The Making of Trapper’s World LLC
by Kyle Kaatz--Editor
In the 1940’s a Virginia trapper named Clayton Gates published a magazine called, Trapper’s World. After a few years the magazine folded. Clayton Gates’ Trapper’s World left a mark on our industry. Gates had a great staff of writers including Bill Nelson, John Ehn, James Mast, Herb Lenon, E.J. Dailey, and the list goes on. Why he was forced to stop publishing Trapper’s World is most likely a matter of business flaws.

Let’s fast forward nearly 60 years to the late winter of 1998. In a passing phone conversation, Bob Young (maker of Fox Hollow Magnum Lures) and Mike Marsyada discuss the need for a hardcore, all trapping magazine. As time goes on the conversation gets revisited, and they decided it needed to be discussed further. Bob suggested sitting down to talk about it more seriously at the NTA convention in Syracuse later that summer.

When the Syracuse convention rolled around, things began to take shape for the new magazine. Don Shumaker showed up at the convention and both Bob and Mike considered him perfect for the job of editor. Don had previously edited The Trapper and had the knowledge of how a magazine worked. When approached with the idea, Don said he was willing to give it a go.

Don started to round up a few trappers as staff writers. The goal was to have the best staff writers ever assembled in a trapping magazine. Also, research was done to see if the name “Trapper’s World” could be used. Upon finding that copyrights had expired, the new magazine now had a name, “Trapper’s World.”

In December of 1999, the premier issue was published. The response was very positive, and remarkably was off and running only a few months after Don first started working on the idea. Trapper’s World quickly gained support from many of the nations best trappers, and leaders in the trapping supply business.

After 16 issues, Trapper’s World changed. Sadly, this was not a change for the better. The 17th issue, April 2001 was noticeably different. The cover was newsprint instead of the normal glossy cover. This set off an alarm, and rumors circulated that Trapper’s World was going out of business. When the May 2001 issue wasn’t showing up, Trapper’s World’s fate was being questioned; even amongst it’s strongest supporters.

Finally, late that month the May issue was sent out. Sadly, Don Shumaker announced in his editorial that it would be the last issue. Some business mistakes were made, and Trapper’s World was in financial ruin.

When I learned of Trapper’s World’s demise, I quickly called Don Shumaker. We had a long talk, and I questioned Don about what it would cost to buy the magazine. The initial price seemed high to me, but my dad and I discussed the idea of buying it. We sat with calculators in hand for Memorial Day weekend. Our figures based on Don’s information showed that money was owed both to subscribers and advertisers; tens of thousands of dollars at that. This took the wind out of our sails, and when I spoke to my banker my boat sank. I called Don back and said I’d have to take a pass on buying Trapper’s World. It saddened me greatly to have to tell Don I would take a pass. I was wanting to help Don, as I knew he was facing huge financial debts and possible bankruptcy.

I went to the FTA convention in Herkimer, New York a couple weeks later. When I returned, Don called back stating he had a group of investors trying to round up the funds to purchase Trapper’s World. Don suggested I call the Kansas trapper who was working on it. I’m eternally grateful to Don, as through these early negotiations he was really supportive of me becoming the next editor.

During this phone conversation with Don, there came a crucial turning point for the fate of Trapper’s World. Don briefly mentioned that Keith Winkler (owner of Sterling Fur Co.) had been talking to him about purchasing (Trapper’s World.) Don told me that Keith had sort of backed off the idea. After telling me that, Don also mentioned that he had lowered his asking price to a small fraction of what it was when my dad and I were doing our research.

After hanging up from talking to Don, I had high hopes again. I was surprised Keith was interested in buying it. I found out later that Tom Parr, the president of the North American Trap Collectors Association (NATCA) was the main reason Keith was pursuing the purchase. Keith had been a good friend for many years, and the previous weekend we had dinner together at the FTA convention. It was after business hours, so I immediately tried calling Keith at home. I left a message, and lost a lot of sleep that night.

Early the next morning, I called Keith again. We discussed the magazine, and I informed him that the asking price had been reduced by about 75%. Coincidentally, while my dad and I were calculating the risks, Keith and Tom Parr had also been doing some calculating. They came up with almost the same figures as my dad and I. Keith was surprised to hear that I wanted to be editor. He called Tom Parr and explained he had found the perfect person for taking the Editor‘s position of Trapper’s World. Although he knew it would be impossible to actually have a position with Trapper’s World, Keith knew he could help with the transition and financing of the magazine.

The following day Keith called Don and Trapper’s World was purchased. On July 3rd, Keith, Tom, and I met at Keith’s kitchen table to work out our new business. There were a lot of challenges that lay ahead. Tom had the hardest task of getting the subscribers in order, and starting the book keeping process. My job was simple, I had to put together the next issue in a matter of a few days, those few days being the July 4th holiday weekend of 2001. Keith is solely responsible for the rebirth of Trapper’s World. He introduced Tom Parr and I, and also loaned Trapper’s World the capital to produce a couple issues. Keith assumed the financial risk, knowing Tom and I would be doing all the work with very little income for our efforts. All three of us wanted to see Trapper’s World continue, and that was our goal when we left Keith’s house that day.

Tom and I struggled to figure out a system of making Trapper’s World work. We already knew we’d have to change from a monthly magazine to a bi-monthly magazine, as there simply wasn’t enough revenue to make a monthly magazine work. That was the key reason Don was forced to sell the business in the first place. Tom and I learned rapidly as we had no other choice, we had to have a new issue out.

A few weeks later our first issue was debuted at the NTA convention in Mason City, Iowa. We were off to a good start, we met our first goal of getting our first issue out.

The next challenge was I had to learn how to use Pagemaker 6.5, the computer program used to layout and design Trapper’s World. A two day class put me on the right track, and Pagemaker 6.5 made publishing Trapper’s World a much easier job. Then came problems with getting the magazine into a format the printer could work with. Our printer, Register-Lakota Printing, was very patient and taught both Tom and I how to run a magazine. They probably don’t realize how responsible they are for teaching us how to publish. Trapper’s World will always be indebted to them for their patience.

By the end of 2001, Trapper’s World was starting to gain some ground. We started paying Keith back on the loan, and we were gaining subscribers. By the end of 2002 we had the loan paid off. Tom and I then formed Trapper’s World LLC.

Many rumors have circulated regarding Keith’s involvement in the magazine. Keith is responsible for introducing Tom and I, and for the rebirth of Trapper’s World. Once we re-paid the loan off, Keith became a loyal advertiser through Sterling Fur Co.

Since December 1999, Trapper’s World has risen, fallen, changed, and persevered through it all. We reached a milestone of 4,000 subscribers during the fall of 2003. We have a unique thing with this magazine; it is owned, operated, written, and read by trappers. I feel very lucky to be a part of it all, and every year I get a renewal notice in the mail and I send off my renewal with the same enthusiasm as I did before I was editor.

The best part of Trapper’s World is the people that are involved. I’ve gained many great friends through the course of the past 3 years. I can’t resist naming names, so I want to thank Tim Caven, J.C. Conner, Mike Marsyada, Jackie Malone, Craig O’Gorman, Slim Pedersen, Wayne Derrick, Morris Fenner, Paul Dobbins, Johnny Thorpe, Laurie Jones, Larry Davenport, Johnny Thorpe, John Epler, Russ Carman, and all our loyal advertisers. I’m certain some names were left off, and I apologize. Most importantly, a big thanks is owed to Tom Parr, Keith Winkler, and Tom (Humphrey) Miller for helping get Trapper’s World started again.-