Great outdoors — indoors

Fort Dodge hosts annual Iowa Sportsman Outdoor Sports, RV and Boat Show

By HANS MADSEN, Messenger staff writer
Participants in the annual Iowa Sportsman Outdoor Sports, RV and Boat Show who thought they heard croaking frogs in the Career Education Building on the Iowa Central Community College campus Saturday were not imagining anything.

There really was the sound of croaking frogs, some high pitched, some clearly in the bass range and some in the middle.

Nobody brought along a bucket of frogs, however, Fern Gunderson, of Holstein, did have plenty of hand-carved ones at her Mystic Wonders booth.

The wooden noisemakers, hand carved in Thailand, and sold as the Feng Shui Frog, are a popular item at her booth. She typically sells nearly 200 of them at a weekend show.

‘‘It’s something to play with and bug your neighbors,’’ she said. ‘‘You don’t have to be a certain age to enjoy them.’’

As an added bonus, the little critters are claimed to help with health, wealth and prosperity if you place them near a doorway facing into the room.

One of the participants in the show came all the way from England. Tan, a Labrador retriever belonging to Diamond J Brit Labs, of Atwater, Minn., was getting lots of petting, scratching and ohhhs and ahhs as he happily wagged his tail and filled his role as ambassador for his breed.

‘‘People are very surprised at how gentle they are,’’ said Donna Ostendorf, owner of the facility. ‘‘They are an excellent choice for a family. They are very good with children.’’

She was enjoying watching her dogs interact with the public, which also seemed to be enjoying it.

One of the big attractions at the show is the roster of seminars available. Topics ranged from fishing tips to advice on putting a food plot on your land for wildlife. The shows bring droves of anglers looking for an advantage.

Saturday included two sessions by champion angler Ted Takasaki. After speaking about bottom bouncers and spinners, a group of about a dozen anglers stuck around to talk with Takasaki and ask him a few more questions.

‘‘Nobody likes to ask questions in front of everybody else. They are more comfortable afterwards,’’ he said after answering a dozen questions from the gathered group.

Takasaki was enjoying the time with his audience and presenting his seminars.

‘‘I enjoy coming to Fort Dodge, the response is wonderful and the people are so friendly,’’ he said.

Iowa is close to his heart. Takasaki caught his first walleye in Lake Okoboji and his first muskie in Spirit Lake. That one was a nice 51-inch specimen. Out-of-state anglers are often surprised to hear of it, muskies are normally not associated with the state.

‘‘There’s always a soft spot for Iowa,’’ he said.

Perhaps someday Maddox Greenway, 2, of Omaha, will return to the show and give her own seminar on fishing. She can then tell her audience that she tried catching her first fish in the Fort Dodge Animal Health-sponsored fishing tank.

It got away though.

In spite of help from her mom, Milly Greenway, she did have fun.

‘‘That was the big thing,’’ she said.

Attending the show with her father, Mark Plantz, of Rockwell City, the group was making a family outing of the day although Plantz did have another motive.

‘‘I brought along a couple of deer antlers to get ’em scored,’’ he said.

So did quite a few others, there were already a dozen sets of antlers, some on mounts, ready to be scored by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources by the time measuring began at 1 p.m.

With Conservation Officer Ken Lonneman on the tape measure and fellow conservation officer Matt Bruner filling in the forms, they had their work cut out for them.

‘‘It’s a service to the hunter to record the deer,’’ Lonneman said, adding, ‘‘It’s also interesting to see the trends in antlers from county to county.’’

The antlers are scored the same way as the Pope & Young or Boone & Crockett clubs do. The DNR does not charge a fee. The private clubs do.

The results are recorded in the Iowa Trophy Deer Records maintained by the DNR.

Not to be left out, there was something for the golfers at the show as well.

Diana Nutt, along with her husband Bill, have been running Golf Products Inc. for the past nine years after purchasing the business from its previous owner.

They sell used golf balls.

‘‘We don’t actually do the scavenger hunt,’’ she explained. ‘‘We get them from retrievers all over the U.S.’’

After getting the balls by the pallet load, the Nutts wash them, clean them and sort them out by grade before reselling them to the public.

Nutt explained that a dozen new Titleist Prov 1 balls will set a golfer back up to $60. For the same balls, her used Grade 1 are $17 a dozen with the Pearl grade going for $24.

‘‘Recycle and reuse,’’ she said.

The Iowa Sportsman Outdoor Sports, RV and Boat show continues today from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for children 6-12.



Contact Hans Madsen at (515) 573-2141 or hmadsen@messengernews.net