Outdoor Show Season

We are now enduring the drab, dreary days of winter. Oh, sure, a few sportsmen are out there ice fishing, and a few others might be hunting coyotes or other game that is in season. However, most sportsmen are spending their time in the great indoors while waiting for more clement weather. Many of these days are truly long ones.

To get out of the house, sportsmen often attend one of the outdoor sports shows that are held throughout the state. Three of these might be appropriate for area sportsmen.

The first is the Great American Outdoor Show that will run from Feb. 4 through 12 at the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex near Harrisburg. This show bills itself as the "world's largest outdoor show." The show boasts nine halls filled with guns, archery gear, and fishing equipment. A sportsman could spend days there. In addition, the show will host more than 400 outfitters who can set you up with hunting or fishing trips of all kinds. For hunters frustrated with Pennsylvania's horrid public-land deer hunting, this might just be the place to find a location where there are still deer to hunt. The show will run from 10 a.m. through 5 p.m. on Sundays, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. through 7 p.m. on weekdays. For more information about this show, visit http://www.GreatAmericanOutdoorShow.org on the Internet.

The next show is the USA International Sportsmen's Show scheduled for Feb. 17 – 19 at the Monroeville Convention Center in Monroeville. This show's hours are from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday and Saturday and from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. on Sunday. For additional information about this show, visit http://www.UsaSportsmenShow.com.

The third and closest of this trio of shows is the 36th annual Jaffa Outdoor and Recreation Show that is scheduled from Feb. 24 through the 27 at the Jaffa Shrine in Altoona. On Friday the show will run from noon through 8 p.m., on Saturday from 10 a.m. through 8 p.m., and on Sunday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For Cove area sportsmen this is obviously the most convenient of the three shows. Annually, it hosts local sportsmen's organizations that do much for the local sporting community and that deserve the support of area sportsmen. When I was an active member of Trout Unlimited, I spent some hours at the TU booth.

All the shows will host outdoor celebrities who will present seminars about various sporting activities. I have profited from seminars dealing with both turkey hunting and fly-fishing.

Attending one or more of these shows might just help you deal with the monotony of winter.