March 17th, 2008
By Arthur

With my rant yesterday about commercial flights, I figured today would be a good time to cover a positive experience that we had in Texas.  This positive experience also directly relates to the outdoors, so that is a benefit as well, considering this is suppose to be an outdoor related site!

While we were in Texas we were lucky enough to stay in an Embassy Suites.  This hotel was amazing, and conveniently enough had a Bass Pro Shops connected to it.  You heard me right-A high class hotel with a Bass Pro Shops connected to it.  You would’ve thought I’d died and gone to heaven.  What luck we must have?  It was just God’s way of making up for our flights I think.

We have a Bass Pro here in Michigan, but I am here to tell you that it doesn’t hold a candle to the one in Texas.  The Texas one was way bigger and had a lot more merchandise.  I am still on the fence, but I think that it is even better then the Cabela’s we have here in Michigan.  I know that is hard to believe, but the whole place was just incredible and the way it was laid out made it that much better.

Cabela’s seems to be a little crowded to me, and the open-ness of the Bass Pro Shop was what set it apart.  The displays and everything were awesome, and the way they were laid out just made the whole tone of the place much more relaxed. 

We spent two different nights in the store and I can tell you that I could have went back again, and I’m sure I didn’t see everything they had to offer.  If the Bass Pro Shop up here was anything like this one I would definitely be there more often.

So if any of you are in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area, and you need a good outdoor store experience, swing by the Bass Pro Shop there.  It is so worth your time and when you get done they have a Big Buck Brewery right next door. 

Outdoor Heaven!

Popularity: 17% [?]

March 12th, 2008
By Arthur

I just wanted to let everyone know that I will be in sunny Texas the next couple of days.  Work is sending me down there for a conference and I am looking forward to it.  I know that sounds a little weird but it is true.

I have never been west of the Mississippi before and this is only the second time I’ve flown commercially so it should be a pretty good time.  I know I seem sheltered and I guess in this case I am, but I just didn’t do much travelling as a kid.

So I will be leaving this crappy weather in Michigan and heading to the 70 degree weather in Texas and I couldn’t be happier.  I will be back late Friday night and will be recovering this weekend. 

I do have posts scheduled for the rest of the week and I should have an internet connection there as well so I will do my best to at least keep up with my comments.  It’s gonna be a good trip and I’m looking forward to it.

Popularity: 16% [?]

February 16th, 2008
By Arthur

Finally it has arrived.  Jeff, his girlfriend Jodette, Jenn, and I will all be heading over and meeting up with some friends for Big Buck Night.  I have never attended one of these events, and it is also the first time that this event has been held in my hometown so it should make for an interesting night.

They are limited to the first 250 guests so we are going to get there early, especially since we live right down the road from the event.  I always freak out about these limited seating events, so hopefully it all goes smooth and we are able to get in the door and get a seat.

MUCC’s Michigan Out-of-Doors Television staff and crew will be there, as well as Tony Hansen, the editor for Michigan Out-out-of-Doors Magazine.  Hopefully we get to meet a few of them and get to chat and introduce ourselves.  Of course I can’t forget the most important thing;  getting to see some big bucks and hear the stories of how those lucky hunters got the chance of a lifetime.

I also went one step further and purchased tickets to the QDMA REACH banquet that will be coming to the same location in April.  By doing this I got tickets to that event, my membership to QDMA,  as well as one free admission into the Big Buck Night show.  Not a bad deal and I’m looking forward to my first QDMA event.  I have been skeptical about QDM in the past, but I’m willing to give it a shot after talking to a couple of gentlemen I trust and also after some encouraging words about the program from Jeff over at Lowcountryhunting.

Speaking of QDMA, the guest note speaker for tonight’s event is Mark Thomas, who is on the board of directors for QDMA.  I have heard that he is an excellent speaker and worth the price of admission.

So we are looking forward to the big event tonight and hopefully we will get some good insight as well as have some pictures to share before the weekend is through.

Have a good weekend everyone!

Popularity: 25% [?]

February 10th, 2008
By Arthur

What an action packed day we had yesterday.  We did head out to the Deer and Turkey Spectacular and I have to say that this year was probably thee best show I have been too since I started attending.  I’m not sure if it was because we utilized the show more, or if it was because the show was just better all around, but it was a very good time and made for a fun informative day.

We did sit through two seminars and both were very educational and eye opening.  The first one was from Greg Abbas.  All of you may know Greg from his A-way Outdoors TV program that airs on The Sportsman Channel.  We sat through Greg’s turkey hunting seminar and let me just tell you that it was definitely an eye opener for Jeff, Jenn, and I.  He pointed out a few common mistakes that beginner turkey hunters seem to do, and I have to admit that Jeff and I were guilty of quite a few of them.  His seminar was excellent and I would recommend it to anyone.  He was a very good speaker and knew how to keep the audience entertained while also providing excellent tips and knowledge.  We can’t wait to use some of that knowledge this coming season.

We also listened to John Eberhart, who has a book called Bowhunting Pressured Whitetails.  John is a very knowledgable guy and shoots some incredible bucks from our home state, but I have to be honest and say that I was a little bored during his session.  You have to listen to the guy though, because he really knows his stuff, especially when it comes to hunting mature bucks in our home state.

We also saw archery trick shooter Byron Ferguson.  This gentleman’s skill with a long bow is just amazing.  I asked and found out that he started shooting when he was 12 and man is he incredible.  It was nice to actually see him miss once as well.  It just proved to me that he was human and I enjoyed that for some reason.  He does some incredible shots and is an excellent show for the kids as well.  He geared a lot of things towards them and I was very impressed with his overall showmanship.  I know my nephew Tyler thoroughly enjoyed watching him.

Jeff also entered a couple of his deer from past years and had them officially scored.  It is funny how one rack can look much bigger than another yet not score as much as the other.  I hope that made sense.  You can see the results in the pictures so I won’t say them here, but at least he knows what one to brag about as his biggest now.

We also talked to some local gentleman from the local chapters of QDMA, Michigan Bowhunters Association, and even realized that Family Tradition Treestands were based in the town I grew up in, and still currently live, yet I didn’t even know they were anywhere close to me.  The things you found out.

I will go into more depth on a few of those organizations, and also plan on doing a little story about Family Tradition Treestands in the near future so stay tuned for those.

Overall we had a very good day, and the kids had a blast as well.  They sported their balloon creations for a good part of the show and loved seeing the live animals and checking out everything that the show had to offer.

The only downside to the day was that we spent so much time at the show that we never did make it over to the Michigan Historical Museum A Hunting We Will Go exhibit.  We’ll have to save that for another day.

Popularity: 28% [?]

February 08th, 2008
By Arthur

Since I really don’t feel like writing a well thought out post today, I figured I would cover a few random things that we have going on here at SimplyOutdoors, as well as a few things I’ve noticed in the blogosphere that are worth mentioning. There are definitely a lot of good things to read about on a lot of outdoor blogs right now, but I am just not in the mood to be serious. It’s Friday and time for some fun stuff.

Starting off the fun will be my cousin’s basketball game this evening. We have a bit of a drive, but I’m looking forward to going and watching Corrin play. We have been making our rounds on the varsity girls basketball circuit and tonight is by far the farthest we have to drive to a game. To be honest though I love visiting the new towns and supporting Corrin in her basketball endeavours. The wife and I have a lot of fun going to these different towns as well. You all know Corrin from a few of my posts from last year. You can find them here and here.

Continuing on with the fun we have the Michigan Deer and Turkey Spectacular tomorrow in Lansing. This year my brother is entering a couple of his deer to be scored and he is also taking his kids along to get a look at the festivities. I am looking forward to wearing a couple of our new shirts and taking in a couple of seminars while I’m there. We will be sure to get some pictures, especially since my wife got her birthday present a month early. A Canon Rebel XT. So hopefully we’ll have some good shots from the show to share.

I am also hoping to visit the Michigan Historical Museum and visit their A Hunting We Will Go exhibit. Hopefully we will have enough time to stop and visit and get some pictures of that as well. If you want more info about the exhibit you can read the post I wrote about it just a couple of days ago.

Also I am looking forward to the Bud Shootout tomorrow night, and on Sunday we will be celebrating my mom’s birthday. It was actually earlier in the week, but we all couldn’t get together until this weekend. (Yes I did call her and wish her a happy b-day on the actual day).

The last thing I wanted to cover is an interesting post I saw over on Mike Hanback’s blog. It appears that Ms. February shares some of the same love and passion for the outdoors as all of us do. I thought you all would enjoy that (especially the guys). I do recommend, like Mike said, that you just read the article though and don’t look at the pictures. Yeah right!

So an action, but fun packed weekend coming up and I can’t wait. I will try and post an update on the Outdoor show as well as the Outdoor exhibit. I make no promises though. It just depends on how much free time I find.

We hope everyone has a good weekend:)

Popularity: 15% [?]