The evil grip of Sin City couldn’t hold me any longer. SHOT Show was interesting, exciting and even enlightening, but being cooped up in aisles trying to route through nearly 50,000 attendees can make a guy a little crazy. Even though the aisles are crammed with the newest in outdoor gear, it’s still a little too much like shopping in a super city shopping mall.
Yes, SHOT Show is the Disneyland of the outdoors, but I was more than happy to get back on a plane for Wyoming even with the threat of a major winter storm barreling towards home.
Meeting after meeting kept me from snooping in every nook and cranny of the SHOT Show for new products, but here are a couple you should check out.
First, if you’re thinking of a new predator rifle to thump a coyote or two yet this winter, check out the Thompson Center Venture Predator. It is available in .204 Ruger, .223, .22-250 (my favorite), and .308. It weighs 6 ¾ pounds and comes in Realtree Max 1 camouflage. I’m getting one ASAP!
If you’re in the market for new boots, check out Danner’s new design on their popular Pronghorn. After nearly six years of hardcore hunting, my Pronghorn stitching is giving out so I’m seriously looking at the new Pronghorn GTX. This new remodel includes an aggressive outsole designed after a mountain goat’s hoof, re-enforced heel and toe coverings and a total makeover for looks.
In optics, Nikon introduced its new Riflehunter 1000 rangefinder. I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the accuracy of my Riflehunter 550 with incline/decline technology so when I need to reach out and touch something, the 1000 model will give me the correct stats. Bushnell also brought new products to the show including a stab at the binocular/rangefinder combo in their new Fusion 1600 ARC binocular. The 10×42 binocular also serves as a rangefinder from 10 to 1,600 yards. ARC stands for angle range compensation which calculates the angle to the target and shows hold over values for the firearm shooter, and true distance for bowhunters.
If you like new game calls look to the leaders at Hunter’s Specialties. Right now coyotes are beginning to breed and the new Estrus Whimper Call with the Mac Daddy mouthpiece will help bring in coyotes that are now warier than I am of the 2010 census. This spring you’ll want to try the squealing hen call, also built around the Mac Daddy mouthpiece. Both the coyote and turkey call key in on breeding sounds and that brings everyone running.
Finally, I couldn’t help but notice the new European skull mount wall plates from Skull Hooker. I have a pile of skulls from the 2009 hunting season to boil and this elegant mounting kit will give me some new options on where to put my homemade European skull mounts.
Honey, with the new Skull Hooker I can put even more skulls on the wall…honey?
And now I have to get back to work. I lost $3 gambling in Vegas.
Mark Kayser
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