"Our Mission"
January 2006

Late in the season or at the end of the season it's always hard to decide what to write on. For that matter, it's even tougher to think about waterfowl during the summer, so I've decided to focus my spring and summer directives a bit more toward new products and ideas. In fact, Jackie and I will be attending SHOT this February in Las Vegas. SHOT stands for "Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade Show".

Not only is SHOT a good reason to justify a trip to Vegas, it is the show of shows for hunting, shooting and outdoor gear. The event itself takes up the entire Las Vegas Convention Center. I'm not talking about a lot of open spaces and while there is well over one million square feet of floor space, they are expecting 615,000 square feet of actual exhibits this year. Basically that is the equivalent of 15-football fields … all full of hunting, shooting and outdoor gear! In fact, they expect there to be over 11,000 unique firearms on display, not to mention the hundreds of thousands of other items.

Manufacturers and vendors from all over the world show up for this event. You'll have companies like Remington Arms, Browning and virtually every other gun manufacturer in the world. You'll also have small operations where various entrepreneurs want to show off their new ideas, designs and inventions. In fact, they predict there will be over 500 new products exhibited in the New Products Showcase alone.

With an expected crowd of 38,000 buyers, sellers and the Media/Press, you may see T.V. crews filming segments on different companies and individuals at any given time, trying to piece together a segment or two for the local or regional news or The Outdoor Channel or Outdoor Life Network. Of course the major publishing companies will also be well represented. Groups like Harris Publications (Waterfowl Hunter), Primedia (Wildfowl) and most others are sure to have a long list of writers and members of their editorial staff on hand. In keeping up with the things, like they always do, Adventure Sports Outdoors will have proper representation at the show as well. Both Harry and Cathy Canterbury are planning on attending, as are several others that write for ASO.

To say the least, this show is not for the faint hearted. If you want to have a chance to look over the exhibits like you should, it's predicted to take 33.5 hours and a lot of walking to visit all the exhibits. To put the walking in perspective, they are using 13 miles carpet in the aisles alone!

I'm always amazed at SHOT; you really can feel the excitement in the air. This is a time when local sporting goods store owners and operators come to look and/or purchase much of their inventory for the next year. Not only are the local operators present, industry giants like Cabela's, Bass Pro, Sportsman's Warehouse and Gander Mountain will also have their representatives and buyers in attendance, all trying to visit the 1,800 plus exhibitors.

A lot of goods are bought and sold at SHOT, but there's no doubt … SHOT is "The Place" to find out what's new and that's exactly what Jackie and I are looking for. What is the next hot waterfowl toy … or should we call it a tool? Has someone developed a product that will suck the ducks right out of the sky? Will we have an opportunity to use it before anyone else or will we break the news in one of our columns this spring or summer? We won't know the answers to these questions until we've logged in several miles of walking. Up and down the 13 miles of carpeted aisles, looking, listening and enjoying every minute of it.

We are also going to attend The Golden Moose Awards Producers Banquet for The Outdoor Channel. It's not to be confused with The Emmy Awards for national television, but The Outdoor Channel's banquet is worth the trip in itself. I really don't know how to describe it, but if you replace the Emmy's red carpet with indoor/outdoor carpet it might be a start. Then replace the long gowns and tuxedos with blue jeans, camouflage and leather jackets and you should start getting a visual picture of this particular event. Now, close your eyes and add in a live band … and you can see why we're looking forward to being able to attend again this year. Oh, I almost forgot to mention. Powerhouse Promotions, the production company that owns the new Waterfowler TV show and who we've been fortunate to film with for several years, is up for possible awards for best waterfowl, best turkey, best big game and the best intro awards.

While The Outdoor Channel's Banquet will be a great time in itself, I don't want to lose focus. Remember, we're not going to Las Vegas, SHOT or the Awards Banquet for the fun and excitement surrounding these events; we're going in hopes of finding out what's new and effective for waterfowl hunting. After all …that's what "Our Mission" is all about … of course nothing says we won't enjoy everything else while we're there!

For additonal information about SHOT, visit www.shotshow.org

Charles "HammerTime" Snapp

Email: snapp1@sbcglobal.net

Website: www.arkansaswaterfowl.com