Add this to the Pennsylvania WTF files:
FRIEDENSBURG – Listening to youngsters shout out answers to his questions – most of them correct – and seeing their excitement took Brian Mohn back to the first time he became exposed to trapping.
“That’s a weasel!” exclaims one youngster. “Wow, a beaver!” excitedly shouts out another. “I know what that is,” proudly says another, “it’s a mink!”
It was easy for Mohn to understand the excitement of those youngsters because he was a sixth-grade student in the Hamburg School District when he was first exposed to trapping. He was also then the same age as many of the participants at the Schuylkill County Youth Field Day who were answering his questions and identifying pelts.”
BY DOYLE DIETZ (OUTDOORS EDITOR outdoors@republicanherald.com)
Ahh to think of those bright, shiny faces learning eagerly how to set snares or body-crushing conibear traps on a sunny afternoon. It’s so important to get children away from the TV, guide them outdoors and engaged with nature. It helps them understand the world and their role in it, and besides, killing things is fun. Just ask the PTA – no not that PTA.
He believes the aggressive, proactive approach of the PTA (Pennsylvania Trappers Association) has done much to begin turning the tide with the non-sporting segment of the population in understanding how trapping methods and techniques have changed with the times and is an outdoors pursuit that can be enjoyed as a family activity.
I guess. Dad takes the kids fishing and hunting, why not take them trapping too? Why not let them stroke the soft fur of those little broken necks? Or feel the intricately webbed back toes of that crushed beaver removed from the conibear? Later you can round off the evening with some target practice, skipping stones at waterfowl, and an evening drive through town for some light race baiting and gay bashing before your much-deserved night of rest.
Parents teach their children so much.
Mohn believes some of that interest is because of new opportunities to trap provided by the Pennsylvania Game Commission for species such as bobcats and fishers. He also has seen evidence that some of the radical, fanatical charges leveled against trapping by animal rights and anti-hunting/trapping groups have been rejected by even non-sportsmen who have come to understand the positive effects of trapping in controlling wildlife.
Yes thank goodness the authorities added fishers and bobcats to the game list because there is SUCH an overpopulation of these animals You can hardly go outside anymore without seeing one darting across your lawn or crawling out from under your car. Those radical animal rights people just don’t understand our noble trapping trade. They foolishly object to forcing the coyote population to change their diet by gnawing off their own forepaws or pouring chemicals in bunny eyes to see which ones sting the worst. What’s wrong with them?
Fortunately if we get to the children young enough, we can pretty much stamp out any risk of compassion whatsoever.
Don’t worry if the PTA didn’t come to your class with body part show-and-tell, you can still catch the show at the 74th Annual Rendezvous and Convention held at the Schulylkill state fair grounds June 16-19, just in time for father’s day. Plan to attend a few of these remarkable workshops.
Seminars: Thursday – Beaver, 8 a.m.; Beaver Snaring, 9 a.m.; Woodland Fox, 10 a.m.; Beaver/Avoiding Otter, 11 a.m.; Canine Trapping, noon; Winter Coyote Trapping, 1 p.m.; Dog Proof Coon Traps, 2 p.m.; Beaver Snaring, 3 p.m.; TBA, 4 p.m.; Pennsylvania Game Commission, 5 p.m.
Friday – Canine, 8 a.m.; Beaver Snaring, 9 a.m.; Raccoon, 10 a.m.; Canine Trapping, 11 a.m.; Mink, noon; Coyote, 1 p.m.; TBA, 2 p.m.; Winter Coyote Trapping, 3 p.m.; Canine Location/Map Reading, 4 p.m.; Beaver Avoiding Otter, 5 p.m.
Saturday – Mink, 8 a.m.; Coyote 9 a.m.; Trap Preparation/Canines, 10 a.m.; Bobcat, 11 a.m.; Coyote, noon; PTA Meeting, 1 p.m.; Mink, 2 p.m.; Fox, 3 p.m.; Coyote, 4 p.m.; Q&A, 5 p.m.
I’m mildly curious. Why would you want to avoid otter anyway? They have even nicer fur and they eat all those important fish? i guess I’ll find out at the class. Do you think Josh’s aunt (who offered to make a coat of me) will be there?
