The 2010 International Sportsmans Expo!

Denver, CO – You could say that the Stay The Trail crew had a pretty busy beginning to the new year.  You could also say that we had our best International Sportsmans Expo presence to date.  Why, you might ask?  Well, this year marked a signficant amount of exposure at the Expo, and combined with the release of our new riding areas map as well as a couple of very good looking rigs on loan from American Rock Rods and High Country Performance 4×4, an unbelievable 1900+ people came by the booth!  So yeah, it was busy.

Similar to last year, our booth was set up near the Division of Wildlife Kids Fair at the south end of the expo hall.  The obvious centerpiece to our presence, the Stay The Trail trailer was placed in the middle of our space with the HCP4x4 LJ off to the left near the entrance door, and Bombshell Betty off to the right.  A Honda dirt bike on loan from our very own George Vonesh, and the Yamaha Grizzly 700 outfitted with some extra hunter-specific gear thanks to Vickery Motorsports were parked in front of the educational trailer, and a special display for the new OHV Opportunities Map sat alongside.  Having the extra presence of OHV’s off all shapes, colors, and sizes was a definite draw and allowed us the opportunity to speak with a couple thousand people.

The maps themselves were a hit.  Steve Sherwood from the Regional Forest Service office even came by and was given a quick “tutorial” on what have produced by George.  We gave out over 3300 maps in 4 days, and thanks to the skill of our map guru Adam Pitchford, we even were able to navigate the website from a display on the trailer and show all the additional features that can be found on staythetrail.org.  The online version of the map can be seen at www.staythetrail.org/maps and if you’re looking for a paper copy, there is a link at the top of the page.

The Sportsmans Expo itself is an incredible event for us at Stay The Trail.  It offers a wonderful opportunity to reach out to the hunting and fishing markets and to answer questions and provide resources for enthusiasts of all backgrounds.  A couple of the big questions this year involved game retrieval and how to verify that routes are open.  In answer to the first one, game retrieval is currently only permitted in a small section of the Rio Grande National Forest in Colorado.  The remaining forests do not permit leaving designated routes for the pursuit or retrieval of game.  Those machines have to stay parked along the designated route.  The second one was a little more complex, but when checking to see what routes are available within each Game Managment Unit, it is the users responsibility to reference the USFS Motor Vehicle Use Map (www.staythetrail.org/mvum), or check with the BLM Field Office, before heading out.  A few other quick points…  Hunting season happens to fall near the end of the recreational OHV season, so for a brief time there are a lot of people out on public lands with different objectives.  Please respect the desires of all those out on public lands, and if you know that there are hunters in the area, have an extra cup of coffee or take a little while to hang around camp in the morning before heading out on your rides.  The hunting community will appreciate it.

Thanks again to the Sportsmans Expo staff, our volunteers, and those who helped us out with props or equipment for the show!  For more information:

 International Sportsmans Expo – http://www.sportsexpos.com/

High Country Performance 4×4 – www.hcp4x4.com

American Rock Rods – www.americanrockrods.us

Vickery Motorsports – www.vickerymotorsports.com