Officer/Director Reports

October, OFBA Presidents Report Well I started my report last month and probably the month before complaining about the heat and here it is, September 1st as I write this newsletter and the temp is 105 degrees again! I will call uncle, calf rope or that’s enough, as I am ready to quit this summer stuff. We have had almost 60 days over 100 degrees this summer in Oklahoma City and it looks like we have a couple more days in store. Hopefully by the time you read this, we have had some rain and cooler temps that indicate winter might someday come again. Who can remember last winter trying to keep sets operating in January and February in the snow and ice? The cold weather seems like a distant memory but sooner or later it will cool down again. Some of you might get your Trapper newspaper early...

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Oklahoma Fur Bearers Alliance, presidents report I am starting to sound like a broken record, its HOT! I believe as I write this newsletter on the 1st day of August, we are up to 35 official days over 100 degrees this summer! And no end in sight. Hopefully by the time we get our September issue of the Trapper Newspaper, these hot summer days over 100 degrees will be a bad memory and we are off to some needed rain and cooler temperatures. And one of these days, summer, then fall will transition to winter and trapping season. I guess that trapping season has been ‘on’ for us nuisance trappers(at least that is what Cathy calls me) all summer long. I have had my busiest month of June and July that I have ever had, but it is all about skunks and armadillos. The critters have moved to the...

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Hello Oklahoma trappers and hunters, Welcome to the community of Hotsville! We have had about 15 days recently with 100+ degree temperatures and there is no end in sight as I write this newsletter. There are some spotty afternoon thunderstorms around the state but these are short lived and only provide a minimal relief. These hot temperatures sure make it hard to remember the days of deep snow and way below zero temperatures that we experienced last winter. I keep asking Cathy , “Heat, humidity, snakes, mosquitos, ticks, chiggers and poison ivy, tell me again why we like summer?”. She assures me that fall and then winter will return one of these days. It won’t be soon enough for me. Things are interesting on the trapline for an old fur trapper like me. The coons, armadillos and skunks are keeping me busy, but it is not near as much...

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OFBA March newsletter Presidents report As I write this news letter we are a couple of days away from our first fur sale of the year. We got a record setting blizzard of snow and wind across the Sooner State yesterday. Low wind chill readings of -36 degrees up in the Panhandle and over 20 inches of snow in NE Oklahoma. For those of you from Iowa, the Dakotas, New York and Minnesota, I realize this is common or normal for the winter, but this is Oklahoma. We just don’t have this kind of weather very often. Any traps that we had out are now locked down. I will be chopping ice to check beaver sets this evening and hope to go coyote calling with a friend tomorrow in spite of the projected low of -5 degrees. Only a crazy trapper or hunter would attempt this and call it...

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Hello trappers and hunters, I write this newsletter right at the end of the year 2010. Lots of things have happened over the past year relating to family, friends, the economy, elections and fur markets. One thing that I noticed is that I am just now getting used to writing 2010 on checks and January 1st 2011, I will have to start over again. The year has gone fast for me. I have a lot to be thankful for with the health and well-being of my family. I have a wonderful job working with County Commissioners all across the state on their bridge and road projects and that allows me to see much of this incredible state we live in here in Oklahoma. From the Cyprus swamps in the SE to the high desert Black Mesa in the northwest corner of the panhandle, and everything in between. Grassland pastures...

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Hello and Happy New Years to all! I hope that Santa was kind to you and you got the toys that you were hoping for. Surely you have been good so that is not a reason for Santa to bypass your house. I have a new wood stove insert in my fireplace this year that I have been running continuously since late November. The salesman who sold it to me assured me that Santa still will be able to get down the chimney with the stove running, but just to be sure, I put the fire out on Thursday the 23rd so the firebox would be nice and cool by Christmas eve. I have a bunch of ramblings to throw out to you in no particular order. Bob Walshaw asked me to remind you of some upcoming seminars at the Bass Pro Shop in Broken Arrow. On 1/13/2011, A...

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Presidents report Oklahoma Fur Bearers Alliance Hello trappers and hunters, As you read  this newsletter, trapping season is just starting for us here in Oklahoma.  According to my unofficial furbearer survey, there will be plenty of critters out there to capture.  My survey statistics come from the number or road kills along  the roads that I see along my travels.  As the cool weather moves in here in late October and early November, the coons, coyotes and skunks are moving around a lot and many are getting hit on the road.  Its always interesting how you can go for weeks or months without seeing any or very few animals hit and then all of a sudden, there will be several dead coons and a coyote or two on the road between Stillwater and OKC.  Then things go back to normal and no new road kills for a month or...

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11-1-2010. Presidents report Oklahoma Fur Bearers Alliance Hello trappers and hunters, As you read this newsletter, trapping season is just starting for us here in Oklahoma. According to my unofficial furbearer survey, there will be plenty of critters out there to capture. My survey statistics come from the number or road kills along the roads that I see along my travels. As the cool weather moves in here in late October and early November, the coons, coyotes and skunks are moving around a lot and many are getting hit on the road. Its always interesting how you can go for weeks or months without seeing any or very few animals hit and then all of a sudden, there will be several dead coons and a coyote or two on the road between Stillwater and OKC. Then things go back to normal and no new road kills for a month...

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Hello all, First of all, I want to apologize for the missing newsletters in the last two issues of the Trapper Magazine. For both issues, I woke up after the deadline and missed the cutoff for the report. Hopefully I can get you caught up with what is going on in Oklahoma. Back in July or August I received a note from our President Tom Peterson advising that he was having to step down from office for personal reasons. I took that letter to our Board of Directors at the Fall meeting and they asked me to fill in as President for the remainder of his term which will expire in October 2011. I appreciate the vote of confidence and will continue to keep the office filled to the best of my ability. The bylaws of our association did not address filling the vacancy of the Vice President, so...

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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...

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