OFBA Vice Presidents report
I keep telling Cathy that I hate summer, but as it turns out its not the summer that I dislike, its just the heat, humidity, ticks, chiggers and mosquitos. If not for those things, I would probably not mind the summer months. As I write this, just a few days before the 4th of July, we are faced with a cool front, only 92 degrees instead of 97 degrees that has been so common this summer. I have a beaver trapping job to work on through the 4th and it is a toss up, wear waders or not. You are going to get just as wet because of the sweat if you wear waders. The only thing about trapping in the summer is that you don’t have to worry about saving a pelt and that is not a big deal with $3 beavers that we had last winter. Still its not near as much fun as checking traps right after the general trapping season opens up in December. Now one thing that would like to say that is going to be a part of my summers in the future is the excuse to be on (in) the lake and call it fishing also know as “noodling.” Thanks to John Weygandt and Richard Thornberg who introduced me to the finer art of hand fishing, I am now hooked. I can’t wait to get back in the lake feeling for catfish. We caught a couple small blue catfish that we had to release as they are game fish and must be returned to the water, but that was enough to make me want to go again! Thanks to all who made the Summer Trappers Workshop a great success. Please see Janice Johnson’s newsletter for more info.
Hopefully you are all aware of a couple things that are coming up in the month of September. Our fall convention/meeting will be held in Okmulgee on Saturday, September 18th at the Okmulgee County Fair Grounds. We will have demos throughout the day, dealers will be present so you can purchase some last minute trapping supplies and door prizes. Please bring a covered dish or desert to go along with the main course which will be provided. We will probably have some smoked meat as the main course. Hope to see you all there. Also remember to bring or send some trap tags to Tom Peterson so he can complete the stretcher board display.
The second thing that I would like you to mark on your calendar is the 5th annual Outdoor Expo at the Lazy E in Guthrie. The Expo is on Friday through Sunday, September 24th thru the 26th. We will need some help on all three days. All you will be asked to do is just to visit with the crowd and answer some questions from the kids and parents alike. We are not going to make trappers out of all of them, but we are doing good answering questions and helping to educate the general public on the need for trapping. Please contact me as to what day(s) you will be able to help so we can write out a schedule.
Thanks and have a great rest of the summer. Come January, when our traps are freezing down, we will be looking for some middle ground between our 100 degree temps of Summer and the 0 degree days of Winter. See ya in September.
Shannon
(405) 742-7884 mobile