we have 4 districts in the U P ,3 are struggling why I don't know they got some good leader but need more , our district is doing good we have a core group ,that always come to meeting an are picking up some new guys , there are a lot of people trapping in the U P of michigan , I talked to fur buyer and he can't believe the amount of fur that is brought in each trip he makes up here , but why cant we get them to a meeting ? , are convention is a big hit every year with 2000, plus people , we have a fish fry on friday night an raffle's ,

Is it time for meetings to be online? Or wait another decade?
I know I know, trapper clubs hate interweb,
and they most all read it.

These questions in this topic, snail mailed to past O and D,
might get usable feed back that will not surface in open forum.

Be great to hear from Rusty Idaho.

is sad to see D-1 only have 2 members show for a meeting.
D-1 has been so strong and willing no matter the fur market for so long.

Yes it is sad. But telling people we kill for fun was and is a real bad idea. People here on TMAN are still constantly saying that. Money doesn't matter, but no one I know is trapping gophers for free.

IMO there is no easy fix. To have a bigger more active trapping org we need more trappers. To get more trappers we need fur money. To get fur money we need to convince American women that trapping is ethical and necessary to keep animal populations healthy. That trapping is an honorable profession that provides income as well as benefitting both humans and animals.

Right now we are seen as cruel sadists torturing animals for our own pleasure.

Telling anybody who will listen how much you enjoy killing helpless raccoons is worse than just a bad idea. Your harming everyone who traps.

It IS commercial and the sooner we start pushing that idea the sooner we can grow the market and increase trapper numbers.

Canada is WAY WAY ahead of us on this front.

yeppers Danny you are right on all them points.
i really just hate seeing the VTA die a slow death, trapping all over is dieing of old age.

There are multiple reasons why memberships are down now. Low fur market is probably the main reason. What can our state association do to increase member numbers? That is what we
The Michigan Trappers and Predator Callers Association{ MTPCA) are trying to figure out. We will be having our annual convention in August, we will be at several sport shows throughout the next 12 months. One promotion we are doing right now is a 3 for 1 membership. If you are not an MTPCA member, you can sign up for an MTPCA membership (for $25) and get a free NTA membership AND a free FTA membership. That's $75 worth of memberships for $25. Plus MTPCA pays the NTA and FTA for those memberships to help those organizations.
But, what we are faced with and I'm sure many other states are faced with is we have the same board members year after year. Its hard to get folks to commit to a board position that requires you to be at or on monthly meetings, completing your board duties and anything else that may be needed. While working at our booth at a sport show one year I had a man walk up and kind of grumpy asked "What do I get if I sign up as a member, do I get a free hat or something?" I thought about that for a second, then replied. No you don't get a free hat. What you do get is a group of members working in our state capitol every month working with the DNR and NRC to protect and promote trapping and to keep all that we have at this moment. Plus those same folks are working to improve our bag limits where needed and change season dates where needed. Those members are all volunteers. I told of I was a member and a volunteer working this show for him and for many like him. He never did sign a membership, but maybe he understands why all those groups work these shows now.

Same song and dance/different day. No answer to your question, kids growing up today have their xbox and all sorts of other visual stimulants to keep them occupied 24/7 so don't expect them to get up extra early before school like we did to go out in rain, sleet, snow, etc. to battled muddy fields and flooded out creeks trying to catch a .50 coon.

Ego's drive away alot of folks who would probably pitch in and help out and you have a small group who won't ever belong to anything but always show up to reap the benefits of whatever the STP crew put together, STP crew means the same ten people who do all the work for the whole group. I doubt now most association's can muster up 10 people to hold things together.

kytrapper when ya'll started that association i had mixed feelings on it being it only deals with in state issue's unlike the traditional association's paying to be part of the national organization's. Years later you guys had a great vision and the right idea, squash crap at the state level as it pop's up is the right angle to go. Hope to get back up that way one day, enjoyed that first convention alot.

Seems like you took something back home to Alabama you liked from here didn’t you? Many of us are FTA or NTA members. That is on each individuals dime, not UTK. We have a larger than ten same people with some great members that donate time and money. I firmly believe if every state trappers association would work on a direct relationship with the powers that be that determine their trapping regs the whole country would be collectively better and stronger as trappers. In turn, the state membership sees things going on and buy in because they are more closely involved with their own state issues.
You’re right about the kids. Even those that are starting are mainly interested in how many likes they get on Facebook and YouTube and have a totally different, and incorrect, view of what trapping is and should be. I do not know how to fix that and that’s a big problem for us. I see some very distasteful posts here in Kentucky by people that no longer or barely know how to trap, don’t care what impression they give of it and won’t join us either. They are just pure Good time takers.
That generation are the ones I don’t believe will pick up the torch and carry on. It’s all about them, not about trapping and keeping it going for the generation after them.
BTW, I can’t say enough good about The Sportsman’s Alliance. They really went to bat for us when we faced some anti trapping nonsense. We are members as a group and many are individual members as well.
Thank you Jackie. You’re welcome up here anytime.

"There are multiple reasons why memberships are down now. Low fur market is probably the main reason. What can our state association do to increase member numbers?"

Maybe associations should work on addressing the main reason? Maybe Rusty does?

In New York the lack of communication from the officers and board of directors back to the general membership is hurting the association. The subscription to the Trapper's Post is a big draw
and the fact that we have a lobbyist representing us should be reason enough to join. We had a thief for as treasurer, pocketing membership money, which hurt the association and from which we are still recovering memberships.Years ago officers and directors were required to submit reports in the trappers newspaper, but that has slid to the point where are times when there is no report at all for the state assn. Why should someone join when he hears nothing about what is going on?

WTA district 8 just recently held their spring meeting. We are in a transition of directors and a new director was elected and have some other leadership changes as well. This was just an organizational meeting to get back on track after COVID etc. There were no demos, no food, no dealers etc. just a 50-50 raffle. We collected $200 to send youth to camps. There were 30 present out of roughly 150 district members. ?Twenty % in my opinion with the recent past and WI fur prices where we are at was a very good showing. Lot of items discussed and acted upon.

Bryce

Seems like you took something back home to Alabama you liked from here didn’t you? Many of us are FTA or NTA members. That is on each individuals dime, not UTK. We have a larger than ten same people with some great members that donate time and money. I firmly believe if every state trappers association would work on a direct relationship with the powers that be that determine their trapping regs the whole country would be collectively better and stronger as trappers. In turn, the state membership sees things going on and buy in because they are more closely involved with their own state issues.

Oh yea i sure did, thought it was a great idea working with the game dept. never had a clue one day they would just take over the whole association and run it to suit their needs, why im no longer a member.

Like Sportsman's Alliance also, they do alot of good for us all.