28th Dixie Deer Classic Slated Feb. 29-March 2

Photo by Craig Holt

The Dixie Deer Classic’s N.C. Big Buck Contest features the top whitetails taken during the 2007 season.

The 28th Dixie Deer Classic, set for Feb. 29-March 2 run at the N.C. State Fairgrounds in Raleigh, should be a treat for sportsmen who want to see some of N.C.’s biggest white-tailed bucks.

The Wake County Wildlife Club’s Big Buck Contest will be a highlight, presenting some of the top deer taken by Tar Heel hunters during 2007. Hunters with deer they wish to enter are reminded to bring their trophy racks to the Classic Friday and Saturday. No deer will be scored on Sunday.

Three of the nation’s leading white-tailed deer experts will present seminars inside the Jim Graham Building. They include Dr. James Kroll of Stephen F. Austin University, one of the nation’s top deer biologists and a columnist for North American Whitetail Magazine; South Carolina’s Joe Hamilton, a former South Carolina deer biologist who wrote the book on Quality Deer Management and currently is a QDM executive; and famed trophy hunter Larry Weishuhn.

Deer exhibits will include the (World’s Outstanding Whitetails) collection by Jim Reimer, featuring Goliath and The Giant, and the Maryland record buck Tim Crutchfield killed last year, a 260-inches class trophy.

Show hours begin the first day, Friday, Feb. 29, at 9 a.m. and end at 9 p.m. March 1 hours will be 9 a.m.-7 p.m. with March 2’s final day set for 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Awards for N.C.’s top deer will be presented Sunday afternoon at Dorton Arena.

Exhibitions of big bucks from across the nation will be inside the Jim Graham Building, the next-door Exposition Center and Dorton Arena.

Admission is $10 for the three-day run of the Dixie Deer Classic while youths less than 12 years old will be admitted free. The $10 admission price includes the price of scoring one deer head. The Wake County Wildlife Club will admit youths ages 13 to 18 for $5 on Feb. 29, the first day. Youngsters also can participate in a BB gun turkey shoot and special youth programs for young hunters have been planned.

Visitors who leave the complex are encouraged to get their hands stamped so they can return that day or any other day free of charge.

Nationally-recognized Boone-and-Crockett scorers will score trophy buck antlers.

Seminars topics for the public in Seminar Room Two will include Birds of Prey by the N.C. Falconers Guild, N.C. Snakes by Dr. David Woodard, Food Plots, Cooking Venison, Becoming an Outdoors Woman, Fur, Fish and Game Rendezvous, and Preparing your Trophy for the Taxidermist. Retrieving-dog exhibitions will be offered between Dorton Arena and the Jim Graham Building.
Exhibitors at Building One (the Jim Graham Building) will have booths containing products from all venues of the hunting world, offering tree stands, camouflage clothing, outfitting services from around the world, archery and firearms, truck and auto accessories, wildlife art, game calls and many other hunting accessories.

Dorton Arena (Building Two) will feature the N.C. Bowhunters Association’s 3-D archery shoot and gun sales. The gun sales area has federally-licensed dealers offering special prices.

The new Exposition Center (Building Three) is a 50,000-square foot that will house deer-head scoring operations and bragging board displays of scored deer.  Special deer head collections, including the top N.C. whitetail bucks of all time, will be on display at the Exposition Center.

The show is sponsored and presented by the Wake County Wildlife Club and conducted entirely by volunteers associated with this award-winning non-profit organization. The 100-member club is affiliated with the North Carolina Wildlife Federation, the National Wildlife Federation, the National Rifle Association, and the Wildlife Legislative Fund of America, with membership in the Nature Conservancy.

The N.C. State Fairgrounds complex is at 1025 Blue Ridge Road in Raleigh, just off Wade Avenue.