A few things caught my attention last week as I attened the annual Archery Trade Association show where companies in the outdoor industry come together to show off their latest and greatest products and to network with other industry partners.
There were a lot of great new products there as well as some tried and true gear that those in the outdoors know and love. Everyone from the smallest of mom and pop sporting goods store or bow shop to the biggest stars from all of the outdoor networks. It’s a great gathering opportunity for professionals in the outdoor industry.
Products
Convergent Hunting Solutions
I’ve worked with several outdoor companies and non profit organizations over the years on a variety of projects. This time, I attended the ATA Show with Convergent Hunting. They are the manufacturers of a line of electronic game calls that are deadly in all types of predator hunting as well as feral hog management.
Most hunters are not familiar with the effectiveness of calling hogs other than the Arkansas Razorbacks. (woo pig sooie) However with the help of Prostaffer Glenn Guess, Convergent has really locked on to a new technique for using their game calls to help thin out the nations hog problems.
The Bullet HP game call has been the go to product for electronic game calls for the last few years. Its Bluetooth receiver connects to your Apple or Android phone which allows you to control the speaker as well as the decoy via a downloadable app. The Predator Pro app is available for free and other apps are available depending on what sounds you want to use.
A new product offering from Convergent is the sidewinder. This weapon mounted game call is small, but packs a punch in the sound department. When mounted to your weapons picatiny rail, the sidewinder connects directly to your phone. A final prototype was on display at the show, but you can Look for the final version later this spring.
SpyHigh Mounting System
One of the cool new products that I particularly liked was the SpyHigh Mounting system. To me, this is one of those why didn’t I think of that things.
The SpyHigh Mounting System is an ingenious trail camera mount that uses a painters pole to install your trail camera in a tree without needing to carry a ladder into the woods with you. It installs in minutes using a unique screw in or a clamp mount and allows you to position your camera high in a tree for the best angle.
To me, the SpyHigh Mounting systems does two things.
By elevating the camera, you get a larger coverage area in each photo. That means more deer can fit in each photo. Even though trail cameras aren’t really artistic in nature, the photographer in me says it means you’ll get a different perspective then the standard tree mounted camera photos that we’ve all gotten use to.
Have you ever lost a camera to theft? Its a terrible feeling knowing your good camera is gone. When you walk through the woods, you are looking down or at eye level. Raise your camera up into a tree and get it out of sight and out of mind of thieves. Plus, with the ability to reach up to 20′ into the air, unless a would be thief has a ladder or the SpyHigh Pole adapter, your camera will be safe from theft even if spotted.
E-bikes
E-bikes seem to be increasing in popularity. There were couple of e-bike manufacturers present at the show. A few months ago, I had a chance to try out the Rambo Bikes at T.P. Outdoors in Monroe, LA. They were also at the show along with QuietKat.
Rambo Bike Setup for fishing
Now E-bikes may not be for everyone but I think they are pretty cool. Personally, I’m not a big fan of riding an ATV right up to your deer stand. I’ve always walked in to my deer stand from a little ways away. Having a quite e-bike might shorten my walk some. Innovation and competition are bringing the price of e-bikes down. E-bikes have also gotten more and more powerful and batteries have gotten lighter. You can even pull a small trailer behind some bikes to haul your deer stand or deer out of the woods. Where I really think these would shine though is in turkey hunting. Nothing like slipping in to your favorite turkey roost with the silence of an electric bike.
Accessories abound for E-bikes
Whether checking trail cameras, scouting, or hunting. I think E-bikes could become a more and more common tool for hunters and outdoorsmen. Especially when it comes to public land hunting.
Obviously, there were lots and lots of other cool products at the ATA show but these are just a few that caught my attention.
In my next blog, we’ll talk about a few of the seminars that I attended while at the ATA show and some thoughts on how we can help improve your companies online presence.
If I can help you in anyway, Contact Us. We’d love to help you.
Gibson’s stores were once a dominant retail chain store. They carried a variety of merchandise but sporting goods is what I remember most. Rumor is that Sam Walton once inquired about opening a Gibsons franchise before starting Walmart. A series of ownership changes and a bankruptcy in the early 90’s almost ended Gibson’s stores. However, there are a couple of remaining stores in Texas. We once had a Gibsons Discount store here in El Dorado, Arkansas.
My First Rifle
It was the early 80s and I was just a young kid. I went all over with my Popaw. He was one of my heroes. One afternoon we went in to Gibson’s and that’s where I saw it. A Nickel Plated Rossi Pump action 22. The thought, “you’ll shoot your eye out with that thing kid” runs through my mind now but I thought it was the coolest gun i’d ever seen. It was shiny and it looked like the perfect size for me. My papaw used a similar rifle to ward off squirrels from his pecan trees. Many days we’d pull up to his house and he’d be standing outside under the carport waiting on one to come out. With my own Rossi, I could do it with him. For now, though it was a wish list item.
A couple days later, when we went over to visit, I was surprised with that very 22 Rifle. It wasn’t Christmas morning, but it sure felt like it to me. We went out to shoot it and before he and my dad would let me shoot it, we had to clean it. It was there that I learned the importance of properly taking care of a new rifle.
My first Rifle
The thing about a new rifle is that, like any new toy, you want to go play with it as soon as possible, but you can’t let the eagerness to go shoot get a head of proper gun safety and maintenance. Now Lets skip forward a few years. Say 30-35 years.
The Christensen Arms Ridgeline
My dad is now retired. Like my popaw, he spends most of his time with his grandkids. Although he doesn’t hunt much anymore, he wanted a new precision rifle to play with. Several years ago, he purchased a Remington 700 VLS chambered in 6mm remington. The 6mm Remington has long been a favored round in our family. Although not as widely know as the 243 Winchester, the 6mm rem actually predates the 243 and offers slightly improved ballistics and the same bullet. The 700 VLS is a beautiful gun but its heavy bull barrel proved more weight than Dad wanted to carry so, he never really shot it.
With the wide popularity of the 6.5 creedmore, he decided he wanted to give it a try. Dad and I stopped by T.P. Outdoors in Monroe, LA to talk about some custom guns.
After talking with a gunsmith and discussing several options as well as pricing some Dad initially decided to go with a custom built rifle. Then, T.P. Outdoors got in some new Christensen Arms rifles. These rifles have been on order for months and they came in just days after placing his order for a custom rifle. After looking at the new Christensen Arms Ridgeline and finding out nothing had been ordered yet or started on his custom gun, Everyone agreed that the Christensen arms would better suit his needs and at a slightly lower price with more features. We’ll call it perfect timing.
The Christensen Arms Ridgeline has many of the features dad was looking for right out of the box. It’s pretty much a custom rifle right from the factory. It features a bedded stock, and a fluted bolt in a 700 clone action with a carbon fiber wrapped barrel. We’ve shot carbon fiber barrel before on a Ruger 10/22 and love the performance. This one is no exception. It makes for a very light gun at 6.3 lbs which was dads number one concern. He wanted the performance of a heavy barrel but not the weight and fluting only does so much. The carbon fiber dissipates heat 300 times faster than an all steel barrel of equivalent weight. It also comes threaded for you suppressor guys out there. If you don’t have a suppressor, it comes with a thread protector and a ported muzzle break so all of your bases are covered.
Now the lessons learned when I was just a kid are now really important. With any new rifle, ensuring its clean and free of any grease or manufacturing defects is important. It’s also important to properly break in a new barrel. This is definitely the case with a new precision rifle with a sub moa guarantee like the Christensen Arms Ridgeline.
The barrel break in process can help increase accuracy by smoothing out the rifling in the barrel and prevents material from being impeded in the steel. It can also help ease future cleaning and maintenance. We still need to run another box of ammo through it, but we’ve followed Christensen Arms recommendations for barrel break we’re already getting pretty good results.
For the moment, we’re shooting Hornady Precision Hunter ammo. Some of our shots have included sighting in the Leupold VX5HD 3-15×56 with FireDot reticle. The scope lets in a lot of light and has been great to shoot so far. Below is two three shot groups at 100yds after sighting in the scope and really trying for accuracy. I’m happy with that and I think most people would be. We tried the Hornady Match Ammo and didn’t get quite as good a results but Dad’s looking forward to playing around with some other ammo to find the best load and going out to some longer ranges.
Hornady Precision Hunter 6.5 creedmore 143 gr ELD-X at 100 yds
Few cons
There are a few very minor things that I’d change about the Christensen Arms rifle if I were building it as a custom gun.
The bolt handle is light and appears to have had some thought put into its design, however, the design leaves some relatively sharp edges that make it a little uncomfortable to work the bolt. This will most likely have some work done to it and be refinished in the future.
The Ridgeline has a standard magazine compartment similar to any other Rem 700 and it works fine. The stock is a very nice, light weight free floated and bedded stock. However, the bottom plate of the magazine and trigger guard does not recess up into the stock like I would prefer. The magazine in my factory Rem 700 BDL in 6mm rem has a much better feel when you hold it in one hand at the mid point of the gun. Although not really a big deal, this leaves a little sharper edge around the bottom plate than you’d probably get on a custom rifle. and its probably a trade off between weight of the thicker stock that may be required to recess the magazine bottom plate.
Popaws Squirrel Gun
Other than a few very minor issues, the Christensen Arms Ridgeline is probably the sweetest rifle I’ve ever shot. Its light weight. It feels great in your hands. The 6.5 Creedmore performance seems amazing and so fun to shoot. It seems like a nearly perfect rifle. Popaws squirrel gun sure has changed a lot over the years. This one has me drooling all over it just like my Popaws old squirrel gun did years ago. Maybe one day I can have a “squirrel gun” that nice too.
A few days ago, I started a couple of projects for Hogg Boss Gates. Essentially these guys have come up with a cellular controlled hog trap. When coupled with a cellular camera system like those from Covert or Spypoint just wait for the hogs to show up and enter the trap and only catch them once they are all rounded up. Triggering the system is pretty easy too. You just call the trap from your phone. Pretty cool conTRAPtion if I do say so myself.
At the moment, I’m working on some photos and videos for them as well as setting up their new website. Its still an ongoing project but check them out at www.hoggbossgates.com
In a previous post, I talked about a lot of the work I’ve done with several different non-profit organizations over the last few years. Giving back to others or “Paying It Forward” is so much better than receiving. Not that receiving isn’t good as well. If anyone wants to bake me some chocolate chip cookies, I can assure you that I won’t turn them down. But, when you see the faces of those you are helping light up, it just warms your soul. So as the saying goes, tis better to give than to receive.
One of the organizations that I’ve been the most involved with is Warrior Hunts. Warrior Hunts is an offshoot of the North East Louisiana Veterans Association that is specifically dedicated to getting Americas warriors in the outdoors through hunting and fishing. With the help of dedicated sponsors, the organization has helped make a significant difference in the lives of over 200 veterans during their three year tenure.
Several years ago when I first saw outdoor shows of veterans going on hunts, I thought “well thats a nice thing to do.” After getting involved with Warrior Hunts and other organizations like it, I quickly realized that its more than just a nice way to say thanks. As John Nolan Jr., the director of Warrior Hunts, says “when you combine nature and the presence of warriors, true therapy happens.” Over the last two years that I’ve been involved with Warrior Hunts, I’ve seen that to be a true statement on numerous occasions.
I can give you numerous stories of people who have benefited from Warrior Hunts, but without their permission I won’t post that stuff online.
What I can tell you is that God is at work in Warrior Hunts. I believe that getting our veterans outdoors does two things. First, it gives them something to do in a safe environment. I hear a lot of guys talk about the fact that they have a hard time getting around other people. Warrior Hunts and this type of organization gets veterans out and around other veterans. There is a brotherhood that exists among military veterans and no matter what branch they served in, that bond breaks down walls when they get together. The majority of the sponsors and hosts are more like family than corporate donors. Although Warrior Hunts is a secular organization, the love of Christ is on abundant display at each event. Its impossible to leave one of the hunts and not feel like someone cares. Second, hunting is a primal activity that God ordained. As he told Peter in Acts Chapter 10, “get up peter, kill and eat.” The organized events tap into the adrenalin rush that we call buck fever. They say that the adrenaline rush of combat is a high like no other. I personally have no experience with that, but I do know what its like to have the hair stand up on the back of your neck when a turkey gobbles 20 yards behind you. Warrior Hunts helps fill that void. I’ve heard it said that the intensity level of the hunt is the closest thing there is to chasing a known enemy. Therefore, the positive outcome of a deer hunt helps replace the negative feelings of war. If you could bottle that it would be priceless.
It costs money to run an organization like Warrior Hunts. They need your help. If you can help Warrior Hunts in any way, contact Warrior Hunts at www.warriorhunts.com or like their Facebook Page. Get involved and if you can, donate more than your time. They could put your tax deductible donation to good use.
In the mean time, Check Out this Promo Video that I just finished for Warrior Hunts.
Joseph was one of my best friends in high school. Joseph and I got into a lot of things when we were in high school. Once, we were even members of a Mexican street gang. I bet you didn’t know that one about me.
Not us, but funny
Actually it was homecoming week during our junior or senior year at Parkers Chapel and each day was a different costume day. Camo day, Blue and white day, Come as you are day. Since whitey tighties aren’t exactly compliant with school dress code, I don’t think we participated in that one. However one day was Twins day. We chose to go as Mexican essays. I’m pretty sure it was Joseph’s idea.
It was epic. I’m sure there are pictures somewhere and if I find any, I’ll update this post. We donned bandanas on our heads and wore blue plaid long sleeve shirts with only the very top buttons fastened. Underneath, we wore white t-shirts. Although, I can’t remember maybe they were wife beater shirts instead. You know what I’m talking about? Those white cotton tank tops. Every wife beater featured on Cops is guaranteed to be wearing a wife beater tank top.
“Bad boy bad boys. What you gonna do when they come for you”
The costume was completely out of norm for us as well as the school with very few hispanics in the area. Especially back in the late 90’s. Its a small rural school that is consistently ranked within the top 10 schools in Arkansas. Inner city gangs have never existed there and likely never will. It was also out of the character for us because we were both good students who were never really in trouble for much of anything. We weren’t thugs at all. We were instantly the talk of the school that day. A vote was held each day to decide who wore the best costume. As I recall, we won by a land slide. The only thing is, apparently since we were “gang related”, some of the teachers disqualified us. We got the shaft. You’d think that especially in a rural school with absolutely no history of gang anything that our sense of humor would have gained us extra points, but apparently that didn’t pan out for us. Regardless, we had fun and we always knew we were the true winners.
My esé Joseph got me into running as well. Joseph was a top athlete. We both played basketball all the time, but Joseph played a lot of basketball and ran like forest gump. But to me and my family, Joseph was more than a friend, he was essentially a ministry. I knew Joseph’s home life wasn’t the best and I knew that he struggled with some issues. I didn’t know every detail but I knew he ran as a way to vent stress. Regardless of what issues were going on, I wanted him to know that Jesus loves him and so do others. So, along with all of the other high school shenanigans we found ourselves in the middle of, we ran. Joseph may disagree, but I wasn’t in horrible shape. Still, Joseph was in a lot better shape and would run circles around me.
As people do, our high school days ended and our college years moved us to different places and we sort of drifted apart. We still talk occasionally, but we just don’t see each other that often. However, I think about the good ole days running with Joseph almost every time I run.
Running with Jesus
Like Joseph, running became my stress reliever. The more I ran, the more I actually grew to enjoy running and I’ve run in numerous 5Ks and a few 10Ks over the years. Although I like to run, I’ve never been a die hard fitness freak. I know there are obvious fitness and health benefits to running that should be my motivation, but for me, running is normally just a stress reliever more than part of a fitness goal. Sometimes I run with other people, but more often than not, I find myself running alone.
To me, running is a great time to just put some good music on, get alone, and talk to God about what ever seems to be going wrong in the world. When I have my “quiet time” with the lord, and just study his word, I often get distracted. My ADD works hard against me. But when I’m running, I’m doing something. I’m not trying to just sit still. Essentially, God has my undivided attention as I pound the pavement.
One song that keeps popping up on my play list as I run is Amazing Grace (My Chains are Gone) by Chris Tomlin. Now, to be honest, its a little slow for running music, but it keeps popping up and its such a good song that I just let it play. If you’ve never heard the song, Check out these lyrics:
My chains are gone
I’ve been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy reigns
Unending love, amazing grace
The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures
With lyrics like that, its hard to keep worrying about the problems found in this life. “My chains are gone” Wow! You can’t run if you are bound with heavy chains. You can’t run life race if you are bound by worry and guilt. “My God, my Savior has ransomed me” I’ve been lucky to have very little personal financial debt. I’m not wealthy either but the sin debt that we all owe is like each individual person having to pay off our national debt. Currently thats over $18,251,122,000,000. Talk about a bail out. Even bill gates can’t swing that kinda cash and Jesus paid it all. “the Lord has promised good to me”. No matter what issues you are facing. God has promised that if we will remain focused on him, he will give us the desires of our heart. Now that doesn’t mean we are supposed to get stupid and give all of our money to Joel Osteen or some other greedy televangelist. But it does mean that if we keep running the good race, and God is our focus that our labors are not in vein.
As you can see, running is a great way to relive stress and refocus on whats really important. You just need to get out there and run. “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3
Peaks and Valleys
I lived in North West Arkansas for 6-7 years and Fayetteville, AR has some great places to run. There are trails all over the place and lots of them have great scenery. Both natural and man made features throughout the area just make the trails and parks a pleasure to run and that doesn’t even include all of the pretty college girls out running. They say God blessed Texas, but I swear all of those angels go to college in Arkansas. (WooPigSooie)
The climate is phenomenal in NWA. It gets hot there during the summer, but there is usually a breeze blowing and the humidity is much lower than that found here in south Arkansas. After I moved back to south Arkansas, I just got out of the habit of running. I’ve been pretty hit or miss at running for the last couple of years. Even though I began running in Parkers Chapel, I just found running a lot more boring after moving back down here. I also wasn’t under the stress that i found my self in while working in NWA either so I didn’t need the stress relief. Regardless of the reasons, I just lost my enthusiasm for running.
Get Fit to Hunt
Last fall, I got back to running a little. I turned 35 in November and I was determined to run 3.5 miles on my birthday. I made it happen. Now, I can’t say it was graceful and I had to walk part of it, but I got through it. After that, I got busy with hunting season and didn’t run anymore all winter. A friend of mine asked me to go running with him before turkey season started. So, I did. I could barely make 1 mile. Its amazing how fast my cardio level had dropped. I was pretty disgusted, but not defeated. I didn’t really make time for running for a few weeks during turkey season. I spent a couple of weeks in texas and It seems like we walked a thousand miles out there, but no time for running then.
Sometimes it does’t seem like it, but fittness and hunting are closely related. Now, in the south where the opening day of deer season is a national holiday, fitness and hunting don’t really seem to go together. But in mountainous country and especially out west, fitness and hunting go hand in hand. As I’ve gotten more and more involved in the world of Outdoor videography, I can definitely see the need to maintain a higher level of physical fitness than the average redneck. Its one thing to sit in a deer stand snacking on honey buns all day, but its another to try to keep up with a pack of squirrel dogs in the hills of the Ouachita mountains while toting a camera, get good video that isn’t shaky from deep heaving breaths and without hearing those breaths over the audio. Yes, that happened this spring. The video looked like it was filmed during a tornado and I was sucking wind like a tornado too.
I don’t know what hunts and events I’ll get to film this fall. I’ve applied for my Arkansas elk permit. I apply for it every year and haven’t been drawn yet. The odds are tough to get drawn, but hopefully I’ll get the chance to do some elk hunting this fall. Weather its in Arkansas or colorado, if I do get to take part in an elk hunt this fall, all of this running will come in handy. To prepare for it though I’ve got to get back on the top of my fitness game.
Over the last month or so, I’ve been using one of my favorite iPhone Apps called MapMyRun. Its great because it uses the GPS in your phone to keep up with your run stats. At the beginning of the year, I was barely able to run a mile. Jump forward to today and I ran 4.1 miles at a 9:45 pace last week. Its a long way from my peak 5k time of 19:56, but I’m not 20 years old anymore either. I also like the app because it gives you voice updates through your headphones while your listening to music. It tells you your current distance and pace to keep you on track.
Right now, I’m looking for a couple of fun 5Ks and maybe a 10K to run in the coming months. There is a fun run this weekend in El Dorado, AR called the Glow For Children’s 5K. Proceeds benefit Arkansas children hospital. It should be a fun one to do and its definitely a good cause. As I understand it, this is a FUN run. Its heavy on the fun. You can run, walk, jog, or dance if you want to. You can be as serious as you want to be but don’t take yourself too serious. Essentially, the race takes place at night and at different points during the race, instead of handing out water, you get splashed with colored glow in the dark water. If you are in the area, come join me.
Like Joseph, running became my stress reliever. The more I ran, the more I actually grew to enjoy running and I’ve run in numerous 5Ks and a few 10Ks over the years. Although I like to run, I’ve never been a die hard fitness freak. I know there are obvious fitness and health benefits to running that should be my motivation, but for me, running is normally just a stress reliever more than part of a fitness goal. Sometimes I run with other people, but more often than not, I find myself running alone.
