Our Council decided to put on our
second workshop in 3 years on February 16, 2019 at the
DERD garage in Miramichi. Roads were terrible after
snow, rain or freezing rain the night before, depending
on where you were coming from. Trappers, being a brave
bunch, came from all over the province. Frank Hathaway
and Gerard Levesque came from Riley Brook, through the
Plaster Rock Highway,which is bad enough anytime, let
alone after a storm. The first two guys to show up were
from Belledune, and another drove from Quebec to
Bathurst on Friday, stayed overnight with Gary Whelton,
and came down Saturday morning. At least 2 came from
Tracadie and Carl Cyr and two friends came from
Cambellton to see Frank's demo on trapping coyotes in
the snow so Carl could pass the knowledge on to the rest
of his Council. Special thanks to Frank for the demo, as
coyotes are popular targets now, and everyone was paying
attention and asking good questions.
Other demos were put on by John
Richard, James Ritchie, Carl Hunter, Larry Estabrooks
and Yvon Morais. Thanks guys. The turnout was only about
40 people, not a great crowd, but for fur prices being
what they are, not too bad. Smaller crowds do have the
advantage of everyone being able to see what is going
on, rather than trying to stand on tiptoe at the back of
a mob.
We want to thank John Richard, not
just for his skinning expertise, but for donations from
Fur Harvesters Auction and Pronature,Gary Whelton for a
submarine trap and Yvon Morais for a bunch of
stretchers.
Finally, thanks to Peter Pinder, of
DERD, who let us use the garage.