Into the Outdoors
Annual show draws crowd

By AMANDA WHISTLE, The Leader-Herald | POSTED: February 21, 201

The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan - Riley Cook, left, of Fonda and Nicholas Shepard of Tribes Hill hold a Northern Pike, caught by Peter Dubuc in September 1940 on the Great Sacandaga Lake, at the Adirondack Outdoorsman Show at the Johnstown Moose Club on Saturday. In the background is Craig R. Turner, president of Turners Outdoors of Groton, Tompkins County.

Local father and son Joseph and Michael Palermo showcased a number of home accessories for sale, including mirrors, frames, and pistol and jewelry boxes made from a number of woods like black birch.

A $5 admission charge included access to all of the vendors and a full seminar schedule-a new addition to the show this year.

"This morning you couldn't move," Michael Hauser, who has been planning and promoting the show since late August, said. "That's how busy we got."

This year's show featured first-time seminars by newcomers like the Southern Adirondack Chapter of the North American Versatile Hunting Dog Association.

The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan - Nathan Eglin of Johnstown pets a Labrador Retriever at a booth during the show Saturday.

Evan Hendricks, president of the chapter, and Ted McEachron, vice president, had two German Shorthaired Pointers on hand to demonstrate training versatile hunting dogs. Versatile hunting dogs are both fur and feather dogs, meaning they can hunt rabbits, raccoons, foxes and game birds.

"A lot of people have dogs but don't know what to do with them," McEachron said. "There's nothing better these dogs like to do than to run birds-and they're very easy to train. They want to please you."

The two also brought a pair of Bob White Quails and Chukar Partridges.

"We've had a tremendous influx of authors wanting to come here this year," Hauser, who has planned and promoted the show for the last five years, said.

The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan - Artist Sara Winter, of Sara Winter Studio of Galway, uses a chainsaw to carve a bear out of wood during the Adirondack Outdoorsman Show at the Johnstown Moose Club on Saturday.

Authors on hand included Dan Ladd, who wrote "Deer Hunting in the Adirondacks," Morgan Lyle, a fly fishing columnist who writes for a number of publications, and Don Williams, a columnist for The Leader-Herald and former principal in the Gloversville Enlarged School District who has penned nine books including several for the "Images of America" series.

"We've had a tremendous influx of authors wanting to come here this year," Hauser, who has planned and promoted the show for the last five years, said.

Hauser described Williams as the mainstay of the show. The lifetime resident of the Adirondacks has been sharing his outdoors stories and writing techniques with showgoers every year.

"This guy's a legend," Hauser said.

Attendees also had the opportunity to talk with Todd Mead, who lives in Staten Island and works as an editor for Tribune Media Services and recently finished his book, "A Lifetime of Big Woods Hunting Memories."

"I've been trying to get him here for several years," Hauser said.

One of two Fulton County sheriff's department K-9 units, Officer Bert Simonds and Mocha, a chocolate Labrador Retriever, demonstrated how they work together at the show. Simonds hid a satchel and had Mocha, who is trained to sniff out an assortment of controlled substance, find it.

Simonds also had K-9 Unit T-shirts for sale for $10 each to raise money for the K-9 units, which are not funded by the county.

Swany, a city-based glove company, had a table filled with several different flexible and quite gloves for hunters, as well as other outdoor accessories.

"We come here every year because it gets our product and name out there," said Donna VanAernam, who manned the booth Saturday with Shin Nakao.

Vendors also raffled off prizes such as the Foothills Friends of the National Rifle Association's Tikka T3 rifle with a Nikon scope, valued at $1,400, and a Stihl chain saw valued at $375.

The Leader-Herald/Bill Trojan - Nathan Eglin of Johnstown pets a Labrador Retriever at a booth during the show Saturday.

David Knudsen of Amsterdam and his wife,?Sandy, said they attend the show every year to see the new toys and remind themselves that spring is on its way.

"We're outdoors people, we kayak and my husband hunts and fishes," said Sandy Knudsen. "It's good to get out and see all the new toys."

Amanda Whistle can be reached be e-mail at [email protected]