SUMMER MEMBERSHIP MEETING AND BARBECUE


JULY 24, 2010

The NJFH Summer meeting will be held at Ed McCay’s house in Nesco (Hammonton for GPS and
Mapquest) at 10:30 Saturday morning, July 24. We will have our annual barbecue following the
business meeting. Members of NJFH may bring guests to the BBQ but guests will not be allowed
to participate in the business meeting. There will be a lot of things to go over at the meeting
such as the Tuckerton Decoy Show, Trappers Ed classes and our Convention. We also need to
pick an animal scene for our stretcher board raffle. Any and all other suggestions for the good of
the organization are welcome, so bring your ideas.

Ed McCay’s house is easy to find once you find Nesco, which is in Mullica Township in western
Atlantic County. The village is on County Route 542, one of the major east-west corridors across
the central Pinelands. There is about a mile of the road just west of Pleasant Mills that is a little
rough but otherwise it is a good road to travel on – just pay attention to the signs for curves,
some are tight. Our directions begin at either end of Route 542 on US Route 9 in New Gretna at
the eastern end and on US Route 30 in Hammonton at the western end. We will assume you
know enough NJ geography to find your way to these starting points.

Please call Ed McCay at 609-567-8922 to let him know you are coming and what kind of side
dish or dessert you are bringing. NJFH is providing the BBQ, drinks and paper products.

 

PRESIDENT’S REPORT

Hi, Everyone!

I hope everyone is doing well so far this summer. First, I would like to say
thank you to everyone who believes in me, to be a good President. We have a great
board of officers to help with the decision-making and past officers to help guide us
into the future. Don’t forget this is your organization – everyone has a voice in it!

The spring meeting and fur collection turned out to be another good day. I
would like to thank Steve Leeds for picking up the hoagies, Dan Wolff for getting
the key and cleaning up after, Ed McCay for bringing the doughnuts, Curt Corson
for driving the fur to PA, and Clint Ekelman for donating a skunk and a muskrat. I’m
sorry if I missed anyone, because everyone’s help is truly appreciated.

We had a good turn out for the meeting. Here is a quick rundown of the
new officers: Ron Diehl – President, Dan Wolff – Vice President, Andy Janson –
Secretary, Curt Haberman – Treasurer/Membership Officer, Fred Stine – NTA
Director, Joe Papai – FTA Representative, Steve Decker – Northern Director, Ed
McCay – Central Director, Curt Corson – Southern Director, and last but not least
Rick Kern – Fur Manager. If you have any questions all of our officers are always
willing to help. There is a page in the newsletter with phone numbers and e-mail
addresses for the officers.

Steve Decker, Ron Ververs, and myself set up the NJFH Booth at the Batsto
Village Decoy Show in May. We had a great time and the weather was good. We
talked trapping with some folks and educated a few youngsters. They also asked us
to come back in September, which we will talk about at the summer meeting.

Try to make it to our annual summer meeting and BBQ. It will be at Ed
McCay’s home in Nesco near Hammonton this year. His address and directions will
be in the newsletter. There will be a lot of things to go over at the meeting such as
the Tuckerton Decoy Show, Trappers Ed classes and our Convention. We also need
to pick an animal scene for our stretcher board raffle. Any and all other suggestions
for the good of the organization are welcome, so bring your ideas. If anyone has
any questions give me a call or drop me an email. See you at the BBQ.

Ron Diehl.

PROBLEM WITH MAGAZINE RENEWAL SLIPS

Members,

I got my Trapper and Predator Caller renewal notice from the magazine today. It had preprinted
renewal slips in it with the WRONG RETURN ADDRESS! Send the slips and your check to:

Curt Haberman
500 Pennsylvania Avenue
Somers Point, NJ 08244


Either use a plain envelope with Curt’s address or stick a blank label over the window in the
envelope they sent and write Curt’s address on it.

The preprinted slips have Curt’s name on them but Ron Diehl’s address. They might be
delivered to Ron or they might not. Thanks for your help!

Jay Mounier


Membership Officer Report

Members,

I hope your summer is going well and you are staying cool. For people that don’t know me I live in
Somers Point in Atlantic County. I am a landscaper and we do most of our work in Cape May, Avalon and
Stone Harbor in Cape May County. I have been working with my brothers for more than twenty years and
really enjoy the hard work. The only problem that with this “enjoying the hard work” is the hot weather seems
to be getting hotter and the tourists that are on vacation seem to be getting dumber! So I guess global warming
is kicking in and it must be affecting the vacationer’s brains and nothing to do with me getting older!

Recently my brothers hired Rick Kern (NJFH Fur Manager) and Rick is great at shrubbery and
sprinklers. I don’t work too much with Rick because I do the lawn maintenance but I see him most mornings
and it’s fun to actually talk to a person who looks forward to the same things as me. We are both looking
forward to Labor Day weekend not only because it means the end of the summer season but also because we are
going to the New York trapping convention in Herkimer. If you are vacationing in Cape May County and see a
Haberman Landscaping truck don’t be afraid to say hi!

I’m sorry if this report doesn’t have much to do with trapping but it is a busy time for us landscapers and
is hard to concentrate on the trapping season but don’t worry we have the entire winter off for just trapping! I
may be doing oil cleanup (maybe on New Jersey beaches) this winter instead of trapping. Moonsuits are more
comfortable than chest waders and I hear tar balls are expected to bring $2 nosecount! Money for nothing!

I am trying hard to be the best membership officer that I can with the time that I have. If anybody has
any problem or questions about their membership or T&PC magazine just give me a call (609) 927-5773 or
email me mudtrapper@yahoo.com and I will do my best to answer your questions.

I’m looking forward to seeing fellow members and trappers at Ed McCay’s!

Curt Haberman


BEWARE OF IDENTITY THEFT!



THE OFF SEASON
By Ron Diehl


Once your trapping season is over, and you have cleaned and put all your supplies away for the summer, you sit back and think what is there to do? That’s what I was thinking when I got a call from my friend Dan Wolff.
Dan, as you all should know is the new vice president of our club. We talked a little about meetings, events and fur prices, then the conversation turned to turkey! The talk about spring gobbler hunting got me off the couch and pumped! Dan has a great place to go. His aunt has a place in PA that borders state game land and he told me he goes up every year turkey hunting. He said he has good luck in the spring, and he wanted me to come up and kill a Boss Tom.

 

I couldn’t wait to get out in the woods again! We planned on meeting at Dan’s house and driving up to be
out for opening day – May 1st. We arrived at his aunt’s house early that afternoon so we had a few hours to scout around. The woods were full of turkey sign and they were gobbling all over, so with our game plan set, all we had to do was wait till the morning.

 

Dan’s Aunt Alice Sandra is a great cook and great people. After dinner we watched a little TV, then off to
bed. The alarm went off early and with much anticipation, we gathered our gear and headed out.

We set up in the place we scouted behind a large rock. We put a Jake and hen decoy out about 15 yards in
front of us and waited for the birds to come down from their roost. Your heart really starts to pump when you’re sitting there in the dark and the turkeys are gobbling on roost!

 

The sun started to peek above the mountain and you can hear the birds fly down in the distance. Dan worked the call and I had the gun. Dan started calling and you can tell the Toms were getting closer, gobbling all the way. Sitting motionless, you can hear the birds walking in the leaves, coming around the left side of the rock we sat behind. Dan gave a few putts on the call and when the birds saw the decoys, they went into full strut. They came around the rock at 10 yards. I squeezed the trigger and to my amazement – I missed!! The bird just stood there. Dan said, “Shoot again!” Putting the bead right on, I squeezed again and the bird collapsed. What an exciting morning! We tagged the bird and took a bunch of pictures.

That, my friends, was the best turkey hunt I have been on and it was my first Tom! Thanks, Dan and thank
you, Aunt Alice Sandra for letting me come up and stay over. I had a great time.

P.S. Dan, next time we go turkey hunting, I’ll call first and you shoot! Ron.