2012 WV Fishing, Hunting, and Outdoors Sports Show Recap

Ronnie Hardy of Hardy's Custom Calls

The beginning of this month was the 11th annual 2012 WV Fishing, Hunting, and Outdoors Sports Show. I've been attending this show roughly for that last five years. Over this time I have watched it expand into a great show, it won't rival any of the large shows for many years to come, but it is a great place to find some new gear and talk with some of the local West Virginia vendors.

Last year was the first year I attended the Sports Show as a blogger, at that time I was still new to the idea and didn't fully grasp the idea or understand what I was doing here. Even with that, I still managed to make a great contact in Ronnie Hardy of Hardy's Custom Calls, you may remember reading about him here. He was there again this year with a few new products and all of his great classics. Look for a product review of his new Diamond Wood Striker towards the end of Spring Gobbler Season.

To make a connection with a local West Virginia company and owner in Ronnie Hardy and Hardy's Custom Calls is priceless and something I couldn't have imaged to happen in my first year and half of blogging and my first sports show last year as a blogger, this year I was hoping would lead to a few more connections and if I was lucky it would have been be another West Virginia company. After walking around this year's show it was a very good to say the least, it expanded again this year and had great new vendors.

This year I found a local West Virginia  fishing company that produces limestone sinkers and hunting company that products mineral/attractants for whitetail deer. One I had been watching for a while now, RockyBrook Sinkers, is based out of Morgantown, WV. For a little more information on their company you can read the snippet below from their site...

"RockyBrook Sinkers are more than just sinkers… They help you catch fish! It’s all about their unique shapes and specific density which makes them harder to snag and easier to free when snagged. They add natural "action" and "suspension" to your lures and bait. They’re odorless, have no residue and blend-in with surroundings making them invisible to fish. They make a loud rattle when rolling rocky stream beds or clickin’ two together. The cool part is Limestone is used to help fisheries. It’s the only “rock” that raises pH and produces alkalinity to improve water quality."

I picked up a variety pack of sinkers from RockyBrook Sinkers to test. Here's another product review coming out in the next few weeks, I have used them in larger waters, but haven't been able to test them on smaller streams, that should change after this week.

The other company is newer but has still managed to caught my attention, Horn Hounds, they are based out of Metz, WV. As an up and coming company, Horn Hounds are in the process of releasing more products to their line including cover scents and DVDs, for more information on them here is a blur about them from their site...

"As a new face to an already thriving industry, we here at Horn Hounds are proud to present to "YOU", the hunting world, our complete line of mineral products, cover scents, and of course, our hunting DVD's! Coming soon in the early Spring of 2012 will be our line of Minerals which we will release at the Outdoor Hunting Expo in Columbus,OH in March.The main flagships of our mineral line will be our field proven line of minerals aptly named "Buck Chow"© and also our time tested cover scent which you will see us use again and again in our videos named appropriately --Trail-Be-Gone ©"

I was unable to get any of their products for testing at the WV Fishing, Hunting, and Outdoors Sports Show this year, but am hoping to get some in the near future to test it out for a product review. None the less it is great to see another West Virginia company coming into the mix.

Noon Time Strutters with Cassie

Talking to the turkeys

I just posted this on the West Virginia Huntography blog, but I couldn't resist posting it for those of you that haven't made it over there yet. While on a trip to my future in-laws farm in Wood County I had planned to do some scouting for spring gobbler season (30 days and counting). As Cassie and I were on our way back from a short shopping trip in Parkersburg, WV, we came across a lone hen crossing the road. This was on a farm, in Walker, WV, that adjoined her parents, so it didn’t take a second thought to pull off the road and chase after then hen to find her boyfriend. It only took about three steps into the field until I saw about fifteen to twenty hens and two jakes. I asked Cass if she wanted to see them blow up and go full strut and she obliged. It only took a strike or two on my slate call to make them hit full strut and then treated us to a show of roaring gobbles. We were both pleasantly surprised how easy it was to get a reaction. We heard another set of thunderous gobbles, from the sound alone, I knew that these were full grown Gobblers. Cassie was impressed by the first show, but when the gobblers came strutting down hill after the jakes and began to tussle, Cassie just smiled with that look of amazement that most people do after the first time seeing this. For all those out there scouting for their spring gobblers, make sure to take someone with you to share that enjoyment, it’s a great feeling to say the least.

Huntography gets Hyperlocal in West Virginia

For all of you that read this blog or follow me on Twitter, I'm sure you have heard , read about, or looked at Huntography at one point and time. If you haven't, you really need to go check out the site and even try and grab the DVDs. If you're still asking what Huntography is you can read this which is directly from their site...

"Huntography is a grassroots hunting movement. We film, blog & socialize the authentic stories & experiences of America’s hunters. Through first person storytelling & documentary filmmaking, we are showing what really happens in the outdoors. It’s a type of reality journalism that has been missing from outdoor television, videos and blogs." 

Something that most people that read this blog doesn't know is that about this time last year, Rudy of Huntography contacted me and wanted to come to West Virginia to film me hunting on Foggy Mountain. Unfortunately, due to school and class schedules, I wasn't able to host him on this past years Social Media #deetour. That hasn't stop my support or my drive to get it worked out so that I can host him this coming year.

Jesse Coe - WV Huntography Managing Editor

On March 2, 2012 Huntography announced that they were expanding their operations to include state level Managing Editors, this would include the 13 hunters/huntress spanning over nine states that were filmed in this past years 2011 edition of Huntography. Within minutes of seeing this I was in contact with Rudy to see if it was a possibility to expand this to West Virginia, before I could even get out that I was interested and wanting to do it, I was assigned Managing Editor of West Virginia. To say I was ecstatic was an understatement. On March 12, 2012 it was announce that two more states would be added that included three new Managing Editors. My fellow Managing Editor for West Virginia is none other that Jesse Coe, you may be asking yourself who this kid is, and yes I mean kid, well teenager. Don't let yourself be fooled by his age, he is the owner of one of the largest, if not the largest Facebook Page about bow hunting. Talk about about a great person to work with  on Huntography - West Virginia.

For more information on the West Virginia Huntography page, blog, what we're doing, or where we're at or going be you can find it here at westvirginia.huntography.com/.

To see if there is a hyperlocal Huntographer in your state you can check here at http://westvirginia.huntography.com/states/.

I think I remember this place...

... yea, it's this hunting and fishing blog I started. Haha, yea I know it has been a while since I've been around; between exams, papers, projects, job fairs, and interviews I have been neglecting, hell I've damn near forgotten about the blog. Not only have I not been blogging, I don't think I've been on twitter more than a handful of time in the last month or two, but this is all about to change again. The weather is finally breaking around, the last round of exams are over and I'm ready to start writing again.

This weekend Jay, Jared, and I are heading out to the WV Fishing, Hunting, and Outdoor Sports Show. This is a great and growing event in the Morgantown, WV area. This should be a great weekend to get back into the swing of things and who knows I might even get a few new toys this weekend to review. Either way, I just wanted everyone to know that I hadn't left, I just got a little distracted.