Boat show launches a busy stretch for outdoors enthusiasts

We’re slowly moving from a dearth of activities in the dead of winter to something happening almost every weekend now as the weather begins to improve.

The Anchorage Boat Show begins today at the Dena’ina Center in Anchorage and runs through Sunday. Boat dealers and manufacturers will be offering boats, motors, and boating gear at their lowest prices of the year. As a result, you’ll find stuff which is usually never discounted available at the season’s best pricing.

A reminder that the Palmer Lions Club is hosting its 51st annual gun show at Raven Hall on March 3-4. Proceeds from the show are used in the community by the Lions to help those in need.

Speaking about gun shows, I helped at the show this past weekend at the Mt. McKinley Mountainmen muzzleloading club table. The club usually rents one table for a display of some sort and to recruit new members and a second table where members can offer items for sale. This year’s display was knives and tomahawks. The sale table is a great benefit for the members since they can bring stuff to sell without having to rent their own table, often for only a few items. If stuff is sold, the member pays a small percentage of the sale price to the club to help cover table costs.

I brought in three “Malcomb” style rifle scopes and mounts, two pairs of boots, a couple of holsters, and some wall hanger fixtures for displaying firearms. I was able to sell one of the scopes and my pair of “Mickey Mouse” boots. These boots were in nearly new condition, but I had managed to outgrowth them somehow. The last thing you need to wear is a pair of too-small bunny boots during the winter!

I traded the second pair of boots, brand new Browning hunting boots which I have managed to outgrow without even wearing them, for some nice Damascus steel-bladed knives. As one of the other folks helping at the table commented, “It will be easier to sell the knives than sell the boots!”

The thing that surprised me was the non-sale of the two holsters. One was a top-of-the-line bandoleer-style nylon holster that fits any large frame revolver or semi-auto pistol with up to about a six-inch barrel. This holster cost me about $70 when I bought it for use with a large revolver. I was asking $40 for it, in like-new condition, and nobody jumped at the deal.

The other holster was even worse. It is a top-of-the-line bandoleer-style leather holster which, with the attached spare cartridge holder, sold new for $215. I was asking $150. There were a lot of “tire kickers” but no buyers, even when one of the guys at the table mixed up the prices of the holsters and was telling folks I only wanted $40 for the leather one. There still were no takers.

It is with a saddened heart that I mention the following. Earlier this week, I attended a memorial service for the wife of a good friend. The passing was unexpected and has caused a lot of sadness for the family. I’m thankful to note that both the husband and the wife were solid in their Christian faith and, while he is grieving, the husband is taking comfort in knowing where his wife is and that he will see her again.

I hope they’re posted and/or on line. What am I talking about? The winners of the drawing permit hunts are supposed to be posted by noon today! If you applied, you should have received an email from Fish and Game informing you of your success, or not, for each of the hunts you applied for during the application period last November and early December.

I applied for both bull and antlerless moose, bison, black bear, and brown bear drawing permits. I applied for the most permits I have ever tried to win. I guess hope springs eternal when it comes to permit drawings!

As I write this, I don’t know if I was drawn for anything this next season. I still need to get out and try again for my DC485 drawing permit caribou for this current season. The snowmachine repair shop has had my machine for over two weeks now. They told me they were about a week out when I dropped off the machine. I hope this “no news” isn’t bad news about the machine and the cost of repairs!