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Post by spainy79 on Feb 22, 2014 1:04:15 GMT -5
I went up to the boat, sport and travel show today and it was well worth burning a vacation day to go up on a lot less crowded weekday. The last 2 years I went up on the Saturday. The first year the crowd wasn't too bad but last years was awful. After spending a lot of time drooling on boats and walking in and out of campers me and a buddy finally made our way back to tackle town and the quiet sports area. Tackle town was ok this year; nothing spectacular. I did score a St. Croix Legend Tournament bass rod for 20% off. The bad part is it was still more than $200 but I've been wanting one for a while so now I'm anxious to try it. It's a 7'1" medium-heavy casting rod. I have a nice Lew's bait caster on another rod already so I'll probably put that one on the new Croix. The big difference was the number of outfitters that were up there. The normal Lake Erie charters, fishing trips to Canada, Kentucky or Tennessee, bear hunts, a tour bus trip through Alaska or renting a house boat on one of the big lakes to the south of us; they were/are there. The big attraction at the Deer and Turkey expo was the Beck buck. For those who are not aware the Beck buck is #2 in the world for non typical. It was taken in Huntington Co. during the '12 firearm season. It's official score is 305 7/8. Truly a monster and made all the other deer on the wall look like 2 year olds. Here's the pics I took. I didn't get it in the pic but the buck on the right scored 205. The other buck in this pic scored 183.
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Post by Greenedog on Feb 22, 2014 9:12:53 GMT -5
I can't even imagine walking up on something like that. Thanks for sharing your experience, makes me wish I would have gone up yesterday. You would have to pay me to be up there today.
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Post by goosepondmonster on Feb 22, 2014 10:24:16 GMT -5
I plan on going up tomorrow. I really want to meet Fred Eichler and I believe Mr. Beck will be there tomorrow as well. I'm hoping to meet the local legend also.
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Post by spainy79 on Feb 22, 2014 10:47:20 GMT -5
I seen Charlie from Hoosier Trapper but didn't really get to have a good talk with him. Told him I was looking forward to the new Arkansas videos.
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Post by goosepondmonster on Feb 23, 2014 20:33:20 GMT -5
I had a great time at the Expo today. I bought some stuff for my climbing stand from Third Hand Archery. I bought a Mathews hoodie for the wife. I met Tim Beck, very humble guy considering the deer he had on the wall. I attended Fred Eichler's elk hunting seminar which ignited a fire to make it out west soon. I had a chance to meet Fred and chat with him afterwards. I felt like a little kid meeting one of his favorite baseball players...
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Post by Jordan on Feb 23, 2014 21:05:12 GMT -5
i was up there fighting the crowds saturday. It really wasnt a very good show this year in my opinion. There were just too many outfitters and guides and not near enough booths actually selling something worth it. As well as the lack of mom and pop stores, it seemed to be all bigger companies and they were selling stuff at about the same price you could find it anywhere else. I ended up walking away with a DU hat, some hooks i got for $1 a package and these cool no tie metal peices that you just twisted the line around and pulled tight to secure it, and its stronger than a normal knot(i know because the guy told me to tie my best knot to a lure on one end of a line and he tied his with the metal piece on the other end and lets just say my knot wasnt as good as i thought). The no tie line ends were without a doubt the only good find in the entire show. Other than that i watched the waterfowl dog seminar and decided to call it a day.
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