From News & Observer, Dixie Deer Classic set to start, Correspondent Teri Boggess —
Release date 2.27.13
If you visit a Dixie Deer Classic booth and notice teens, preteens and even younger kids displaying exceptional interest in the booth, there’s a good chance you’re seeing a hunt in progress.
Hundreds of young scavenger hunt participants will be among more than 20,000 visitors at the 33rd annual outdoors exhibition Friday through Sunday at the State Fairgrounds in Raleigh. Many of the more than 300 vendors and exhibitors will share outdoors knowledge for the scavenger hunt.
N.C. State University’s Leopold Wildlife Club runs the scavenger hunt to assist the Wake County Wildlife Club’s volunteer crew that organizes the huge show in the Jim Graham Building, Exposition Center and Dorton Arena.
“Young, knowledgeable people teaching younger people with a thirst for knowledge is a great match,” said Allen Basala, the WCWC Wildlife Conservation Through Education Committee chairman who works with the college club. “My wife and I have five grandchildren at the elementary or preschool level. The Wildlife Scavenger Hunt will be the first stop on their Dixie Deer Classic bucket list.”
Participants answer questions with information from selected booths to become eligible to win prizes including a lifetime inland fishing or hunting license. The questions this year come from Leopold vice president Michael Biggerstaff, who works with Dr. Chris Moorman and club president Charlie Sanders in the Fisheries, Wildlife and Conservation Biology program at N.C. State.
“I helped out last year, but I didn’t realize how much work and communication was required,” Biggerstaff said. “I have had a blast doing it, though. I have learned a lot about how to communicate with others that are interested in my field but are not all necessarily professionals.”
The scavenger hunt takes place all three days. Friday is Wildlife Youth Day, with nearly 300 youths registered for classes that meet N.C. educational standards. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission, the N.C. Wild Turkey Federation and Friends of the NRA also help plan the day’s many activities.