AUGUSTA — Roughly 10,000 outdoors enthusiasts will pay to be indoors this weekend for the 35th Annual State of Maine Sportsman’s Show at the Augusta Civic Center.
The three-day event runs Friday (1-7 p.m.), Saturday (9 a.m.-7 p.m.) and Sunday (9 a.m.-4 p.m.).
Kelly Allen, general manager of Maine Sportsman Magazine, said the show is the perfect time for hunters and fishermen to “come out of hibernation” and get ready for another year in the Maine outdoors.
“It’s going to be a beautiful weekend. The weather’s not going to be super-duper nice, but warm enough so you can get out of the dang house finally,” she said.
Admission is $8 for ages 13-64. Children age 5-12, adults 65 and over and all active military are $6. Children under 5 are free.
The show features over 100 vendors and more than 100 seminars from every aspect of outdoor recreation and wildlife.
New seminars include a “Whitetail Symposium” on Saturday and Sunday, featuring Hal Blood, Lee Schanz and Joe Saltalamachia, “the biggest big buck hunters in Maine,” Allen said. Predator calling, grouse hunting, casting demonstrations. bass fishing, becoming a Maine Guide, training hunting dogs, fly fishing and pistol shooting are some of the other featured topics.
“The seminars are really the feature of the show, to me, because you can’t find this many experts under one roof,” she said. “To be able to pick their brain and to be able to ask them questions about whatever you want to know about in the outdoors… Every animal that you can hunt and any fish that you can fish for, we have a seminar for everything.”
The kids room offers an indoor trout pond with brook and rainbow trout, bow shooting, Spunky the Clown, and face painting.
Everyone with a ticket is eligible to enter a drawing for a kayak donated by L.L. Bean, and numerous other drawings, raffles and giveaways are scheduled.
There will also be an art, photography and carving show in the Penobscot/Kennebec room. The public will be able to vote for the best in show in all three displays, as well as taxidermy.
“We’ve got taxidermy coming back this year,” Allen said. “They took a year off and did their show somewhere else, but I invited them this year. The biggest question I get asked every year is, ‘Where is the taxidermy?’ They’re bringing back eight or 10 taxidermists that should be here all weekend.”
Other contests include a youth turkey calling contest and an open moose calling contest on Saturday, plus the 2nd Miss Maine Sportsman competition, which became a popular feature in its debut last year. This year, the public will be able to choose from 12 finalists for Miss Maine Sportsman.
“That booth is going to be crazy all weekend, and these girls are cutthroat. They are serious about winning,” Allen said.
Cast members of the popular Animal Planet reality series “North Woods Law” will appear throughout the weekend. Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Chandler Woodcock will hold a question and answer session at 5 p.m. on Friday.
A controversial statewide bear hunting referendum loomed over last year’s show and was a hot topic of discussion. Voters rejected the proposal to ban bear baiting last November, which may lead to more traditional hunting dialogue this year. But Allen said hunting preservation and other political aspects of outdoors life in Maine will always be part of the show.
“You get so many people that are passionate about the outdoors under one roof, throughout the course of the weekend, can you imagine how many hunting and fishing stories are told? Or how many ideas are created for bills to be submitted to the legislature to help out our cause?” she said.
“Sportsmen don’t quit. They don’t stop. They’re diehard,” she said. “They don’t care if it’s cold and rainy. They just want to do whatever they have to do to keep their heritage alive.”
Seminar schedules are posted on the State of Maine Sportsman Show’s Facebook page and a list of vendors can be found at www.mainesportsman.com.
Randy Whitehouse — 621-5638
rwhitehouse@mainetoday.com
Twitter: @RAWmaterial33
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