Sportsman’s Show attracts big crowd
to Gentile Hall at UMPI
By Jon Gulliver
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — (Mwaaaaah — Unnh — Mwaaaaah — Unnh) The preceding letters may look like a bunch of gibberish but with the right pitch and delivery to a moose it’s the call of the wild. No one made that sound better than Madawaska’s Kevin Deschaine, the winner of the moose-calling contest at the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club Sportsman’s Show over the weekend.
MOOSE-CALL WINNER 
— Kevin Deschaine of Madawaska won the Moose-Calling Contest at the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club Sportsman’s Show over the weekend in Presque Isle. In addition to pocketing $500 dollars Deschaine qualified for the World Moose Calling Invitational in Rangely in June.
Deschaine bested 11 other contestants, won $500 and the right to compete at the World Invitational Moose-Calling Contest to be held in Rangeley on June 2.
Dave Kelso of Sinclair was one of the judges. Kelso is a wildlife researcher, makes moose calls and would be considered an expert on moose.
“What I am listening for is the real sound,” he said. “I want to hear a cow in heat, a big bull. We are listening for realism.”
A panel of seven judges sat on one side of a curtain while the contestants, referred to by number, took the stage. The final scoring was close, but Deschaine had the right sound to impress the judges. Deschaine even used some antler jostling to add more realism to his call.
Staff photo/Jon Gulliver
CASTING A LINE — Jacob Hall of Bridgewater tries out the fishing pond at the Presque Isle Fish and Game Club Sportsman’s Show over the weekend in Presque Isle.
The moose-calling contest was only one of the attractions at the annual Sportsman’s Show. As of midday Saturday a steady stream of outdoorsmen and women entered Gentile Hall on the University of Maine Presque Isle campus.
“Springtime is coming and everything we offer is what you can do outside in the warmer months,” said PI Fish and Game Club member Nick Archer. “People want to see the fish pond, try out the bow range, wander around and look at the vendors and wish out loud for the things that are being displayed.”
Archer said the show has been a great event for the club — starting small at the Northeastland Hotel in 1997 and then moving to the Presque Isle Inn and Convention Center and finally winding up at UMPI.
