R. R. Branstrom | Daily Press
Attendees of the U.P. Ice Fishing and Hunting Expo get a demonstration on the one-person setup of a Trinity Tree Stand.
ESCANABA — The third annual U.P. Ice Fishing and Hunting Expo is in full swing this weekend after opening Friday afternoon at the Upper Peninsula State Fairgrounds.
From 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday, the Ruth Butler building and the surrounding outdoor area hosts suppliers of cutting-edge fishing gear, guns, kayaks, hunting blinds, apparel, crafts and more. Community organizations dot booths in the aisles indoors, while food trucks greet visitors near the doors, as do some pieces of larger equipment, like the dropdown trailer and amphibious Wilcraft brought by Blade’s Bait and Tackle.
To visit the event, which features a total of 70 participating vendors, attendees are asked to bring one item that can be donated to either a food pantry or the Delta Animal Shelter.
Community organizations including the Lions Club and 4-H join the U.S. Forest Service and military branches alongside local and out-of-state businesses. At the 4-H booth, MSU Extension Educator Dave Radloff invites people to try their hand at a safe, indoor archery setup and shares information about the Delta Sure Shots, a 4-H shooting club which, incidentally, is seeking a new shotgun instructor.
Live seminars about hunting and fishing are new at the expo this year.
Tom Dombuck of Total Land Management designs custom plans for properties of all sizes across the country with the goal of managing deer herds and pressures on the property. Through optimizing hunting methods and habitats, Dombuck has successfully been helping landowners shoot huge bucks year after year on properties where they’d previously only had smaller deer, and has been doing so since he was a teen in the ’80s. His seminars, delivered at noon and 4 p.m. on Saturday and noon on Sunday, will be about land management his consulting services.
Corie Berigan of guide service Fishing 4All Seasons gave one fishing seminar on Friday evening and will present two more on Saturday — at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. — and another on Sunday at 11 am. While Friday’s was on trailering, the two on Saturday will be about Navionics, and Sunday’s will be about the best knots to use when fishing.
WZMQ 19 News was at the event Friday and will again be onsite Sunday, releasing an article on Sunday evening and a televised segment on Monday.
On Friday, the business owner of Furs and Skins by Lynn — up from New London, Wis. — was sitting at her booth full of finished garments and products made from all types of animal pelts with a needle and thread in her hands, working on producing another can cozy.
Other businesses are prepared to full orders on the spot — Express Boutique, also from Wisconsin, features racks of clothing and shelves of tumblers ready to go, but also has a heat press and sublimation printer at the table equipped to pump out custom garb.
With vendors from Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Ohio — dozens of whom are new to the expo this year — participants and visitors can look forward to making connections and adding new gear and new ideas to their tackle boxes.