Bud and Betty Game Calls Exhibit

Today Will and I road down to Columbia to check out this year?s Palmetto Sportsmen?s Classic.  As soon as we pulled up it was obvious that a good crowd was already on hand. The parking lot was crowded at around 3:30 in the afternoon.  

Will and I asked the first few Game Wardens if they knew Charlie Caldwell and? of course they did.  So far in my life, no matter where I?ve been in South Carolina? it never fails... If you ask a game warden anywhere around the state if they know Charlie Caldwell, the answer is always yes!  What can you say, Pageland people leave their mark.  We looked for the bald one around the event, but were unable to spot him.  Since we couldn?t find Charlie C to entertain us, we decided that we might as well walk around and check the event out.

I was impressed with how well the event was laid out and also with the sheer amount of vendors that were on hand.  I know this was not a national trade show, but for South Carolina it was more than I expected!  There were literally hundreds of vendors, displays, attractions, and people to see at this event.  Anything you could imagine in the realm of products from tree stands, 4-wheelers, game-cams, feeders, turkey calls, fishing lures, decals, T-Shirts, hunting guides, raffles, food, cooking spices, fishing guides, archery contests, real estate brokers, antler decorations etc?they were all there.  Any new products that are being featured were there and the place was as busy as a bee?s hive.  Today was Friday and so I imagine that Saturday will be even busier.  

If you like to see neat items or any neat concepts involved with hunting and/or fishing, then it?s definitely an event that you would want to attend.  Hoot, I must say that I did not see any rabbit exhibits, but I was unable to really focus on all of the displays because it was such a busy place. While at the event, we were both inside and outside looking at a smorgasbord of exhibits that would get the attention of any hunter.

If you?ve ever been to any event similar to this or attended something of this ?expo? like atmosphere, you probably left with knowledge of many new or trending items, but there were just a few that really stuck out to you.  Well the same was true for our trip today.  I will say though that not only did these items stand out, but even more so the people behind the booths were memorable.  Maybe it?s just me, but when I meet someone (in any setting) and get a real genuine vibe from them, I usually connect with them in a different way, like on a more real level.  There were tons of salesmen pushing all kinds of products, so what could make some stand out more than the others?  I guess if I had the answer for that question then I would have a money-maker on my hands!  Though, the ones who stood out to me today were a few different vendors all based out of SC.  I can tell you that all 3 of these organizations are not only passionate about what they do/produce/sell, but they were easy to talk to and came across to me as good, down to earth, genuine people.  The vendors I left impressed with were Cornell Huntin Products out of Honea Path, Bud & Betty Hunting Calls out of Pauline, and the Target Taxi out of Little River.

Cornell Huntin Products had a product that really struck Will?s fancy.  It is called the ?HuntPac? and is a very light, padded, chair that you can carry in on your back to sit on when hunting.  Frequently Will complains about his seating arrangement in his ground blind and ?they had him from hello? with this product.  It can support a very high weight capacity, is light, and almost perfect for getting you up off the ground enough to easily shoot in a ground blind.  The crew from Cornell Huntin Products was very cordial and really easy to talk to.  I encourage you to give their product a look.  More on them at www.cornellhuntinproducts.com

See the below video of the ?HuntPac? demo

Bud & Betty Hunting Calls sells a lot of differing products, but turkey calls seems to be their specialty.  The creator of the turkey calls is a National Wildlife Turkey Champion Hunting Call manufacturer.  I didn?t know that we had such prestige and recognizable people here in the state!  I guess I don?t get out enough.  Anyway, Russell and Kathy were nice people and if you?re into turkey calls I would give them a look.  Find more information on them and their products at www.BudAndBetty.com 

Another vendor who made an impression on me was Jason Bellamy from Target Taxi.  What is a Target Taxi you might ask? well it is the invention that you see and immediately say to yourself ?Why didn?t I think of that??  (Does that ever happen to you too?) The Target Taxi is a essentially a remote control car on wheels that you strap your decoys too and you drive it out, shoot your arrows or bullets at the target, then drive it back to see where you hit the target and remove your arrows.  You can see from the below video how this thing operated.  Not only was the product a neat one that stuck out to me, but Jason was a really nice guy! More on this product at www.target-taxi.com

See the below video of the Target Taxi in action

So all in all the SC Sportsmen?s Classic was a neat event to see.  I am glad that I took that half-day off work to be able to make it down.  We met a lot of people, saw some neat things, gave a few stickers out, and started forming some good relationships with people in the industry.  We even had some people say ?Yeah I?ve seen your sticker somewhere before? which made me proud!

Here's the wrap-up video with a collage of what all was going on 

Regards,

Clint