January, 2025 President's Report

Greetings all. I will start this with a note for those lifetime members who joined at or since convention. The business that makes our plaques ran out of plaques we utilize for our lifetime members. He has re-ordered them, but there has been a delay getting them back in stock. As soon as they arrive and Kristan receives them, your lifetime member package will be sent to you. We apologize for the delay in getting those out to everyone. 

As I write this, season is underway for another year. I am waiting to set, but will get some out here soon. Hope everyone has an enjoyable season, since that is what it is all about the past decade. As has been said many times, take someone along who hasn’t participated whether young or old, female or male. It can make a good time to be had for you and them as well.

I did a pre-recorded interview about the ITA, which aired November 2nd, for Cedar Rapids WMT radio Iowa Outdoor show with Doug Wagner and Ron Lane. I did pretty good until about half-way through when I had one of those blank moments, which was cut out of the interview prior to airing. I did a live show once about 2010 for Sportsmen’s Notebook on WHO radio in Des Moines, the nerves came out that day!!  Back in July, I was voted onto the NTA’s Hall of Fame Selection Committee, then in October received word I was elected to the FTA Governing Board. I never imagined I would have an opportunity to do such special things like this, let alone be YOUR president of the ITA. Almost 23 years ago when I was voted onto this board, I remember well that feeling inside. The great people I have met not only from Iowa, but all over this country only makes my life even better today. I do all this for the passion it has become for me since that first day in the fall of 1972.  I want those in the future that may want to experience this to have that opportunity as well if they desire.  

Currently we have District 20 that is open due to the passing of Scott Webb this past June. The counties in that district are Allamakee, Chickasaw, Howard and Winneshiek in NE Iowa. Requirements for the position are that you must be a current member, live in one of those counties listed and attend at least two meetings in a 12 month period. You must present yourself before the ITA Board for consideration. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me for more information.

A couple weeks ago we finished our last beginner trapper classes of the year.  Thank you to Roger/Cody Hutton and Calvin Barber for covering the St Charles class, the one closest to home and I wasn’t able to be there. Talked with Cody, he said all the attendees participated and was one of the best classes since starting these 3 years ago.  He indicated that some new members would be coming from this class. A short time later Kristan was sending me new emails to go into my ITA email list. Thank you to everyone who helped with these classes, without you these would not have been possible. Also to all who joined the association due to these classes Thank you!

I talked with Kristan before my interview to get membership numbers which was at 1442 with 541 lifetimes. After convention we were a little over 1400 members, so membership keeps steadily growing. Between the beginner trapper classes, our YouTube channel and blips from other YouTuber’s  is where we are gaining members. Thank you to everyone who has joined or renewed their memberships with the association, your support is greatly appreciated.

Our next event is our 15th annual ITA Fur Auction. The auction will be held January 11th at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Boone. We will begin accepting sellers starting Dec 1st.  This is done so we know how many people are planning to sell, since we limit the sale to 60 sellers. Contact Dave Phipps at 515 491-8214 or myself at 515-306-9385. If you need guidelines you can go to the ITA website or email me at hightoweria@aol.com  and I can send them to you. We will have our normal 10-12 buyers present as in the past. When you get there you will receive a card with a number, this number will be your seller number for the auction. This helps Dave, Cody and myself with the lotting in process. This will be our 9th year with the computer system, so this year seller numbers will be 900 plus the number on the card.  Also, if you have blue or damaged pelts put them on a separate string. Those blue or damaged pelts will only reduce the value of your good pelts if mixed in. Once your fur is lotted in, all fur MUST cross the buyers table before it can be pulled for “No Sale”.  Let us know when we are lotting in your fur the minimum price you are wanting, so that can be written on the seller sheet.  For any “No Sale” fur, the commission is calculated off the last bid received. Commission will be 3% for “No Sales” and 5% for sales. Pay the clerk via cash or check only as we will not be able to accept debit or credit cards. After paying your commission, a sheet will be given for you to take to the buyers which purchased your fur. Doors will open at 7 A.M. and auction will begin at 9.  Dan Roberts and Kristie Lambert will have food for lunch plus we will have doughnuts, pop and coffee for a free-will donation.

Funke Trap Tags, Backwater Baits & Sleepy Creek Tannery will be present. Contact them prior if you need them to bring something as they may not be bringing everything you may want. Ben will be accepting fur to be tanned if you want to bring it along as well. Everyone is welcome to attend whether selling or just to see what goes on.   Hope to see everyone in Boone!!

March 7-9th the ITA will have a booth at the Iowa Deer Classic in Des Moines.  Our booth will be number C08 located on the Upper Level Grand Concourse close to the doors into the Big Buck display area. If you attend, stop by and chat with us.

March 15th we will be having our 23rd Annual NTF/ITA Central Iowa Sportsmen’s Banquet at the Sheraton West Des Moines Hotel 1800 50th St in West Des Moines. The hotel is located just east of I-80/I-35 at the University Ave exit. There will be games, raffles, silent and live auctions during the evening. If you are interested in attending, contact me and I will get you that info when it becomes available, usually around late January. Last year tickets were $50 each which included a sit-down dinner. Doors will open at 4 P.M. with dinner being served at 6:30. When you get there park on the southside of the building, walk through the double doors and down the hallway to get to the banquet room. It is a fun evening for a good cause for all who attend. See everyone there.

Currently, I am looking at February 2, April 6 and June 22 as dates for Board meetings this year.  I have yet to select a location for meetings, but will let everyone know when I do. As always, all current members are welcomed to attend any meeting.

That is about it for now. Hope everyone has a good holidays. Til next time - Craig

November, 2024 President's Report

Greetings all. As I write this on August 31st, four of ten Beginner Trapper classes have been held. Attendance numbers to this point have been good to excellent – 22 to over 40 at each event, with about an average of 30 for 4 classes. There has been young, old, male and female who have attended. There are still 6 remaining around the state starting the weekend after convention.  Those locations are: 9/14/24 Cherokee/Quimby - Silver Sioux Recreational Area 5938 Silver Sioux Rd, Quimby, IA,  9/15/24 Ames - Story County Conservation Area 56461 180th St, Ames, 9/22/24 Knoxville - Marion County Sportsman's Club 1702 Old Hwy 92, Knoxville, 9/22 Dixon – Wapsi River Environmental Learning Center 31555 52nd Ave, Dixon,  9/28 Burlington – Des Moines County Conservation Board Starr’s Cave Nature Center 11627 Cave Rd, Burlington, 10/19/24 Saint Charles - Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy 2514 Victory Ln. St Charles. Go to the DNR website: https://license.gooutdoorsiowa.com/Event/EventsHome.aspx

Select an event date on calendar for “Learn to Furharvest” then “Go to Event” to register and read info for that location. Attendee’s leave with a dvd, traps, stakes,  bait, magazines and other information materials. We have found  a lot of kids in these classes are eager to participate, we just need to get them into the field.

Iowa had quite a presence at the NTA in Sioux Falls last month. We had one   area of the campground where most of us from Iowa camped and spent evenings. Also, thank you to everyone who stopped by the booth and signed up or renewed their membership as well as everyone who helped in the booth.

With the unexpected passing of Scott Webb back in June, the ITA has an open director position. District 20 includes Allamakee, Chickasaw, Howard & Winneshiek counties. Requirements for the position are: 1) you must be a current paid-up member of the ITA. 2) live in one of those counties listed. 3) be able to attend at least two meetings in a 12 month period. You must present yourself before the ITA Board for consideration. If anyone has any questions feel free to contact me for more info.

The Fall ITA Board meeting was held Friday September 6th. Guests were Calvin Barber, Curtis Barber, Justin Stiens, Jeff Milner, Allyson Oser and Jamie Cook. At that meeting Tony Evans accepted the NTA Director position. After watching Tony inter-mingle with other NTA Directors at Sioux Falls, I was pretty sure he would accept that position. Thanks Tony. Director at Large positions up for election this year were Ray Eserhaut & Brad Mohr. Nominations made at the Board meeting were Ray Eserhaut, Brad Mohr & Calvin Barber. Since there were 3 nominations, that requires a vote of the membership on Saturday. Spencer Hill’s term on the Executive Council was up. Spencer and Kerry Baetsle were nominated for that position. Spencer was re-elected to his position on the Executive Council by the Board.

Kristan indicated our membership at 1392 with 537 lifetimes, 2 lifetime numbers are saved, but not filled prior to the Board meeting. By the time convention was over I feel our membership number to be in the area 1415 with 550 lifetimes. Our new lifetimes since my last report are Wes Schlenker, Tony Roden, Jeff Hale, Todd Schultz, Jared Charland, Gary Reeder, Brock Hutton, Beckett Barber, David Eivins, Jeff Milner, Jonathan Wilbourne, Ryan Ruhl, Eric Faber, Dylan Schlichting, Christain Nook, Cassie Elliot, Maddie Olson, Shaun Eilander & Kristan Barclay. Thank you to all our new, renewing and lifetime members who have joined recently.

JD Rogge has met with the Cherokee County Fairground board and confirmed Sept 5-6  for our ITA Convention & Sportshow in 2025. We will be in 1 building for inside vendors, same food vendor as in 2020.  Hopefully we will have a good weekend like this year, so make your plans for 2025 in Cherokee.

The next item that came out of the meeting was the finalizing of a new item the ITA will release the first part of next year. A sustaining patch will be available to ANY member at a cost of $25. The initial design will be of a mink, since a mink is on our logo. I will let everyone know when they become available and I will be handling all sustaining patch orders for the association not Chris.

There was a committee formed for gathering of input looking at possible convention date changes. Any input should be relayed to Bruce Rhoads, Dave Phipps or Julian Johnsen. There was also a demo committee formed to bring input back to the Board concerning the demo area. RJ Barclay, Shane Burmeister, Luke  DeMeulenaere & Justin Deaver are on that committee.

Saturday morning at 9 A.M. the Beginner Trapper class was held. There were 41 who participated in this event. Different types of sets and locations were covered. Afterwards everyone received traps, stakes, t-shirt, lure, bait, magazines and other items. There was also drawings for some special items that were donated. Those who helped with this were Luke DeMeulenaere, Shane Burmeister, Justin Deaver, Bruce Rhoads, Micky Craig, Tyler Haden, Grant Beschorner & Nathaniel Utterback. Thanks to everyone who helped make this possible. 

At the General Membership meeting on September 7th, I introduced Tony Evans as our new NTA Director and indicated that District 20 was open to attendees.  

Ballots were passed out for election of the 2 Director at Large positions. After ballots were counted Brad Mohr & Calvin Barber were elected to 3 year terms. Thank you Ray for all your assistance to the ITA over the years.

Chris Grillot and I ran unopposed for our current positions since there were no further nominations from the membership. The current members of this board are some of the hardest working gals & guys I know. All dedicate many hours to the association and the pastime we so deeply love. There are currently 515 years of experience on the Board. Thank you to everyone for all your dedication to the ITA.

The ITA had the pleasure of having Miss Iowa Teen Avery Bradley at our convention in Winterset. I know she had a cross-country meet Saturday morning, but was able to attend afterwards. She strolled over the grounds and spoke at the membership meeting as well before leaving. Thank you Avery for your time and presence at convention.

I presented the President’s award to Tony Evans. I remember a conversation from many years back in which Tony said “you never asked”. Since that time, Tony has accepted the District 5 Director position, jumped in to see we had a convention in 2022, past 2 years oversaw the pre-convention raffle, helped out at our banquet, state convention or even the NTA Nationals, fur auction and many more. Thank you Tony for all you have done to represent the ITA.

The 4 ITA $750 scholarships this year went to Josie Hutton, Elaina Murders, Allyson Oser & Catrina Sells. Congratulations to all these young ladies for their efforts to receive these scholarships.

Roger Hutton read all the trap setting and skillet throw winners as plaques were presented. Thank you goes out to Rick Hemsath for the trap setting plaques that he has donated for as long as I can remember for this event.

After calling for any “Old Business” during the meeting, I heard a faint reply of “Craig Sweet” from the bleachers. After asking who said that, fingers got pointed to Bridger Hutton.  Thanks Bridger for your reminding me, but whisper softer next time!!

Convention was super this year and weather could not have been any better. We had new vendors, tailgaters and people attend from near and far. Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Nebraska, Arkansas, Kansas even New Mexico to name a few I know of. The buildings were full as usual, tailgating area filled with about everything you may need.  Thank you to Terri Webb for all of Scott’s items she had Grace & Dale Rowson sell for her. All proceeds from those sales were donated back to help fund our Beginner Trapper classes. The demo area was far above what we have ever had. The guys put a lot of effort into this area were Calvin Barber, Shane Burmeister, Justin Deaver, Luke  DeMeulenaere, Cody Hutton, Dale Rowson, Jeff Inlow & Tim Anderson.  I know there have been pictures posted on our ITA facebook page, it was pretty awesome what the guys put into this – check it out.

The auction on Saturday evening was over the top. Dan Roberts and Kristie Lambert provided food prior to starting of the auction. All proceeds from their free-will donation were requested to be utilized for our Beginner Trapper classes – Thank you Dan & Kristie for all your help and generous donations. At the auction we had 2 bear traps, red fox quilt, beaver bedspread, ITA logo decanter, cement ITA logo w/stand, trip down south to run a trapline with Dean Bartz & Tim Anderson, bows, some of Scott Webb’s personal items, our #10 and final hardcover ITA History book, Gail Clouses’ painted saw blades and many other items donated by our generous members and attendees. There was one item that sold multiple times that generated over $1600 during the evening. Thank you to everyone who donated and purchased those items to make the evening the biggest we have ever had. Thank you to Bret Smith for auctioneering, Roger Hutton & Dave Phipps for assisting, Chris & Kristan for clerking and all the youngsters for their assistance getting items to buyers.

The ITA Fur Auction will be held January 11, 2025 at the Boone County Fairgrounds in Boone. Dave Phipps, I presume, will begin accepting seller numbers starting Dec 1st as he has in the past. You can contact Dave at 515 491-8214. Some contact me, which I have no problem with, and will relay that info to Dave. My phone is 515-306-9385. When you get there you will receive a card with a number, this number will be your seller number for the auction. This system helps with the lotting process as Dave, Cody and myself no longer have to inquire which seller number we are currently on and much easier to keep track of. Also, the issue we see most when lotting in fur is ‘bad” pelts mixed with good. If you have blue or damaged pelts put them on a separate string. Those blue or damaged pelts will only downgrade the value of your good pelts if they are mixed in. Once your fur is lotted in, all fur MUST cross the buyers table before it can be pulled for “No Sale”.  Let us know when we are lotting in your fur the minimum price you are wanting so that can be written on the seller sheet.  For any “No Sale” fur, the commission is calculated off the last bid received. Commission as in the past will be 3% for “No Sales” and 5% for sales. Pay the clerk via cash or check only as we will not be able to accept debit or credit cards. After paying your commission, a sheet will be given for you to take to the buyers which purchased your fur. Doors will open at 7 A.M. and auction will begin at 9. Last year Dan Roberts and Kristie Lambert provided food for lunch plus we will have doughnuts, pop and coffee like in the past. We will be doing the same again this year as well. Hope to see everyone in Boone!!

Two more Beginner Trappers classes were completed this past weekend. Saturday September 14th in Cherokee we had 10 youth and 10 adults attend. Laura Jones, Director of the Cherokee County Conservation Board, explained some common animal tracks printed on paper. Then we went outside for “tracks in the snow” which were a series of tracks painted on a white bed sheet. While outside “in the snow” kids were guessing each track and direction of travel.  Most tracks went off the edge of the bed sheet, except for opossum tracks that started at the end of a short piece of a painted log with woodgrain showing on the end. One young boy, guessing about 10/12 years old, said “where did the opossum come from, there are no tracks on or before the log? All the adults started laughing due to his analysis of those tracks. Laura stated that was the first time anyone had ever called her out over the many years she had displayed it. She was going to paint that end of the log black to make it look like its hollow. All the kids left with pelts or an ITA membership plus everything that goes with the class. Thank you to JD Rogge for organizing, John Sells, Chad Mahler, John Lenz and Cody Wright for assisting during class.

Sunday September 15th we were at Ames with 7 adults present for this class. Most had not trapped before, but were asking questions and taking notes. All were happy with the information and materials they received during the day. Thanks to Shane Burmeister, Luke  DeMeulenaere, Jeff Milner and Bruce Rhoads for their assistance.

Well that is about it for this report. Trapping season will start November 2nd this year. Have a good season and take a kid along or even an adult. Til next time - Craig.

September, 2024 President's Report

Greetings all. There has been a lot going on since my last report. First, Scott Webb our District 20 Director passed away suddenly June 16th. Scott was on the ITA Board prior to me then stepped back in September of 2013. He was a person of the outdoors and worked heavily in forestry including operating his own saw mills. He was also a coach for Clay Crushers shooting team from Cresco. Scott knew about everyone as was apparent at his Celebration of Life where some people waited for 3 ½ hours to get through the line. His wisdom and generosity will be greatly missed by all those who knew him. RIP Scott.

There is a NEW furharvester regulation change pushed and supported by the ITA that passed this past legislative session to give youth trappers parity with hunting and fishing. That change pertains only to youth trapping and reads as follows - A person under age 16 is not required to have a furharvester license to trap furbearing animals if accompanied by a parent, guardian or other competent adult, who possess a valid furharvester license while trapping furbearing animals. There must be one licensed adult for each person under 16 years of age.

Additional info - IF a youth under 16 is trapping BY THEMSELF ALONE a furharvester license IS still required. This new rule allows youth who have never trapped to “tag along” and be able to “participate” to see if it will interest them before a license is required.

June 1st I was at Lake Icaria for the SW Iowa Trappers Get-together hosted by Mike Fletchall and Justin Stiens. They had a few less kids and adults attend than last year, but still had a good crowd. There was a raccoon demo for the kids, Logan Exline did a beaver demo and Jason Jenkins a coyote demo. All kids left with traps, bait, lure, stakes, magazine, information and other items to assist their trapping this coming fall. Thank you to Mike and Justin for hosting this event and all their sponsors who donated supplies for the kids – Funke Trap Tags, A&J Skinning Machines, Keg Creek Baits & Lures, Backwater Baits, Cedar Creek Lures, Fletchall Predator Control and Adams County Conservation.

June 10th I headed to Harrisonburg, VA to attend the FTA Board meeting and Rendezvous. The biggest item from the week was announcement of the location for 2025 National Rendezvous. The 2025 FTA National Rendezvous will be held July 25-27th which is a Friday -Sunday at Clay County Fairgrounds in Spencer. Mike Mazur has taken on overseeing this event, his plans are for vendors to be indoors in the AC of the southside of the Events Center and demo building will be in the same location as we had during our hosting of NTA in 2021.

June 14th and 15th was the Miss Iowa Teen/Miss Iowa Pageant in Davenport. Tom Walters is working with Dale & Grace Rowson to take over his presenting of the ITA’s sheared beaver coat and vest to the gals. Our 2024 Miss Iowa is Abigaille Bato-Tiako, Miss Iowa Teen is Avery Bradley.  We hope to have both gals at convention in Winterset.

June 15th Kerry Baetsle, Bruce Rhoads and Luke DeMeulenaere set up at the Iowa County Outdoor Adventure at Lake Iowa near Millersburg. There were about 176 kids pre-register to participate in various activities related to the outdoors. They explained traps, showed different pelts that can be harvested in Iowa, handed out info pertaining to trapping. Thanks to Kerry, Bruce and Luke for helping run the booth. 

June 23rd was the Summer ITA Board meeting. Kristan reported our membership 1,353 with 15 new members since April and 530 lifetime members. Of those 530 about 500 are currently living. Our new lifetime members since my last report are: Roger Tucker, William Van Deest, Terry Johnson, Mike O’Hearn, Christy Miller & Wes Schlenker. Thank you to all our new, renewing and lifetime members for their support.

Justin Deaver announced locations for beginner trapper classes. There will be 10 classes around the state for anybody wanting to learn basics of trapping. Online registration will begin through the DNR website soon for anyone interested. The following are dates and locations for those classes --  8/4/24 Montezuma-Diamond Lake, Foster Center, 8/11/24 Exira-Audubon County Conservation Club 2592 Hwy 71  Exira, , 8/18/24 Mason City-Lime Creek Nature Center 3501 Lime Creek Rd, Mason City,  8/24/24 Inwood-Lyon County Nature Center 1831 Buchanan Ave, Inwood, 9/14/24 Cherokee-Silver Sioux Recreational Area, 9/15/24 Ames-Story County Conservation Area 56461 180th St, Ames, 9/22/24 Knoxville-Marion County Sportsman's Club 1702 Old Hwy 92, Knoxville, 9/22 Dixon – Wapsi River Environmental Learning Center 31555 52nd Ave, Dixon,  9/28 Burlington – Des Moines County Conservation Board Starr’s Cave Nature Center 11627 Cave Rd, Burlington, 10/19/24 Saint Charles -Hutton Valley School of Taxidermy 2514 Victory Ln. St Charles. Go to the DNR website, click on Hunting tab, under Hunting news go to “Learn to Hunt program open registration for beginner fur harvesting workshops”. Follow the event tab to select location and date to register. There is to be a QR code assigned to each location to register as well.  

ITA is having a pre-convention gun raffle for a Beretta A300 Ultima 12 gauge. Tickets are $20 ea. with only 200 available. Contact Tony Evans or some ITA Board members for tickets. The gun will be drawn for on Saturday Sept. 7th at convention, you need not be present to win.

In my last report I indicated that the ITA is looking for person/s interested in being a FTA or NTA Director. Currently we have 2 members interested in the NTA Director position, but none as I write for FTA position. Requirements again for either position are: 1) You must be a current member of the ITA. 2) A current member of the respective organization of interest. 3) Attend annual Board meeting of respective organization:  FTA – normally Wednesday prior to National Rendezvous, NTA - Tuesday/Wednesday prior to National. 4) Report to ITA Board 4 times a year happenings of respective organization, then to ITA membership at our convention. 5) Each organization requests volunteer time in their booth during their respective convention. 6) ITA Board of Directors shall appoint the affiliate director who shall be the I.T.A’s representative to the affiliated organization and a non-voting position on the ITA Board. Anyone interested in either of these positions can contact me for further information at 515-306-9385 or hightoweria@aol.com.

The ITA Fall Convention & Sportshow will be held Sept 6-7th in Winterset at the Madison County fairgrounds. The address is 1204 W Summit St or .6 miles east of the junction of Hwy 169 and Hwy 92 at the west side of town. Cost to tailgate will be $25 per space and my inside vendor space is currently full. There will be plenty of camping for either primitive or those that need electric PLUS 26 spaces with full hook-ups. Primitive camping will be $11 per night and with electric $17 per night. Fairgrounds staff will collect camping fees, also there is a dump station present on the grounds. My current list of vendors attending are: Cumberland's, Kansas Trapline Products, Keg Creek Lures, Funke Trap Tags, Fiber Tuff, No B-S Lures, Top Lot Stretchers, R&M Lures,  AJ Skinners, MJ Enterprises, Robert's Trading, Backwater Baits, Mike O'Hearn, Life is Now Outdoors. Exline’s River Bottom Baits, Billingsley Brand Lures, Last Step Trap Supply/Tanning, Madison County Conservation Board, Delta Waterfowl, Cook’s Fur & Leather, Sleepy Creek Tannery, Blakeley’s Bait & Lure, Bret Smith/Lenon Lures and Papio Creek Trap Supply, Iowa Trapper Bears, Cedar River Baits, Mike’s Outdoor Sports, Fletchall Predator Control, DNR, FTA, NTA, ITA.

The two motels in town are: Covered Bridge Inn – 515-462-4888 is about ½ mile east of town off Hwy 92 and the Cobblestone Inn – 515-462-4889 is about ¼ mile west of Hwy 169 and Hwy 92 on the north side of town. I have 10 rooms blocked under the Iowa Trappers at the Cobblestone for $122 per night plus tax and 15 rooms blocked under Iowa Trappers at the Covered Bridge Inn for $99 per night plus tax. Indicate you are with the Iowa Trappers to get those rooms and prices.

Friday evening will be the potluck. We will again be holding a beginner trapper class starting at 9 A.M. Saturday morning as we have in the past for anyone interested. Also, don’t forget the ITA photo contest, mail your photo/s to, Tom Walters 1723 20th St. Bettendorf, IA 52722 or bring them to convention. If you bring them to convention, get your photo to Tom before noon Saturday for judging.  Be sure to put your name on the back of the photo as well.  Categories include: Animal in Trap, Trapper and Catch, Multiple Catch and Youth (16 & younger).

At the auction Saturday evening there will be a couple items to take note of.  One will be the LAST and FINAL autographed hardcover ITA History book #10 of 10 written and complied by Mike Sells. This book was released in September 2019 and also available in soft cover for $25 postage paid to your door or $20 at convention. The other item will be a slightly used sheared beaver blanket approximately 95 inches wide by 102 inches long which will fit a queen or king size bed.  To view a tentative schedule for convention, go to the website at www.iowatrappers.com under convention.

The Fall Board of Directors meeting will be held at 1 P.M. September 6th at the fairgrounds in Winterset. The General Membership meeting will be held 1:30 P.M. Saturday September 7th.

As always, all current ITA members are always welcome to attend any of these meetings.

Have a good Summer. Til next time - Craig