Locked antlers are tragic reminders of the harshness of Mother Nature and her operating rules, because they almost always result in the deaths of two magnificent whitetail deer.

Nearly a dozen sets of these dramatic results will be displayed at the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo in Owatonna this weekend at the Four Seasons Centre on the Steele County Fairgrounds.

Many of the locked antlers will have printed background information and photos displayed with them. “Plan to spend some time here,” Helgeland said. “The people displaying them usually are more than happy to talk about the locked antlers.”

The expo opens Friday at two o’clock. Tickets available at the door.

For details on the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo, including regular ticket prices and special offers, seminar topics and schedule, hotel and exhibitor lists, and trophy and photo contest rules, directions to the site and parking information, visit the event’s web-site -- www.deerinfo.com.

If your trigger finger includes camera operation, you just might want to enter two outdoor photography contests this weekend at the third annual Minnesota Deer and Turkey Expo. The Expo will be Friday through Sunday at the Four Seasons Centre on the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna.

The contest is open to all expo attendees who are amateur photographers.

The outdoor photo contest has five categories: Wildlife, flora, scenic, people in the outdoors, and miscellaneous. The new trail camera photo contest has eight categories: Whitetail deer – bucks; whitetail deer – groups; whitetail deer – other; predators (four-footed and flying); big game other than whitetail deer; wild turkey – gobblers; wild turkey – groups, and weird and unusual stuff / miscellaneous. Trail cameras see some strange things – and some big antlers – when humans are not around.

Entry rules for both contests are the same: Entry fee is $5 for up to three photos, and $5 for every additional group of one to three photos. Bring your entries to the expo office; no mail-in entries are accepted.

Entry deadline is 10 a.m. Sunday, March 9. Judging will be at noon Sunday.

The expo opens at two o’clock Friday. Tickets available at the door.

For details on both photography contests, and on the Deer and Turkey Expo itself, go to the event’s web-site -- www.deerinfo.com.

A guy who can shoot dimes out of the air with a bow and arrows performs this Saturday and Sunday at the third annual Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo at the Four Seasons Center in Owatonna.

Internationally-known archery trick shot Byron Ferguson year after year is a crowd favorite with his shooting and audience involvement. Glenn Helgeland, producer of the event, said, "Kids and adults alike enjoy him, and many see his presentation every year. He also gets kids involved."

Ferguson shoots wooden discs and pennies from the air, snuffs a candle with an arrow, shoots ricochet arrows into a target’s bullseye, and bursts inflated balloons while shooting from a variety of shooting positions, including an over-the-shoulder mirror shot.

The expo opens at two o’clock Friday. Tickets available at the door.

For details on the Expo, go to the event’s web-site -- www.deerinfo.com

This is cabin fever time for Minnesota deer hunters, but there is a cure. It’s called the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo, and it will be held March 7th through the 9th at the Four Seasons Centre in Owatonna. New this year are a display of nearly a dozen sets of locked whitetail deer antlers, a trail camera photo contest and a taxidermy contest.

Exhibit booths will feature new products and more than 20 seminars on a dozen deer, turkey and bear hunting, plus food plots, will be given. The trophy deer, bear and moose contest will have more than one hundred entries. Other features include wild game cooking and venison butchering demonstrations, archery trick shooting performances Saturday and Sunday, March 8th and 9th, plus archery, airgun and laser shooting ranges for everyone’s enjoyment.

For event details visit the show's web-site -- www.deerinfo.com

You’re invited to enter your trophy whitetail buck, black bear or bull moose in the Miller High Life big game trophy contest at the 3rd Annual Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo in Owatonna. The expo will be held March 7th through the 9th at the Four Seasons Centre on the Steele County Fairgrounds.

Entry categories have been widened considerably, because this essentially is a multi-state event. The main whitetail deer category will accept entries from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa, South Dakota and North Dakota. All entries from those states will be eligible for all awards, including Best of Show. Whitetail entries from any other state outside the basic five, or from any Canadian province, will be placed in the out-of-region category.

Black bear entries taken anywhere will be accepted. Bear skulls must be clean.

Moose entries may be from Minnesota, Ontario or anywhere else the Canada Moose sub-species exists.

There is no advance entry; just bring your trophy to the expo. Entries begin at noon, Friday, March 7th, and close at 10:00 a.m. Sunday, March 9th. Entry fee is twelve dollars for the first trophy you enter; in return, you get a three-day pass.

Members of the Minnesota Official Measurers organization will do all measuring and scoring.

For contest details and all other expo details, go to the show’s web-site -- www.deerinfo.com.

Seminar Schedule
Speakers Biographies & Photos
Seminar Speaker Contact Info Sheet

Nationally-known and Minnesota-based outdoor writers and deer hunters Gary Clancy, Scott Bestul and Michele Leqve will highlight the seminar program at the upcoming Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo. The Expo will be March 7th , 8th and 9th at the Four Seasons Centre on the Steele County Fairgrounds in Owatonna. Leqve is the only woman hunter to take a polar bear with bow and arrow. Those three speakers and others will present how-to seminars on a variety of hunting, scouting and food plot topics.

There will be more than 20 seminars over the two-and-a-half days of the event. Seminars are free once you've purchased your admission ticket.

There also will be demonstrations on venison butchering and wild foods cooking. In addition, internationally known archery trick shot Byron Ferguson will perform Saturday and Sunday.

For a seminar schedule and other details of the Minnesota Deer & Turkey Expo, go to the show's website -- www.deerinfo.com.

• Make This Your Most Productive Rut Hunt Ever (Gary Clancy)
• Five Effective Set-ups for Bluff Country Bucks (Scott Bestul)
• Comfort Builds Confidence ... and Polar Bears With A Bow (Michele Leqve)
• Good Food Plots -- Plan, Design, Development & Plant Basics, and common errors (Gordon Whittington)
• Six Steps to Beating the Cold & Bagging Late Season Bucks (Mark Kayser)
• Time Management (Yours & Theirs) for Whitetails (Tony LaPratt)
• Dream Turkey Hunts With Friends: Safety, Equipment Selection & Turkey Vocalization (Alex Rutledge)
• Turkeys With Bow and Arrow (Bill Wiesner)
• Venison Butchering and Processing (Bill Hesselgrave)
• Venison and Other Wild Foods Cooking (Jason Coleman)