Local News

Jul 12, 2025

Noah Johnson

https://www.dailypress.net/news/local-news/2025/07/trapper-convention-draws-crowd-to-fairgrounds/

Noah Johnson Daily Press The 2025 Annual Trapper’s Convention/Outdoor Expo kicked off Friday and is still going on today from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. There are 180 vendor tables, live demonstrations, kids’ activities, raffle drawings, games, food and more.

ESCANABA – The Annual Trapper’s Convention/Outdoor Expo kicked off Friday and continues today at the U.P. State Fairgrounds from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $10 for both days, and kids under 12 are admitted free.

The event features various vendors, live demonstrations, kids’ activities, food, games, and more.

“I’ve got over 180 tables full of vendor items,” said U.P. Trapper Convention Coordinator Mary Theoret.

Theoret took over this year as coordinator for long-time coordinator Roy Dahlgren, who did a superb job, according to the U.P. Trappers Association.

Friday featured five demonstrations, including muskrat trapping, fox and coyote trapping, bobcat trapping, and more.

At the end of the day on Friday, ticket-holders headed to the Miracle of Life Building for the sold-out fish fry.

Saturday features four more demonstrations, including skinning and toeing a fox, long lining for minks, and a coyote calling demonstration by TV star Les Johnson, who starred in the coyote calling show Predator Quest.

“He will send chills down your spine by doing his coyote calls, he’s amazing,” said Theoret.

The day also features master fur trapper and Mountain Man Paul Antczack of Montana, one of the stars of the reality TV program Mountain Men on the History Channel.

“He’s another great one,” Theoret said.

The event is great for families, offering several activities for kids to enjoy, including building your own mink box and the famous hay scramble.

The hay scramble is a crowd favorite as kids get a chance to dive into the hay to look for prizes.

There are numerous booths to visit between the Ruth Butler Building and the Grandstand, including returning vendors and first-timers.

Linda Duchene-Beaudre and her husband, Dennis Beaudre, have been coming to the convention for as long as they can remember, selling handmade rugs, mats, purses, runners, and other items.

Their business, Mays Rugs, is named after Duchene-Beaudre’s late mother, who taught her how to sew by hand.

“We go to a lot of craft sales, and this is one of our favorite ones,” Duchene-Beaudre said.

Guests at the booth can also look at pictures of Duchene-Beaudre and her mother as they were working on hand-sewn items years ago.

Mays Rugs is located in the Grandstand.

Doris and Jerry Wodrich have been coming to the convention for years, but decided this year they would set up a booth.

Their booth features handmade bird houses, antler shelves, wooden baskets, fire pokers, and more.

“All the bird houses are made out of reclaimed lumber,” Doris said.

The Wodrich’s booth is located in the Grandstand.

Another new vendor brought items for future trappers to learn how specific traps work.

John Petrak, owner of Freepop3D, set up a booth selling 3D-printed kid-friendly and kid-safe traps.

“They’re only a couple pounds of pressure, so the kids don’t get hurt, and they mimic all the standard traps that everybody would use,” Petrak said.

Petrak designs each trap and hand-winds the springs.

His booth is located in the Ruth Butler Building.

Great Lakes Sport & Rec Club attended the convention, with a table full of pelts for attendees to feel.

The club was also selling raffle tickets for a chance to win a new firearm from brands such as Ruger, Browning, Savage, Taurus, and more.

Proceeds from the raffle go to fund the free youth programs put on by the Great Lakes Sport & Rec Club.

Free programs include a seven-week summer program, National Hunting and Fishing Day, and winter archery.

Great Lakes Sport & Rec Club Board Member Bill Bourdeau said it had been a great start to the event on Friday.

The club’s booth is located in the Ruth Butler Building,

The convention continues today as gates open at 8 a.m.

Theoret expressed her gratitude to everyone who made the convention possible again this year, including staff, volunteers, vendors and more.

“We have something for everyone, so get out here and enjoy the event with your whole family,” she said.

To learn more about the convention and the U.P. Trappers Association, visit uptrappers.com.

Noah Johnson Daily Press
Jeff Hagerty gives a presentation on tips, tricks and using Hagz Systems for trapping muskrats during the 2024 Annual Trapper’s Convention/Outdoor Expo.

Noah Johnson Daily Press
A attendee at the 2025 Annual Trapper’s Convention/Outdoor Expo inspects a rifle at one of the many booths in the Ruth Butler Building.

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Date: July 10, 2025

https://www.humaneworld.org/en/blog/trump-doj-sues-california-proposition-12-animal-welfare

Author(s): Kitty Block and Sara Amundson

No political stunt will bring down the cost of eggs, which is still badly affected by an avian flu epidemic that has decimated the hens in the egg industry across the U.S. and caused severe market shortages. And yet, in a lawsuit filed last night, the U.S. Department of Justice has tried to resurrect—without warrant and without real facts—a long-ago settled legal fight over California’s cage-free egg laws that have been supported by voters, farmers and advocates for animal welfare and other causes across the board.   

This lawsuit seeks to undo the cage-free eggs provisions of California’s Proposition 12, despite many similar losing lawsuits filed over the last decade, and even though Proposition 12 was upheld by the Supreme Court of the United States just two years ago in the National Pork Producers Council v. Ross case. We also learned two weeks ago that the Supreme Court refused to consider the Iowa Pork Producer Association’s similar challenge to Proposition 12. Humane World for Animals and our allies defended Proposition 12 alongside the state of California in both of these cases. 

California has had laws on its books prohibiting the sale of eggs that come from cruel cage confinement systems since 2010. This attempt to blame 2025 egg prices nationwide on California laws that have been fully embraced and implemented for many years by producers, retailers and government regulators shows this case is about politics and not constitutional law.  

In general, federal law regulates packaging, labeling and egg grades—not humane treatment. No provision of the federal Egg Products Inspection Act invoked by this lawsuit addresses in-state sale of eggs from hens crammed into tiny cages. This case is an overreach of the federal government that appears to willfully misunderstand the text and structure of its own federal egg laws to create the illusion of doing something to help people afford their groceries. There’s no evidence that nationwide cost spikes are caused by preventing sales of eggs from hens in battery cage systems in California. And as we all know, higher prices at the grocery store are hardly limited to eggs.  

It’s a frivolous political attack, and one that reflects a disregard for the complexity of the issues involved and a naive fealty to special interests intent on bending our agricultural markets and our public policy to their will. 

This lawsuit is just the latest shameless attempt to undo policies that Americans value. Right from the start of the second Trump administration, a faction of the pork industry and its pliant allies in the Congress and the executive branch have been grasping for ways to renew a fight they’ve lost multiple times already—the fight over Proposition 12 and similar animal welfare laws enacted in more than a dozen states. They’re willing to do anything to turn back the clock on the sweeping transformation in public attitudes about the systematic mistreatment of animals in intensive confinement systems. And today, the administration has shown its willingness to go along with the program. 

It is stunning to watch this play out in yet another flailing round of litigation, this one initiated by the Trump administration itself. The facts of intensive confinement and the true causes of the inflation (which the administration has promised to eliminate) don’t support the case for destroying Proposition 12 and related measures. In that sense, the DOJ lawsuit betrays producers, retailers and the desire of Americans for eggs and pork that do not come at the expense of terrible animal suffering. 

A backward-facing segment of the pork industry keeps harping on the price of eggs as a reason for demolishing what amounts to a multistate endorsement of more humane standards in American agriculture. Meanwhile, major egg industry players filed briefs in the Ross case supporting Proposition 12. 

The current attack on Proposition 12 doesn’t mention the impact of avian flu on egg prices. And in fact, repealing cage-free laws would further hurt farmers whose flocks have been devastated by avian flu. It would pull the rug out from under the many producers who have made significant investments to meet California’s requirements and consumer demand for more humanely raised products. 

Those pushing these lawsuits are wedded to a cruel and archaic model of raising animals that a steadily rising number of producers in these industries have already abandoned. It’s a classic attempt to regain the losses they’ve sustained in court decisions at every level.  

The DOJ, the trade associations and the politicians doing their bidding, and all the other backsliders seeking to defend such thoroughly discredited and disavowed means of agricultural production, should face the facts: We cannot go back. The egg industry has been moving rapidly toward “cage-free” housing as an alternative to battery cages for laying hens. Today, over 45% of the egg market is cage-free. 

Our Animal Protection Law team provided essential leadership in drafting Proposition 12, and similar measures, and in defending it all the way up to the Supreme Court. And we at Humane World for Animals and Humane World Action Fund are fully engaged in political efforts to eliminate any threat to these good laws. 

Make no mistake, the fight to defend Proposition 12 and similar measures is the animal protection battle of the century—and we won’t rest until we win it. 

Sara Amundson is president of Humane World Action Fund.