Deer & Turkey Expo on the Horizon
The 2015 Deer & Turkey Expo, an OWO advertiser that enables you to pick up the paper at no cost, will be held April 10, 11, and 12 at the Alliant Energy Center, 1919 Alliant Energy Center Way, Madison. According to Wisconsin outdoor writer and show promoter Dan Durbin of Bast-Durbin Associates, new highlights for 2015 include shed antler contest (whitetail deer only) and home defense, wild game cooking and ammo reloading demonstrations.
See 590 exhibit booths, big whitetail bucks in the Budweiser trophy big game contest, daily scouting, hunting, and habitat management seminars, hands-on shooting ranges and booths, Byron Ferguson archery trick shooting performances, and live-game animals and predators.
For more exhibit information or to order advance tickets with $3.00 off instantly, connect with www.deerinfo.com, or clip your $3.00 coupon found in the March-April issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors.
Lori and I changed things up a bit for our vacation this year. My wife is a 1st grade teacher which means we take off when Easter break allows. Instead of hitting the beaches of Florida for a week this year with me chasing Pompano, whiting and redfish, we split it up into two mini-vacations. First, we were in Arizona with three other Wisconsin couples golfing. If you thought I was bad with a rod, see me handle a club sometime.
New experience out there. Before teeing off, the course manager said, “We’re seeing rattlers on the greens now two or three times daily, so be careful.” I thought, what is he talking to me for about being on the greens? More accurately he should have been on a bullhorn, warning the rattlers. “Attention snakes, Dick Ellis from Wisconsin is about to tee off…if you’re in the brush, keep your heads down….”
Anyway, we saw two rattlers while climbing Pinnacle Peak, a local mountain, one with a fresh kill obviously in his belly just a lying in the sun. In addition, one of our buddies almost sat on a tarantula hiding under a pillow by a fire pit. Below are a couple photos to make you sleep better. Like I said…it was a new experience.
Lori Ellis and Donna Walsh took these photos this week in Arizona.
Next stop is St. George Island, Florida, where Lori’s parents winter. The nice part about this vacation is that instead of chasing pompano from the beaches we chase the southern version of sheephead from the rocks. Unlike the Wisconsin roughfish, the Florida species of sheephead, like the pompano, makes for fabulous table fare. Here’s a shot of father-in-law Dick Henske, also an OWO travel, hunt and fish writer, with a sheephead taken this week.
Thanks to Kwik Trip, where as you know you can pick up OWO, in July we will be fishing central Wisconsin with the lucky winner of a recent Kwik Trip contest that will put us on the water with super guide and OWO writer Phil Schweik. That is truly a lottery win, since Schweik is a fish magnet. Watch for the story and photo in the September-October issue of On Wisconsin Outdoors. To tease you a bit, below are some photos taken last week by Schweik and company.
Phil Schweik clients score year round on the Wisconsin River and lakes of central Wisconsin.
The guide by the way, is the one cheating by holding that already nice walleye closer to the camera. Read Schweik’s weekly reports on this website under “Inland Fishing” where you can also read the reports of many other Wisconsin experts. Connect too to Kwik Trip Outdoors. They want to see what you’re up to in the field, and look forward to posting your Wisconsin photos from the big outside anytime you want to send them.
We’re in early production for our May-June issue. Look for your issue the first week in May.
It’s Easter week. Try to follow the commandments. That’s the best compass for those of us wandering without direction. I recommend reading “Killing Jesus”.
Thanks for connecting with On Wisconsin Outdoors. Shoot straight.
Dick Ellis