Entries for January 2013

It’s January and I’m not predator hunting, so that means I’m at the SHOT Show. The unofficial start of SHOT is Media Day at the Range. It turned out to be the coldest day I’ve ever experienced in Vegas, so we had to keep warm by heating up gun barrels. I think we succeeded because my hands never got cold.

Now the doors are open at the Sands Expo Center and the show floor is booming with activity. My mission this year is to find exciting new predator hunting products and share my discoveries with you. Let's get to it.

The North American Hunter team is wrapping up the first full day of SHOT Show 2013. We've already found a pile of awesome hunting gear to share with you. For full coverage, be sure to visit HuntingClub.com/SHOT13. Here are three sizzling new products that I found today.

It was a cold, windy day in the Nevada desert yesterday for the annual SHOT Show Media Day at the Range event. Despite the poor weather, I toughed it out with hordes of other outdoor media professionals to see what's new in the world of guns, ammo and optics.

As major hunting seasons begin winding down or come to an end, a new season is here: gear season. In fact, you could call it a belated Christmas for hunters as companies rush to get gear and gizmos in the hands of retailers and consumers.

Handgun ammunition loaded with Barnes TAC-XP bullets is nothing new. A variety of ammunition manufacturers including Black Hills, Buffalo Bore and Double Tap currently load them. Until now, the only option shooters had if they wanted Barnes TAC-XP bullets was to buy from one of these manufacturers or handload. For 2013, a slightly enhanced version of the TAC-XP bullet will be available, already loaded in factory ammunition directly from Barnes Bullets.

Unless you work in the shooting/hunting industry, you’ve probably never been to the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show. While cities such as Atlanta, New Orleans and Orlando have hosted it in the past, the show’s most common home is Las Vegas. This year it’s back in Vegas (Sands Expo and Convention Center) and runs from January 15-18.

I do a ton of bowhunting from a variety of treestands, blinds and tower stands, so I've seen many—perhaps most—of the options that are on the market. At the ATA Show this week, I found an impressive newcomer to the deer stand market: Citadel Stands. They build a tower stand specifically for bowhunters called the Citadel Sanctuary.

Today I'll share one of my favorite two-man coyote hunting setups—with my decoy dog, Sage, included.

In the wake of the terrible crime that took place December 14 in Newtown, Connecticut, and the subsequent urging of the National Rifle Association’s Executive Vice President Wayne LaPierre to place armed security guards in every American school as part of a proposed National School Shield Program, educators by the hundreds are already taking advantage of special concealed-carry training classes being offered across the country.

I'm at the Archery Trade Association (ATA) Show digging deep on the show floor to find some of the coolest new bowhunting products for 2013. Watch the video below to see the amazing innovation from Rac-Em-Bac.