 While the 2016 14th annual governor's deer hunting openers being held at Breezy Point Resort this week and nearly half a million Minnesotans are expected to hit the woods and participate in the upcoming deer season, our Taylor Archer went to the expo today to see the pre-hunting activities near Pequot Lakes. Deer hunting season officially starts half an hour before sunrise this Saturday, but before hunters set up in their stands the Breezy Point Resort invited Pequot Lake students and the public to activities during the day. It's really exciting to see a room for people just a few moments ago of students all getting excited I think that reflects the excitement in the community. Students spent the day learning about the environment and safe hunting and later were able to have a Q&A forum with Governor Mark Dayton. This is the next generation so it's great to have them have these kind of questions and exposure and be aware of the enhancing the deer population some of the things that they can do even now to make our hunting better. And the public was entertained later in the day with the outdoor expo and a welcome to camp banquet. One weekend of the year that so many hunters look forward to to get out and explore Minnesota they plan it all year long. Deer hunting has always been a special tradition in Minnesota but the hunting season is also an important time for tourism economy. Deer hunters are hugely important 500,000 people are going to buy gasoline they're going to buy guns and ammunition they're going to buy food and beverages. People spend a lot of money half a million people out there hunting that are spending money in hotels and restaurants and equipment. And about $725 million dollars are spent annually on hunting equipment. The tradition of the sport continues to play a large part of Minnesota culture. In Pequot Lake's Taylor Archer Lakeland News. The governor also announced that today that next year's governor's deer opener will be held in Grand Rapids November 2nd through November 5th. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland news please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.