Bearguy you don't have a clue...

This is not a knock on you mister Swaggler, it seems you are the only lifeline left.

Bobsheedy you know we had a great group of new blood in NYSTA only a few shot years ago. They were willing and more than able to do the leg work and right the ship.

They also demanded transparency, and with that, they were shown the door by the old guard with lots of skeletons in the closet.

Not to mention a treasurer who stole from members, old and new, with no repercussions by our BOD.

NYSTA now has a membership of less than 7% of the licensed trappers in NY yet they hold sway along with the liberals of Cornell who they adore.

NO THANKS!

The trouble is that there is no feedback to the general membership.There was a time when directors were required to make reports in the trappers newspaper. That has fallen by the wayside. We used to have a newsletter which was scrapped for mailing costs. We are told to join NYSTA to support the lobbyist and that is good, but most of us have no clue what is going on.. The website is pathetic compared to states like Pennsylvania. There has been rumor spreading by at least one officer and constant needless drama.The treasurer that was a thief severely hurt our membership. I know of at least two directors that are disgusted and thinking of quitting.
At one time NYSTA was one of the most powerful, well respected sports organizations in the state, but no more. My pleas for better communications fall on deaf ears.

I was gonna leave this alone, but now I feel like I can't.

I have been told a few too many times that "if you want to know what's going on you have to come to a meeting" I set aside a few days every year to go to convention and while there I am always available to help with anything they need. I collect auction items, run the Chinese auction, sometimes go around to vendors collecting booth fees whatever is needed. I also always attend the annual membership meeting there. IT IS THE ONLY MEMBERSHIP MEETING OF THE YEAR.

If you want members at the BOD meetings maybe call them membership meetings. I have never seen another organization where BOD meetings were meant for general members.

When was the last time there was a election for officers. As far as I know all the current officers were appointed by the BOD.

I have personally been attacked for not attending BOD meetings. I would be glad to come except that I have not figured out a way to shutdown the cows for the weekend so that I could take the time. The meetings are not across town. It's a 3 and a half hour drive each way plus a meeting that takes the better part of the day. I would have to drive out Fri night, get a hotel for the night attend the meeting then drive home late Saturday. I would also need to have someone else feed animals on two farms for me. It would cost me hundreds of dollars to go to a meeting.

As far as the reports I have been told multiple times that they don't do them because they do such a good job that there is nothing going on to report. So why would I spend hundreds of dollars to attend a meeting to be told that.

Dont you have a director for your area that is close to you that can keep you up to speed on the issues being worked on and share the minutes of the meetings after the draft minutes have been approved by the board?

A draft of the minutes is not approved until the next quarterly meeting. Then if they do put a report In the trappers post it has to be submitted to the publisher 3 months ahead. So any reports are 6 months old information. We have no local director and most times that I have asked any questions I have been told I would have to come to a meeting if I wanted to know.

So it sounds like NYSTA is running like a fine Swiss watch,
and it's business as usual.

When can we set out our Snares, Oops, I mean Cable restraints
this coming fall so I can get me some of them high dollar coyote.

w

Careful Bob, they're likely revoke your provisional member status.

According to today's website there is no secretary no NTA director, and no FTA director.. The reason there have been no elections is there have been only one candidate running for an office..County reps can observe, but have no vote. One general membership meeting a year with a handful attending. Some of the best members have been run out because they were " trying to take over". DEC rarely attends meetings anymore, they used to have the Directors of Wildlife and Law Enforcement attend. These days it is difficult to get a quorum to attend to vote. What a way to run a rail road !.