Shot Show - Las Vegas

[bow hunter]

never a bad deal to be anywhere close to tiff lol

 

[IdahoBugler]

I saw that Fin is the featured "meet & greet star" at the Outdoor Channel booth during prime time on Friday. Hope this is because he is going to haul in the hardware on Thursday night at the Golden Moose awards. He is scheduled back to back with Lee and Tiffany so I'm guessing they might also win something.

Wow that is great. I can't wait to hear the results. Post when you guys can please.

 

[WV Hunter]

I saw Tiff at the ATA show last week and she looks even better in person

Good luck Big Fin!

 

[Big Fin]

Man, am I tired. Too much of the business at this show gets done before or after hours. Not sure if I will still be awake when the Awards show starts tonight.

Did see some clips of the previews of what will be played at the show tonight. Looks like we made the Montana black bear into a pretty big movie star. Considering how big and fluffy he was, I guess he deserved to be a star.

The Hunttalk Crew is here, but I haven't had to time to meet with any of them, besides Elkwhisperer and StillKickin. Chilly Willy and I meet for breakfast. Schmalts sent me phone pics that I probably wouldn't allow to be posted on the site, so he looks to be in fine form. Greenhorn is actually working, so hoping to catch up with him.

Keeping our fingers crossed.

 

[WapitiBob]

Good Luck.
I tell everybody I can about the show. They're always bich in about high fence and tame Deer so I steer them your way.

 

[upper deck]

Good luck tonight Big Fin.

 

[smalls]

You guys and your fancy Vegas SHOT show. I just spent the last three days at a trade show at the Ramkota in Casper, beat that.

 

[Buschy]

We are all pulling for you. Bring home the hardware Big Fin!:hump:

 

[Goldtip]

Good luck with the Awards show tonight Big Fin.

 

[schmalts]

What a show, that place is freaking huge. I know I missed a lot because it was so sprawled out you could not just go up and down rows and I got turned around and forgot where i left off after stopping to talk with venders. Randy called me and wanted to meet up at the front area and I told him I didn't even know what direction to go so we met at the Leupold booth since I could see that. He is a busy man these days, and I would not want to be in his shoes at this show.
I was wearing a OYOA badge and the feedback reaction i got was either "is that an outfitter service" or "I saw that show, it was great!" I put a good word in everyplace I could and told everyone that asked about OYOA being up for Golden Moose Awards.
Even though OYOA did not win, Randy has to be proud to be nominated so many times his first season. I think everyone who sees it likes the show, but it is hard to go up against characters like the duck commanders and Wadell, and of course Lee and Tiff. Those duck commander guys are some true blue redneck boys and have appeal to a lot of viewers that probably never set foot on the west side of the Mississippi. Keep in mind that the guys who come here are probably more big game oriented, so we are as biased as guys who like ducks, box blinds and corn flingers.
I do think Randy and his show will grow much more, but his show will always be a different kind of show if you know what i mean, in a good way.
All in all the whole shot show deal was a lot bigger and better than I thought and would definitly do it again even if it was not in Vegas.
Hmmm, I had to think for a bit what picture I had sent Randy on the phone, then remembered it was me with 3 hot chicks and he probably thought i was in some strip club But it was only the performers who do the Treasure Island pirate ship skit outside.
The only bad thing that happened the whole trip is I got some kind of cold and lost my voice and had a hard time talking to anyone in a loud environment after second day. I was getting introduced to folks i would have loved to talk with but it was not working out. Big fins kid probably is still wondering who the heck was that guy with the voice no one cound understand
I will post a few pictures once I get settled.

 

[Oak]

...then remembered it was me with 3 hot chicks... The only bad thing that happened the whole trip is I got some kind of cold and lost my voice....

Better hope it was only a "cold" you caught.

Sounds like fun. I'd like to go one of these years.

 

[schmalts]

Did I forget to mention me and Kurt also got into the awards show? Hell yea! that was cool. Got to meat a lot of cool guys, met some hunt talkers like NVlongbow, Lawnboy, Fin's son, and a lot of the OLN shows main men and women. Too bad I couldn't talk loud enough to be heard. One big surprise was they said after Nuge was done Jay Gregory was going to play in his 80's hair band and I thought "oh boy, this is going to be interesting" but they were really good!
here is a few pictures. The 3 stooges in a group photo

The Nuge jammin, and his interesting stage props

Rednecks are cool!

Wadell saying "this guy is a freak nasty beer drinker!" no not really, Kurt told him I was gay, his reaction was pretty funny, he knew he was joking.. I hope

 

[Lawnboy]

I couldn't believe the size of it either. Unfortunately I burned my energy at first messing around in the law enforcement section. After an hour of dragging my wife through 8,000 different pistol grip manufactures both of us were whooped. She stayed up stairs as I went on the lower level to see. That was even bigger and more confusing. When I finally decided to leave it took me 20 minutes to find an exit up to the main floor I'm not kidding either. I felt like a rat in one of those maze things trying to find my way out. Someone told me that if you were to walk every isle you would cover 7 miles. I believe it!!

Lots of crazy stuff out there for the hunting and shooting industry and it was fun to see.

 

[Lawnboy]

Sorry Schmalts now I recognize who you are. You should of introduced yourself as Schmalts and I would of put 2 and 2 together Your voice was pretty quiet with all that background noise. Anyway it was nice to meet you.

 

[belly-deep]

No pictures with Tiffany? You ARE gay....

 

[schmalts]

No pictures with Tiffany? You ARE gay....

I was going to get a picture of Shockey's wife and me but kurt ran off. She was really nice though, and a lot better looking than Tiffany, even more so given the age difference. She is one classy looking woman

 

[A-con]

Love the shutter speed on that Nuge photo.

 

[Big Fin]

One of the outdoor newswires had this as their summary of what the show was like. I didn't see any of the FBI arrests, but did see much of the other stuff.

A show this big needs to be well laid out and moving it from the LV Convention Center to the Sands Expo was a big mistake. Hard to find anything, and almost needed a GPS to know where I was.

The guy who died of a heart attack was supposed to be at media day with a bunch of us from the TV and print world. His buddy sat next to me on the Media Day bus, and I was amazed to hear of the guy having a heart attack that night. His buddy and roommate was pretty shook up, but still managed to compose himself enough to attend Media Day events.

As far as the foreigners counterfieting gun products, I hope they send them to Jaurez for some "hard time." Many of the US companies are doing everything they can to compete, and many who now realize the problems with foreign inventory delivery and lower quality are bringing production back to the US. These foreign knock offs make it very difficult for the true product to succeed, and are not near the quality. I had heard rumors that the FBI was their looking for these jokers and laugh now, knowing they found some of them. Good deal.

For those of you who were there, I am sure you can attest to the immesity of this gathering. For those who have not been to one, it is worth it, just to see such a circus of hunting and shooting exhibitors.

FEATURE
A Final SHOT
Combine an FBI bust for attempting to bribe a foreign government, another FBI bust for counterfeiting products, flash floods, wintertime temperatures, and an exhibit hall that was harder to navigate than a plate of spaghetti, and you get SHOT Show 2010.

More drama than a prime-time police show. Great grist for the always active gossip mill that is part of the heartbeat of any major trade show.

At the same time, despite our staggering economy, SHOT 2010 enjoyed near-record attendance. The good-news attendance, however, only exacerbated the fact that the Sands Convention Center lacked some essential elements: seating, signage and space. Compared to other facilities, the Sands is, at-best a second-tier venue.

"The NSSF members have overwhelmingly told us they want the show early in January," says the NSSF's Chris Dolnack. "It's a tough competition for space with other events. And the members say they prefer Las Vegas to Orlando."

Frankly, I don't envy Dolnack his position as the point man. Heading up the show, he's tasked with the job of making certain the NSSF's major funding source goes off with as few hitches as possible. In ideal conditions there are hitches. The Sands is an ideal setting for a disaster movie.

This year's event was thrown into an early frenzy with the FBI's arrests of 21 industry figures. Federal officials say it was simply an opportunity to roll up the investigation and was too good to pass up - everyone was, after all, coming to SHOT Show. But it kicked off more speculation that the current administration was sending a message to the gun industry.

I don't know about that one, but it did make for lively speculation as to whether the investigation would eventually involve more highly-placed industry officials. Personally, I think the current administration has other larger problems, but it's tough to ignore any event with a potential to negatively impact the pro-gun position.

On Thursday, the FBI made another visit, picking up several foreign nationals and charging them with counterfeiting gun products. It was done quietly, but the folks who saw the event say they were shaken at the sight of a "tiny little woman" being led from the floor in handcuffs. This sting, however, didn't come as a surprise to officials. The FBI was moving on information provided by the companies who complained their products were being knocked-off by importers.

Another pair of events also attracted a goodly amount of attention. After having warned companies and attendees that the policies forbidding suitcasing/backpacking or tailgating the event would not be tolerated, the show took actions that made it clear they weren't playing.

One knife company made the decision not to exhibit. Instead, it sent a message to attendees that their reps would be walking the show floor to tell them about new products. That note led to a cease-and-desist letter from show officials. When the company hit the show floor, their credentials were revoked and they were escorted from the premises by security officers.

What they were attempting is known in the exhibition industry as carpetbagging or suitcasing; attending a show rather than exhibiting- then trying to sell your products while walking the show floor.

It's roughly the same thing you see at a gun show when someone walks the aisle with a gun slung over their shoulder and a For Sale sign is attached. At gun shows, it's an unfortunate fact.

At trade shows where square footage is priced like prime Tokyo real estate and that cost only reflects about twenty percent of the real total cost of exhibiting, legitimate exhibitors are understandably not pleased.

At SHOT 2010, already irritated exhibitors made the practice impossible to ignore.

Another company ran afoul of show officials after choosing to have an off-site hospitality suite rather than a trade show exhibit. That's "tailgating" - capitalizing on the traffic generated by an event without paying to participate. Also a no-no.

Unfortunately for them, that suite was located in one of the show hotels. Rooming contracts with hotels clearly state suitcasing is forbidden. So that contract was cancelled. Undaunted, the company changed venues -and used our wires to let attendees know they'd be moving. Again, with the same outcome.

It was that kind of year.

When one media attendee suffered a heart attack and died Sunday evening before the show opened, it was regarded as an individual tragedy. Looking back, it may have been the first indication of just how unusual SHOT 2010 would turn out to be.

Despite all these crazy happenings, there were plenty of new products, and lots of business conducted in the cozy confines of the Sands Convention Center. The rest of today's SHOT Show Special Edition will be dedicated to that.

 

[The Hedgehog]

Some arrests were made at the Smith and Wesson booth I heard also, senior executives, having something to do with bribery and foriegn sales...

 

[Lawnboy]

I saw a bunch of "knock off" spotting scopes down on the lower floor. Leupold and other brand looking optics. It was an oriental booth. Usually were the knock offs come from.