If you have a local that you attend or if you’d just like help organize a course in your area just contact the ATA education coordinator at 780-349-6626. The ATA is happy to come to your area and put on courses and workshops.

Thats a good idea but until its deemed mandatory I think I'll just wait til i see one close

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Uh oh, TrapperMike, now you've gone and done it. The leadership at the association doesn't want the membership to know about this. :free-scared-smileys

In 2016, a couple of weeks before the AGM, a 5 member team from the association consisting of 2 private trapping school owners, 2 trapping instructors and the spouse of a trapping instructor, met with AEP and formally requested a mandatory snaring course and a separate license required to be allowed to snare in Alberta. They did it without the membership's knowledge or consent and apparently still want to keep it secret. I found out through a FOIP (Freedom of Information and Privacy Protection Act) request to AEP.

Last year I posted the info on here because I figured that Trappers had the right to know only to be met with the usual shills shouting me down with their conspiracy theory, tin foil hat, garbage. Wolfcrazy even went so far as to call me a liar. How do you feel now Wolfcrazy? :sHa_sarcasticlol: In fairness though, it is kind of unbelievable that something like that would happen.

Trapping education generates HUGE amounts of revenue. In one year alone the association made in excess of $130K from the Trapping course and workshops. That's not including the tens of thousands of dollars that the instructors made. For the private trapping schools, who knows how much? I figure that per 10 student Snaring course $400 in revenue will be generated. Multiply that by 3000 Trappers......WOW!
It's in their best interests to lobby for as many mandatory courses as they can get away with and there's not a darned thing that you can do about it.

I'm all for training but the secrecy behind what goes on is what gets my hackles up. I don't even mind it to be mandatory but would like it run a way that certain individuals are not the ones in control of it all. We need future training to prove that we as trappers are humane and have skills. It is the only way to have a future in trapping the way things are going.

I think your numbers are off and I thank the ATA of being proactive in keeping trapping going strong in Alberta!

Will I be seeing you at the rendezvous?

Why do you think the northerners are against it?

Im not sure why most of the northern guys (registered trapline)vote against it or are not in favour of it. Maybe they're scared the southern guys will mess it up for everyone if they're allowed free hangers. Out of sight out of mind kind of thing who knows.

probably a valid point the King , SO there is where education and certification comes in , It,s a lot like a drivers licence , when you pass the test , it only means you had a good memory , Now you have to prove you can drive!
AND a good hard lesson in ETHICS is the key to no hassle harvesting !

It was well known at the agm last year. Dave I hope you come to the rendezvous an actually talk to some real people instead of comming up with conspiracy theory’s at your computer. I bet you think your some kinda hero why don’t you become a town cop an take your built up frustration on speeders an picking up stray dogs.

Like most keyboard warriors he is most likely a coward as well and will not show up and get some info right from the horses mouth... pretty typical of his type

Still have room for a couple more for the snaring seminar. Set for sept 29 and will be held in Alix. Pm for more info.

400 bucks to attend this seminar in alix!!! wth!! no wonder old fat fingers doesn't want to post it for everyone to see!!!

i'll keep my cash in my pocket, thank you very much.:sHa_sarcasticlol:

Wow, that was quick. At least they waited a few months before increasing the cost of the Standard Trapping course after they made it mandatory. :lol:

Just kidding. It'll take a few years for them to bump up the cost that high.

Don't feed the troll...

https://image.ibb.co/jGw8Ky/IMG_0436.gif

400 bucks? For real?
Wow!!No wonder a few individuals want to press so hard to make this mandatory! Unreal!
Please tell me this isn't real?

Discussions to bring in a mandatory Snaring course began in 2015 or earlier. At the 2015 AGM nothing was said about it.

In 2016, just two weeks prior to the AGM, the association formally requested a mandatory Snaring course and a seperate Snaring license. At the 2016 AGM nothing was said about it.

In July 2017 I acquired the FOIP request and discovered what was going on. I shared that knowledge with my fellow Trappers and announced it publically. Only after the cat was out of the bag was it mentioned at the 2017 AGM.

The individual that provided the snaring brief at last year's AGM was also in attendance at the 2016 AEP meeting when the association made the formal request. In May 2017 while giving a Snaring seminar at the Edmonton Local, the same individual told the members in attendance that there was a "Rumour" that it may become mandatory. Yeah, ya think? :sHa_sarcasticlol: This is where I should get my info?

Thanks, but I think that I'll stick with FOIP requests to AEP to get the facts.

Now there ! If that,s not greed I don,t know what is! And you wonder why the younger kids don,t want to join? At that cost they CANT join!
Not sure if you fellows realize this but $400.00 is more than some trappers earn after expenses!
maybe its time some of us start this snaring course for a basic cost including lunch in the field and make a day of it where you have hands on tutoring ! Instead of doing it in a room .

I think that someone got their wires crossed. There's no way. I can't believe that.

I find it hard to believe. Hopefully Trappermike will pipe up if it isn't true

I sure hope this is BS ! If it is a fact it sure gives a dirty feeling

Back to the original post...... I if I read it correctly it says sponsored but might mean hosted by the local.

The only person that said 400 bucks for a snaring course was D Dave. If the seminar isn’t sponsored the cost is usually 80.

I check on this forum often and can’t believe some of the BS I see a few people post. Some people figure the world is against them..... and it would be entertaining to be in that house hold. Lol

A few of us took the snare seminar last fall after the AGM. It was not $400, it was $85 I do believe, $80 or $85.

Maybe the snare course should be required. Not everybody in the province that is snaring these $135 coyotes is up to speed on modern equipment. So for the price of 1/2 a really nice coyote, they get learned.

Yup, you Nailed it. There’s no fooling you.

Yup, it's supposed to be $80, the same price as at Gordy's private business. Big surprise. He wouldn't want the association to be under cutting him. :lol:

How in the flip do you know if there are Trappers that are not up to speed with trapping coyotes? It's not exactly rocket science. People just repeat this crap over and over until it becomes truth. It's just another imaginary reason for fleecing Trappers and lining people's pockets with Trapper's money.

Maybe you should get yourself elected as President, Marty. You could lobby to make it mandatory to only use Senneker snares in Alberta. The association and your private business would be the only ones to sell them. You could jack up the price $10 per snare once they become mandatory. Apparently all that you have to do is convince a few shills that snaring would come to an end in Alberta if they don't go along with it and those useful idiots will help you convince everyone else. Hey, it worked well for Gordy's business so I don't think that it couldn't work well for yours as well.

Our local had a snaring course put on by the Ata in 2015-2016 season an everyone in attendance got a certificate. The instructor told us it was in the works to certify all trappers to use snares. Dave you are a troll the cost is 85 if I remember. I sure hope you come to the rendezvous an Mabe talk to a real person. I am sure I will know it’s you sporting your tin foil hat an talking to yourself.

Well that,s more like it ! And we DO need a refresher for a lot of trappers in Alberta , it likely wont change their methods , But If The COMPONENTS OF A SNARE ARE RULED MANDATORY , THAT would be a great improvement !
1: Making the COMPONENTS of a snare mandatory is really the way to go , THEN every one is on the same level .POINT IN FACT , no one uses a .22 cal to hunt big game ! Make MARTY rich again ! HAT COMING UP !
2: THEN the seminar should teach THE ETHICS of humane snaring for those who are starting out in the business!
Like where , where not to , etc

There Davey-boy, you hit the nail on the head. Therein lies the problem, and the ATA came up with a solution.

Don't forget, the consequences of the problem could very easily impact trapping and snaring in all of Alberta. The trappers association was tasked with finding a solution to the problem, and they've come up with educating the trappers.

Either the trappers find solutions or the govt will bring about heavy handed "solutions" which could end our enterprises.

One simple solution is to educate the trappers to be using humane equipment.

Another solution would is allow the govt to bring about heavy handed laws to make themselves look good to the animal rights people.

Back to your statement, how do we know who does and who doesn't? Well a blanket policy for all trappers, then we know everybody is up to speed/educated.

So after last years AGM, Godberson, Jaburek and myself put in a day and took the snare seminar, both to support the ATA in their continual work to ensure our trapping industry continues, and to have our certificates, in the event that this seminar becomes mandatory. I strongly suggest we all come on board.

As we enter the age of fur certification/traceability/accountability, the act of being snare certified will have value to you as a trapper when Billy comes knocking on your door. Perhaps much more value down the road than now but whatever.

How in the flip do you know if there aren’t trappers that don’t have any idea on how to humanely snare coyotes? It’s not rocket science! It is science being done at the FIC testing snares and snare components.

I have seen some poorly caught coyotes and try a give the trapper some tips to help them out when I can.

The rest of your post almost doesn't dignify a response.

My game is not some get rich quick scheme, I sell stuff because that is where my path has led, but I built stuff because 20+ years ago I believed that we needed to step up the snare or potentially lose it. I loved using common neck snares and didn't want to end up down the same path as Manitoba, and be forced to use Rams only.

(Seems your worst fear happened over 20 years ago in MB and like 10 years ago in SK, and almost happened in AB as well)

On top of that, I love my coyotes, and had no desire for them to ever suffer. When I seen the Ram 27 years ago, I believed I could get similar results with a small torsion spring, had to be a way. So developing the mini snare spring was always in the back of my mind.

... not to get rich but to treat these beautiful coyotes better. Do realize, very little entanglement in these parts and the Hansen Kill Pole helped but wasn't the solution. Not to get rich, but to benefit the trapping industry.

Then the American breakaway devices of the day were a massive flop. Seemed nobody was willing to ever lose a coyote and massively over gunned on the BADs that were widely being used. So that needed fixing too. Last season, I caught 100s and 100s of coyotes without holding a deer... that's called fixing.

So what are you doing Dave? What are you doing to further our industry? Anything? Looks from here like nothing constructive, but I won't cut you off at the knees, but do tell.

Wild fur and traceability

A couple of large businesses are working on traceability of fur to allow their customers a piece of mind that their product they bought was harvested by a licensed certified trapper. Now I’m guessing they would want to know that there was some type of training for the individual to ensure they are using the best methods we currently have.

How do we do that??
Well we could test the equipment ..... being done ✅
Training and certification...... being done ✅

Sure there are costs on both sides but in the end we will have a industry of trained trappers (everyone on the same page) and hopefully a strong market to sell our furs in.

Just my 2 cents