September 2023 President's Report

Greetings all. First I will start with news of a NEW banquet location for next year. The 22nd annual FBU/ITA banquet will be held April 6, 2024 at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel. The hotel is located at 50th and University Ave. in West Des Moines, which is on the east side of I-80/35 at the west mix master. The hotel can be easily seen from I-80/35 University Ave exit. The Sheraton has easy access off the interstate as the Ramada, but on the west side of town instead of north. This facility is much larger which will better suit our needs for space. We had been at the Ramada since 2010 and was time for a venue change. There are also many other motels located well within a mile of this location as well. Mark that date down in your calendar and we will see everyone next April.

It has been a busy month for travels. June 3rd I was at Lake Icaria for the SW Iowa Trappers Get-together hosted by Mike Fletchall and Justin Stiens. They had 30 kids and about that many adults attend and when asked none of the kids had attended last year. The number of kids attending doubled from 2022 which was great to see. All kids left with information, traps, bait, lure, setters, magazine and other items to enhance their trapping adventures this coming fall. Also, Mike Fletchall and Brad Person both donated a 1 year membership w/pub to 2 youth who attended. Thank you to Mike and Justin for hosting this event and Mike and Brad for donating youth memberships.

June 11th found Dan Roberts, Kristie Lambert, Cody & Tracy Hutton, Rod Husman and I up early traveling west of Winterset to serve breakfast and lunch at Raised at Full Draw youth bow camp. We served 80 some for breakfast and about 200 for lunch. During lunch when parents were present, I presented info about different traps and trapping to the group. While serving, I got to chat with a young man who hunts on the boss’ farm. His abilities with either a bow or gun are quite good. I do know there has been a lot of meat put into the family freezer by him over years, plus he is interested in getting into trapping as well.

June 17th Kerry Baetsle, Bruce Rhoads, Tony Evans, Mike Long and I set up at the Iowa County Outdoor Adventure at Lake Iowa. There were 176 kids that had registered to partake in the various activities related to outdoors. We explained different traps, pelts and aspects pertaining to trapping. I was a very nice day and all kids left with trading cards for animal identification.

June 19th I left for the FTA Rendezvous in Jefferson, WI. I had a good time while there and apologize to the Sleepy Creek gang for keeping them up all night. There were quite a few attendees from Iowa that I saw and got to visit with. As I stated in my last report, I accepted nomination for FTA Governing Board. On May 29th I received a phone call asking me to run for FTA General Organizer as well. Upon arrival at the FTA Rendezvous, I was asked again to accept a nomination for General Organizer. After some in depth talks, and bylaws indicating only one Board position can be ran for, I decided to decline my Governing Board nomination and accept nomination for General Organizer. I know there are quite a few people from Iowa who have held positions with the FTA in the past. If elected, I will not disappoint those people or members of the ITA or FTA here in Iowa. I will say, my heart is here in Iowa and my dedication to Iowa will not change, I will extend that commitment to the next level. I will know the outcome sometime in October as to those election results.

Men’s trap setting contest comprised of Iowan’s Rick Hemsath, Pogo and I. Between the 3 of us we took a majority of the top 3 places in all categories. In the “Wo”-“Mens” barefoot bear trap setting contest, the men got our butts whipped by Skye Goode/Defourneaux, who performed an amazing job of setting that bear trap. As you can see I put the letters “Wo” in front of Men’s to be correct since she placed first. Congratulations Skye on your placing 1st!!!

June 9 and 10th was the Miss Iowa Teen/Miss Iowa Pageant in Davenport. Tom Walters presented the ITA’s sheared beaver coat to Miss Iowa 2023 winner Alysa Goethe originally from Bettendorf and sheared beaver vest to Miss Iowa’s Teen Juliana Clark who lives in Clinton. Both gals will be present Saturday of convention as they have in the past. Tom will give them a tour, then be at the ITA booth normally later in the morning. Congratulations to Alysa and Juliana on your new adventure over the next year.

ITA Fall Convention and Sportshow will be held Sept. 8-9th at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds in Osage. There will be 26 electrical hook-ups and locations for primitive camping onsite as well. Fairgrounds are located 4 blocks south of Hwy 9 on South 10th St., which runs straight into the main grounds gate. The address for the grounds is 1006 Chestnut St for those using GPS. There are 2 motels in town, AmericInn and Super 8 both are a little over a mile from grounds on east side of town. I have 20 rooms blocked at AmericInn under Iowa Trappers. Their direct number is 641-832-2200 when you call state your with the ITA to get those rooms. The Super 8’s direct number is 641-732-1800. My current vendor list is: Funke Trap Tags, Cumberland’s, Mill Creek Trap Supply, No B-S Lures, Roberts Trading, R&M Lures, Kansas Trapline Products, Keg Creek Baits & Lures, Dakota Prairie Baits, MJ Enterprises, Fiber Tuff, AJ Skinners, Sleepy Creek Tannery, Mike (Red) O’Hearn, Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy, Bret Smith, Backwater Baits, Papio Creek Trap Supply, Cedar River Pheasants, Cedar River Taxidermy, Life is now Outdoors, Top Lot Stretchers, Billingsley Brand Lures, Last Step Trap Supply/Tanning, Cook Fur and Accessories, Max Ort, Jerry’s Trap Supplies, IA Bow Hunters, Delta Waterfowl, NRA, DNR, FTA, NTA, Iowa Firearm Coalition,NWTF, and ITA. The 2 dealer buildings and demo area are close to each other as well. It was decided at our summer meeting to enact some minor changes to our convention schedule. On Saturday, we will now close dealer buildings at 5 P.M. instead of 6 and move the mountain man race from 6:30 to 5:30 P.M. Main reasons are - 1) most dealers have wrapped up by this time, 2) the crowd has greatly decreased, 3) this will allow more time after the mountain man race to organize and setup clerking for the auction beginning at 7:30.

NOTICE -- as I am writing this: It sounds like ABOVE ground fire pits will be allowed on the grounds barring any “burn bans” being activated. They DO NOT want any ground fires, so please keep all fires off the ground.

Also, don’t forget the ITA photo contest, mail your photo/s to, Tom Walters 1723 20th St. Bettendorf, IA 52722 or bring them to convention and get them to him prior to the General Membership meeting for judging. Be sure to put your name on the back of the photo as well. Categories include: Animal in Trap, Trapper and Catch, Multiple Catch and Youth (16 & younger).

On July 9th our Summer Board of Directors meeting was held. Guests were Judy Sells, Peter Fritzell, Jeff Milner, Justin Stiens and Justin Deaver, Thank you to everyone who attended. I received an email from our FTA Director George Shaw indicating he was stepping down due to family requirements. George has served as our FTA Director for 6 years. We appreciate his time and efforts in performing those duties, Thank you George!! I will be our interim FTA Director until someone else is interested. If anyone is interested, requirements are to be a current member of the ITA and FTA, attend FTA Board meeting in June, update reports of FTA at our 4 Board and membership meeting at convention, and be a liaison between FTA and ITA. If anyone is interested contact me for info.

Kristan reported that our membership has been steadily increasing. Our newest lifetime member is Josh Jones. Thank you to Josh and all our new and renewing members for your support. Since August 8th of last year, 100 people currently have utilized our website for joining or renewing memberships online. The new website and online option for purchasing of memberships has worked quite well. Also, we have our ITA History book available for $25 postage included online as well for those interested.

Tom Walters announced our 4 ITA scholarship winners for 2023. Each recipient will receive a $750 scholarship. Those recipients are Ben Johannes, Kylee Eastwood, Bailey Knouse and Leo Sells. Congratulations to Ben, Kylee, Bailey and Leo for receiving those scholarships. Hope to see all of you at Osage to receive those awards. Thank you to everyone who applied for those scholarships.

While on the subject of scholarships, a very good suggestion was received from one of our lifetime members. Starting next year the ITA will select our scholarship winners at our spring (April) Board meeting instead of our Summer meeting. We will notify scholarship recipients BEFORE graduation so those scholarships can be announced prior to graduation. Thank you to Mr. Wayne for suggesting this little change that can make a big difference in the public’s future awareness of the association.

The DNR and ITA have joined forces to hold 8 beginner trapper classes around the state. These classes teach skills and information needed in trapping furbearers to anyone who has little to no trapping experience. The eight workshops will feature several knowledge and skill building sessions with instructors that teach the basics of trapping. Classes will be held August 12 - Spencer, IA, August 26 - Forest City, IA, August 26 - Knoxville, IA, September 23 - Mt. Pleasant, IA, October 7 - Otho, IA, October 21 - Hazelton, IA , October 22 – Dixon, IA and November 18 – St. Charles, IA. For more information or to register for a class, go to Iowa DNR website look under Learn to Hunt program/beginner fur harvesting workshops.

The Fall Directors meeting will be held 1 P.M. September 8th at the fairgrounds in Osage. The General Membership meeting will be held at 1:30 P.M. Saturday September 9th.

That is about all for now. Have a good summer. Til next time - Craig

July 2023 President's Report

Greetings all. Hope everyone is enjoying mushroom and turkey hunting this time of the year. All our planting and field work was finished on April 28th . A couple repairs to be made and I will be done for this part of the season.

The ITA Spring Board meeting was held April 2nd at CrossRoads Shooting Sports in Johnston. Guests were Kristie Lambert, Sandy Eckhardt, Joice Hill, Judy Sells, Dale Rowson, Jeff Milner, Justin Deaver, Tim Anderson, Peter Fritzell, Laurent & Jase Sarrazin. Thank you to everyone for attending. We currently have 1,189 members with 479 lifetime. We had 18 new members join in February/March and 2 new lifetimes since my last report who are James Roe and Craig Kunkel. Thank you to all our new and renewing members.

The ITA website now has the ITA History book available for purchase. There are 14 chapters with 194 pages of ITA history and information from inception to 2019 which was our 60th anniversary. Mike Sells spent a lot of time gathering info for writing of this book. Also, Jim Mesler, our first ITA President and Dean (Lucky) Hoffman, longest serving director at 51 years, assisted with funds to publish this book. There is a lot of good information and reading contained within those 194 pages for a low cost of $25 postage included. Check out our website for membership options as well.

The legislative “NUISANCE” wildlife bill, which has been in the Statehouse for 2 sessions, passed recently pertaining to raccoon, opossum and skunk. Under this bill an owner or tenant of agricultural property or an associated residence, may take, capture, shoot, or temporarily possess, for the purpose of destroying or disposing of, a raccoon, opossum, or skunk without receiving prior permission if the owner or tenant deems the animal to be a nuisance. The bill also specifies that the taking of the animal can only take place outside of the corporate limits of a city; allows for only the use of cage traps or dog-proof traps; and adds the legal standard of “good faith” that would be required for anyone who wishes to take a nuisance animal. This bill will take effect July 1, 2023 and does not change what nuisance wildlife control operators can currently do inside city limits. This bill is NOT the same as what the DNR is currently proposing. The DNR proposal is different which includes extending of regular trapping season to February 28th , except beaver which will remain April 15th,, and a continuous open season on raccoon. Final wording is not out currently, but hear some changes will occur from the original wording due to our input. I expect that release sometime in the next couple of months.

Mike Fletchall and Justin Stiens will be hosting a SW Iowa Trappers Get Together Saturday June 3rd from 1:00 to 4 P.M. at Lake Icaria North of Corning. They have a shelter reserved by the marina which is located on the south side of the lake. There will be both youth and adult demos during the day. Youth will also receive a trapper starter kit due to some generous sponsors. Last year had a good turnout and expecting the same again this year as well.

During the meeting, I announced that I had been nominated and accepted that nomination for the FTA Governing Board. My hopes are not high on being elected due to other names that are running. No matter the outcome I will not be disappointed and will hear the outcome this fall.

ITA officer positions up for election this fall are Vice-President and Secretary. Nominations from the Board are Cody Hutton for Vice-President and Kristan Barclay for Secretary. Nominations from the membership will remain open until the General Membership meeting on Sept 9th for these positions. To be placed into nomination for either position you must be a current member of the Iowa Trappers Association and consent of the nominee is obtained prior to being placed into nomination.

The ITA fall Convention and Sportshow will be held Sept. 8-9thth at the Mitchell County Fairgrounds in Osage. There will be electrical hook-ups and locations for primitive camping onsite. Fairgrounds are located 4 blocks south of Hwy 9 on South 10th St – S.10th street runs straight into the main gate of the grounds. The address for the grounds is 1006 Chestnut St. There are 2 motels in town, AmericInn and Super 8 both are a little over a mile from grounds on east side of town. I have 20 rooms blocked at AmericInn under Iowa Trappers. Their direct number is 641-832-2200 when you call state your with the ITA to get those rooms. The Super 8’s direct number is 641-732-1800. My current vendor list is: Cumberland’s, Funke Trap Tags, Mill Creek Trap Supply, No B-S Lures, Roberts Trading, R&M Lures, Kansas Trapline Products, Keg Creek Baits & Lures, MJ Enterprises, Fiber Tuff, AJ Skinners, Sleep Creek Tannery, Mike (Red) O’Hearn, Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy, Bret Smith, Backwater Baits, Papio Creek Trap Supply, Cedar River Pheasants, Cedar River Taxidermy, Life is now Outdoors, FTA, NTA, ITA and looking to invite other outdoor groups as well. All buildings are close together and connected by concrete making easy navigation between them.

The Summer ITA Board of Directors meeting will be held July 9th, 10 A.M. at CrossRoads Shooting Sports 5550 Johnston Dr. in Johnston. For those who have not attended before, enter the building from the rear (south) side of the building. All current ITA members are always welcome to attend any of these meetings. The fall Directors meeting will be held 1 P.M. September 8th at the fairgrounds in Osage. The General Membership meeting will be held at 1:30 P.M. Saturday September 9th on the grounds as well.

That is about all for now. Be safe and have a good Spring.

Til next time - Craig

May 2023 President's Report

Greetings all. The ITA Winter Board of Directors meeting was held February 5th. At that meeting Rod Husman presented himself before the Board interested in the NTA Director position. After speaking about himself, Rod was voted to fill that position. I thank and welcome Rod to this position on the ITA Board.

Kristan reported on our current memebership which is at 1171, Our launching of the new website on Aug 8th where you can now renew or join the ITA has had a positive effect. As of February, there have been 66 memberships processed via our online process. In February, we have also included an online “donation” option as well. We were limited to three “dollar amount” options for which we chose amounts of $25, $100 and $200.

I presented the 2022 President’s Award to Jim Obradovich for his 15 years of service as our lobbyist at the Statehouse. Jim keeps us updated as to what is going on and who to contact if needs arise. We thank Jim for all his valuable input over the years.

After that presentation, Jim covered the nuisance animal bill currently in the Statehouse. This bill had negative language which was covered. During February, we attended 3 House and Senate meetings where we presented negative effects contained in language as it was written. Those meetings have gained positive results in some rewording through our presence and comments.

Now on to the DNR’s proposal, which is totally different than language in the legislative bill. This proposal currently contains wording for extending “regular” trapping season from January 31st to Febuary 28th, except beaver April 15th, and a continuous open season on hunting and trapping of raccoon. After close of “regular” trapping season, only use of cage traps and dp’s would be allowed. There will likely be some wording changes that occur to this proposal due to input from trappers. At this time, it looks as if this extension of trapping season will occur PROBABLY with the 2023/2024 season and open season on raccoon to occur after regular trapping season closes. I will keep everyone posted as I find out on the legislative bill and DNR proposal.

The Board also approved donations to the NTA & FTA sweepstakes and a plaque for the Best Furbearer mount at the Iowa Taxidermy Association’s annual competition.

February 19th I attended Harvey Drewelow’s visitation. Harvey & son Bill have operated North Iowa Fur for many years. Both have been fixtures in buying fur, attending conventions and our fur auction over the years. Harvey will be missed by his family as well as all who knew him.

While up there I stopped by the Mitchell County Fairgrounds to look over the grounds. The grounds are located 4 blocks south of Hwy 9 on South 10th Street. South 10th Street will run right into the main gate of the grounds. The 3 buildings we will be using are less than a 100 yards from each other with paving in between. There are 2 motels in town, both on the east side of town off Hwy 9 a little over a mile from the grounds. I have blocked rooms at the AmericInn under the Iowa Trappers. Their direct line is 641-832-2200 and you will need to say you are with the ITA to get those rooms. The other motel is Super 8. I was not able to block any rooms there, but their direct line is 641-732-1800. There will be 26 electrical hooks-up available on the grounds and plenty of space for primitive camping.

The ITA’s annual Legislative Breakfast was held February 23rd at the Statehouse. This was our 12th year were we had a display of pelts, coats, fur teddy bears and other fur accessories. We had multiple Senators and Representatives stop by, chat and look over our display for fur items.

This event has become very effective for us over the years. Many Senators and Representatives attend every year as well as welcoming some of our new legislators. This event has become effective in getting to personally know many of our legislators as well as a low cost way to meet and greet them in a more personal setting.

On February 25th our long time Director Jim Noneman’s wife of 68 years passed away. Mary Lou attended many conventions, meetings and banquets with Jim before going into assisted living. In 2021, Jim and Mary Lou donated money which established an ITA scholarship fund in their names. Cody & I attended the funeral on March 6th and got to sit with Jim and his family afterwards listening to his trapping stories. At 91 years young, he is hoping to get back on the trapline next fall and restart his trapping and history class at the Harrison County Welcome Center next April/May. You have to admire a person like “Trapper Jim” for his assisting in educating people to fur harvesting and its’ history. Jim and his granddaughter also attended the banquet and we were glad to see them there again this year.

The ITA held our 21st annual FBU/ITA banquet March 11th in Des Moines. 8 inches of snow in the Des Moines area caused a few people to stay home, but ended with about 270 people attending. The banquet overall went well as to funds received and peoples generous support of this banquet during the evening. Good thing was main roads were back to normal by the time the banquet was over for attendees return trip home. Thank you to our 8 corporate sponsors, 27 sponsors and many people and businesses who donated items for the evening. Also, Thanks to Cody and Tracy Hutton, Bret Smith for being MC and auctioneer, CrossRoads Shooting Sports for our firearms as well as all the committee members and everyone who attended. But, especially thanks to those who showed up early, when asked, to help with setup due to circumstances that morning. We are currently planning year 22 for next year about the same time. Mark your calendar for 2024 to ink in your plans for attending next years banquet.

I received a call Monday morning March 13th from Jodi Sayre to tell me that Allen had suffered a heart attack Sunday evening. He was transported to Des Moines where a stent was installed. Received a call Tuesday morning from him stating he is doing good and will be going home on Wednesday or Thursday. He has been instructed to take it slow for a couple weeks. Allen is on our banquet committee and had helped with the banquet all day Saturday. Glad you are feeling better!!

The Spring ITA Board of Directors meeting will be held April 2, 10 A.M. at CrossRoads Shooting Sports 5550 Johnston Dr. in Johnston. For those attending, enter the building from the rear (south) side of the building. I have scheduled July 9th at this location for the summer meeting as well. All current ITA members are always welcome to attend any of these meetings.

That is about it for now. Be safe!! Til next time - Craig