PEWAUKEE WI- A host of new features and activities highlight the 2015 Outdoor Life/Field & Stream deer-and-turkey-hunting consumer expos. In addition, Louisville, Michigan and Illinois expos have been moved to more favorable dates, but otherwise it is steady-as-they-go for these popular events.
The 2015 schedule:
• Jan. 30-31 & Feb. 1 LOUISVILLE DEER & TURKEY EXPO (2nd), Kentucky Exposition Center (State Fairgrounds), Louisville, KY
• February 13-14-15 MICHIGAN DEER & TURKEY EXPO (29th), The SUMMIT Sports & Ice Complex, Dimondale, MI (SW side of Lansing).
• February 20-21-22 ILLINOIS DEER & TURKEY EXPO (25th), Prairie Capital Convention Center, Springfield, IL.
• March 13-14-15 OHIO DEER & TURKEY EXPO (23rd), Bricker Bldg, Ohio Expo Center (State Fairgrounds), Columbus, OH
• April 10-11-12 WISCONSIN DEER & TURKEY EXPO (31st), Alliant Energy Center of Dane County, Madison, WI
“These expos are where products become real,” notes Glenn Helgeland, founder of the expos. “Today’s outdoor sportsmen and women feel intensely about getting their hands on products, examining them, and even trying them out on-site.”
Today’s customer also wants face-to-face interaction with the manufacturer, to get his/her questions answered quickly and to evaluate the company’s product line and reliability.
New events include:
• Shed Antler Contest (whitetail deer only) as a division of the trophy deer contest.
• Ammunition reloading demonstrations (centerfire rifle, handgun, slug gun, shotshell) by Dave Henderson. Save big money, customize your loads, afford to shoot more often.
• Wild game cooking demonstrations – Cooking specialists are not yet determined. They will be announced later. Venison butchering and venison sausage making demos will be given by Kurt Heid at all expos except Michigan.
• Home defense readiness & demonstrations – Kevin Michalowski, executive editor of Concealed Carry magazine, will be in a dedicated space for this topic and will give frequent demonstrations with all the gear you should have ready for home defense. You might be surprised to learn that a firearm is fifth on his priority list. Michalowski will show and explain all items and practices on his priority list.
• Hoverball archery range – low draw-weight bows, foam ball-tipped arrows, inflatable and colorful shooting range and backstop, safe and fun shooting at bouncing targets atop vertical columns of air. There is a small shooting fee. The range will be located beside archery trick shot Byron Ferguson’s booth.
• Learn to shoot a longbow like Byron Ferguson – Friday night only. Shooting instruction by Byron Ferguson, of course.
Returning favorites include:
• Anywhere from 200 to nearly 600 exhibit booths (depending on the expo) of hunting products (bows, crossbows, firearms, muzzleloaders) and accessories, hunting clothes, guides & outfitters, hunting associations, and “outdoor lifestyle” products for home/cabin/den. New products. Great bargains; this is a selling event.
• ‘Ask the Experts’ Info Center – Nationally-known experts on centerfire firearms, muzzleloaders, slug shotguns and archery. Get your gear and hunting technique questions answered here.
• Outdoor Life trophy whitetail buck contest or big game contest. Trophies can be entered from noon Friday to 10 a.m. Sunday. The first 20 entries Friday are free and also include a free weekend pass to the entire expo. The whitetail division has categories for firearms, archery, black powder and crossbow divisions, with typical antler and non-typical antler sections in each. In addition to deer, the Louisville expo has a Kentucky elk division; the Michigan expo has black bear, elk and turkey divisions, and the Wisconsin expo has a black bear division.
• Seminar program – Seminars all three days; how-to deer and turkey hunting topics, plus food plot development and habitat improvement topics. Seminars given multiple times so you have a chance to hear all the topics you want. Seminars are free once you have your general admission ticket.
• Byron Ferguson, internationally known archery trick shot. Always a crowd favorite. Performances Saturday and Sunday only.
• New Products Special Display Area – Get a look at new products without a salesman at your shoulder.
• Hands-On Shooting – Laser firearms and archery, airguns, bow tryout area, archery range, plus exhibitor shooting booths in the Archery Pavilion.
• Chainsaw Carving demonstrations daily (bear, eagle, mushroom, etc.) Carved items are available for sale.
• Optics Hands-on Tryout Area — Try firearms scopes and binoculars, with expert help and guidance, to get most value and best glass for the job and budget when you make your purchase.
Cumulatively, nearly 90,000 avid outdoor people attend these expos annually. The greatest number come from the five home states, of course, but attendees come from 40 states to spend a weekend thinking, talking, buying, seeing and learning more about finding and hunting whitetail deer and wild turkeys…and put their tag on the game come next hunting season. The expos effectively reach nearly 40 percent of the U.S. deer and turkey hunting market.
For seminar schedules, contest rules, ticket details, exhibitor lists (posted 45 days before each expo) and all other details, go to the expos’ website (www.deerinfo.com).
