Boys Day

While the rest of the SLAM staff was doing who knows what, I decided to make an effort and get outdoors with my sons. The joy on their faces when I announced the activities was priceless. We started off the day with a plate full of "mountains", otherwise known as German pancakes (aka "German pannies" as Porter would call them)

Here at SLAM outdoors we often talk about those memories we have as youngsters growing up in the rural west. If it wasn't for our fathers we would not have learned to enjoy the Streams, Lakes, and Mountains as we do today. After filling our bellies we loaded up the pick-up with a few firearms and took off to the Arizona strip. The SLAM wife of the year surprised me with a Browning Buckmark pistol for Christmas. I was eager to put a few more rounds through it. Noah brought his Red Ryder BB gun that he won at last years coyote youth hunt. He is a pretty darn good shot with that thing.

Noah wanted to take one of the babies toys that didn't work anymore and shoot it up.

After teaching some gun safety tips we went back home and hopped on the four wheeler for a ride over to the nearby pond. There have been a couple of nice bucks the last few years in the field. We make frequent rides through the trees in hopes of getting a close up glimpse. The only thing we jumped this time was a pheasant.

I decided to give the boys a taste of my childhood by taking them down to the farm to putt around on the ol' John Deere tractor with Grandpa. The highlight for them was messin' around with the pigs.

I hope that the adventures we went on will make a positive impression on these young boys. As you can see from the pictures, Nixon could very well have a negative impression of the days events. It was not hard to get out and enjoy these activities. It took a little time management, a little commitment and some patience. In the end it was all worth it.

1st of Many Spring Trip Posts

I feel like we have a pretty good handle on the spring trip and what it takes to make it a success. (we are still tweaking the Loa trip, but this one we pull off easily) The purpose of this post is to review some of the staples that make this trip such a good one and see if any of you have any other ideas...

1. Outfits/costumes
This is a perennial favorite of the trip! Who knows what we are going to see every year?? I have no reason to believe that this year will be any different

2. Good Food - as long as we remember the eggs for our fish fry night
3. Hot Rod and Evolution - just wouldn't be the same without them because we can't ever seem to get the t.v. working
4. The scooter to get down to the bathroom
5. Mike Vick
6. Apple Juices in the wine fridge
7. Plenty of new tackle (most of my brand new lures end up at the bottom)
8. Bryce
9. Funny Barnacle hose, and Billy the Bass comments
10. Farts
11. Bryce always surprises us with hot wings from the restaurant when our spirits are down
12. Uncle Donnie
13. Matt providing the food (this year we have come across some new buffalo chicken strips that will be making their SLAM Outdoors debut at the spring trip)
14. The annual spring trip t-shirt (now in the designing phase)

We have had some successful and some not so successful trips but when we have something go wrong (ie.. an in-line fuse go out) we are still able to have a good time. After last year though, I feel like when the fishing is slow, we are knowledgeable and skilled enough to make adjustments and still catch fish in some way.

And now.... a quote from the end of last year's spring trip post:

"Is Slam Outdoors' luck beginning to change??? It's hard not to believe it is after this trip. I just can't say enough about my gear! And I can't stress enough the importance of off season meetings.

So, as you can see, the vice president and I have now landed our first 3+ pound large mouths on the same trip!!!"

That's all I have to say about that... now, please realize that this trip is going to be on top of us before we know it.... It would behoove us to start preparing now. But, no matter what, this year's trip is sure to be the best ever!

Please feel free to add any items I may have over looked that make this trip such a success for us so that we don't forget anything important or anything different you would like to see implemented this year.

SLAM Outdoors Soundtrack

The SLAM Outdoors Soundtrack is now available! Order yours today!

Everybody has to start somewhere...

1. If you are able to read this letter, you will notice that SLAM Outdoors has been awarded some tickets to some upcoming college basketball games for our efforts in the community. If any of you are coming to the game, come see us. We will be in the box and we would love to see you.

2. In other news, this is a just a reminder that as of Wednesday, you can start putting in for big game hunts. To see the new Deer map, go here:
http://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/pdf/2012_unit_map.pdf

3. Will you be putting in for Archery or Rifle? Also, it's never to early to start prepping for our spring trips. In a few weeks we will be getting together to fine tune the boat for the upcoming year. In our next meeting we will discuss the items we need to check on the boat so please be thinking of things you want to bring before the board. (ie. battery, trolling motor, live wells etc..)

4. The western hunting and conservation expo is February 9-12 at the salt palace if any of you
are interested

5. The 2013 SHOT Show in Las Vegas is January 15-18. Please plan now to attend as a SLAM Outdoors staff. We WILL ALL have passes next year.

That's all for now

Benny, come to Lake Powell

We here at SLAM Outdoors would like to extend a formal invitation to Benny Spies to come visit us out west for a little Lake Powell Striper fishing trip. Maybe the show would agree to do a west coast swing or something and this could possibly be one of your stops. We have access to a Private Houseboat on Antelope Point Marina and a sturdy fishing boat. We would love to have you sometime Benny!!

This is why I think Benny appeals to us so much... From his website he says: "To me, it's not about the high dollar game hunt of having the best gear money can buy. It's about enjoying one of America's greatest heritages, having fun with friends, family, & the people I meet. It's about going out & doing things the way I was taught; gettin' dirty, pullin' the trigger & havin' fun. I don't claim to be an expert outdoorsman & I definitely don't offer the latest, greatest techniques to shooting the biggest bucks or bagging limits. But, I will promise to give you an honest, genuine,exciting & entertaining look into the outdoors. I'm a guy who loves to hunt, fish & drink a few root beers with my friends, family & the random people I meet throughout the small towns I travel. So, let's have some fun!"

Now here are a few pics of Beautiful Lake Powell and some of our pictures of recent success there.

Enjoy...











Also, you have inspired us to look for a Toaster of our own to make as our hunting vehicle. This video is Hilarious!
file:///C:/Users/Nichole/Desktop/BENNY%20POST/watch.htm

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!

Merry Christmas! Shitter was full!

It has been a great year and we have been blessed here at Slam Outdoors. We have a lot to be grateful for. Each year has gotten better and we don't see that changing for years to come.

Merry Christmas to our many loyal followers and sponsors!

Here is a festive pic of the pres and vp while they were winterizing Doug.

(photo courtesy of Mike Shaw)

Merry Christmas!

~ Slam Outdoors staff

NICK

All of us here at SLAM Outdoors would like to wish a Happy Birthday to our Vice President, Nick Nield!! What can you say about nick?? What a guy!! Here are a few pics from previous posts that tell us a little about just who Nick is. Enjoy.....

CLASSIC UNCLE DONNIE!









Ok.... Now it's your turn. Feel free to comment about Nick. Please share with us just why you like Nick. And... I will also be adding a few more photos to this post soon so be sure to check back often. If any of you have pics you would like added please email them to me @ hadley435@gmail.com. Also, for those of you who receive email notifications of posts made to this blog, feel free to forward your notification on to your friends so that they may comments as well. Thank You. and...
HAPPY BIRTHDAY NICK!!