United Trappers of Kentucky United Trappers of Kentucky President’s Report January 26, 2010 I hope everyone has had a good season. Mine has been slow and my catch reflects it. However, I have enjoyed myself. My goal now is to get everything out of the freezer and ready for the fur pickup in March. I just received a check for some muskrats from last year. I am pleased with the price. Maybe it is a sign of better things to come. As some of you know, I have worked on a bobcat research project for a Master’s Degree at Eastern Kentucky University for the last three years. I am happy to report that I successfully defended my thesis before my committee on January 15th. It is certainly a relief to be finished. My research project was small. I studied bobcat reproduction in six counties in southeastern Kentucky. My hope is that it may generate more interest in our bobcats and future students may undertake studies covering the entire state. If anyone is interested in my findings send me an email, sjwhite@uky.edu, and I will send you a copy of my thesis. On a personal note, I remember trying to decide as a high school student between forestry and wildlife management as a career. I chose forestry because the job prospects were better. My forestry degree has served me well for many years and now I have a wildlife management degree also. The Lord has truly blessed me. I am able to use both degrees in my job as an Agriculture and Natural Resources Agent with the University of Kentucky Cooperative Extension Service. As always UTK has a busy schedule of upcoming trapping education events. Some of us will be taking the Knox Central High School wildlife management class beaver trapping this week. We were delayed from doing this in December by high water. In February I will present an overview of our trapper education program at the annual meeting of the Kentucky chapter of the Wildlife Society at Mammoth Cave National Park. March will be very busy also. Robbie Hoover, Eddie Covey, and some others will represent us at the Lewis County Sportsman Show. Steve Pickard and several 9th district members will participate in an Outdoorsman Show in Laurel County. The last Friday and Saturday in March a team of us will provide a trapping seminar to hunter education instructors from across the state at Camp Earl Wallace on Lake Cumberland. This is a great opportunity to provide accurate trapping information to the instructors who will be influencing thousands of young folks each year in the hunter education classes. In closing I offer a word of caution, especially to newcomers to trapping. We live in a world that is growing ever smaller due to technological advances such as we have witnessed with the internet. There are several websites with talk forums that hunters and trappers can visit and converse with each other. This provides a wonderful opportunity to share knowledge and experiences. However, when we post comments and pictures on the internet they are there for the world to see. We should refrain from spewing angry words, threats, etc. Also, pictures that are posted should be tasteful. I have wondered in the past where the anti’s get the pictures of trapped animals for their fundraising efforts. Could it be that we are providing them with the ammunition which they fire at us? I encourage everyone, young and old, to guard the words you put forth and give thought to what pictures you send around the world. Our words and pictures can and often will be used against us. In many situations we would do well to remember that we all have the right to remain silent. Until next time, have a blessed day and enjoy life. Stacy J. White UTK President .

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT Happy New Years from the UTK and here’s hoping your trapping has been productive and enjoyable. I’ve enjoyed my season thus far and caught all the fur I’ve wanted to skin. This season is dedicated to having fun. I have a new trapping partner, our yellow lab named Annie Mae who goes with me each day and is a laugh from start to finish. She behaves well, leaves the critters alone and shies away from traps, lure and bait (after a little training session in the yard with some Kraft cheese and a 110 conibear). When I say “TRAP”, she comes right to heel. Having her along takes me back in time to when I was a boy of 14 and my dog King followed me on my first traplines (1962). In those early days, I was told trapping was a thing of the past and would be gone in a few years, either to a disappearance of wildlife or due to the efforts of “do-gooders”. I was told trappers had no supporters among fellow sportsmen and fish and wildlife game agencies. They were a disorganized minority of low-life, second-class citizens, etc. etc. etc. I could never have fast-forwarded to the present day and envisioned the abundance of furbearers, the re-emergence of beaver, otter, coyote, and bobcat in this part of the country, and so many improvements in trapping techniques and equipment. Add to this the relationship trappers enjoy with their fish and game agencies and fellow sportsmen in many states now, as well as support from Farm Bureaus, Extension Services, and groups such as the U.S. Sportsman’s Alliance. Yet our existence is by no means guaranteed. Ask the trappers from Washington, California, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Jersey and elsewhere. Powerful animal “rights” groups, richly funded by a gullible public, spend millions to provoke ballot referendums, lawsuits, and legislation at local, state, and federal levels. A warped media, changing culture, attacks on American sovereignty by “globalist” and the U.N. – don’t get me started. We’re luck to enjoy what we have as Kentucky trappers. A lot of this, we owe to some quiet heroes over the last 35 years or so – trappers like Tome Landers, Smokey Burton, Billy Hines, Carl McMaine and others who have fought the good fight and gone on to trap in a place where there are no “antis” or trap thieves and the fur is always prime. And some heroes are still fighting that same good fight today. Many of them are founders and officers, past and present, of the UTK – Oral Jones, Steve Pickard, Bob Maurer, Dave Dykes, Stacy White, just to name a few. Ultimately, our fate will be determined by us. By organizing, educating, trapping ethically, and supporting our organization and those who support us. Our challenge in 2010 is to maintain – no – improve on what the UTK has accomplished for the trappers of Kentucky. In so doing, we may serve as an example for trappers around the country less fortunate than us. This may in turn help them to improve their lot. Until next month, Chet Hayes