Activities, info offered at Deer & Turkey Expo
Party plans involving green beer or not, hunting devotees will gather at the Ohio Expo Center to revel in their own form of March madness starting St. Patrick’s Day.
The occasion is the annual Ohio Deer & Turkey Expo, which runs Friday through Sunday inside the Bricker Building on the state fairgrounds. Hours are 2 to 9 p.m. Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday.
Exhibits, demonstrations and vendors cater to the camo-wearin’, woods-lovin’, turkeycallin’, deer-chasin’ hardcore and those who feel kinship with the same.
Highlights include a trophy deer contest open to attendees who enter their best deer and shed antlers from any season; monster mounts of the Whitetail Kings Collection, which includes the Ohio mystery buck; an exhibit of live game animals and predators; seminars involving topics related to hunting and attracting wild turkeys and whitetails; trial ranges for archery and airguns; demonstrations in trick bow handling and shooting with show mainstay Byron Ferguson.
One-day adult tickets cost $14 at the door. Multiple-day and youth passes are available. A discount coupon and event details are available at deerinfo. com/ohio. A one-year subscription to Field & Stream or Outdoor Life is included with a paid admission.
Trout days
To the lucky go the spoils when the Ohio Division of Wildlife holds its annual spring lottery for slots to fish trout-laden Cold Creek in Erie County.
The division opens a half-mile section of the creek on the grounds of the division’s Castalia hatchery to chosen anglers on selected dates between May 1 and Nov. 30. Anglers must submit an application by March 31 to be eligible for the drawing.
Applications cost $3 and can be completed at wildohio. gov or obtained in paper form by phoning 1-800-WILDLIFE. One application may be submitted.
About 90 adult and 90 youth permits (ages 4 to 15) are up for grabs. The youth season runs June 12-Aug. 11.
Each winner of the lottery held in April may bring two adults and three youths under 16 during the assigned time. Sessions for adults and their guests will run from 7 a.m. to noon. Sessions for youths and guests will run from 7 to 11 a.m. or 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Plantastic
The healing potential of backyard plants, the conservation of an Ohio orchid, the future of the Eastern forest, and the flora and geology of the state’s only known meteorite crater will be among the topics discussed at the Ohio Botanical Symposium on March 24 at Villa Milano, 1630 Schrock Road.
The biennial event is sponsored by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Cleveland Museum of Natural History, The Nature Conservancy and Ohio State University Herbarium.
Registration is open until March 21 or until the conference is full. The $45 cost includes materials, breakfast, lunch and break refreshments. Details of the day’s agenda and a registration form are available at naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/obs or by phoning Rick Gardner at (614) 265-6419.
Parting shots
A woodcock watch is scheduled Saturday and an amphibians program next Sunday at Lake Hope State Park. For particulars, phone (740) 596-3030. For details about a scheduled hike to Buckeye Cave at Burr Oak on March 18, phone (740) 767-3570. … The walleye run on the Maumee River has been picking up. The water temperature was about 43 and the flow was steady Friday morning. A blast of cold air during the weekend and into the week likely will discourage fishermen but won’t necessarily have an impact on the fish.