Exploring God’s Great Outdoors – It’s Been Showtime for Outdoor Men and Women 

By Tom Claycomb III 

Editor’s note: This column was written in early January for publication in the current March/April issue of Christian Living Magazine. 

We’re just coming off of the show season. January/February is the best time to have the outdoor shows since things have slowed down in the outdoors world. At least as much as it ever does in Idaho. That is, other than snowshoeing, cougar hunting, ice fishing, varmint hunting….. 

It seems like every state has its own big outdoor show. But I’m talking about big shows like the ATA (Archery Trade Assn.), DSC (Dallas Safari Club International, Conv. & Expo), SCI (Safari Club International), and the mother of them all – the SHOT Show (Shooting Hunting Outdoor Trade show). 

I conducted three seminars at the DSC show and am flying to Nashville in three days, in early February, to conduct three seminars at SCI. But due to limited space, today we’re only going to talk about the SHOT Show. It’s fresh on my mind since I just returned from it three days ago. 

As far as I know the SHOT is the largest outdoor show in the world. Manufacturers from around the world attend. Pretty much every gun, knife, outdoor clothing and outdoor gear manufacturer has a booth there. 

It kicks off on a Monday at the gun range. For this event, only writers and buyers/manufacturers are invited. They invite writers so they’ll test the new guns/ammo and get them publicity. If a new product is coming out, manufacturers wait to unveil it at the SHOT. 

In November I went on a writers’ hunt in which Savage was the gun sponsor. We got to hunt with two new guns that hadn’t even been released yet. We had to sign disclosure forms that we wouldn’t write about them until January. So, at the range we get to shoot the new guns and ammo. 

The actual show kicks off on Tuesday and ends on Friday. There are a quadrillion booths, with manufacturers displaying their goods. I go to get sponsors and to test the new products so as to be able to write product reviews. 

For instance, I write a weekly product review for AmmolandShootingSportsNews, mainly covering knives. So of course I met with a lot of knife companies such as Spyderco, Outdoor Edge, WE Knives, CRKT, Buck etc. 

Then of course I’ve got to check out what’s new in the gun world. So I go see my buddies at Umarex Airguns, Mossberg, Henry Repeating Arms, Anderson Manufacturing, Savage Arms and Ruger. Umarex came out with a new airgun that you can bowfish with. It shoots an arrow and has a bottle reel. Then I have to upgrade to a side lever Gauntlet PCP. Then Henry has a 12 ga. and .410 single shot turkey gun. I can’t believe a .410 works on turkeys but they say with the new tungsten loads that it will roll them. 

Luther-AR came out with a space-age looking stock for Ruger 10/22’s. I’ve got to trick out a 10/22 with one. The 10/22 is the most trick-outtable (is that a word?) gun on the market, isn’t it? 

Then there are all of the big outdoor clothes manufacturers there. I met the night before the show kicked off with 5.11 and got to check out all of their gear. Then LOWA has some cool boots. They have a ball bearing in the eyelet so the boot lace pulls smoothly. Smart. 

Then I met with eWool, which has some heated gloves, vest and socks that I have to test out if Katy doesn’t confiscate them. They have rechargeable heat pads in them that last up to 16 hours. 

Since I’m big time into airguns, I had to stop by and see my buddies at Predator International and check out their new JSB pellets. 

And who doesn’t like holsters? So I had to circle by and see Katarina at Falco. It is always enjoyable to see her and her products. 

I hit it hard from daylight to dark for five days and visited a ton of companies and saw a ton of gear. And, we will now end with a Pro-Tip to enhance your Christian life. 

Christian Tip #2 – Okay, 25 years ago in Idaho if you pulled up to a 4-way stop sign in Nampa and the other driver clearly got to his stop sign 3-seconds before you, he’d still wave you on. Now? Yeah, the drivers are over the top rude. It is not the same Idaho it was years ago due to the influx of rude drivers. 

For years…decades…I have nonchalantly tried not to be an idiot in return. But it seems almost impossible not to return the rudeness. But something stuck in my mind 10 years ago. I saw a driver driving down the freeway. He was driving a safe distance from the car in front of him. Some derelict wheeled over right in front of him into the small gap. The safe-distance driver didn’t honk at him or run right up on his tail. He just moved back another 50 feet. I observed this happening I believe three times and every time he just slowed down and backed up to his safe distance. 

Finally, the other day I thought, “I’m not making any improvements in my politeness.” I had two options. 

  1. Order a Howitzer tank off Amazon and nuke all of the idiot drivers (very tempting option).
  2. Or, get serious about driving like a Christian and not being one in word only. So, I wrote a note on a sticky pad and stuck on the dash of all of my rigs that said, “YOU ARE NOW ENTERING YOUR MISSION FIELD.”

I learned, it’s not really that hard to change your behavior if you’re serious. Sure, I still slip (okay, daily), but if you struggle with this like I do, you might try it out. 

 

For more information, contact Tom at [email protected]. 

 

 

 

 

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