President's report
Hello again UTK members. Our 2007-2008 season is about history and it's time to turn our thoughts to other ventures. If you're like me you have a pile of various dirty and rusty traps to untangle, clean, and store for next season. Several of us probably have some fur in the freezer to put up also. You still have time to get it out and worked up for the NAFA routes in March. If you have coons especially, they should bring good prices at the auction as the midwest froze out and other areas had distemper go through and reduce the coon. Grey fox will be very good and I suspect beaver will do well up there also. Our spring meet is coming together already. We have booked the Whitley County Extension Office on April 25-26. We couldn't get the first weekend of April so we decided to wait until later in the month to free up two weekends before and one afterwards for everyone to turkey hunt. I hope that gives everyone a chance to hear some gobbling. The location is very easy to find. It is just a few hundred yards off I-75 Exit 15 and is relatively out in the country. The grounds are large enough for us to pitch tents or park campers without any problems. It is within 20-25 minutes of Cumberland Falls State Park for the ladies. The next exit south, four miles, has many food joints, motels, and a Super Walmart. This is in my, Stacy White, and Dude Davis's home county so you will be in hillbilly territory. We are planning an elk tour early Friday morning and have guides and drivers to take us to see them. In addition to our demos we want to do some things for the ladies and kids. We have some choices for the ladies demos like basket weaving, canning, quilting and things we thought may be interesting for them. I think our wives are underappreciated at the meets sometimes. I will have more info on the schedule by my next report. I just wanted to give everyone the dates. We are going to really advertise this locally. I hope to get the local newspaper out to take some pictures and do a story. It is only five minutes from about 3000 students from K-12 that I want to come by and see us. I want to have a large, full display of traps, equipment, and furs for them to see and handle. We have four times the trappers in Whitley County we had three years ago. Most are high school trappers that we've helped to get started. This organization really is reviving our sport in some areas. It just takes time and effort on our part. Speaking of that, we will have a meeting on Friday evening to get down to the nitty gritty on the trapper education program. I have invited Laura Patton to come down and hope she can make it. We have talked about it long enough and it is time this year to go forth and prosper with it. My term as president is winding down and I would like to see some scheduled trapper ed programs all over the state before next season that we can assist with. Laura also has the snare clarification in her sights. Hopefully this is something that will be clearer for everyone by next season. I get lots of calls and emails asking how to start trapping now that UTK has formed. When people are seeing catches on the internet on our website and others like kentuckyhunting.com they get fired up, especially concerning cats. It is one thing to say that we want to see other trappers start and another to go out and help them. There is a tendency still for trappers to be slightly secretive as a whole group especially on our trapping areas. Guys, all I can say is when you help a kid get outdoors and especially start trapping you are doing something worthwhile in your life. We are seeing kids trap on farms we once had sole permission on and that's ok. A youngster that catches his first bobcat is a memory for life for him. We need to remember how it was for us way back when and help them out. They must have assistance to get started and the best ones to do that are we knowledgeable and willing trappers. Don't be selfish to the point of trapping dying out when you do. Pass it on. With this perpetuation of our sport we have the responsibility to ensure it is done right by those that start. It is a shame to see a beautiful animal mishandled in the fur shed. Trappers must be responsible enough to properly put up their fur. It is also very concerning to me when someone is overheard in Sportsman’s Warehouse recommending the 330 conibear as an excellent coyote trap. Since we have generated interest now in learning how to trap we must follow through on the education aspect of it. It would only take one person putting a 330 under a fence in Fayette County to cause all of us a world of trouble. The statewide bobcat harvest is near 2300 this season. Whitley and Muhlenberg counties both have checked in 70. Muhlenberg County has more of, and no doubt, some of the best trappers in the state. Whitley County has been boosted by all those high school trappers we have introduced to the bobcat. The otter harvest still has a month to go as of this writing but there have been over 450 taken. Trigg county is tops with 34 and surprisingly, Lincoln county is second with 18. Stacy White and I are going to Bell County High School Feb. 6 to talk to the vocational agriculture class about trapping. The following week Stacy is taking them out in the county on a school bus to set beaver traps and check them the next day. What a great thing Stacy is doing, don’t you think? I hear the class has kids wanting to take it just for this trip each year. I know of no where else that this is being done. We can be proud of this outreach program as an organization. I talked with Robbie Hoover and he needs some donations for the “rolling road show” UTK now has. If anyone has an extra fleshing knife, stretcher, tanned fur, or odd trap we can use it in the enclosed UTK trailer we now have. We want this to be a hands on experience for the kids. Robbie has been doing a lot of work on the trailer getting it ready to go. We thank Arnett Trailer Sales and Double O Trailer Service for giving us a great deal on the trailer. One of our members, Sid Wells, at Double O, and his wife Jesse have gone the extra effort for the organization. Thanks guys. We appreciate it. In closing, I would like to give you something to think about that I have been interested in lately. Both Chet Hayes and John Sparks piqued my interest in early Kentucky history with books they have given or loaned me. We think of the mountain men and the fur trade in the far west as being the epitome of the beginnings of our sport. While the west had the mountain men in the 1800’s Kentucky had frontiersmen a full 50 years before then. While early Kentucky was known for the hunting, I did not realize that trapping and ginseng digging were such a large part of our Kentucky heritage. Reading of them trapping beaver, otter, and wolves along with hunting buffalo, bear, and elk, making salt, and establishing outposts in many places throughout Kentucky while trying to avoid being killed or captured by Shawnee or Wyandotte Indians was really just a short time in history ago. We have a rich trapping heritage in Kentucky, more so than I knew. That heritage and way of life is under constant assault it seems these days. We are no longer politically correct in society. We are indeed, as modern day trappers, throwbacks to another time and another way of life. I think Daniel Boone and Simon Kenton would be glad to see that we are still carrying on that tradition today. See you next month.

UNITED TRAPPERS OF KENTUCKY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT
UNITED TRAPPERS OF KENTUCKY EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR’S REPORT

The eastern Kentucky trappers certainly put on a great Spring Fling for the UTK. The event was well-organized, well attended, fun, and interesting. We had a surprisingly good crowd on Friday. We enjoyed the elk tour and especially enjoyed the reclaimed strip mining areas. What a paradise for wildlife and outdoorsmen. The facility was excellent with a good meeting hall and plenty of room for all activities. Food was great with buffalo burgers on Friday, breakfast and a pig roast on Saturday. The demo program was different and interesting, as well as educational. As always, there were plenty of activities for the youngsters. This time, they had fun milking a cow, skinning muskrats (even the little girls) and trap setting contests, plus bean bag toss, fish pond, etc. We were honored to have in attendance Ms. Laura Patton of the KDFWR and Bob Fraley of the Kentucky Hunter Education Association. At the officers’ meeting, Laura provided input and answered questions regarding trapper education workshops, possible changes / improvements regarding snares, trap tagging, and several other topics. There are just too many folks to thank for fear of missing someone, but to those of you who attended and helped you are appreciated. The turnout and support, despite turkey season and gasoline prices was excellent and shows the dedication of Kentucky trappers for the UTK. Speaking of turkey season, I would like to recognize one of our members, Conservation Officer Mick Craig of Pendleton County who coordinated the best youth turkey hunt I have ever been involved with. Our youngsters killed 10 gobblers and a coyote on this hunt during Youth Weekend. Numerous C/O’s and volunteers took the youngsters out and showed them a great weekend. Parents of the kids were grateful to the sportsmen and the Department personnel. Great job Mick! And thanks to the N.W.T.F. With summer upon us, Hunter Ed classes will keep many of us busy, and then we look forward to the Fall Fling in Northern Kentucky in October. Oral Jones and Mike Wilson are heading this one up. We are hoping this will be our biggest and best to date. In closing, here’s hoping all of you with fur at the May NAFA sale enjoy good prices. Our partnership with NAFA has been a good thing for our members and the educational funding we receive from NAFA helps us with our programs. Working with Jimmy and Heather Childress has been a pleasure. Until next month, Chet Hayes