Lots to offer at trapper conclave

If you are interested in trapping, the Arkansas Trappers Association Spring Convention at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Arkadelphia will be equivalent to a threeday college course.

The convention will be held June 15-17. Admission is free and open to the public.

The event will be held in conjunction with the Grand Sports Show Five State Convention. It will feature demonstrations by trappers and hunters from 16 states. Vendors will sell items such as trapping necessities, deer and turkey hunting supplies and nearly anything associated with hunting and trapping.

Wayne Watson of Fayetteville, president of the Arkansas Trappers Association, said there’ll even be fishing equipment for sale.

“There will be a huge auction Saturday [June 17] with lots of great things to bid on,” Watson said. “The best part is it’s free and open to the public.”

Vendors may reserve tables for $25 each with each one limited to eight tables.

Demonstrations will cover every aspect of trapping, fur preparation and marketing.

The June 15 schedule will feature demonstrations on snaring, trapping beavers, skunks, gray fox, raccoon, bobcats and coyotes and also on fleshing.

The following day’s schedule includes workshops on trapping minks, otters and turtles.

Final day activities include workshops on trapping predators, hogs, alligators and mountain lions.

The buildings will be open from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. daily. The food building will begin serving breakfast at 7 a.m. and lunch will be served around noon.

We don’t write much about trapping, but it is a vital tool for managing wildlife populations that game hunters do not pursue.

On a larger scale, trapping helps control furbearing mammals that prey significantly on ground nesting birds such as ducks, geese, bobwhite quail, wild turkeys, nightjars (whippoorwills, chuck-will-widows, etc …) meadowlarks and many others.

Furs and skins make efficient, durable clothing that have excellent insulating properties. Nothing compares to the warmth of a fur coat or the smooth, cool comfort of deerskin garments.

Unfortunately, trapping is stigmatized by animal welfare groups that have marginalized the fur market in the western world by successfully characterizing trapping as cruel and barbaric.

It’s a contradictory argument because the only alternatives to furs are cotton and synthetic materials. Synthetics, such as trendy microfibers, are petroleum based.

Isn’t it ironic that the most iconic eco-friendly brands are made of material that came straight out of the Exxon Valdez? To sport a green image, you’ve got to drill, drill, drill, baby!

Microfibers are an environmental menace, but you don’t hear much about them because it’s a complicated story, mostly because it doesn’t produce sensational photography. Microfibers do not produce images of green sea turtles being strangled with drink-can rings, of seabirds tangled in fishing line or of sea otters coated in oil. Nevertheless, they spring from the same source.

A 2016 University of California study estimated that synthetic fleece jackets release 1.7 grams of microfibers per wash into wastewater systems and that older jackets shed twice as much as new jackets.

About 40 percent of microfiber waste enters lakes, rivers and oceans where it accumulates in the gastrointestinal tracts of marine animals.

In 2011, research conducted at the University of New South Wales in Australia estimated that microfibers comprise 85 percent of human-made debris on the world’s shorelines.

Outdoors enthusiasts want inexpensive, comfortable, lightweight clothing. However, marketing textiles made from recycled plastics to an affluent, socially elite demographic doesn’t make those products more eco-friendly or more ethical than skins and furs.

Trapping is strictly regulated, as is the commercial movement of furs. In our modern, regulated age of conservation, trappers have not imperiled any species. On the contrary, the most intensively targeted species — coyote, beaver, bobcat, mink and otter — are thriving.

Not only that, but fur is biodegradable. Plastics are forever.

Trapping is ecologically compassionate, and it is compatible with all threads of wildlife management and environmental stewardship.

Open minds recognize that trappers and environmentalists are natural allies.

Satori is yours by calling Tim Ross at (870) 678-3473 for information about programs, attendance and vending.