SHOT SHOW 2012

I have been trying to figure out how I was going to get to the SHOT Show for about a month now... I got it worked out late Thursday night to attend the final day on Friday. So.. there I went, sporting my SLAM Outdoors polo and a couple of SLAM business cards in my wallet just in case I happened to run into someone like say.... oh I don't know........ BENNY SPIES MAYBE??
Yep! It's true folks.. I met our Mentor, Benny Spies himself! I have been on a high ever since! What an honor! Here's a little about how the conversation went:
me: BENNY!, love your show man. Best hunting show on t.v. by far! We love it because it appeals to normal guys like me.
Benny: Thanks man, that means alot.
me: Me and my friends love your show. In fact, we are even in the market for an old winnie.
Benny: Oh, A toaster?
me: Yep.(we shared a quick laugh)
Benny:this is so and so....(forgot the name of the girl with him)
me: hi, nice to meet you. I'm Quinn Hadley. (and we all shook hands)
Benny: She's the reason we can do what we do. She keeps us on the air.
me: so.. did NBC Outdoors pick up you show?
Benny: yep, we just signed for 9 more shows coming out later this year. Gotta keep the old toaster on the road.
me: Awesome! Would you mind if I got a picture with you? Maybe one on my phone and one on my camera?
Benny: Sure (we take pictures)
Me: Thanks, my friends are gonna freak when they see this
Benny: What size are you?
Me: XL
Benny: Here, have a shirt. Not sure if it is XL... Oh, it's not. let me look. Here's one... You know what? Just keep both of them.
Me: Thanks alot man!
Benny: Your welcome
Me: Nice to meet you
Benny: You too. Take care. Thanks for watching.....

THAT WAS SOOO AWESOME!! but, unfortunately, I froze during all of that because I was nervous and didn't give him a business card.... what was I thinking??? I guess I didn't wanna be rude and it looked like he was leaving. I just felt lucky to even run into him. I mean... there are 10,000 people at this thing and I just happened to be right were he was walking out at that exact moment. I almost couldn't believe it. It caught me off guard because I didn't expect to see him there that late in the week so when I did, I wasn't prepared. I am going to post that pic on his facebook wall but there are alot of other morons on there asking him to go hunting with them and stuff like that. But, If I could do it all over again, I would have talked to him a bit longer and ask him if he liked it out west, introduced myself better, and told him how much we watch and love his show. And then I would have invited him out to lake powell for a striper fishing trip. Just think if he had that card right now.... If he didn't throw it in the trash right after he walked away, he would have had it in his pocket and found it one day and thought "hey, I should check out this website, that guy said I was on here. what the heck." And then who knows if it would have turned into a friendship. I would love to be considered one of his "good buddies" like on his show.

Anyway, not that it mattered after that, but was still a whole show to see. There was like 2,000 booths at this thing! We were there for 4 hrs and barely saw any of it. It was SOOO awesome! I have never seen so much cool stuff in one place. Every major company and tons you have never heard of was there. We're talkin, browning, mossy oak, realtree, remington, tc, smith and wesson, colt, glock, benelli, savage, db, nikon, leopold, vortex, wolf, tul ammo, barnes, hornaday, gamo, Rocky, Danner, Ruger, Kahr, and the list went on and on... It was awesome and definitely worth the vacation day I used to go.

Here are just acouple more pics for your viewing pleasure:



P.s. We are ALL going to this next year as SLAM Outdoors Staff members ok!