Here is an interesting firearm. This rifle has a six foot barrel that acts as a silencer. The sign in front of it said that it was developed by the Minneapolis Parks board to be used for culling deer in the metro area. So, all those people who have been upset because they thought they heard gun shots when the deer were culled were hearing something else. This thing does not sound like a gun at all.
Okay, I totally get the fun of gun ownership after the Game Fair. The front of my booth faced oodles of puppies. The back of my booth faced the firing range for shooting clays. Skeet shooting looks so satisfying and so much fun. A little clay disk flies into the air and depending on the skill of the shooter bursts like a firework display, gets chipped and slants off in a different direction or just disappears in a puff of smoke. At the end of the day a trick shooter comes out and throws things in the air to shoot--the best of which included shooting a watermelon and then a cabbage. The cabbage was really cool--it burst and showered the audience in little leaves. I approve of shooting clays and veggies and support a person's right to do it.
I'm pretty sure WildBird on the Fly blogged about this when she went to Shot Show, but the camo lingerie was at Game Fair as well. The interesting thing was that I saw two women actually wearing some out in the summer heat at the Fair.
Here a creative bit of recycling. These guys turned used beer bottles into duck and goose calls.
I truly do believe the birders can find some useful stuff at Game Fair. Check this out, here is something hunters get very right--comfort in the field. These are blinds that you lay in for duck hunting. Why couldn't birders use this for hawk watching? Lay down in your comfy little blind and watch the hawks fly over. Throw in some scotch and I'm there!
Here is a boat that you use to hide your hunting self when duck hunting. How many times has a birder been on one side of a lake seeing distant shorebirds, ducks and waders and just can't get close enough to see the birds, even with a scope? Behold, the camo boat allowing you to sneak up on the unsuspecting birds.
In the decoy section I found a blowup sandhill crane doll...do I really want to know what that's used for? Please tell me it's not like blowup sheep--eeeeew. Actually, this is probably used for sandhill crane hunting. It is legal in some states. I have talked to a few people who have actually hunted cranes and am told that it is some of the tastiest meat you will ever eat in your life--better than turkey, better than grouse, better than pheasant! However, it's one of the hardest birds to hunt, they are very wary, even of decoys.
Speaking of decoys I picked up a catalog for Hard Core Decoys which is making me giggle because it makes geese sound so butch. The different postures come with names like "The Searcher", "The Sentry" and "The Super Sentry". Here's a description for their snow goose decoy set:
"The first plastic full-body snow decoy ever designed to be anatomically correct in overall look and motion. This has become a sure fire replacement to some of the old techniques used to decoy the decoy-shy snow goose. By throwing a Ross' goose into the package we brought realism to the next level."
There is also the Signature Series designed by champions of the goose calling world:
"The two most unique decoys ever constructed--a great conversation piece in any spread!"
Fake geese? A conversation piece?