed envelopes to send out flyers just for District 11 alone.
I want to pass along the dates for the upcoming Youth Field Days in case you have someone who is interested in attending:
Schuylkill County – May 9; Lancaster County – June 6 at the Southern Lancaster County Farmers and Sportsmen’s Club; York County – May 30 at York Isaac Walton League; Dauphin County – June 20 at Harrisburg Hunters & Anglers.
Hope to see you in York County.
— Mike Spittle
