Travel to Sacramento next week for the annual ISE show

Jan. 18-19-20-21 are the dates of the 2007 Sacramento outdoor sportsmen's show, sponsored by the International Sportsmen's Exposition (ISE).

The ISE show (Northern California's largest fishing boat show) will be held at Cal Expo at the California State Fairgrounds, at 1600 Exposition Blvd. in Sacramento.

You might be interested in knowing that from my home to Cal Expo (via I-80) is almost 160 miles. If you don't mind a long day, get up very early, drive to the show, have a ton of fun and be back home late that evening.

The show hours are:

Thursday (Jan. 18) and Friday (Jan. 19): Noon to 9 p.m.

Saturday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Sunday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Tickets are $12 for general admission, with youngsters (ages 12 and under) admitted free. Parking will cost you extra.

Also be advised that if you are at the Expo on Friday evening or Saturday afternoon, you can expect huge crowds that often cause grid-lock in the aisles.

The Sacto Show is the second of five ISE hunting and fishing shows held in the west. The other four are San Mateo, Calif. (Which starts today and runs through Jan. 14), Denver, Colorado (Jan. 25-28), Phoenix, Arizona (March 9-11) and Salt Lake City, Utah (March 15-18).

As you can see, Sacramento is the closest, if you are interested in attending an outdoor sportsmen's show with all kinds of awesome exhibits, demonstrations and activities.

The show consists of a number of buildings, halls and exhibition areas, each specializing in various types of hunting or fishing-related activities.

I guarantee that there will be something there to catch your fancy, no matter what your outdoor interests are.

You will find an Adventure Theater, a sporting dog area for retriever dog demonstrations, an ATV track to try out brand-new ATV's, a hall for fly fishing enthusiasts complete with a fly tying area and fly casting ponds, a Youth Outdoor Fair designed for youngsters, a hall for all of your camping and travel needs, a hall for big game hunting, a hall for water fowl hunting and a hall for fishing and boating.

The big game hunting hall contains vendors and exhibitors advertising all types of hunting, just about anywhere. Mule deer and Rocky Mt. Elk hunts are the most common hunting packages offered. However, you can also book big game hunting trips for species such as black bear, grizzly bear, brown bear, Rocky Mountain goat, Dall Sheep, moose, caribou, mountain lion, etc.

The fly fishing building contains all kinds of vendors, exhibitors and demonstrators. In that building, you can book fly fishing trips all over the western states, British Columbia and Alaska.

The fishing and boating building contains vendors and exhibitors associated with all kinds of fresh and salt water fishing, fishing equipment and all types and sizes of boats.

Among some of the 2007 show activities are: The Best of The West Distance Fly Casting Competition, the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation elk calling competition, a pop-up archery challenge, a giant bass fishing demonstration tank, wild game cooking demonstrations, a shooting simulator, the Toyota Ride and Drive, and more.

In the hunting theater, you will see: Chad Schearer on black powder hunting basics, Cameron Hanes on do-it-yourself backcountry bow hunting, Billy Gianquinto on wild game cooking, Bill Mays on new waterfowl gear and techniques and John Higley on hunting wild turkeys.

In the fishing theater, you will see: Rick Soto on Shad Fishing the American River, Chris Shaffer on Northern California's Best Secret Fishing Spots, Sep Hendrickson on Eagle Lake Trolling Truths for Trout, Capt. Rich Tipton & Capt. Kevin Yost on Delta Sturgeon and Rick Kennedy on Kokanee Tackle, Tips & Techniques.

Finally: This annual show is a great way to spend enjoyable time with thousands of other hunters, fishermen and boaters.

-- Bet Your Favorite Pigeon

Bet your favorite pigeon that he can't tell you if I'm going to attend the Sacramento Show.

If he grins and says, "Don is going to skip it because he has gone to many in the past," he could want me to go fishing at Pyramid Lake instead.

-- Don Quilici is the Outdoors editor for the Nevada Appeal.