newsminer.com

FAIRBANKS — After attending last year’s Alaska Trappers Association’s annual trapping school, Jerri Bitzan of Glennallen put what she learned to the test.

She set up a 90-mile trapline and caught 43 lynx in her first season of trapping last winter.

“I didn’t know anything about trapping, and it gave a greenhorn like me enough knowledge to harvest 43 lynx,” Bitzan said of the trapping school. “It was a great experience.”

Those are the kind of testimonials that ATA President Randy Zarnke likes to hear.

The trapping school, scheduled for Oct. 17-18 at Twin Bears Camp at 30 Mile Chena Hot Springs Road, is “one of the cornerstones” of the organization, Zarnke said.

“The workshop is undoubtedly the most effective tool that we have for sharing both how-to information, as well as ethical standards with new trappers,” he said. “We advise new trappers to avoid conflicts with other trappers and especially with the non-trapping public. The people who go through our workshop get a healthy dose of ethical advice.”

Zarnke estimates that about 750 people have taken the ATA up on the deal since the trapping school started more than 30 years ago. Many of them, like Bitzan, graduated to become bona fide Alaska trappers.

The school gives novice trappers a foundation to build on, Bitzan said. She learned what kind of traps to use, where to put them, what the different sizes and types are, what kind of lures to use and how to avoid conflicts with other trappers and pet owners.

“It’s just basic stuff,” she said.

The school is limited to 30 students and features a star-studded lineup of veteran trappers who share their secrets with novice trappers who are learning the ropes.

Headlining this year’s teaching staff are Jim Masek, of Fairbanks; Mike Johnson, of Fairbanks; Wayne Crowson, of Delta Junction; and Dan Tempel, of North Pole.

Each trapper has his own specialty. Masek’s is wolves and lynx. Johnson’s is wolves and marten. Crowson’s is fox, coyote and wolverine. Tempel’s is mink.

“We’ll have somebody doing beaver and maybe touch a little bit on muskrats,” said Randy Smith, who organizes the school.

North Pole trapper Dave Schmitz will talk about ethics and getting kids involved in trapping to make it a family affair.

The school also features a seminar on arctic survival presented by members of the Eielson Air Force Base Survival School.

“They’re going to gear their talk to what trappers should put in a snowmachine in case they break down on the trail,” Smith said.

A representative from the Alaska Wildlife Troopers will talk about the legalities of trapping, such as what kind of bait can be used and what are the most common trapline conflicts and violations, Smith said.

Organizers also get a permit from the state Department of Fish and Game to set up a trapline across Chena Hot Springs Road.

“A couple of us go across the street and set it up, and the next day after lunch, we take the students over there and walk through it and point out stuff they’ve been learning,” Smith said. “Last year, we had a mink running the riverbank so we did an undercut conibear set. Then we did a marten pole set, and we did a lynx cubby set.”

The $160 registration fee is cheap if you ask Zarnke.

“If a new trapper picks up one extra lynx or two extra marten as a result of what they’ve learned in the class, they’ve covered the registration fee,” Zarnke said.

Throw in a one-year membership in the ATA, two days’ worth of gut-busting meals, cozy overnight accommodations, a copy of the Alaska Trapping Manual and a free “Alaska Guide to Fur Handling” DVD, and it’s a deal that’s almost too good to refuse.