Why This SHOT Show Will Be My Last

I’ve been blessed. No doubt about it. Having now attended 25 out of the past 27 SHOT Shows has been an awesome experience. Yet, there comes a point in time where one must move on.

Over the years while attending SHOT I have experienced some awesome venues and host cities. Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Orlando, and of course, Las Vegas. Each location established its own unique personality and I watched the SHOT Show grow into what it has become today–one of the largest trade shows held annually in the U.S.

Over the years I’ve seen lots of unique and revolutionizing product innovations. After all, that’s what the SHOT Show is all about, isn’t it?

Perhaps, but what SHOT has provided most to me has been relationships. Relationships with fellow outdoors writers, gun buyers, exhibitors, manufacturers reps, industry movers and shakers, and many others who share a common interest of shooting and the outdoors.

The SHOT Show is an industry show meaning you can’t gain access without credentials. During the early years those credentials were pretty easy to establish. No more. Today, access to SHOT requires an approval process that certainly is meant to weed out the marginal attendees.

Indeed, SHOT has evolved into a highly regarded and respected industry trade show holding almost mystical dream-like possibilities for the average enthusiast who may never get to attend.

So, why would a sane person give up all of this for future years? It’s a question I’ve asked myself many times over the past year as I’ve pondered this difficult decision. I honestly have no specific reason that sounds good to articulate. Just that sometimes you feel it’s time to move on to new experiences and break out of the routine.

Does this mean I will never attend another SHOT at some time in the future…probably not! Yet, I have already made commitments for both 2016 and 2017 that makes SHOT attendance those years out of the question.

In the coming days leading up to SHOT Show 2015 I plan a few posts reflecting back on my past SHOT experiences. I hope you will find them insightful, interesting, and perhaps even a bit thought-provoking.

SHOT holds lots of possibilities for everyone who attends. A good SHOT Show can make or break many businesses. Dreams come to life by upstart vendors banking on a new product’s acceptance. There’s local gun store buyers with a keen eye for those products that set them apart from the big box stores. Everyone who attends SHOT has goals and objectives to achieve.

This year I plan to soak up the SHOT Show experience with a vision of a person who knows they won’t be back next year or even the year after. It’s time for me to step back and focus on some other important things in my life.

During the next few Januarys SHOT will become an opportunity cost as I take my 6y/o daughter to places that help live out her dreams. Oh, yes…Disney strikes the same sort of magic in the hearts of youngsters of all ages much as SHOT has done for me for over two decades.

Indeed, the SHOT Show is very much like a temporary theme park for those of us who enjoy guns and the outdoors. But like everything else in life, there comes a time to say goodbye!

The Role Mice Play In Our Outdoor Lives.

Mice.

Can’t say I love them.   Yet, I don’t have the desperate fear of the existence like some folks I know.   My wife, in particular.

If you enjoy the outdoors the time will eventually come when you must deal with mice.   Granted, they can be a real pain in the ass.   Take, for instance, the mice that invaded an old hunting truck I used to own.   One day I was driving along with the heater blasting to take the chill out of the air.   Suddenly, what once was nice comforting heat transformed to smoke and a truck that was in serious trouble.   I immediately turned the truck off suspecting an electrical problem of some kind.   Nope…just mice that built a nest that started on fire.   Little bastards!!

I’ll never forget a bear hunting trip about 25 years ago with a close friend staying in an old (mostly abandoned) farm house.   The house seen human occupants just a few weeks each year during hunting seasons.   On the other hand, the full-time residents were various vermin ranging from mice to…well, I don’t care to dwell on that.   Suffice it to say sleeping at night was interesting.   You could hear the faint pitter patter of feet across the old linoleum floor all night long.   Even worse, those little rascals had no regard for a person sleeping as they zipped across the bed sheets tickling a person’s torso.

By all accounts this depicts a good day on the mouse trapline.

By all accounts this depicts a good day on the mouse trapline.

Yeah.   Mice are sure fun.   The only good mouse is a dead mouse used for fox bait.   And trying to eradicate them from anywhere can be challenging as any hunt you might take on.   I’ve used snap traps, poison, ultrasonic sound, even pails with spinny pop bottles to teach them a lesson.   To some extent all those methods work, but none of them is the perfect answer.

Particularly frustrating for me is keeping mice out of my boat during winter storage.   I’ve used moth balls, I used packs filled with dried mint leaves.   Nothing is foolproof.   The little rascals get in all my compartments and make a mess.   In my glove box they shred anything that is chewable and seem to have a good time doing it.   Worse yet, they pee and poop on everything.   Once they stake their claim to your property nothing can be deemed clean anymore.

Yet, to many people mice are much more than just an occasional nuisance.   I’ve known women AND MEN who shriek at the mere sight of a mouse running loose.   Somehow their life can be in perfect control one minute, but add a mouse to the picture and all chaos breaks out.

Another one bites the dust! The days are over for this little bastard getting into mischief.

Another one bites the dust! The days are over for this little bastard getting into mischief.

Case in point, two years ago we went on a family vacation to a resort for some fishing and relaxing for a week.   That goal was achieved until about the 5th  night in when a mouse was witnessed scurrying along a wall.   The next morning when the office opened my wife was complaining how our cabin was overrun with pestilence.   Amazingly, we had existed in the cabin for several days with no sightings…but eventually all good things come to an end.

Yup, and so did the trip.   We were packed and on our way headed back home a day early thanks to a furry little mammal weighing a few ounces.   Indeed, the mere presence of a mouse can profoundly impact many good plans.

So, tell me about your adventures with mice.   Do you have a good story?   How have mice or other rodents impacted your outdoor experiences?   In particular, if you have a funny incident we absolutely must hear about that.