The overlap between SHOT Show and Safari Club International might be considered too-much of too-many good things. Your feet will tell you where you fall on the “too-much” scale. If they’re not tired, you missed something important.
For media, SHOT Show is the literal collective exhibition of nearly everything new in the coming year, all under one gigantic roof. It’s the event that will makeup the wish list for most outdoor enthusiasts for the next year. It’s the show where the media can look, touch, try and drool over the latest-and-greatest. We then share that information and (manufacturers hope) the “gotta have it” energy with customers.
If you’re a retailer or wholesale buyer, you can fill the order books of the manufacturers and know your customers will have a selection of the latest-and-greatest for the coming year. If you know your customers well enough, you’ll do a lot to take the uncertainty out of the next few months.
SHOT SHOT is inarguably the biggest event of the year. Throngs of industry folks crowd the aisles (top) looking for the items that will spur their customers to buy. It also has significant events like the Governor’s Forum. This year, attending western governors (bottom) outlined the reasons their respective states could be the perfect new home for outdoor businesses. NSSF and OWDN images
SCI, on the other hand, is the ultimate high-end bazaar for all things hunting, shooting or outdoor related. Attendees can book an international hunt, choose -and purchase -their new or vintage rifle, purchase and complete the paperwork for a suppressor, then wander through the aisles and to find the best optics, clothing, bags, backpacks and virtually anything else necessary to equip that hunt.
It’s then time to take a hydration break before you: 1) hire your exporter, 2) select your taxidermist and (maybe) 3) commission an artist to paint, sculpt or cast the piece of art that will commemorate your upcoming hunt.
Later, while just browsing, you can buy your significant other a bespoke wristwatch, fur coat or an oil painting to complement the custom furniture and antler chandelier you picked out for your upcoming renovation.
If you need a timepiece that’s appropriate to your hunt, Montana Watch Company’s one-of-a-kind watches (sorry, this $16/K + one’s sold) might be just the big-ticket watch you want Or, you could buy a fur piece for that special someone, or an oil painting for the redo of your living room.(bottom) OWDN photos.
Unless you really do have unlimited means, you could easily exceed what you mistakenly believed to have been an unlimited budget. SCI’s not for the faint of heart when it comes to spending on your hobbies.
That’s all well and good for buyers and sellers of “stuff” - but the overlap of those shows, combined with the snowstorm that buried a significant portion of the Dallas Safari Club show in Atlanta (?)- disappointed some guides and outfitters. One New Zealander told me his “normal” American schedule for a month spent selling in the United States, included SHOT, DSC, SCI and -if schedules permitted -a walkaround at the Archery Trade Show in Indianapolis. Not possible this year,” he said, “DSC was a ‘white-out’ and I couldn’t be in two places at once, so I opted for SCI.”
“Thankfully,” he said, “it looks like the SCI attendees have some bottled-up hunting urges, so we’ll be OK. But it wasn’t looking good just a few days ago.”
Outfitters aren’t the only folks impacted by overlapping schedules. At SHOT, several manufacturers told me they lacked the manpower -or booth- capabilities to do simultaneous appearances in Las Vegas and Nashville.
“Don’t have the staffing,” one firearms marketing director told me, “but..we’re fortunate that we have a solid relationship with a distributor that will be showing our new products in Nashville.”
One of the primary topics of conversation on both exhibition floors was the outlook for the new administration in Washington.
There were a variety of “takes” on the welcome political changeover in the White House. The general opinion expressed by attendees in both places pointed skewed positive for the country, but “wait-and-see” when it comes to the industry.
One person who does have insight was at both SHOT and SCI. But Donald Trump, Jr. wasn’t there to talk politics. While he was there to demonstrate his support for the Second Amendment and gun owners, there was a second purpose: shopping.
The senior son isn’t just an advisor to his father, he’s an advocate for all of us, too.
As always, we’ll keep you posted.
— Jim Shepherd
