The Dan Busch scholarship was discussed. WTA will give the scholarship in There was a question about where the money comes from in this account.

Transcription

1 Wisconsin Trapper s Association, Inc. PO Box 305 Oregon, WI Richard Kirchmeyer, Secretary (715) rtkirchmeyer@pctcnet.net Board of Directors Meeting Minutes Stage Stop Restaurant Mosinee, Wisconsin January 9, 2016 The meeting was called to order by Pres. S. Zimmerman at 9:32 am. The Pledge to the flag was recited by all present. Roll call was taken by Sec. Kirchmeyer. Those present were; Pres. S. Zimmerman, V.P. J. Prudlick, Sec. R. Kirchmeyer, NTA Director S. McAuley, Treas. R. Warmka, J. Kortenhof, M. Loka, D. Cunningham, J. Gordon, J. Bauer, B. Hesgard, A. Groehler. Those with proxies were M. Bruenig (Jeff Geise) and P. Rhodes(Mike Widner). Excused was D. Louis. Those absent were S. Hoeft and J. Noyce. Others present were Bryce Larson, John Irwin and Jenna Kosnicki (DNR) Pres. Zimmerman asked if there were any changes that were needed to be made to the WTA s mission statement. There were none. Pres. Zimmereman asked if there were to be any additions or corrections to the meetings agenda as presented. J. Gordon MADE A MOTION, D. Cunningham seconded the motion to approve the agenda as printed MOTION CARRIED. Sec. R. Kirchmeyer asked that the minutes from the WTA BOD meeting that had been previously ed to each Director be approved with one correction. Change District 6 to District 5 in the minutes pertaining to who needed to have a receipt book for the fall convention for donated merchandise for the live auction. A MOTION WAS MADE BY J. Gordon and seconded by J. Bauer to approve the minutes as previously ed to each director. MOTION CARIED. Pres. Report; Pres. S. Zimmereman stated that he has done extensive traveling since the last BOD meeting mostly dealing with legislative meetings. He tried to catch a bobcat but the cat s won this time. V.P. Report.; V.P. J. Prudlick has been working with the new FTW cord. Helping them with setting up a youth trap camp and other goings on of the youth of the FTW. They estimate they will need around 17 instructors to instruct at a camp. Those interested in being an instructor should contact Jenna Kosnicki or J. Olson. They have a couple places being evaluated to hold a camp this year. M. Loka said he will help/provide with any paper work he has used in past camps. The Mentored Trapping Bill has passed both the Senate and Assembly and is just waiting for the Governors signature. The Trapper Mentor Bill does not allow a person to mentor anyone who has drawn a Bob Cat, Otter, Fisher, or Wolf permit NTA Report; S. McAuley The annual 2016 NTA convention will be held in Kalamazoo Mich. on August and 20 th. The NTA is involved and protecting many trapping rights that are being challenged throughout the United States. Trapper Ed. Report; J. Kosnicki and B. Larson; There were 1499 trapper ed. graduates in 2015 graduating from the regular courses. 314 graduated from the correspondence course in There seems to be a higher quality of students taking the courses than in past

2 years. The Trapper Ed. Instructor news letter will be mailed in late Jan. or early Feb. Bryce is in the process of making the time it takes to get a back round check done on probable Trapper Ed. instructors to a less amount of time. He is working to get more Ag teachers certified and putting Trapper Ed. into their curriculum. R. Kirchmeyer asked about the insurance that is given to instructors. The states insurance only covers certified instructors not any helpers. Pres. Zimmerman asked that a description be formulated for District Trapper Ed. Cord. so all involved know their job duties and all coordinators are uniform through out the state. Jenna gave preliminary harvest figures for bobcat, fisher and otters. Bobcat; N. Zone First season 65 cats harvested 119 permits available S. Zone 31 cats harvested 48 permits available N. Zone Second season 50 cats harvested (season not complete) S. Zone 19 cats harvested(season not complete) Fisher; Zone Permits available Fishers harvested A B C D E F Otter (season not complete) North Zone 605 permits 182 otter harvested Central Zone 510 permits 164 otter harvested South Zone 510 permits 143 otter harvested A fur school will be conducted some time during the next week to skin, flesh, and stretch incidentally caught animals that have been turned in to the DNR. Treas. report; R. Warmka Russ is making the WTA financial reports that are presented to the WTA BOD and the WTA membership much more understandable. The WTA is financially stable. A MOTION WAS MADE by B. Hesgard and seconded by J. Gordon to accept the Treas. report as presented. MOTION CARRIED. Correspondence course report; M. Widner The correspondence course has been available for 17 years. It is become quite popular by some new trappers to take this course. NEW FOR 2017 ALL CORRESPONDENCE COURSE STUDENTS WILL HAVE TO TAKE A FIELD TEST TO BE CERTIFIED AS A TRAPPER EDUCATION GRADUATE. There is now at least one Trapper Ed. class given in each WTA district. It is hoped to be able to hold at least one field day test in each district for the correspondence course. The Dan Busch scholarship was discussed. WTA will give the scholarship in There was a question about where the money comes from in this account. P&F Comm. A. Groehler The committee has worked on the Conflict of Interest Policy, and Documents Policy. Both are ready for approval with some minor tweaking. Convention Coordinator Position was posted with no one applying. Pam Mathers will be offered the position using the original wording from the past contract with the same stipend being offered. Corporate Sponsors were discussed, they usually all want a list of our membership, which the WTA has a standing policy not to allow anyone to have our membership list, it is for official WTA business use only. Arnie would like to create an official WTA duty description binder for all positions in the WTA.

3 Raffles;D. Louis (not present) Pres. S. Zimmerman stated that the WTA raffle license has been applied for. The WTA BOD recommends that the fall Raffle have a 4 wheeler as the Grand Prize (Not a Side by Side). There was support by the BOD to try sending out the fall raffle tickets to members closer to the fall rondy hoping more people would remember to buy them and send the money to the WTA. Tickets will still need to be printed earlier so S. McAuley and others can sell them at the many shows the WTA is represented at. John Irwin represented the WTA on the Head Fur Bearer Specialist interview panel. He said there were 3 top candidates which were all good choices. ( 2 days after the meeting the DNR announced that Shawn Rosseler was given the position. He has previously worked for the Wis. DNR) Wolf trapper Ed. J. Irwin commented that at this time there will be no wolf trapping classes until Wisconsin has a scheduled wolf trapping season. It would not look good image wise if we had wolf trapping classes when wolves are still on the endangered species list. Wolf trapper ed. classes are essential for providing a good image to others of our sport of trapping. WTA is bidding on the 2018 FTA convention which is their 50 th anniversary. Merchandise report; R. Warmka has the merchandise trailer now, we are not sure if the present person is going to continue being the merchandise coordinator. Steve Van has a small supply of merchandise at his disposal to be able to take care of internet orders which come in for merchandise. We may need someone to operate the Spring Banquette and Fall rondy merchandise booth if Rob is not interested. Districts can get merchandise to sell at their events if they want they may have to pay for a portion of the cost of the item at the time. There is a possibility that the merchandise coordinator may just inventory the merchandise and the district will pay for it over time. We need to sell WTA merchandise, the more clothing that is being worn, the more free advertising WTA gets. The WTA needs to continue to get new and different merchandise to keep members interested in buying it. THE SPRING BANQUETE WILL BE HELD ON MARCH 19 TH THERE WILL BE A WTA FALL BANQUETE IN 2016 WHICH WILL BE HELD IN DE FOREST ON OCTOBER 15 TH AT THE COMFORT INN AND SUITES. Our October WTA BOD meeting will be held that day also at the same facility. Legislative report; Pres. S. Zimmerman has been living in Madison part time almost to keep up with all that is going on there. The Governor has asked for rule simplification so the The Sportsman s Caucasus has working on some issues. Some bills that pertain to trapping are SB 388 which is the Hunter Harassment Bill, SB 359 The Trapper Mentor Bill and Ab 631 which deals with the height you can set elevated traps. The WTA supports the first two bills. A MOTION WAS MADE BY S. McAuley and seconded by J. Prudlick not to support AB 613 MOTION CARRIED. DNR Spring Hearing Questions; Question 4a &4b Beaver season changes. A MOTION WAS MADE BY S. McAuley and seconded by J. Gordon to support these 2 questions. MOTION CARREID. WCC Questions; Single dry land trapping opener. MOTION BY J. Kortenhof and seconded by B. Hesgard to REJECT. MOTION CARREID. Comments from BOD were

4 that the northern trappers would be setting on frozen ground, most furs are already prime up north, it does not mean that you have to set traps early if you do not want to. Otter lottery drawing. MOTION WAS MADE BY J. Kortenhof and seconded by J. Gordon to REJECT. MOTION CARRIED. BOD comments; May force trappers to set traps early which will create less opportunity, choice of when a trapper wants to trap, may reduce the amount of permits available, incidentals may be thrown in the bush s. New Bussiness; A. Groehler commented on the urban coyote problems and the opportunities it is providing. There may be some modifications to the colony traps requirements in the future. Possible changes in what you can and cannot do when setting traps near culverts(fencing) Wildlife Services donated $ to the FTW. These dollars came from the sale of salvaged beaver hides. A MOTION TO ADJOURN WAS MADE BY J. Kortenhof at 1:55 pm. The second to the motion was made by S. McAuley MOTION CARRIED. Respectfully Submitted by; Richard Kirchmeyer Sec. WTA

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