The Saskatchewan Trapper’s Association (STA) held its Trapper’s Rendezvous in Yellow Grass this past Saturday. 

The event was well attended, with around 100 people taking part.  

“We had our hardcore trappers that are they're coming no matter what,” said event organizer and Alternate Director for Region 12 of the STA, Jade Rooney. “We had some local people that came down, and a good number of kids and I think they had a real blast with everything that happened on the day.”  

There were many activities throughout the day, such as gopher trapping, a coyote speed skinning demo, and a raccoon trapping demo. 

“We started off by taking the kids out gopher trapping and they had some really early success. I think the first gopher was caught in about 10 minutes by the one little guy, it was actually his birthday, so he was pretty excited about that and he ended up winning a $20 prize for being the first catch of the day.” 

The Weyburn Wildlife Federation brought its youth archery set, and local conservation officers helped with the kids' BB gun shoot, with a focus on gun safety. 

“Funny enough, the little guy whose birthday it was, he ended up winning the BB gun in the raffle as well.” 

Rooney said without the fur trade in Canada, it wouldn’t exist as a country.  

"I think what people don't realize is trappers probably care much more about wildlife and infringements and infractions than anyone I know," said Rooney. “I think what people miss is trappers are focused on the take of a certain individual with the management of that species. We don't look at the species, as long as the species numbers are holding strong, we can take certain individuals out of that population which will make it easier on the rest of the individuals.”    

Rooney will be at Heritage Village Days, which will be taking place on August 5 and 6.   

Trapper event

Trapper event