A lot of sportsmen believe North Carolina’s 2013 deer season ended Jan. 1, but that’s only partly correct. It’s also the start of the 2014 season.
The 2013 season will end when the last exhibitor walks out the door of the 34th Dixie Deer Classic on Sunday, March 2. But the Classic also makes sportsmen look ahead to the 2014 deer season.
In 1980, members of the Wake County Wildlife Club dreamed up the idea of a deer expo to find the state’s top whitetails. Dr. Carroll L. Mann III, a Raleigh neurosurgeon who became president of Safari Club International and the N.C. Wildlife Federation, was a key mover and shaker.
The first Classic drew about 1,500 spectators and maybe 50 exhibitors, mostly taxidermists, including my father-in-law, Albert Madden. Dick Idol, the former N.C. State football player who later became a collector of trophy whitetail antlers, also became involved, along with pioneer deer-lure inventor Tink Nathan.
But the Dixie Deer Classic’s luckiest move was its timing — it caught the crest of a deer-hunting tidal wave that slammed across the South. Whitetails were just beginning to repopulate North Carolina in the early ’80s, and Tarheel State hunters pursued them with bows and arrows, muzzleloaders, shotguns, rifles and deer hounds.
Today, the event has 300 vendors, dozens of exhibitors and nationally-known hunting personalities who attract more than 20,000 paying customers. Averaging $500 to rent floor space and, with 300 vendors/exhibitors, that totals $150,000. Plus general admission tickets add $200,000. It costs $10 to score one deer’s antlers — last year, 500 racks were scored for an additional $5,000. So we’re talking about a serious fund-raiser.
When the Classic begins its 34th run — Feb. 28-March 2 — it will sprawl across four buildings at the southwestern corner of the Fairgrounds off Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh. There will be vendors and exhibitors, plus the big-buck contest with categories for male, female and youth hunters and a 3-D archery shoot. The state turkey calling championship and a youth scavenger hunt are also on schedule, and there are hunting personalities from the world of television and videos.
The Classic attracts all types. I was talking to a friend a few years ago when Rodney Rogers, all 6-foot-7 and 250 pounds of Durham Hillside, Wake Forest and NBA basketball player, walked up — this was before his paralyzing accident.
“Hey, Rodney,” I said, sticking out my hand, which disappeared in his ham-sized palm. “I didn’t know you liked deer hunting.”
“Man, there’s nothing like it,” he said. “I love it. I can’t wait to get in the woods next fall.”
And that’s why the Dixie Deer Classic is the end of 2013 deer season and the beginning of the 2014 season.
Be the first to comment