TED NASSIVERA SR./Staff photo by Joe Phelan

Ted Nassivera Jr. certainly has an understanding wife.

He assembles turkey calls in his computer room in the afternoon. Deliberately, he puts pieces of glass and metal inside a black ring and glues them together. Once he's done that, it's off to the dining room, where he lays them out one by one on the dinner table before heading off to find his wife.

"And then I tell her, 'It looks like we're eating in front of the TV again tonight!'"

Nassivera said on Friday afternoon at the Augusta Civic Center, where he and his father, Ted Nassivera Sr., were plying their wares at the 28th annual State of Maine Sportsman's Show. "My dad will tell you, I don't even have a basement to work in."

But Ted Sr. does, and he spends hours upon hours crafting calls for spring turkey hunting -- latex calls that fit into your mouth and round calls fitted with metal that you strike a small stick against. No fancy machinery to speed the process and, best of all, no corporate America telling them how to build a better mousetrap.

Or, in this case, a better turkey call.

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal.

Like I've said before (see the March 20th entry...), if ever a winter called for a few sportsman's shows, it was this one.

A few fresh inches of the white stuff and a couple of feet of ice on some local bodies of water. So what?

The State of Maine Sportsman Show kicks off today, the first of 3 days of seminars, exhibits and chatter. Read about it in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

See you at the show...

Staff photos by Jim Evans
NOT BIRD FISHING: Al Smith steadies a live bird before working with hunting dogs during a demonstration by the Sebasticook Chapter of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association Saturday at the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show in Wilton. The show continues Sunday, March 23, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

As the bird is flushed, Rick Thompson's puppy breaks during the demonstration led by Peter Wade. The dog is supposed to stay still. Al Smith controls the live bird.

Gage goes on point as both dog and bird freeze.

Dog Greta shows calmness around game when a live bird is placed on top of her.

LOOK AT THIS: Darin Douin, a shark teeth fan, makes a point with his dad, Joe, of New Sharon, as they look at animal teeth and bone creations at the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show in Wilton.

To order reprints of photos, click here.

WILTON -- As they say in Grand Lake Stream, he's just living the dream.
There was no life-altering moment, no soul-searching discovery that opened it all up as easily as the pages in a well-worn book, telling Paul Laney that he would make his living as a Maine guide. But at 32 years old, Laney finds himself following his calling and doing just that.

For bobcat, bear or lake trout, the Gardiner native is your man, and as the show coordinator for the Maine Professional Guides Association, he's putting his best foot forward this weekend at the 4th annual Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show. The show, featuring dozens upon dozens of exhibits and seminars, runs through Sunday.

"I grew up hunting and fishing with my father, as soon as I was old enough to do it," Laney said. "At some point I just decided that I wanted to make a living doing it. ... I'm pretty happy everyday I'm able to go out and do it and able to make a living at it.

"Everything I've ever done, I've just put my mind to it and I've done it. That's the way my mentality is -- I just go out and do things right."

Read the complete story in today's Kennebec Journal or Morning Sentinel.

You know, it occurs to me, there ought to be a song with the name "Wilton" in it. Couldn't find any, not even on GoldLyrics.com. Too bad — could have sung it on the way back from the 4th annual Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show this evening, which is being held in Wilton.

Nevertheless...

* Good news, all you open water fishermen. Seems that while we've been worrying about all this ice and snow and cold we're saddled with, some of the guys actually out there in the field aren't feeling quite so sorry for themselves.

According to Paul Laney, a Gardiner native who now guides out of Grand Lake Stream, ice out should happen right on schedule this year -- or pretty close to it.

"There's a lot of ice out there, but most of it is (iffy) ice," Laney said. "It's not going to take it that long to melt. Once it warms up."

Once it warms up. Of course... Granted, with extended forecast after extended forecast showing 30-degree day after 30-degree day, one's got to wonder if it ever actually IS going to warm up.

* Ran into the always good-natured Carroll Ware, one of the nicest outdoorsmen you'll ever meet over at the old Bass Shoe factory where the show is being held. He and his wife, Lila, run Fins and Furs Adventures.

Last fall, Carroll took me out on the upper Kennebec River to chase brown trout with fly rods. Long story short, Carroll left me to my own devices, and my devices snuck up on me and planted a size 16 right in my cheek.

Poor Carroll. He's probably apologized 237 times since, saying he felt bad for not acting as more of a guide and warning me about the pitfalls of leaving so much line out in a gusting wind. I told him that just because we went fishing together doesn't mean he has to be my guide, that he has reason to expect certain things from somebody who dubs himself an "outdoors" writer.

It's not his fault.

But that doesn't mean that when two prospective Fins and Furs customers turned away from the table I didn't take time to jab Carroll just a little.

"Did you remember to tell them about the free fly in the cheek with every trip?" I asked.

Thankfully, he laughed.

* After putting the show together themselves for the first three years, the people at the Bob Nichols Exposition Center have handed the reigns over the Vic Morin.

Morin now runs the Northwoods Sporting Journal, and, it should be noted, lives in Enfield.

That wasn't always the case. When I checked in at the booth upon my arrival on Friday, Vic was ecstatic.

"The Sentinel?!" he said. "I was born in Waterville."

Huh. Small world.

Vic expects between 8,000 and 10,000 people to visit the show on Saturday.

-- TB

Well, looks like this outdoors-writer gig I've got is a detriment to my health. Made my second trip to the emergency room in the last 7 months today, after a stretch of more than 10 years where I didn't see the inside of a hospital on even one occasion.

So, thanks to this corneal abrasion I've managed to saddle myself with, I can barely see the monitor on my laptop in front of me. But, so much time in the proverbial dark has given me plenty of time to think...

* It's outdoor show season, which is a mixed blessings. Because it's snowing as I write this late on a Thursday afternoon, a chance to at least think about open-water fishing, black lab pups bounding in a field and a hunting trip or two is more than welcome.

The 4th edition of the Pine Tree State Sportsman and Gun Show at the old Bass Shoe factory in Wilton runs this Friday through Sunday and has quickly grown into a well-respected show. Now in its 3rd decade, the State of Maine Sportsman's Show is next weekend at the Augusta Civic Center.

Typically, I'm not high on spending a couple of weekend days inside of an exhibition hall -- particularly in a year like last year, where spring came early and there was plenty of outdoors stuff that could be done -- gasp! -- outdoors. This time around, however, heading to a show over the next couple of weekends simply serves as an excuse to clear off the front porch.

Wilton opens its doors today from noon to 7 p.m.

* What is this world coming to?

Got a text message from a fishing buddy of mine this week, reporting -- sadly -- that his buddy's ice fishing shack had been purposely burned down. The Maine Warden Service as well as the local fire marshal were involved in sorting through the particulars.

Apparently, somebody had threatened to do it before and -- at least from the looks of things -- they finally carried through on the threat. Sadly, in doing so, they did more than get even with a grown man they were upset with. They also robbed a 9-year-old boy of his "winter home," the place where he looked forward to spending weekend days with his dad in one of the greatest forms of male bonding I can think of.

Where does fishing turn so ugly that we're burning down shacks on frozen lakes?

I repeat: What is this world coming to?

* We're a couple of weeks from opening day of the open-water fishing season, which is an almost laughable annual happening. At most, we're lucky to have only a few spots with open water on April 1st each year.

Sure, the hardiest among us will venture out and fish for an hour or two and then call it quits -- happy to say they did. I certainly wouldn't begrudge anyone that chance, nor would I ever suggest the state change such a date.

Just know this: Given the choice, I'm probably not going to fish opening day myself. There's just something about ice in my rod guides that makes me cringe. Winter's already been long enough.

-- TB