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Skunked!

By FUR-FISH-GAME Editor, John D. Taylor

Skunked! Photo: Mike Cox/Unsplash

Growing up on the outskirts of Dallastown, Pennsylvania, had its pluses and minuses. One plus was the location of the middle and high school. Both were basically right down over the hill from my parents’ house. So, I walked to school from grades 6 to 12. That walk typically involved a fast-paced five-minute jaunt to either location.

However, by my junior and senior high school years, I’d winnowed those five minutes down to about two and a half minutes. The reduced time involved a full-bore sprint down the hill to school, slipping inside the glass side doors (no security in those days) as the 8 a.m. buzzer rang, then sliding into my desk seat just before the teacher closed the door to make me tardy.

I’ll never forget one winter morning when I was a senior and tried to beat the buzzer.

Now keep mind this was the late 1970s, disco was king, and with the Bee Gees “Staying Alive” (uuugh...) pounding in my brain, at 7:56 a.m., I put the morning newspaper down on the breakfast table, threw on my jacket, bolted out the front door and sprinted towards school. If you were around in those days, you might recall the dress code of wannabe Danny Disco Kings like me: platform shoes; tight, flare-bottomed pants; a shimmery silk-like shirt; and perfectly coiffed, luxuriously layered hair that had been “styled,” not cut by a barber.

Now, the high school had installed a driving range, a large macadamed area with lines imitating the drivers’ test one had to pass before acquiring a license, across the street from the Taylor homestead several years before. The school demarcated this with a fence – a single strand of heavy chain, supported by metal posts every 10 feet. The chain at the post was about 3 feet high, but it drooped to 2-1/2 feet in the middle.

I’d become quite accustomed to doing a track meet-like hurdle over this chain on my sprint to school. Only the night before, a winter storm dumped a thin veil of ice across the driving range. I hadn’t taken this into account.

Picture young John, charging out the front door, picking up speed as I crossed Blymire Road, hurdle-leaping that sagging chain like a track star, a heavy, platform-shoed foot clearing the chain, then that landing on the ice, and my sorry self spraddled, sliding 10, maybe 15 feet, further down the hill, books asunder. Somehow, I managed to jump back up and beat the buzzer into school. Not pretty, mind you. But a win nonetheless.

The biggest minus of living where I did growing up was the proximity of encroaching suburbia.

When I was in middle school, there was a wheat field across from my parents’ house and a single massive oak stood along its border. One summer, a thunderstorm roared through, lightning walloped the oak, splitting it in two. By the time I was a high school freshman, the school had bought this land for band practice fields and the driving range I'd sprinted over.

A short distance below my parents’ house stood the pines, a 200-yard long, eight-row plantation of 20-foot-tall white pines. An ephemeral wetland divided the pines and grew long phragmite reeds. The neighborhood kids – the only houses were along Blymire Road then – played in the pines, using those phragmites as pretend spears while inventing all kinds of imaginary battles there. As a middle school class assignment, I wrote a poem about how they (land developers) bulldozed “my” pines for more rows of houses, which made me sad.

Still, up above the pines, on a higher hill, about half a mile from my parents’ home and the small development it was in, there was always the Boy Scout woods. It was called that because Troop 43, from Christ Lutheran Church, in Dallastown, would meet there occasionally in the summer months. A big silver water tower stood at the edge of the woods. During the early 1970s, high school seniors snuck beyond the barbwire topped chain-link fence and painted lewd things like “Class of 74” on the water tower. That upset the powers that be, and they vowed to nip that in bud.

The Knapers, a farm family, owned the Boy Scout Woods. Those woods were my refuge. I built forts there, roamed all over the woods, shot squirrels there and thanks to permission from the Knapers, ran some of my trapline in those woods. I never caught much, a couple possums and three weasels – until a skunk wandered into a cubby set.

This was the first skunk I’d ever seen up close. And not wanting to waste fur, I decided to take the skunk home and skin it. It hadn’t sprayed so there was no odor, but I held the skunk, trap attached, on the end of a long stick as I walked back up past Lions’ Park to my parents’ place. I took the skunk into the backyard, set it down by the woodpile, then went inside to go about the normal Saturday morning routine.

I told my parents I’d caught a skunk. Since they didn’t smell anything, they doubted me – about like when I told them my 5th grade teachers said crabs rained down 40 miles inland in England due to a waterspout close to shore, which was true. Then they looked out the back porch window and saw the black and white creature lying on the grass. Naturally, my mother strongly suggested I, “Get that thing out of here... what will the neighbors think?”

So, I called a buddy from school, Dwayne, and told him I caught a skunk. He said he wanted to see it before I skinned it. Come on out and you can help, I told him. About an hour later, three of my friends from town, Dwayne, Smitty and Boots, showed up at the front door, wanting to share my skunk-skinning chores.

We took the skunk back up into the Boy Scout woods, wandered through the woods to the creek that bisected the woods. A gravel road paralleled the creek. I crossed the creek, pulled my skinning gambrel from my knapsack, hung it in a tree and hooked the skunk’s back legs into the gambrel. Looking up, there stood my three pals, along the gravel road.

Being a self-taught trapper – the Pennsylvania Game Commission’s trapping tome, Paul Failor’s “Pennsylvania Trapping and Predator Control Methods,” and FUR-FISH-GAME were my references – I knew skunk scent glands were located at the base of the tail. So, I carefully slid my dull skinning knife down the skunk’s one leg, around the vent, up the other leg, between the fur and the muscles. The pelt was coming off relatively easy, I thought, and no spray... yet.

The pelt came off the legs, and I slid it as far down as the skunk’s sternum on the belly side. But the unsevered tail held up additional skinning. What I typically did with coons was break the tailbone and save stripping it after the pelt was off. Figuring I could do likewise with the skunk, I yanked hard on its tail, trying to break the bone.

Yeah... we all see what's coming. But as a kid I sure didn't.

At that point, three amber drops of liquid sprang out of the skunk, arced to the right and began falling. I watched them cascade to the ground before the odor hit me. But when it did, it was pure eau de la skunk.

The scent was powerful, but not that unbearable. However, according to my three pals up on the road it was bad news. “Oh crap!” they moaned in unison.

The next sound I heard was three sets of sneakers beating feet up that gravel road as fast as they could go, boys hollering to each other, “Ewwwwww... yuck!”

That still left me with a half-skinned skunk and pleasant aroma along the creek. On the advice of my father, I’d packed an extra set of clothes in my knapsack. I buried the skunk, and my scent-laden outer garments together along the creek, re-dressed, retrieved the gambrel, knapsack and the shovel, and headed for home.

My mother saw me walking up Blymire Road, and, perhaps sensing the miasma that accompanied me, told my father to bar my entry until I could be sanitized and de-scented. My clothing came off in the garage and I was herded into the shower with multiple large cans of tomato juice – the anti-skunk remedy of the time – to pour over me. I showered until all the hot water in the 40-gallon tank was gone, and then some more before I was deemed de-scented enough to join the rest of the family.

That, thankfully, was the only skunk I ever caught, probably part of why my high school nickname was “Trapper John.” And by the way, tomato juice really doesn’t work.

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Waterfowl Survey Numbers Not a Surprise

North Dakota Game and Fish counted 88,000 Canada geese during their annual midwinter waterfowl survey. Photo: Jonathan Mast/Unsplash

The North Dakota Game and Fish Department’s annual midwinter waterfowl survey in early January indicated about 88,000 Canada geese and 3,225 mallards in the state. John Palarski, the department’s migratory game bird biologist, said the below average count was expected this year for wintering waterfowl due to cold temperatures in late November and early January leading up to the survey. “The majority of waterfowl that winter in North Dakota can be found along the Missouri River System. Following a record-setting count in 2024, we counted fewer geese and mallards than normal this year, which was directly due to the amount of ice cover across the state,” he said. “Cold temperatures in November and early January pushed many birds south and froze a considerable portion of the open water.” Lake Sakakawea, which in some years harbors thousands of wintering waterfowl, froze over on January 4, just two days before the survey. In four of the last 10 years, the lower portion of Sakakawea still had substantial open water in early January and needed to be completely surveyed by air. During the 2025 survey, an estimated 68,788 Canada geese were observed on the Missouri River, another 13,400 on Nelson Lake in Oliver County, and an additional 5,000-plus geese in other parts of the state. The 10-year average (2016-25) for the midwinter survey in North Dakota is 124,700 Canada geese and 14,000 mallards. All states in the Central Flyway participate in the survey during the same time frame to reduce the possibility of counting birds more than once.

Help Monarch Butterflies, Plant Milkweed

Ohioans can help monarch butterflies by planting milkweed pods in the fall. Milkweed is the only plant monarchs use to lay eggs and monarch populations are declining. Photo: ODNR

Planting milkweed seed pods during autumn can help Eastern monarch butterflies, according to the Ohio Department of Natural Resources (ODNR) Division of Wildlife. The butterflies winter in Mexico. Each spring, northbound Eastern monarchs lay eggs on milkweed as they migrate from Mexico. Monarchs travel between 50 and 100 miles per day on a journey that may cover several thousand miles. Various species of milkweed are the only host plants for monarch eggs which turn into monarch caterpillars. Ohioans can help monarchs by planting milkweed. Milkweed is beneficial at every stage of the insect’s life cycle. Thirteen of Ohio’s 17 native species of milkweed are essential host plants for monarch caterpillars, although all of them provide nectar for adult butterflies. Milkweed seeds form dense clusters in green seed pods. In late summer and early fall, these pods dry out and turn gray or brown. When this happens, or the pods begin to split, you can harvest milkweed seeds for planting. For those with an abundance of milkweed, the Ohio Pollinator Habitat Initiative (OPHI) is coordinating pod collection through local Soil and Water Conservation District locations. Go to ohiopollinator.org to find a nearby drop-off site. The Monarch Joint Venture, an organization dedicated to conserving monarchs, provides guidelines for collecting and planting milkweed pods. Visit https://monarchjointventure.org/ Monarch and many other pollinating insects are in decline across their range because of the loss of prairie and grassland habitat. One of the most important ways to help declining butterflies and other pollinating insects is by conserving tracts of unmown grasslands. The Division of Wildlife manages habitat on many of Ohio’s state wildlife areas to provide these grasslands that provide nectar-producing plants.

Pennsylvania Winter Turkey Sighting Survey

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is asking residents to
report wild turkey sightings. Photo: Jp Valery/Unsplash

The Pennsylvania Game Commission is asking for the public’s help finding turkey flocks to trap for ongoing projects. Residents are encouraged to report the location of any turkey flocks they see across the state. Information is being collected online at https://pgcdatacollection.pa.gov/TurkeyBroodSurvey through March 15. Among other things, visitors to that webpage are asked to provide the date of the sighting, the location, and the type of land (public, private or unknown) where birds are seen. Game Commission crews will assess sites for the potential to trap turkeys. Game Commission crews will put leg bands on male turkeys statewide. The turkeys will not be moved; they’ll simply be leg-banded and released on site. In four Wildlife Management Units – WMUs 2D, 3D, 4D and 5C – female turkeys, hens, also will be leg banded and about 130 hens also will be outfitted with GPS transmitters, then be released back on site, to be monitored over time. Trapping turkeys during winter is part of the Game Commission's ongoing population monitoring, and provides information for large-scale turkey studies, as well. The field study will conclude at the end of December 2025, so that, in the end, the Game Commission will have monitored 500-plus hens and 200-plus male turkeys. Males were equipped with GPS transmitters from 2022-2024 and also are being monitored through 2025. These studies are being done in partnership with Penn State University and the University of Pennsylvania’s Wildlife Futures Program.

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Grayling Reintroduction In Michigan

Michigan is reintroducing Arctic grayling into state waters. Photo: MDNR photo

An effort to reintroduce Arctic grayling to Michigan waters will enter its next phase with a ceremony Monday, May 12, at the Oden State Fish Hatchery Visitor Center in Alanson, Michigan. At this event, Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) will provide 400,000 grayling eggs to the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, the Little Traverse Bay Bands of Odawa Indians and the Grand Traverse Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians. These partners will reintroduce the eggs at locations along the North Branch of the Manistee River, the Maple River and the Boardman-Ottaway River. Native to only Michigan and Montana in the lower 48 states, grayling were historically found in coldwater streams in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula and were common in the Manistee and Au Sable rivers — the city of Grayling, Michigan, along the Au Sable, is named after the fish. Despite the importance of grayling as a food source, sport fish and cultural resource, habitat destruction, unregulated timber harvest and pressures from non-native fish led to the local extinction of grayling from Michigan by 1936. In 2016, MDNR, in partnership with the Little River Band of Ottawa Indians, announced a proposed initiative to reintroduce Arctic grayling to the state, creating the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative, or MAGI. Previous attempts were made, without success, to return Arctic grayling to Michigan waters, but new technologies and methods have improved the likelihood of effective reintroduction. The grayling eggs being reintroduced will be placed in streamside incubators that will allow them to imprint on the waters in which they are placed, helping them thrive. MAGI partners will closely monitor the hatching and development of the fry, as well as follow up on how they move through these systems as they grow. Learn more about the Michigan Arctic Grayling Initiative at migrayling.org.

Preventing Bear, People Conflicts

A partnership between Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, and the Heart of the Rockies Initiative will provide funding for conflict prevention in Montana. Photo: mana5280/Unsplash

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks, along with the Heart of the Rockies Initiative, will be working during the next five years to help landowners proactively reduce conflicts with grizzly bears using nearly $12 million in federal funds. FWP has been awarded nearly $5 million in Department of Interior funding from a National Fish and Wildlife Foundation grant. This new funding complements more than $6 million provided by a Regional Conservation Partnership Program grant from the U.S. Department Agriculture’s Natural Resources and Conservation Service (NRCS). Together, these two programs significantly ramp up resources to support working lands and Montana communities. “A key pillar of FWP’s grizzly bear management is conflict prevention,” said FWP Director Dustin Temple. “However, conflict prevention for working lands can be expensive. This funding will be a welcome boost for landowners and communities who are learning to live and work around grizzlies.” The Heart of the Rockies Initiative will work in partnership with FWP and NRCS to help landowners and producers implement non-lethal conflict prevention tools – such as such as electric fencing, range-riding, expanded use of bear-resistant garbage infrastructure and carcass removal programs for ranchers – aimed at avoiding problems with grizzly bears. In Montana’s Blackfoot Watershed, these tools have helped landowners reduce reported grizzly bear conflicts by 90 percent, even with bear populations growing by 3 percent annually. For more information visit heart-of-rockies.org/ccr/grants/

Record Year for Tracking Curriculum

More than 3,000 students participated in Vermont Fish and Wildlife’s Scat and Tracks program in 2025. Photo: VFWD

A record of more than 3,000 elementary and middle school students learned to find and identify sign of species like the bobcat, raccoon, snowshoe hare and whitetail deer this winter. This success marks the fifth year of the Vermont Fish and Wildlife Department’s “Scat and Tracks” program. Scat and Tracks is a hybrid outdoor education curriculum that got its start in 2021 during the peak of COVID-19 school closures. Today, the program reaches K-9 classes as well as home school groups in all 14 Vermont counties. Scat and Tracks grew to this year’s record enrollment of more than 3,000 students—including 271 home schoolers—and 218 participating educators from just 390 students and 63 participating educators in its first year.

“We started Scat and Tracks back in 2021 as a way to help teachers get their students outside during the pandemic,” said Corey Hart, an Education Specialist with the department. “We never expected it to take off and keep running like it has done.” Scat and Tracks is designed around a series of wildlife identification videos that participating teachers can share with their classes. Each episode highlights one of 16 Vermont species and describes its habitat needs and life cycle, conservation status, and of course how to find the species’ scat, tracks and other signs. After every video lesson, teachers take their students outside looking for scat, tracks and other wildlife signs near their schools or homes. Once field trips are complete, students and teachers can join VFWD biologists in a group video call to share wildlife observations and bring questions directly to the experts.

Minnesota CWD Spreading

In Minnesota, CWD is expanding. Photo: Anthony Roberts/Unsplash

Chronic wasting disease was confirmed in wild deer in two new Minnesota deer permit areas – DPA 266, near Hawley, and DPA 701, near Greenfield. Bucks in both DPAs tested positive for chronic wasting disease, and neither area had previous confirmed CWD cases. Both deer were harvested during the firearms deer season. The hunters submitted tissue samples via the DNR’s partner sampling program.

“This finding is concerning because it indicates possible new areas of CWD prevalence in wild deer where it hasn’t previously been detected,” said Erik Hildebrand, wildlife health supervisor with the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. “This also highlights how important our disease surveillance efforts are and how critical it is that hunters are able to test deer harvested anywhere in the state if they would like to.”

The closest CWD positive wild deer to the one detected in DPA 701 is 31 miles, from a positive in DPA 605. The CWD positive wild deer in DPA 266 is roughly 54 miles from the confirmed positive near Climax, Minnesota. Following the detections in DPAs 266 and 701, the Minnesota DNR will implement measures outlined in its CWD response plan (mndnr.gov/cwd/cwd-response-plan.html), which calls for three consecutive years of testing to help determine the potential prevalence of the disease near the detections.

Within DPAs where CWD has been detected and confirmed, the Minnesota DNR uses multiple management actions designed to help mitigate disease spread, including carcass movement restrictions, a deer feeding and attractant ban and, sometimes, increased hunting opportunities with increased bag limits.

Additional management actions will be taken per DNR’s CWD response plan, likely this fall, and might include the establishment of a new CWD management zone and surrounding surveillance area to better understand the distribution and prevalence of this disease in the area, as well as considerations of late season hunting, landowner shooting permits and targeted culling.

CWD is a fatal neurological disease that affects cervids, which include white-tailed deer, moose and elk, and has no known cure. It has been found in more than two-thirds of the states in the U.S. Visit mndnr.gov/cwd for more information.

USFWS Signs Pheasants Forever, Quail Forever 10-year Agreement

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever have inked a memorandum of understanding to work together to make habitat improvements on federal lands. Photo: Raimo Lantelankallio/Unslpash

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) signed a 10-year partnership with Pheasants Forever and Quail Forever to accomplish shared goals in managing grassland and upland habitats and promoting workforce development, education and outreach that support mutual conservation goals. Under the Memorandum of Understanding, the organizations will collectively develop a work plan through 2034. The agreement focuses on habitat improvements that may be implemented on lands managed by the National Wildlife Refuge System, as well as on private lands under the USFWS’s Partners for Fish and Wildlife Program and other conservation programs that are affiliated with the Farm Bill. During this long-term partnership, the organizations also will collaborate to recruit, educate, train and retain wildlife professionals who are imperative to successful conservation work across the country. Under the agreement, the partners also will support each other’s efforts to improve collaboration across the land management community, with partners such as the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service, Farm Service Agency, and U.S. Forest Service; Environmental Protection Agency; Department of Defense; Bureau of Land Management; National Park Service; and others that play a role in conservation.

Wisconsin Celebrates Successful Elk Season

Wisconsin's seventh managed elk hunt allowed hunters to hunt in both elk management zones for the first time since reintroduction. Photo: WDNR

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) celebrated its seventh successful elk season in December. The 2024 hunt represented a milestone in Wisconsin’s elk management because for the first time, hunters could hunt in both the Northern and Central Elk zones. Previous hunts only occurred within the Northern Elk Zone. The eight Wisconsin hunters who participated in this year’s hunt were randomly selected from a pool of more than 25,500 applicants. WDNR received 17,761 applications to hunt in the Northern Elk Zone and 7,750 applications for the Central Elk Zone. The random drawing ensures that each applicant has an equal chance. In the Central Elk Zone, all four hunters successfully harvested a bull elk on the third day of the season. Two hunters in the Northern Elk Zone successfully harvested a bull elk, and Ojibwe Tribal hunters met their four-bull harvest declaration. Of interest, a 10-year-old mentored hunter was able to harvest a mature northern Wisconsin bull elk. WDNR's elk management is supported by the revenue received through hunter application fees, which contribute directly to the future of the state's elk population. For each $10 application fee, $7 goes directly toward elk management, habitat restoration and research. The 2025 elk hunt application is expected to open in early spring and run through May 31, 2025. Visit https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/wildlifehabitat/elk for more information.

New York’s Furbearer Health Research Project

Trapper Jack N. holds up his successfully harvested gray fox. Photo: NYDEC

New York Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) is joining forces with the Northeastern Association of Fish & Wildlife Agencies, university researchers, and other state wildlife agency biologists and veterinarians on a project investigating furbearer health. The project aims to identify diseases and toxins in northeastern furbearers and investigate potential impacts on furbearer populations. The project focuses on gray foxes, which have declined in some parts of the Northeast and Midwest in recent decades, and fishers. One of the primary focuses will be to investigate the prevalence of anticoagulant rodenticides in fisher and gray fox populations. Previous research on trapper-submitted fishers in New York found that nearly 80% of the more than 100 samples tested were positive for exposure to anticoagulant rodenticides. These popular rodenticides can cause uncontrolled bleeding and death in high doses. Lower levels of exposure may lead to reduced reproduction, poor body condition, and a suppressed immune system leaving animals vulnerable to other pathogens. This project depends on getting a large number of samples from various areas across the Northeast. DEC is asking trappers and furbearer hunters to consider submitting carcasses of harvested fishers and gray foxes. The carcasses can be skinned. Those interested in donating carcasses should contact regional DEC wildlife offices or more information. Visit https://dec.ny.gov/about/contact-us/statewide-office-information.

Conservation of Game and Furbearing Animals

100th Anniversary Article from September 1925
(yeah, that's our first-ever issue)

Editor’s Note: I included this piece to show how far we’ve come in terms of wildlife conservation. While reading it, keep in mind that four centuries of unregulated market gunning, trapping and habitat destruction had significantly reduced most wildlife populations across the country by the turn of the 20th century. In 1900, there were only 500,000 whitetail deer, 41,000 elk, 1,000 wild turkeys, 12,000 pronghorns, and remnant waterfowl populations. Game laws and wildlife agencies were in their infancy, and it would take decades for many species to recover. However, the North American model of wildlife conservation – essentially removing no more than the surplus of annual wildlife and furbearer production – has demonstrated itself to be highly successful. Today, for example, there are 32 million whitetail deer,1 million elk, 7 million wild turkeys, 1.1 million pronghorns and 46 million ducks and geese in the U.S. It’s good to recall how far we’ve come from time to time. Yet the same problems existed in 1925 that people see today.

By Elmer T. Hixon

It may well be considered that death is an established law of nature which is as essential in its own order as birth. The termination of every animal at some time must of a surety come; this being a necessary adjunct, or as a result of an unavoidable destiny.

The progress of civilization – the exertions of mankind upon Mother Nature is one of our most universal destroyers – his sovereignty, over the animal kingdom by his intelligence, ingenuity and skill may doom full well the destruction of our wild animal life.

How may we go about protecting our residue of wild stock? This may be at all times a serious question. In possibly every state in the Union, laws with the intent of regulating the slaughter of our game and furbearers have been passed. These regulations, if properly enforced, may in a great measure effect and prolong the wild supply. If such steps are to be taken, why not resort to them quickly before it is too late?

It appears likely that a majority of the population of our country is not aware of the rapidity at which our wild stock of animals are being exterminated. Every year, more land containing a wild growth as virgin timber, canebrakes, thicket, etc., which was formerly the haunts of wildlife, is subjected to cultivation. More animals are compelled to flee to distant regions and gather in the limited regions that remain.

Many observers, judging from seeing these animals packed into smaller spaces, may insist the number of animals is increasing instead of decreasing. But the reality is the number of animals may be aptly estimated at a strenuous decline in quantity.
In the fertile agricultural sections, virgin timber and other natural growth has been cut away to such an extent that little if any cover now exists for the game and furbearers. Many inhabitants of these localities have observed the departure of wild animals, and have been compelled to see the fact that many of these animals, birds, etc., have been the friends of the farmers in a far greater degree than enemies.

Why not begin now to plan and to think differently – to prepare the fundaments for the maintenance of the game and fur supply for the generations to come?

Fur and game farming is a method that can be resorted to protect and propagate game and fur-producing animals. In many rural districts there are small tracts of not being used for anything but pasturage, or as a stamping ground. This land can easily be turned into a profitable area even though much eroded or washed. Appropriate a few acres of the most inferior land on your farm – land having grown up in bushes, briars, weeds, etc., for the propagation of furbearing animals and other species of wild game that may take refuge there. This area can be planted to some valuable varieties of trees and possibly be of value to the landowner as a source of fence post, or for various other farm requirements.

The present destruction of animal and game haunts is the big factor now in existence which is so largely accountable for the scarcity of game and fur. The ever-expanding areas of human settlements has played a part in this to a very great extent. Removal of forest and grazing on the natural covers by domestic animals has featured greatly in the destruction of many animal haunts, especially those inhabiting the uplands, and helped to expose them to their enemies. Draining swamps and marsh land has destroyed the homes of thousands, or perhaps millions of muskrats, and spoiled the feeding grounds of a great many of our other water animals – beaver, otter and mink. Numbers of which have left for regions more remote, possibly never to return again Their greatest enemy is man.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Idaho Trappers Association 2025 Calendar
The Idaho Trappers’ Association (ITA) will hold fur sales on March 8 and 9, at the Elmore County Fairgrounds, in Glenns Ferry, Idaho. ITA’s Summer Convention will take place June 13 and 14, at the Lemhi County Fairgrounds, in Salmon, Idaho. And ITA, in conjunction with the National Trappers’ Association, will hold their annual banquet September 6, at the Shoshone-Bannock Casino, in Fort Hall, Idaho. For more information on any of these events, contact Rusty Kramer, ITA President, at (208) 870-3217.

New Mexico Trappers’ Association Fur Sales and Rendezvous
The New Mexico Trappers’ Association (NMTA) will hold a Trappers’ Fur Sales on March 1, at the Torrance County Fairgrounds in Estancia, New Mexico. NMTA’s rendezvous is scheduled for June 13 and 14, at the Mountain View Christian Camp, in Alto, New Mexico. Contact Shelly (575) 649-1684 or gypsytrapper@yahoo.com.

West Virginia Trappers’ Association Fur Auction
The West Virginia Trappers’ Association will hold their annual spring fur auction February 28 through March 2, at the Gilmer County Recreation Center, 1365 Sycamore Run Road, in Glenville, West Virginia. Vendors will be present throughout the weekend. Consignment for finished fur starts at 9 a.m., Friday, February 28, and again on Saturday, March 1, at 9 a.m. Dealers’ lots are graded at the end of each day. The Fur Auction will be held Sunday, March 2, at 1 p.m. Contact Jeremiah Whitlatch at (304) 916-3329 or visit www.wvtrappers.com for more information.

The Independent Furharvesters of Central New York
The Independent Furharvesters of Central New York will hold a fur auction Saturday, March 1, at the Pompey Rod and Gun Club, 2035 Swift Road, Fabius, New York. Check in furs at 8 a.m., auction starts at 9 a.m. Contact Ed Wright, (315) 427-7136 for more information.

Vermont Trappers’ Association
The Vermont Trappers’ Association will hold a fur auction on Saturday, March 8, at the White River Valley Middle School in Bethel, Vermont. Doors open at 6 a.m., the auction will take place at 9 a.m. Contact Dan Olmstead (802) 464-6344 for more information.

Connecticut Trappers’ Association Spring Fur Sale
The Connecticut Trappers’ Association will hold a spring fur sale, April 5, at Fin, Fur and Feather Club, 213 Chewink Rd., Chaplin, Connecticut. Doors open at 8 a.m. The sale is open to members and non-members. No commission. Contact Scott Kneeland (860) 234-3192 or Cameron Kelsey (619) 997-2345 for more information.

Foothills Trappers, Fulton Montgomery Trappers Fur Auctions
The Foothills Trappers and the Fulton Montgomery Trappers will hold a fur auction April 12, at the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) Post, 131 Mohawk St., Herkimer, New York. Call Paul Johnson (315) 867-6565 or Neal Sowle (518) 883-5467 for more information

Central Maine Trappers
The Central Maine Chapter of the Maine Trappers’ Association will hold its annual Spring Fur Auction April 27, at the Palmyra Community Center, 768 Main St., Palmyra, Maine. Doors open at 7 a.m. For more information, contact Ted Perkins at (207) 570-6243.

Texas Trappers and Fur Harvesters Association
The Texas Trappers and Fur Harvesters Association Spring Rendezvous will be held April 25 - 26 at the Mashburn Event Center, 1100 7th Street NW, in Childress, Texas. For more information visit www.ttfha.com

Upper Peninsula Trappers’ Association Convention
The U.P. Trappers’ Association will hold its U.P. Trappers Convention and Outdoor Show July 11 and 12, in Escanaba, Michigan, at the U.P. State Fairgrounds. Camping and food will be available on the fairgrounds. Activities will include demos, mini raffles, can raffles and a new “kids cave.” Contact Roy Dahlgren (906) 399-1960 or email trapperroy@outlook.com, and visit www.uptrappers.com for more information

New England Trappers
The New England Trappers (NET) will hold their NET Weekend August 14 - 16 in Bethel, Maine. Contact Neil Olson (207) 875-5765 or (207) 749-1179 for more information.

Coming in April

Features
• The Great Turkey and Morel Hunt - Matt Geiger discovers that even a rained out turkey hunt can yield results of a different kind.
• Springtime Trapping & Fishing Shenanigans - Phil Goes finds a way to hook out of drywall repairs to catch fish and trap beavers with his kids.
• A Successful Shed Hunt - Dwight Yoder looks at shed antler hunting and tells how it’s not the quantity of sheds found, but time outdoors that’s valuable.
• Head South for Bass Hotspots - Will Bowen shares tips and tactics for a bevy of famous Southern bass lakes, like Lake Okeechobee.
• Under Pressure - Tom Miranda tells bowhunters how to handle the pressure of making the shot count in both bowhunting and archery targets.
• Rainy, Foggy and Windy Day Gobblers - Bruce Ingram shares how spring gobbler hunters can overcome dreaded rain, fog and wind to tag a spring turkey.

Other Stories
- The Old Trapping Coat – William Canfield reflects on his relationship with his trapping coat, the coat of a generation of outdoorsmen, which has been with him for many years.
- Field Marksmanship – David Darlington explores the bug-a-boos of marksmanship in the field and tells how to overcome them.
- Alaska Bowhunt Safari - Jacques Etcheverry wanted to hunt Alaska’s big game with a recurve bow and went moose hunting to complete a part of his quest.
- Catching Crawdads- Jim Zumbo looks at the fun catching crawdads has to offer, and good food crawdads can offer.
- The Quest for Native Brook Trout - Bruce Ingram explores fishing for native brookies in his Virginia waters.
- Alaska Marten Trapping – Lawrence Morgan explores his techniques for trapping Alaska Yukon River martens.
- My First Wild Turkey (100th Anniversary article) – In a June 1930 article B.G. Roberts tells how he bagged his first wild turkey. It’s an interesting look at turkey hunting in that time.
- Remembering A Trapper’s Life – Robert Rowland recalls his friend and master trapper Bill Turner’s life.