I'd like to start by saying I sure missed seeing everyone at our 
Spring convention, sorry I missed it. Teresa had a prior commitment 
with her work schedule witch included a trip to Las Vegas. She made 
it clear she wasn't going solo and after being there for a few days, 
I don't blame her for not wanting to go alone. Nice place to visit 
if you like crowds, noise, lights, action, lots of activities, 
spend meals and $7 beer. It's good to be back where things are a 
bit more laid back.<br>                 
Sounds like the convention went well. Fifty or so folks were in 
attendance, typical for a spring convention. Here is my 
disclaimer, I obviously wasn't there so if I miss something or 
someone or don't get the facts perfectly straight, forgive me. 
I'd like to thank a few folks right away, Pete, Aaron and Todd 
for doing skinning demos, Todd Martel for donating supplies for 
the grub stakes raffle, Blair Wait for representing GFP, 
Nick from Delta Waterfowl for  his power-point presentation and 
all you who attended to make the convention a success.<br>
Some of the informational topics that headlined the day were: 
#1 SDTA Donations- Monies other than our regular affiliation 
dues that are paid went towards the NTA $250, FTA- $200, United 
States Sportsman Alliance-$300, Farm Products Promotions-$200, 
NTA Gun Raffles-$200 and The Connecticut Trappers Ass. for issues 
they are dealing with, $500. We are not a rich association but 
we feel the monies we do generate should go to support organizations 
that promote and need to protect trapping issues that at some 
point in time may effect all of us. We thank the support of our 
membership for making these donations. #2 SDTA Winter and Spring 
Fund Raising- I don't have all the numbers but can tell you we 
have sold more tanned fur and goods at our Dakota Territory Gun 
Shows this year than any other year. The shows were held in 
Brookings, Sioux Falls, Pierre, and Watertown. Once again we would 
like to thank all of you who gave of your time to work the shows 
and those of you who continue to donate good quality fur to our 
tanned fur project for these fundraisers. In addition to the gun 
shows the fall raffle are also a great money maker. We know many 
of you put in  a lot of time and effort selling raffle tickets. 
John will soon be sending tickets out for this fall so lets gear-up 
and keep up the good work. #3 The 2009 Water Festivals- Great 
opportunities for us to come in contact with thousands of grade 
school kids to help educate the importance of aquatic furbearers 
in our society. The Sioux Empire Water Festival was held in 
Sioux Falls. Gary and Marty Poppenga, Charlie Eich, Gary Fawbush 
and Howard Hidelberger helped and we thank you very much. The Big 
Sioux Festival is in Brookings May 12th, I know John Almquist and 
Don Lockwood will be working it, thanks again.#4 We have the South 
Dakota Outdoor Expo coming up June 13-14 at the State Fairground 
in Huron. This is an event that I think is going to get bigger 
and bigger every year. There is about anything and everything to 
do with the outdoors at this event. It would be a great place to 
take your kids to spend the day for hands on participation just 
about any outdoor activity there is. We need members and friends 
to work at our educational booth, people to do some trapping demo's. 
A good number of folks helping would be great so everyone has a 
chance to partake in activities at the expo. Check out the web 
page at www.sdoutdoorexpo.com . Call John or myself if you can 
help, thanks. #5 Nominations For Director Positions - We are going 
to change this procedure a bit. We have a great bunch of directors 
that have nothing but the best interest in our association and its 
future. Every other year we have at least five director positions 
to be voted on, that's just the way the terms run. Seems like in 
the past we struggle to get enough nominations to fill these positions. 
Some years we don't even need to vote because we only have the 
number of nominations we need to fill a vacancy. When John sends 
out the raffle tickets he will include information on the nomination 
ballot process we are going to use for election of directors at this 
falls convention. Apparently the association has done this in the 
past and we feel it will give members a more informed insight on 
candidates and their desire to serve as a director. We believe 
that this process may also increase the number on nominations if 
we start the procedure at an earlier date than waiting till the 
business meeting and take nominations from the floor. I personally 
believe change is good so here's a chance for everyone to look for 
candidates you think will serve this association and its best 
interests. Call John for nomination information. #6 Proposed 2009-2010 
Trapping Regulations - There have been a few proposed rule changes 
for the next trapping season. One has to do with pre-staking and 
claiming road right of way by and public land sets. It will treat 
pre-staking  these areas similar to muskrat house regs. Another 
proposal is extending the spring rat season in the NE part of the 
state for a week or so because the ice isn't typically out till a 
later date in that part of the country, Blair talked about the 
possibility of a year round beaver season east river and the interest 
in a voluntary only trap tag participation on public land program 
the state may make available. The official proposals will be 
introduced at the  GFP commission meeting in May with finalizations 
in June. To get the real deal go the GFP website and look up 
commission then proposed trapping regs to get the official language. 
I don't know if GFP will pursue the year round beaver trapping or 
not?? Must have met some opposition at the spring convention. 
#7 Just a couple other events in the near future: Prairie Luce Days 
at Lake Herman on June 13th contact Gary Poppenga if interested in 
helping. Oakwood Lakes Walk In Time July 18th. Call me , I don't 
know who the contact person is at this time. We will have our Fall 
Rendezvous Sept. 11 and 12th at the Japanese Gardens at the east 
end of Flandreau. I know Anna , Aaron and John have all checked 
this place out and it's going to be a great location for a fall 
rendezvous. Lots of water will make for a emphasis on water trapping 
as our demo's.<br>
Just a last couple thanks yous. Thanks to all who donated fur throughout 
the year and thanks to those involved at the skinning bee at Petes 
after the convention. I believe those who worked the fur were Pete, 
John Almquist, Gary Olson, Mayron Wiggins, Petes friend 
(sorry I don't have his last name) and I'd bet my bottom dollar 
Sue had another great lunch for all. Todd Martell's daughter, Chloe', 
has been making some updates on our SDTA website. Thank you 
Chloe' for your time in doing that and if anyone has some more 
recent pictures or information you would like to add, please feel 
free to send the information to Chloe' at Trapper.22@hotmail.com .<br>
I'm sure I didn't cover everything but if you'd realized how long 
it takes me to sit down and just get this much written !! Anyway 
hope you all are having a good spring season. I'm back in a sprayer 
for the summer or whatever the spraying season may be. It's not for 
the local Cenex but for my brother and another private farmer. 
Somehow they contracted me out to do all the applications for Cargill 
who is operating out of Emery SD. Should have a minimum of 20-25 
thousand acres to spray. It's a new John Deer sprayer that has more 
$$ tied up in the computer system than the cost of one of the Rogator 
units I use to operate. GPS, auto steer, auto shut off, swath control, 
the works. A monkey could run the thing once you get it figured out--
or even me!! Take care, talk to you soon, KIM.