Greetings all. I will first begin my report with the unfortunate notice of the passing of ITA’s District 5 and NTA Director Tony Evans. Tony passed away July 29 th just days after getting back from NTA National in Richmond, IN and 1 day before his 65 th birthday. He had been on our Board since 2010 and took over the NTA Director position in 2024. There was not much the Tony was not involved with whether it was doing something to promote the ITA, trapping, coaching at Mid- Prairie school or working on cars Tony was willing to jump in to assist without being asked. Tony will greatly be missed around conventions and other ITA events. RIP Tony!!
With that the ITA will be looking to members in District 5 to fill Tony’s position. District 5 includes Jefferson, Keokuk, Van Buren and Washington counties. A director shall be paid-up member who resides in one of the above-mentioned counties, shall attend two director meetings in a twelve-month period, assist at ITA events and be able to clear a background check. It would be nice if anyone interested would attend a few Board meetings prior to becoming a director to see what the position entails as well. To attend a meeting with travel time will require an 8 to 9 hour commitment with 4 meetings each year. Those meeting occur in early February, early April, late June and September at convention. Anyone interested can contact me for more information.
As I write this, convention concluded this past weekend. Convention nights were cool, but the days were about right for temperature. Vendors I talked with were happy with sales. For those that may have noticed, there were also a couple people walking around with a camera. The ITA hired a videographer to record all activities over two days of convention. Video was recorded during demos, contests, walking around dealer and tailgate areas of the grounds. Those videos and pictures will be utilized to assist with footage for our ITA YouTube channel. There was a reporter from the Charles City Press there both days as well taking photos and I did an interview with.
Membership is about 880 following convention with 601 lifetime, we signed up 7 lifetimes. New lifetimes who signed up during convention were Dan Twaites, Judd Hutton, Lane Schlichting, Ethan Rice, Jonathan Van Dyke, Mason Burmeister and Steve Grulkey. New lifetimes since my last report prior to convention were Kevin Schaper and Larry Miller. Thank you to everyone who is member of this association, your support is greatly appreciated.
Our 2026 ITA sustaining donor patches with a bobcat and 2025 sustaining donor patches with a mink are still available. Since my last report Randy Church, Kenneth Ralfs, Jeff Landuyt, Darren Schlichting, Kerry Baestle and Spencer Slifer have purchased staining donor patches. Thank you to everyone for their continued support of the ITA. If you have not purchased one, they are $25 per patch for either year and are a way for anyone to assist ITA whether you are a member or not. If you would like one indicate year wanted, send a check made payable to ITA or Iowa Trappers Association. Mail your request to me, Craig Sweet 1825 Kirkwood St. Saint Charles, IA 50240.
The ITA Board meeting was held Thursday evening September 10 th . Highlights from the meeting were as follows, Mike Sells was re-elected to his position on the Executive Council. Director at Large positions up for election were Dwaine Knouse and Ben Deters. Nominations from the Board were Dwaine Knouse, Ben Deters, Chad Walker, Ray Eserhaut and Joe Dudley. With more than two nominees that vote went to the General Membership meeting for which Dwaine Knouse & Ben Deters were elected to 3-year terms. Adam Greiner sent Chris a check for $750 for a scholarship to be awarded in Tony Evans name. With scholarship selections already made for 2026 that scholarship will be utilized in 2027 – Thank you Adam!!
Saturday began with Miss Iowa McKenzie Kerry and Miss Iowa Teen Emily Sutton attending convention. They walked the grounds with Dale & Grace Rowson selling raffle tickets, participated in trap setting and skillet throwing contests talked with attendees before attending the General membership meeting to speak about themselves and their platforms. The gals were a pleasure to be to be with and happy both were able to attend convention.
Our General Membership meeting was held Saturday afternoon September 12 th . Officer positions up for election were President & Treasurer. Nominees from the Board was me for president and with Chris retiring as treasurer, Dwaine Knouse was nominated for treasurer. At the General Membership meeting there were no further nominees, Dwaine and I were elected to our nominated officer positions. Chris will stay on until the end of December to assist Dwaine in this new position plus help with budget when it comes in February. Chris will remain around the association but to a lesser degree as she has in the past. Thank you Chris for your 44 years of service to the ITA and thank you to Dwaine for accepting this new position.
Scholarship winners were Shelby Divelbess, Colter Lumley, Cameron Knouse and
Avery Lamfers. Each received a check for $750. Mike & Judy Sells were the 43rd
inductees into the ITA Hall of Fame for all his work for the association over the
decades. Chris Grillot received the President’s Award for her 44 years of service
with the ITA. Last but not least during the membership meeting. ITA received a very generous check for $20k for the Jim & Mary Lou Noneman scholarship fund
from the Noneman family. They also donated Jim’s trapping equipment which
was sold at convention which raised another $4k for the association. Thank you to
Gary, Kim and Scott for your very generous donation to the ITA.
Friday at the potluck and Saturday evening at the auction Chris Grillot received some special parting gifts from Tracy Hutton, Gunner Hutton, Charise Oser and Kristie Lambert as a thank you for her service. Bret Smith received a special engraved knife from Kristie & Charise for being our official auctioneer of the ITA. I received special “Hot Wheels” tennis shoes for my 2027 fishing trip to Minnesota from Kristie Lambert. After a hot lap around the auction room and the selling/purchase of my cowboy boots by Ben Deters, a deal was made to get my boots back. I WILL be wearing those “Hot Wheel” shoes all weekend at Albia next convention.
Saturday evening was the white elephant auction. We had many unique items for sale along with other items thanks to our many generous donators. Ben Deters donated lifetime number 600 to the auction to be sold which went to Mason Burmeister. The auction went very well overall with funds that were received. Thank you again to Bret Smith for his auctioneering services for the evening. The ITA will be setup at the Iowa Outdoor Expo Saturday, September 26th from 10 A,M.- 4 P.M., at the Izaac Walton League 4343 George Flagg Pky in Des Moines. There will be many different activities to participate in during the event. If you are in the area stop by and check it out.
A few Beginner Trapper classes remain for this year. September 20 th (Fur Handling Only) at Sleepy Creek Tannery 209 N. Adams St. Wellsburg - limited to 10 students per 8 A.M. morning or 1 P.M. afternoon class, September 26th Lime Creek Nature Center 3501 Lime Creek Rd. Mason City, October 3rd Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy 2514 Victory Lane St. Charles. To register for a beginner trapper or fur handling class see link below, go to the DNR calendar, click on event date then click on “go to event” to register.
The ITA Fur Auction will be held January 9, 2027 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Boone. Dave Phipps or I will begin accepting seller numbers starting Dec 1st as in the past. You can contact Dave at 515 491-8214 or myself at 515-306-9385 to get your selling spot. As in the past, when you get there, you will receive a card with a number, this number will be your seller number for the auction. This system helps with the lotting process as to which seller number we are currently on and much easier to keep track of. Also, the issue we see most when lotting in fur is ‘bad” pelts mixed with good. If you have blue or damaged pelts, PLEASE put them on a separate string. Those blue or damaged pelts will only downgrade the value of your good pelts if they are mixed in. Once your fur is lotted in, all fur MUST cross the buyers table before it can be pulled for “No Sale”. Let us know when we are lotting in your fur the minimum price you are wanting so that can be written on the seller sheet. For any “No Sale” fur, the commission is calculated off the last bid received. Commission as in the past will be 3% for “No Sales” and 5% for sales. Payment of commission will be cash or check only as we will not be able to accept debit or credit cards. After paying your commission, a sheet will be given for you to take to the buyers which purchased your fur. Doors will open at 7 A.M. and auction will begin at 9. We will take a short break during the auction about 10-10:30 then again about noon for lunch depending on number of sellers This is to give Bret a break as well as buyers present to stretch their legs. As usual there will be doughnuts, pop and coffee as well as food for lunch. Hope to see everyone in Boone!!
I think that is about it for now. Trapping season will soon be upon us as it will open on November 7th. Enjoy that time outdoors, relay that info or take other people along who wish to partake.
Til next time - Craig
