State Fair Mounts

[bukket]

There is an absolute brute of a 250" deer in the DNR building this year. One of the coolest deer I've ever seen. They're also displaying an ATV confiscated from a poacher. For the uninitiated, all the deer and items in this area have been taken from poachers.

There is also a very neat sculpture on display near the south entrance of the building. A metal worker has taken castings of objects and trash pulled from Iowa rivers and compiled them into lamp post like art. Very cool stuff. There is supposed to be another added soon.

 

[muddy]

The sculpture is from a program called Project Aware. It was based off a kid who started doing the same thing on the Mississippi several years ago. He didn't like how the river looked and actually stepped up and did something about it, it's a pretty cool story. Anyway, here's a link from the 2007 Project Aware, there will be another one next year, it's a great program and great fun. My co workers jumped on board before me so I havn't been able to go on one yet.

project aware

 

[turtlshell]

Not to be too picky, but the ATV in the picture isn't the same as the ATV on display. The utility racks are a different color and the rear tires don't match up. I'm not sure why the DNR would need to change out the tires...I'm guessing someone from the DNR has a nice set of Mud Tires for their personal ATV.

It would be nice to see where the rest of the confiscated deer have ended up.

Did you notice the rack between the mounts? It reminded me a lot of the bruiser Terry Drury shoots on Whitetail Madness 8. (don't read anything into this either, I just thought it looked similar when I saw it)