My friend Frank gave me a call in the middle of the week to see if I had any spare time during the upcoming weekend … my answer was, of course I do, it’s the middle of February and we have freezing weather.

He tossed out the idea of attending a local Gun Show sponsored by the Clintonville Volunteer Fire Company. My response was in the affirmative … count me in … at least until noon as I had an important invitation to attend a 4-year old’s birthday party with a JoJo theme!

The opportunity to find a hidden gem at any of the gun shows has always been very intriguing to me.

The concept of a mid-winter gun/sport show has a strong following in Western PA and most are offered by sportsmen’s clubs or volunteer fire departments. The plan is to invite sport shops, gun shops and private owners to bring their items to a centralized area and sell, buy and trade sporting arms and collectibles that relate to hunting, fishing and the shooting sports.

I have found collectible patches, prints, scopes, sporting arms, coins, furs, and all types of knives and accessories. This event really brings out the horse traders and wheeler dealers. Everything is negotiable and everyone is generally in a friendly and talkative mood.

The host organization makes sure that all the transactions are legal MID-WINTER BLUES and they provide security and refreshments for the attendees. The usual entrance fee is around five dollars and goes toward the group sponsoring the event.

Food and drinks are available and are reasonably priced, while the fare is usually cheeseburgers, hot sausage, hot dogs, chili and French fries or some other kind of specialty item.

At this exhibition, I was seeking a unique sporting arm as a special award to be presented at an appreciation dinner for volunteers and workers who had assisted the sportsmen’s club throughout the year. I also wanted to find a collectible knife to recognize a young friend of mine who was attaining his Eagle Scout Award.

Oddly enough, I filled both of my quests at the same table. There was a handsome rifle with a carved stock and a specialty carved Boy Scout knife nearly side by side. The price was in the range that I wanted to spend and the deal was made. Thank you, Jim Hartle, the knife collector man!

To help the rest of you winter-weary folks ou,t I decided to give you the dates on some upcoming shows and maybe you will find a great deal on some items that you were searching for this off season. In the next weekend there will be a show on;

Feb. 22-23, the Indiana County Bow and Gun Show at the S&T Arena in Indiana, Pa.

Feb. 29th-March 1, the Ellwood City Gun Show at the Wurtemburg Perry Twp. Firehall Rte.488

March 7-8, at the Hickory VFW Gun Show on 5550 East State St., Hermitage, Pa.

March 14-15, at the Rocky Grove VFD Gun Show near Franklin, Pa..

March 21-22, at the Scott Twp. VFD between Slippery Rock and New Castle on Rte. 108

March 21-22, at the Pony Farm Gun Show at 592 Pony Farm Road in Kittanning, Pa.

March 28-29, at the Hidden Valley Sportsmen’s Club Gun Show - Gilkey Road, West Middlesex, Pa.

April 4-5, at the Washington County Gun Show – Washington County Fairgrounds, Washington, Pa.

April 4-5, at the Black Forest Conservation Association Gun Show in Roulette, Pa., on Rte. 6 West

April 18-19, at the Cherrytree Township VFD Gun Show in Cherrytree Road, Titusville, Pa.

April 18, at 8 a.m., the Statewide Opening Day of the PA Trout Season! Go Fishing!

This lineup of events should get us all into the Spring fishing season and is a fun way to spend some time with your buddies on a road trip until the mid-winter blahs go away!

Until we meet again, have a meet and greet for breakfast with your group and then hit the road looking for those hard to find treasures at one of the areas numerous outdoor and gun shows!

Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle