hunting and fishing show

For immediate release
January 5, 2005

Contact: John Laberge, 802.877.0033
e-mail: yankeeclas@aol.com

Hunting and Fishing Show Opens in Essex Junction, VT: January 14, 2005

Deer and Deer Hunting Field Editor, The Benoits, VT Governor and other VIPs in attendance

Vergennes, VT– The 13th Annual Yankee Sportsman’s Classic returns to the Robert E. Miller Expo Center in Essex Junction, VT, and this year’s show is 30% larger with the addition of a new 26,000 square-foot building.

A three-day event, the Yankee brings together thousands of hunters, anglers, trappers and their families. During this long weekend, they can attend seminars, check out the latest gear, talk with wildlife and fisheries experts, and even book an elk hunt “Out West” or a fishing trip in Canada. The kids can catch a fish in the free trout pond hosted by the professionals and volunteers with the LCI Derbies.

Also new this year is the large selection of bass boats, campers, RV’s, ATV’s, pop up campers, house boats and many of the bass boat reps on site from companies such as Skeeter and Triton.

Special features include Pope and Young record-holder Mike Weaver. The Northeast Big Buck Club will have a trophy wall of amazing bucks. Get your own deer head scored (fee involved) or listen to one of their seminars on scoring a trophy buck. Visit the 2004 NRA Big Buck Collection or go fly-casting on the indoor “pond” staffed by Maine Master Guide Carroll Ware. Don’t miss the cast-off on Friday and Saturday with the finals on Sunday. There will be appearances by the nationally acclaimed gundog trainer Alec Sparks, and, of course, the Benoit deer hunting family eager to swap this past season’s hunting stories and show their newest video. Author of The Deer Trackers and On The Track, famed Maine deer hunter and Deer & Deer Hunting Field Editor Dick Bernier will also be presenting seminars—five unique sessions. The ‘Duke’ of the deer woods, Randy Flannery, will be on hand to share tips on hunting Maine’s public lands. Expert game callers Bradley Carleton, Dick Greene and Al Morelli will present several seminars on duck and turkey calling, respectively. With nearly 140 exhibitors, there is something for everyone and their family.

A portion of the proceeds is donated to Camp Ta-Kum-ta in Colchester, VT to benefit children terminally ill with cancer.

Fishing and hunting are very important to both the culture and the economy of Vermont where 30 percent of Vermonters fish and hunt—not even this many Vermonters ski (19 percent). 53 percent of Vermonters participate in wildlife-related recreation placing Vermont fourth in the nation with higher participation only in Alaska, Idaho and Montana. The national average is 38 percent. For the year 2001, nearly $300 million was spent on fishing and hunting in Vermont. When all is said and done, five percent of Vermont's Gross State Product is attributable to fishing, hunting and wildlife-related recreation; this ranks Vermont 1st in the East and 4th nationally behind Alaska, Wyoming and Montana.

The Robert E. Miller Expo Center is located just east of 1nterstate 89 Exit 15 on Route 15 at the Champlain Valley Fairgrounds. The show hours are Friday, noon-8pm; Saturday, 9am-7pm; and Sunday, 9am-5pm. Tickets prices are $9 for adults and $3 for children. A three-day pass is available for $15. For more information, photos and/or a schedule of events, call 802.877.0033, visit www.yankeeclassic.net or pick up the January issue of Outdoors Magazine.

#30

Statistics cited above are from the following sources: Izaak Walton League of America, Wildlife Conservation Fund of America, US Department of the Interior, National Wildlife Federation and VT Ski Areas Association

Photos available on request