‘Tis the season for trade shows, and the sporting community can set its sights on Presque Isle next week.

The Presque Isle Fish and Game Club Sportsman’s Show is set for April 5-6, with doors opening at 9 a.m. each day.

The show will be held at Weiden Hall at the University of Maine-Presque Isle. Admission is $2, with children under 10 getting in free.

Organizers are ready for 50 exhibitors from all over New England and Atlantic Canada, and several special events are planned.

For instance, any hunter who has been wondering exactly how special that big ol’ deer was can bring a set of antlers to the show. The Maine Antler and Skull Trophy Club will score it for free.

Stage topics include trapping in Northern Maine, becoming a Maine Guide, a wild turkey seminar, and a performance by the Northwoods Baladeer, Matthew Heintz.

Also planned are a water fowl-calling contest and a moose-calling contest.

While not a part of the show itself, the action begins on Friday night as outdoors enthusiasts will have the chance to pick the brains of decision-makers at a Fish & Wildlife Forum.

Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife Commissioner Danny Martin will attend, as will DIF&W Advisory Council member Matt Libby and several DIF&W staffers.

Among the topics to be covered: the budget crunch, the deer herd, the fisheries review and the hatchery bond plan.

Penobscot Fly Fishers to meet

The Penobscot Fly Fishers will hold their monthly meeting on April 2 at the Holiday Inn on Odlin Road in Bangor.

The meeting begins at 6 p.m.

Following dinner, the speaker will be Rod McGarry, the Federation of Fly Fishers vice president of membership. Rod’s topic of discussion will be fishing wet flies.

The meeting is open to the public.

Maine Bound center celebrates

The Maine Bound Adventure Center at the University of Maine will celebrate its first anniversary on April 4 with events the public may want to check out.

Planned events include free rock climbing all day and a showing of the Sawtooth Film Festival.

Maine Bound moved from the basement of Memorial Union to a renovated barn across from the Maine Center for the Arts a year ago. The move allowed the organization to offer more activities, including access to the center’s centerpiece: A 32-foot-tall climbing wall.

The center continues to rent canoes, kayaks and backpacking gear, and has added mountain bikes. The new space also allows Maine Bound to offer indoor educational programs like fly fishing and trip preparation year-round.

To celebrate one year in the new facility, Maine Bound will offer free climbing, waiving the normal $3 fee for university students and employees and the $10 fee for those outside the university community.

Refreshments will be served from 11 a.m.-1 p.m., and the Sawtooth Film Festival – segments from the newest, adrenaline-charged sports films of the year – will be shown at 7 p.m. at 101 Neville Hall.

Free tickets were available through March 27, and tickets at the door will cost $1 for students and $3 for all others.

For more information, call 581-1794.

TU chapter sponsoring youth day

With ice covering all of our lakes and ponds, it may seem a bit early to be thinking about “open-water” fishing.

Or maybe it’s not.

The Sunkhaze Stream Chapter of Trout Unlimited has announced that it will co-sponsor (along with the Maine Youth Fish and Game Association) their first youth day at Pickerel Pond.

The date is May 4. On tap for the day are free fly casting lessons, fly tying and an entomology class.

Also planned are a free lunch, two rod giveaways (along with a supply of flies), and plenty of fishing.

For more information e-mail Kevin McKay at mckay@hermon.net.

Moose permit deadline nears

Hunters looking to apply for a chance to join in during the popular fall moose hunt are running out of time.

The deadline to enter the DIF&W’s lottery is 11:59 p.m. on April 1.

The good news: Help is just a computer screen away. Check out the DIF&W Web site at www.mefishwildlife.com and you can apply for the lottery on-line.

The process will take less than 10 minutes, and hunters can utilize their bonus points and apply for extra chances, just like they can on the paper application.

Maine deer CWD free

Results are in from last fall’s testing, and Maine’s wild deer herd shows no sign of chronic wasting disease.

In a cooperative venture, animal health officials from the Maine Department of Agriculture and biologists from the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife sampled 831 brain tissues from deer harvested during 2002.

The tissue samples were sent to a federal laboratory in Ames, Iowa, and were tested for the disease.

Chronic wasting disease is a fatal brain wasting disease in deer. CWD has been found in deer herds in several western states.

The departments involved in last fall’s study have been working together to develop a CWD surveillance program for both captive and wild deer herds.

To submit an item for publication in the Outdoor Notebook, send e-mail to jholyoke@bangordailynews.net, fax to 990-8092 or mail information to Outdoor Notebook, Bangor Daily News, PO Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402-1329.