Public entrance. All 50 state flags.
Things seem to be going fine.
I will try to post more in the following days.

Very nice

Wish I could have made it this year thanks for sharing

I like the 50 state flags, has anyone done that before? Thanks for posting ack.

Great crowd to start it off.

Nice.

I'm sitting at the OSTA booth for awhile so later on I'll try to get some tailgate pics.
I sure wish the Canadians would figure out how to put out fires. Smoky here again.

Only at the NTA...

Lydia Reichenbacher doing a coyote demo.

That looks like 160

Some things are best kept covered !!!

I wonder where he keeps his wallet?

Probably no wallet, just a wampum belt wrapped above his loincloth !!!

NO! My hat is brown! Only fruitloops wear white hats.

But he had his new keyless car fob hanging of it…lol!

Sounds like you were really taking a good look.....

Think there was a banana hammock under the tarp

Are they good? People say there basically copying.

LOL

Dead sexy.

LOL

I handled it but didn't set it. It looks good to me.

What were they asking for a dozen?

Maybe out around Sept. I didn't see a price.

Knowing the NTAs past practices im surprised they didnt kick loincloth him out of the NTA !

He shoulda been told to get clothes on or leave. Supposed to be family friendly.

C'mon man!
My clothes were in the laundry!

Most important

Thought this is pretty cool also

I'm pretty sure he was told to leave. I know a lot of folks were not impressed

I just talked to bill about the new 330's. He is hoping to have them out by jan1. Around the 290$ per dozen price range.

I'm sure there are others here that recall NTA in Mason City Iowa many years ago now. Actually where the first Trapperman game feed cook out took place.
There was a guy there in Mason City dressed just the same cowboy hat and loin cloth. I'm wondering now if that isn't the same guy?? I'm not sure if I have a picture in shoe box of guy in Mason City. Was long enough back if I do was shot with 35mm.
I can't be the only one that remembers him though. Was a lot of talk about him back then and he was camped on grounds there the whole time.

Mac

"Never Forget Which Way Is Up!"

I remember him

Hope he wasn't entered in the trap setting contest

Dude needs a barrel load of rock salt peppering his backside
or a brisk all over rubdown with some Atomic Balm !!!

Thanks Chad! Have a great time!

Mind if I add?

Is that John Graham?

What an impressive gathering.

been a while since john was at a nta

Yup Mac i remember the fellow at Iowa. Believe Ma was arrested at the Tman feed also....LOL...!

Im still in recovery from Mason Jar City, Ioway and don't really remember much about any of it, lol

Yep

John came in just for Friday. Headed back to Wyoming already.

The morning talks with Tom Miranda and guests were good.

The others in the pic are Wayne Derricks, Gary Jepson, Major Boddicker. And Tom at the end being the moderator. I attended Thurs and Friday.

The guy in the loin cloth the other day looks like old Larry, the main moderator from the defunct forum called "Wild About Trapping". I think he went by the handle "Swamp rat". I know he liked making Indian "regalia" but didn't know he was into "letting the light shine on all" sort of skin appearance .

Some things are best left in the dark.

Yeah surprised me to see him there.

Wrappingup.

Saturday afternoon and the place is already empty. I remember conventions that ran until noon on Sunday. Guess things change.

It was a great event, but with the warm temperatures, I dont blame them for being ready to leave....

The South Dakota folks did a great job! Had a lot of fun.
Met the Youth Trapper and talked for a few minutes. Nice young man.

[/quote]
Unbelievable wealth of kjowledge gathered at that table…. Amazing talks and discussions.

Yep, my first several conventions were a lot more packed on Sunday morning yet than that. It's sad.

Saturday afternoon and the place is already empty. I remember conventions that ran until noon on Sunday. Guess things change.

Odd, use to be a big dance on Saturday night, everyone was still partying down till the wee hours of the morning.

Scott Hartman put together a chart many years ago about conventions, once you get outside a certain circle in the country attendance and revenue goes down the drain. Like everything else though, lesson's learned in the past have to be repeated over and over again by NTA for whatever reason, never has made sense to me.

I hear they're having a hard time finding states to host.

Speaking of, did they announce the location for 2026?

It was a great convention, and we had a great time. But, as has been said, it was hot.

All in all, the people that stopped by our booth said they were having a good time and enjoyed the convention. It was nice to visit with several T-Man members too. 

Thursday and Friday were both well attended. By Saturday afternoon most people have done their shopping and visiting and are ready to hit the road. Some folks have a long way to go to get home. The timing makes sense to me.

My understanding is Indiana.

Just in case some missed it the old days are gone. Fur market in relation to costs is as bad as it's ever been, far less trappers, families are extremely busy. It isn't 1985 any more

The South Dakota guys (and a lot of Iowa folks and others) put on a great event.

No one can control the weather or people.

Times change

I hadn’t been to an NTA convention since Escanaba MI, maybe 11 years or so ago

I was invited by good friends from SD, and I was glad I went.

I got to deliver stuff to dealers, see people I haven’t visited with in years, and had a minute or two to talk to people that come to Coyote Days every year, and a LOT that are coming for the first time this year.
I also got to meet Heimo and Edna Korth, we’ve been visiting on the phone every summer for about 16 years now, and finally got to meet

I gave a coyote demo, and hope I didn’t ramble too much, since I could talk about coyotes for days.

Putting on events are a lot of work, and it was hot

I have to tip my hat to that group, good job !

Thank you John for making the trek, see ya in a few weeks!!

. Considering the fur market it was an excellent convention. Attendance was good and very well run and a good fairgrounds . Caught up with a few people I’d hadn’t seen for awhile. Saturday afternoon being dead is a trend that has been going on for a number of years now.. Friday is the big day for conventions The old days Saturday was pretty busy now I consider it pretty much over by noon on Saturday.

I was there from about 10:30 through a little after 2. Some interesting stuff to see and people to meet. I don't get to our fair grounds often, I don't think I've ever driven the road back by the river dike. Some talented and determined people at the show !

P.S. Probably the closest I'll ever get to a dead wolf. Seeing one in a zoo doesn't do justice to their actual size. Maybe the Paratroop Kid can snag a wolverine before he leaves Alaska...

I spent all 3 days there. Being only 3 hrs from home, I doubt it will ever be closer. Took my camper and stayed in a campground just a few minutes from the convention. There were some excellent demo's, by some of the top dogs in the industry. Hat's off_to the South Dakota Trappers Association for putting on a great show. It takes a lot of people, working very hard, to pull this off.

When it went to Sunday, did it open on Thursday or Friday? Dealers I talked to said Thursday and Friday were very good. The room being empty at 6 pm on the last night of the convention should be expected.

Thanks for coming out! It was something else to see you 4 up at the table Friday morning. I don’t think Major realized he was supposed to just do a quick intro….lol
Brian Flowers had a lot to say about you fellas, and how much a nice down to earth type of guy that Tom is.

I didnt get to look at as much as I wanted to, especially being there a couple days. Had little kids with me though, and they did well despite the temps. Whoever worked the kids cave, my hats off to you. That seemed to be the hottest place in SE SD! My kids had a blast though. Fans were going but it was just hot.
I i think I was at a national in Iowa around 1991ish if Im not mistaken, and I remember it being way busier. Just the times I guess. All in all, great event.

Then there’s the older fella that was buying all the old traps at the auction Friday evening. I was wondering “what’s he doing with all these things?”. He ended up announcing that all the youngins could come up and grab some free traps.

Dang so many T man folks at the convention and I had no clue who any of you were. I had a great time.

I thought the same thing. We probably all walked by each other a dozen times!

Yep, it would be nice to know who was there. Without name tags, it's kind of hard to put a name to all the faces.

Great show and couldn’t get over all the vendors there. Pretty darn cool and hope everyone has safe travels home.

DWC, I'm glad you all came up to the nasty city and the kids had a blast. I was impressed how many families I saw there with kids less than say 12 years old. That's was a great thing!!

Maybe someday I'll get to spoil some grandkids in the "Kids Cave". Maybe

Technically Thursday, although Wednesday was set up day and there would be business going on in the dealer building as early as Wednesday afternoon. Thursdays were the slowest day, with Friday and Saturday being the busiest. There were always still dealers selling Sunday morning for anyone who forgot anything. The dance on Saturday would be packed. If you didn't get there early, you might not find a seat. After the dance, vendors, tailgaters and plain ol trappers would hang out in the campgrounds and talk trapping around bonfires until the wee hours. On Sunday, everyone would get up, cook breakfast, and then mosey on out by early afternoon.

I guess those days are gone for good.

When Paul used to go to NTA conventions, many years he'd distribute name tags to Tman members, and set a time on usually Friday and Saturday for people to meet at his booth for a group picture.

And then for well over a decade, Tman also hosted the annual Tman Feed, with proceeds being split between the NTA and host association.

Normally I wont go there unless being paid to. Stopped at a gas station nearby to go to the bathroom before going to the fairgrounds and when I came out, the wife had the doors locked on the truck and pointed at two transients in the parking lot stumbling around at 9 am. I gave her a fist bump for recognizing and we went to fairgrounds. Kids had a blast. Great event. Town gets suckier every day, like most i spose.

On the back of the convention program it states that next years convention will be in Harrisonburg, VA. July 17th-19th.

I think there must be some critical mass when a metro reaches a quarter million people, especially if its a stand alone metro. The nicer neighborhoods move to the city's edges or out to the suburbs, the inner core becomes less desirable and more vacant or semi-vacant land for "troubled" people to hang out on.



I've heard, and seen photos, that the Shenandoah Valley is a beautiful region, pretty farm fields surround by the forests on the surrounding hills and low mountains.Hope you all on the east side of the country can get there next year.

Thanks for all the pics guys!

I'd have loved to make that convention. I could've easily (and cheaply) visited several states that I've never been to with a short drive.

My plans are to make the Virginia NTA.

The American Flag behind the demo area.
Got to visit with a lot of old friends and a bunch of new friends.
Had a great time.

Officially opened Thursday at 8:00 AM.

I just got home only had one blow out on our 3700 mile round trip lol I was kinda surprised that most of the dealers were still displaying at 12:30-1:00 on Saturday this year. I've been seeing them packed up by noon the last few years this year they seemed to last just little longer but was gone by 2. Wife and family helped with the kids cave and that seemed to be a big hit as was said earlier there were numerous youngins running around.

They had their singer/entertainer there on Wednesday night which I thought was strange. Until I heard him, it was like a bad car wreck you just kinda had to watch. First thing I thought of was Jose cuervo lol. He could pick guitar though.

Makes for a short show if you don’t take off Friday and arrive Saturday morning

I spent the whole time between the convention and the Best Western until Saturday evening when we to the park at the falls around 8PM. I didn’t know there was falls in Sioux Falls…lol. Nice. The wife went shopping a fair bit and didn’t notice any shady characters until the last evening at the falls. 3 young hispanics ripped on something but kept to themselves eyeing up a couple other Hispanic girls at a picnic table.

Wanted to get all 4 intros but got sick of holding the phone….

Here’s a short vid of the winner starting with a 220. Didn't vid the whole thing. I just wanted to see what they were doing with the body grip. First few were so fast I couldn’t see what they were doing…lol.
Them Minnesota boys sure are a fun bunch…..lots of banter going on…lol.
[video:youtube]https://youtube.com/shorts/FEOdiyC8CXU[/video]
Wanted to watch the 330 setting but got pulled out by the wife….and that was the last thing I watched at the 24 convention.

Excellent convention by today’s standards.
Good time.

I agree Clay. And thanks for your hospitality! Enjoyed hanging out with y’all.

Nice convention, but they have gotten so big that you only find and get to see a few of your old friends. But you always get to meet a bunch of new faces!

The guy in the video is Rick Hemsath, R&M animal lures Rowley iowa. He’s been a vendor at the Minnesota conventions since the 80’s and kicking butt at the trap setting contest for 35-40 years. The Minnesota guys know him well.

Normally I wont go there unless being paid to. Stopped at a gas station nearby to go to the bathroom before going to the fairgrounds and when I came out, the wife had the doors locked on the truck and pointed at two transients in the parking lot stumbling around at 9 am. I gave her a fist bump for recognizing and we went to fairgrounds. Kids had a blast. Great event. Town gets suckier every day, like most i spose.
[/quote]

And on the opposite spectrum, my wife commented on the last day that we had not seen lights or heard a single siren the whole time we were in Sioux Falls. Im sure they have their rough areas, but wherever we were, we did not see it....

Thanks for the flesher Lee! Looking forward to trying it out in a few months.


Gotcha, the banter back and forth made us all laugh. The younger fella was very close. Kinda like pistol shooting, slow is smooth and smooth is fast…lol

He told me it had been 11 years.

MY first National. Really had a great time but it sure was a long drive from southeast Texas

I heard Richmond Indiana.