The new year started in Arkansas with a thousand black birds dropping dead out of the sky over Beebe and a 20-mile stretch of dead drum fish, possibly numbering in the hundreds of thousands, floating in the Arkansas River between Ozark and Clarksville. It is not known what caused the deaths of either species, although lightning strike is a suspect for the blackbirds. Sick, but live, drum fish have been sent in for testing. Trappers in these areas may want to check local news reports for the latest information and adjust your lines accordingly.

Secretary/Treasurer Rocky Weeks is in the process of verifying and updating ATA membership information. Fur Sale letters were sent out in late December to everyone on the current membership roll. If you received a Fur Sale letter, please follow the instructions inside to verify that everything is correct. If you did not receive an ATA Fur Sale Letter and are an ATA member, please contact Rocky with name/address and membership payment information.

The ATA Fur Sale will be Saturday, February 19, 2011 at the National Guard Armory, 1717 Airport Road in Russellville, Arkansas. If you did not pre-register for a lot #, you may purchase a lot # for $10 when the doors open at 6:30am the morning of the sale. Sale schedule, guidelines and checklist are also available at this time. Please do not bring your fur into the building until your lot # is scheduled for sale. The sale will be conducted similar to previous years and AGFC will be on site to issue otter and bobcat CITES tags. Beaver castor must be dried or fully thawed and will be graded before sale. The Fur Sale letter, schedule and guidelines are also available on the ATA website at http://arkansastrappers.org.

Last month, a few days before Christmas, Brad McDaniel, David Lovell, Jay Gill, Aaron Hitchcock, and Dub Shankle built a 13×27 foot awning on the front of the Community Building where River Valley Chapter holds their monthly meetings. Claudine Shankle and Mary Hitchcock served an outstanding lunch. The work was completed long after dark. The ladies that oversee the upkeep of the building were very happy with the final results. Most of the materials and transportation of the steel were paid for by the Community Building staff and the remainder of the materials were donated by other people that use the building. The building is used by many groups and individuals that will be kept dry and shaded as a result of the hard work from a group of fur trappers. The Community Building is located next to the Fairview Church, 3.6 miles east of Mulberry on US Highway 64. Everyone is invited to attend River Valley Chapter meetings which are held at 7pm on the third Thursday of each month.

The ATA now has several sets of professionally-tanned furs to be used for education and display purposes at schools, scout meetings, county fairs, trade shows and other events. If you would like to use a set of furs at an event, contact an officer in your area for more information. We are still short some furs like muskrat, weasel, civet (spotted skunk) and mink. If you wish to donate fur to the project, contact Dub Shankle or see Dub at the upcoming Fur Sale in Russellville.

The ATA website has been changed to a new format that is more like a newsletter instead of a commercial website. The new format makes it much easier for staff to get updated information to the membership. Officer/Director contact information and other standard information like flyers for the convention, fur sale and workshop are one-click away using the labels at the top of the page. Other information and articles are organized in chronological order or by categories on the right side of the page. If you have information, an event notice or short story that you would like posted on the website, send it to Editor-Mark Alexander or Secretary/Treasurer-Rocky Weeks. As always, comments and suggestions are appreciated.

Hope everyone has a safe and successful end to land trapping season. See ya at the fur sale! – Mark Alexander

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all North American Trappers and their families!

Arkansas weather finally took a turn for the cold. It’s hard to get motivated to run a line with temperatures in the 70′s and flies following you around. Gun deer season has come and gone.  Haven’t seen any harvest data, but didn’t hear many gun shots or see many hunters in Western  Arkansas. Maybe the weather, economy or who knows what kept people at home or work.

Information on the ATA Fur Sale was mailed out to ATA members in early December. If you didn’t get a flyer and would like fur sale information, check the website at http://arkansastrappers.org. It may be too late to get in on the lot # drawing, but there’s still plenty of time to plan to attend the February sale.

At the fur sale this year, beaver castor will be handled different than in past years. Castors frozen in a block of ice and/or not cleaned of meat, fat and oil glands may receive an extremely low price or no bids at all. The castors will be graded so they will need to be loosely packed in a container that allows the buyers to view and handle them. Paper sack, cardboard box, wide mouth plastic containers, etc can be used. Frozen castors should be thawed. Most buyers and auctions prefer castor that is dry to the touch, but not so dry that they snap went bent. A typical way to dry castors is hang on a string or wire for 3 days, turning a couple of times so the parts that touch can dry. Temperature and humidity can affect drying time. Green castors are ok if that is your personal preference or if beaver were recently harvested.

The Central Arkansas Trappers ATA chapter invites anyone in or around Perry County to attend their monthly meetings at 6:00pm, the third Thursday of the month, at the First Electric building in Perryville. There are no dues or officers, just a group of guys that get together to discuss sets, fur handling, traps, techniques, regulations, and anything involved in trapping. Feel free to drop in on a meeting, or for more information you can contact Dust’n Lunsford ph: 870.942.6944, email: backwoodswildlife@hotmail.com.

AGFC has been concerned about the long-tailed weasel for a while now and are looking for
specimens that may be accidentally caught while trapping other species. They are also
considering a statewide weasel survey. If you have a trapped weasel you would like to donate (freeze as soon as possible) or would like to participate in the weasel survey, contact Blake Sasse, Nongame Mammal/Furbearer Program Leader at AGFC in Little Rock.

November was a busy month on the ATA message board with 20 new members signing up, 65 new topics and 480 posts. Popular discussions are trap preparation, trapline firearms, bobcats,  rats, and more. The internet address to the message board is http://arkansastrappers.org/forum.  Stop by and visit anytime. If you have any trouble getting registered, send an email to info@arkansastrappers.org and we’ll get you signed up.

Out with the family on a warm fall evening, the faint smell of trapping lure drifts through the air. Each of us went our separate ways for a few minutes then gathered back together to discuss our sets. The problem being our “sets” were plates and we were at the Chinese buffet. Do the Chinese use trapping lure ingredients in their food preparation or am I way too anxious for fur season to start? I think I’ll go with yes and yes.

After a long, hot summer and short, warm fall, trapping season is in full swing in Arkansas. With the start of trapping season, ATA chapter activity switches into high gear with monthly meetings, holiday potluck dinners and other special events. Mid-Ark Trappers is the newest ATA chapter and covers the area around Little Rock. If you are in the area
and would like to become active in this chapter, contact chapter representative Doug Palmer (phone: 501-730-3119; email: we4palmers@yahoo.com) for meeting and special event information.

More than half a million “Yes” votes passed the Arkansas Hunting Rights Amendment, Issue 1 (2010) by an 83% margin. This amendment to the Arkansas constitution provides a constitutional right for citizens of the state to hunt, fish, trap, and harvest wildlife. The resolution states that the right would be limited only by the regulations consistent with Amendment 35 of the Arkansas Constitution, which vested all authority for the regulation and management of fish, wildlife and their habitat to the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission. The NRA-ILA stated that this amendment is the strongest right to hunt, fish and trap in the country. Some sportsmen were opposed to the measure concerned that it could lead to unnecessary court battles.

The fantastic scenery of Camp Clearfork in the Ouachita Mountains set the stage for trap preparation, trap set construction and fur handling demonstrations at the 2010 ATA Trappers Workshop held October 29-31. This two-day event helps new trappers cut years off their learning curve so they can see success in their first year catching fur. The
demonstrations are varied enough that even experienced trappers can pick up new tips and time-saving techniques. Thanks to sponsors Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, North American Fur Auctions, Southwest Arkansas Fur Takers and Arkansas Trappers Association, the ATA Trapper Workshop is a must-see event for Arkansas trappers. If you missed the workshop this year or thinking about attending next year, a 2010 Workshop Photo Album has been posted on the ATA website. Reservations for the 2011 Trappers
Workshop can be made starting in late summer.

In December, look for a mailing from the ATA with details for the Fur Sale to be held in February. A Lotting Number Application will be included so send it in by the deadline to get your name in the drawing for lot numbers. Beaver castors will be graded this year, so check the Fur Sale mailing for details on castor preparation and handling.

River Valley Chapter had a booth at the Crawford County Fair in September with tanned pelts, taxidermy beaver, ATA merchandise and trapping information. Kids cannot pass up a chance to look at tanned pelts and touch the fur. Adults shared their nuisance animal stories and sightings of the “big buck”. Having a booth at county fairs, trade shows, sporting group events and gun shows are great public relations for trappers, gets new ATA members signed up and may even get a booth volunteer some new trapping ground.

Chapter Rep’s and ATA members, feel free to contact me anytime by phone or email with news of special events or general information to pass along to the membership through this magazine and other media.