MANITOUWADGE, Ont. – A light rain meant nothing to most of the hardy trappers and their families as they enjoyed the day out at Russell’s Landing for the Manitouwadge Trappers Council’s annual Rendezvous and Field-day over the weekend.
Nobody is quite sure exactly when the festival first started, but participants say it’s been going since the early 1980s, lasting nearly 40 years.
“Many of the old-timers you see with white beards were the organizers back then,” said council president Jocelyn Bourgoin. “Sébastien, my son, who oversaw the barbecue spit, first came to these events as a young child and now his son Léo is starting to help with setup. That’s the third generation to participate in this activity.”
Trapping has gone through a lot of changes in that time; the tools and techniques have been honed to become more humane, and strict regulations must be followed.
The Manitouwadge Trappers Council serves many purposes: to support trapper education in humane fur harvesting, act as a liaison with the MNR, provide public education to dispel myths about trapping, and importantly, coordinate nuisance animal control, especially beaver management, to protect roads for residents and industry.
Without the program, many roads would be lost forever each year.
John Lavoie set up one of the displays at the rendezvous, explaining a traditional technique for trapping martens. The use of the wooden ‘deadfall’ traps he referred to was banned over 40 years ago because they were not selective, and more efficient steel traps are now available.
Bourgoin put on a demonstration on how to prepare a beaver, and what the various parts are used for. The fur, castor sacs and meat are all used during the regular season, and a bounty is paid for each tail from a ‘nuisance’ beaver the trappers present to forest companies.
Preparing the beaver takes patience and a skilled hand; it can take several tedious hours to skin and board the animal and remove the different elements. This is on top of all the hours of setting and monitoring the traps in all kinds of weather.
The rendezvous also featured games and skill-testing contests for all ages and levels of expertise. Kids got to try their hand at sawing branches and hammering nails, and a ‘Guess the animal call’ game, while the minnow race was a wet and wild spectacle.
For the adults, the axe-throwing contest was a show of skill and strength, and the trap-setting competitions made for some nail-biting action, as the four steel traps had to be set swiftly and carefully. The best time in the competition was a lightning-fast 33 seconds.
The final contest of the day was a tea-making competition. Contestants used a limited amount of wood and birch bark to create a small fire and then boil a can of water – a warm way to wrap up a damp, chilly afternoon.
The event concluded with a potluck dinner and awarding of prizes.
Bourgoin spoke with passion about the trapper’s council and its members and volunteers. He pointed out that many of the members were getting up in age, and stressed the importance of teaching the next generation to continue on with the tradition and values of the lifestyle. He said he hopes to see many fresh-faced volunteers at next year’s rendezvous.