Utah Trappers Assocation President's Page

January 3, 2014

Hello Trappers,

It's Fur Sale Time! The tentative date for the Fur Sale will be Friday February 7 through Sunday February 9. The sale will be at the Nephi County fairgrounds in Nephi, Utah. We will begin to take fur in the early afternoon on Friday.

We have a new way you can Pre-register all your fur. Go to our pre-register page. If you do it on line you do not have to call and reserve your spot. If you still want to call in your fur we are still doing that to. It is important to call in or pre-register your pelt totals. That way the buyers will know what to expect on the fur volume. We understand that everyone is human and if you forget to call or pre-register your furs we can make arrangements so your furs will still get in the fur sale. Call in dates will be January 18st through February 3rd, 2014. Contact people are:

Stan Bassett  435- 245- 4508
Mike Hart 435- 979- 3072
Kent Fowden 801- 404 -6511
Jerry Carlson 801- 420- 0677
Travis Seifers 435- 691- 8728

On Saturday we will be having a membership meeting to discuss association business. Plan on attending to find out what is going on in the association as well as to discuss state trapping issues.

We will also be having the donated fur going again this year. All proceeds from the donated fur go to the scholarship fund. Anyone that donates a pelt will be eligible to win some traps or other prizes. The prizes will be drawn during the membership meeting Saturday.

There will be an outlet to sell frozen whole animals or frozen pelts. When you sell frozen animals the buyer will pay all commissions. If you have frozen fur you would like to sell please call Stan Bassett at 435-245-4508 and let him know what you are going to bring so arrangements can be made for your frozen pelts.

Last year we had a few pelts that went as a "no sale". Please remember that if your lots go for a "no sale" that you are responsible for picking them up after the sale.

A brief summary of the fur sale rules are as follows:
1. Sellers need to call or pre-register in advance to reserve a spot in the sale
2. Sellers must be a member of the UTA to sell (you may purchase a membership on site prior to the sale)
3. Sellers must agree with terms and conditions of the sale.
4. Bobcats must have the permanent DWR tag affixed before lots are assigned. The DWR will be tagging bobcats at the sale.
5. Due to space constraints, single pelt lots will be held to minimum, lots of two or more shall be tied together. We will have string available for this.
6. Absolutely no one except authorized UTA personnel will be allowed on the sale floor.
Pictures will not be allowed other than those taken by the UTA historian.
7. A 4% commission will be charged for all pelts that are sold. A 1% commission will be charged for all no sales.
8. The DWR will be there to bounty your coyotes. All rules to bounty a coyote still apply.

Last but not leases don't forget that UTA will have a booth in the 2014 Western Hunting & Conservation expo again this year. Last year was a lot of fun. The date for the expo is February 14 -16 in Salt Lake City at the Salt Palace convention center. So if you can come and support the expo there is a lot to do and see.

We look forward to seeing all of you at the Fur Sale. If you have any questions at all feel free to give us a call.
See you in a few weeks,
UTA Officers


Secretaries Report

Nothing says trapping more to me than walking outside and seeing all of the trees turning different colors, and the cool crisp air in the mornings. Boy do I love fall, it is my favorite season. With it being fall and the start of yet another trapping season. I want to encourage all of you trappers to practice ethical trapping this season. Nothing is worse than walking up to a set and seeing that someone has taken your trap or finding out that someone is set right above you. Let us as trappers make it a point to make sure that everyone has a successful trapping season.

As all of you know our convention is long over, it is crazy to think. I know that me as an officer it feels like I spend months preparing for the convention, and yet it's gone in the blink of an eye. With the convention there were so many helping hands that made it a great success. But I do want to highlight three families that helped me as well as the other officers. They are: Jerry and Jody Carlson, Doug and Shelly Child, and Kent and Deanne Butler. These three families need a pat on the back. They were there to help us officers set up until it was time to take down. Whenever something needed to be done they were more than willing to help out, so thank you! In addition to these three families there were many countless others that gave a helping hand.

For those of you that missed out on the convention let's get you up to speed. I want to introduce our new UTA officer, his name is Mike Hart. Mike is such a great guy and we are excited to work with him for the next little bit, he will be over the UTA's Public Relations. On that note I want to thank Craig Davidson for all of his hard work he has done with the UTA this past little bit. Craig has had a great job opportunity come up and I wish him the best of luck with it!

The convention went great! Our demo guys did a fantastic job; the demos were full of people watching, and learning. The contest ran rather nice, with participants from all around. My favorite part of the convention was the movie after dark. Yes I was freezing the entire time, but next time I will remember to bundle up.

At the banquet dinner this year the food was so good! I love the pot luck dinners that the UTA members do, they are so good. The live auction went well; Kevin Peacock did a great job auctioning off items. We are lucky to have him in our ranks. I am excited to tell you about the individuals that were awarded the UTA's main award. To start off this year's Trapper of the Year went to Richard Wolf, Lady Trapper went to Stacie Dew, and Jr. Trapper of the Year went to Jakoby Kelley. What a deserving bunch of individuals, I could not think of a better bunch than them. The newest member of the UTA's Hall of Fame is Stan Bassett. I was lucky enough to have the honors of presenting Stan/my dad with this. I am grateful that I had that opportunity!

I wish you all the best with your trapping season. If you have any problems with your membership or have any questions regarding it please let me know!

Until Next time,
Amber Bassett
---UTA Secretary