Sears pic

Winter 2024

President’s Report, By Scott Sears

Hello fellow Trappers,
I hope everyone has had a safe and enjoyable summer and their trapping season is off to a successful start.

The OFMF Executive is working with MNRF on a few changes to the Relaxing Cable Restraint and hope to have these in effect for the upcoming trapping season. Regulation changes would include a smaller deer stop loop size as the current loop size is too big and damages foxes. We are also working on a heavier breakaway device. We’ve had complaints that the aluminum stop is popping off from the swivel which allows coyotes to be running around with the cable around their neck. Through education, the OFMF will suggest the barrel swivels be double ferruled, which some of you may already be doing.

I attended the Fur Institute of Canada’s AGM in Whitehorse, Yukon this past July. The FIC has a new website starting up this fall. There have been 10 foot-holds tested for coyotes and 6 of them have passed. The FIC feels that it’s time to put the coyote footholds into the next phase of the AIHTS agreement this fall for coyote traps to become mandatory with a four-year start date. The reason for such a long start date is due to some of the manufacturers not making coyote footholds any longer. The FIC can also stop this start date if they feel there aren’t enough traps on the list.

At the round table meeting in Whitehorse, muskrat populations were a very big issue, not only in Ontario but in Canada.

The BMP project with coyote snares is on its way in some provinces. Other provinces have spring regulations where they can’t be used. If anyone in Ontario is trying them out, please contact me or the OFMF office and let us know how they worked so we can give the FIC and TRDC committee an update at the next AGM.

The OFMF AGM in Thunder Bay this past August went well. Great work and thanks to everyone from the NWFTA for the work they did.

A big thank you to Fur Harvesters Auction, GFW, NOSA, and to everyone else that donated to make this a successful event.

It’s also the internal committees that help to make our AGM a success. Thanks to the OFMF committees for the work they do all year to prepare for the AGM.

Mario and I have already started preparing for our next OFMF AGM which will be held at ODAS Park in Orillia, August 23 and 24 2024.

Stay safe and enjoy it out there.