Written by Andy Whitcomb
September 24-26 will be the 6th year of the Oklahoma Wildlife Expo, located in the Lazy E Arena between Oklahoma City and Guthrie. I had a fun time last year, competing in the Media Competition, which fell on the same day as the designated Field Trip Day. Approximately 8000 students attended, few of which knew to get out of the way of a media golf cart.
The 3-day event usually draws an attendance of about 40,000. With the suspension of the TX show last year, it is now the largest free outdoor event in the U.S. It is held at the biggest indoor dirt arena, which had much of that dirt removed to make room for a giant indoor kayak pool. Even though almost all 300 OK Dept. Wildlife employees are working this event, it still would not be successful without a tremendous number of additional volunteers.
Todd Craighead, the media competition coordinator said, “The two missions of this event are to introduce outdoor activities to newcomers and to reignite the passion for outdoor activities for those who have already experienced some of these activities.”
I tagged along with media competitors from television, radio, and newspapers. There were four events: skeet shooting, archery, fishing, and “the fish story.”
I was teamed with the pleasant chaps, Clark and Paul from Channel 5. At the skeet shoot, thanks to a bit of instruction and a few practice tosses, I hit all five. (Or so they told me.) At the archery station, again I was given a quick lesson and let one loose, just barely hitting the edge of the target.
“That’s okay,” instructor Eric Brennen, told me. “At least you hit something. I’ve seen ‘em sail.”
An eventual bull’s eye helped my team’s score. And even though my Zebco 33 was a little cantankerous, with a location tip from a volunteer and a coffee cup of spunky nightcrawlers, our fishing points were enough that we ended up winning the main event.
However, I stumbled through my story of a sculptor, fishing buddy who tried to put an electric trolling motor propeller on his father’s 2-cycle weed eater and lost to Channel 25 anchor Andrew Steno, with a joke about a woman ice fishing at a hockey rink. Company for my 7th grade summer-league bowling trophy would still have to wait.
Once the media event was over I wandered through the rest of the expo, along with what now seemed like 800,000 students. I am not going to list the over 100 booths or outdoor activities like Paddlefish Snagging Techniques, Cast Netting 101, or Bowfishing. But here is the link if you are interested in a great outdoorsy day: http://www.wildlifedepartment.com/expoprogram.pdf .
Personally, this year I am hoping to find a “How to keep rats from chewing on your truck wires” booth.
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