G.R.U.B.

The verdict is finally in despite the fact that it has taken me nearly a week to post a review on the latest show. And my verdict is…Well Done GR! And to think I almost missed the fine spread that The Delta Plex Arena had to offer. I was originally going to head out Friday after work, but that never works out. Then Saturday, I promised Papa Kovak I would help move some furniture. So by Sunday, I’m thinking…all my road dogs are out of commission, making it a solo trip + 2 ½ hours one way driving + possible repeat of something advertised as “The Best” or “Ultimate” + I have to meet Greedy at the Coachman bar the next day = I can’t drink beer at this thing and the couch looks really comfortable. That’s right about the time my “Fish Stick” turned to me and asked me, “What would a grub do?” I reminded her that she was a grub too. To which she replied, “I know, so let’s go!” And she offered to drive, so I could have some beers if I like. I know what you’re all thinking and yes, I keep her chained in the basement most of the time, so she’s dying to get out. But I kid! It was really her inner grub gnawing at her back home desire to hit the pond for some crappies. I think. Anyway, we were off and running by 10 a.m. and I had a wonderful breakfast that I like to call “The Dude”. Anybody? I will give you a hint. Two words – Jeff Bridges. Let’s move on.

The parking lot was packed and free! Pickups were parked off road to make room in the lot for women and children. There were plaid flannel shirts and orange and camo caps as far as the eye could see. Did I mention the Grand River ran along the road leading up to the arena? This had the making fur sump’in gooood! To top it all off, the entire arena is this manufactured home looking metal siding, which gives it the feel of a giant double wide. It was “Hunt Camp” and we had arrived! In through the front doors to get our $9 worth of all that Grand Rapids and the Hunt’in Industry has to offer. My heart sunk for a brief moment as I came through the door and seen boats?!?! Oh no! Not again! Not an “Ultimate Hunt’in Boat Expo”!

I am pleased to say it was anything but. This show had a little bit of everything and Michigan was well represented. Manufacturers, Guides, Organizations, Firearm Dealers, Archery Shops, Food, Taxidermist, Auctions, Raffles, Great Speakers and yes, Boats.

So where to start? It had been a long ride for a Sunday morning, I was thirsty and it was past noon. Beer! But this was no ordinary beer stand, because it had neighbors. “The SKOAL ZONE”, serving up free sample of fine winter green long cut on one side and “The Cheez-Steak Man” on the other side. Not hot dogs…Cheese Steak! Can anyone tell me what says, “Brunch” better than a cold draft, cheese steak and a pinch betwixt yer cheek-n-gum? Maybe free wild game samples? Ask and you shall receive. They had rattlesnake jerky, deer sausage, wicked hot sauces and everything in between.

As many of you know, I had a mission on this trip to check out the 2010 bows, but more specifically to see the new Darton Pro3800. So with my hunger and thirst satisfied Fishstick and I were off once again. Well, I checked out and shot a lot of bows this day. So here is a quick low down on my opinion of the 2010 top bows. Before I get in to this let me just say there are a ton of great bow out there with lots of different price points. Just shy of a thousand bucks, I can afford the best and with as many hours as my bow is in my hand yearly, there is no accepting anything less than the best. So here we go…I will give you my opinion of the top 5 bows on the market for 2010;

5th place the Darton Pro3800 – Darton has made an attempt to put out a bow that competes with the big dogs. Problem is that they are charging the same $850-900 that the “players” are and have been charging but they simply are not there yet. If they we’re marketing wizards like me, they should have come in a couple hundred less than the “players” and they would have got some “shooters” to buy it on value and the “average Joe” (which is Darton’s key market) to spend a little more to have much better quality than the $200-300 bows. It just didn’t feel that great to me. The draw was not as smooth as others, the balance was a little off, it was louder than the others and the boys at Darton didn’t have it tuned at all. Arrows were coming out sideways. Hint: if you’re introducing a new product make sure it’s functioning well before you let a couple thousand people review it! And it was ugly.

4th place goes to PSE X-Force – Great bow if you’re looking for the compact size that packs great speed. I do however like something a little longer axle to axle, because it’s a little more forgiving at longer range. To get that from PSE you will pay more and they just don’t have the feel of the ones to come.

3rd place is Mathews Z7 – When it comes to speed Mathews is King. These things zip! Cosmetically, Mathews wins again. This is a beautiful bow with the honeycomb riser, red highlights on the shock absorbers, roller guide, string and cams and it just looks sleek and mean. I must say I really liked this bow with a couple exceptions. First it seems the balance is a little off being top heavy. I noticed this in the monster as well. The draw was smooth but bottoms out quick and almost a bit jerky. Aside from that I’m afraid it may be substituting some of its accuracy for speed down range.

2nd place the Hoyt Maxxis – Alright, I know I’m going to catch the bias, favoritism call flag on this one because we all know that I’m a “Hoyt Guy”. And rightly so, cuz this one here is SWEET. Smooth draw, quiet, incredibly accurate, more than enough speed, balanced and there is no way I would buy it. Let me explain. This was really the deal of the day when it comes to bows and I will tell you why. If you can still find Hoyt’s 2009 Alpha model, you could save yourself a couple hundred and get the same thing. I shot the two side by side and could not pick out much difference. The only real difference is that the Maxxis has roller guides on the cables, making it barely smoother and the limb configuration is slightly different giving you about a foot per second more than the Alpha. A hell of a bow either way, but for $650 it could be my pick for 2010 if I do the upgrade this year.

1st place and a drum roll please…The Bowtech Destroyer – This is without a doubt the finest piece of compound bow engineering that I have seen. It simply has it all. The binary overdrive on the cams is innovative and the concept makes good sense. In a nut shell it keeps the cams in sync and assures the bow will stay better tuned. It also makes for a really smooth draw and release. This is huge for down range accuracy. I spoke with one pro that is a diehard “Hoyt Guy” and owns his own shop and swears this bow has shaved considerable points off his score during competition. Top it all off with the fact that it shoots great, looks and feels great in the hand and does not substitute accuracy for speed but still zips as well as the competition. Well done Bowtech on being a leader in the industry and I love the motto, “Refuse To Follow”.

The bow offering was fantastic at this show. From manufactures to all the mom & pop local shops that showed up, there was no shortage of great deals and great, friendly people that were there to assist every level of shooter with their archery needs. This seemed to be the theme throughout the show as we moved on from archery to some of the other attractions.

Like the Argo at the last show, I always enjoy anything that will make playing in dirt more exciting!

Live Critters are always cool. The Michigan Hawking Club was very interesting. I would love to trade in my squirrel gun for one of those guys. I just don’t think they would get along with the Chihuahuas though. They had a couple of deer penned up at that show too, but they we’re a little camera shy.

And what’s better than Live critters but Dead critters. We saw some amazing taxidermy work. The three above are a few of my favorites. Keep your eye on the photo gallery as I’m sure Fishstick is going to post a whole album just on these works of art.

A couple more honorable mentions for this show have to be made before I wrap up. First off, nice job to the DNR for showing up and putting on a town hall question and answer session, for anyone that wanted to attend. I must say I was disappointed to only be 1 of 8 people to attend this session. There was a lot of great information and questions that were posed. More outdoors folks need to take advantage of these types of opportunities. The future depends on us. I am attempting to get a C.O. from the show that I have met several times before to be our in-house ask the DNR specialist. The other couple groups that really made this event a cut above the rest were the Michigan manufactures selling everything from turkey calls to tree stands and the gun dealers that put on a couple hundred gun live auction. It reminded me of the old school gun shows that are just too far and in between now a day. Almost everyone I saw walked out of this show with something in a bag or over their shoulder.

I will close with this thought. Get out and support our Michigan outdoor industry. This time of year you don’t really have a season unless your ice fishing and there are businesses that are depending on us. They put on a great show for those that made it out and you can bet the Grand Rapids Hunt’in Time Expo will be on my list for next year. Mark your calendar too!