Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Disappointed in Iowa’s deer classic

S

swampwright

Guest
This show has completely changed for the worst. How many safari hunts were there? How many people selling duck calls? How many things were not even for whitetail. Dont get me wrong there is still good people selling and advertising Iowa and or whitetail hunting items. If you want to get drunk off expensive beer and see an industry that has been exploited to a point making a person sick. Then yea this show is for you.. I’ve went to this show for the past 21 years without missing a year, and I hate to say it but I believe this year will be my last.
 
Sounds no different than my local "gun" shows. I bet only 25% of the tables have guns. There's everything from china ninja swords to garage sale junk to NASA welding rods. And everything is priced like it's made of gold.
 
swampwright said:
This show has completely changed for the worst. How many safari hunts were there? How many people selling duck calls? How many things were not even for whitetail. Dont get me wrong there is still good people selling and advertising Iowa and or whitetail hunting items. If you want to get drunk off expensive beer and see an industry that has been exploited to a point making a person sick. Then yea this show is for you.. I’ve went to this show for the past 21 years without missing a year, and I hate to say it but I believe this year will be my last.
Click to expand...

I would have to agree with you. My dad and I thought the same thing... Use to be new companies trying to get their products out and everything to do with deer hunting. Only a few new deer hunting related products and that was it.
 
I’ve been going to the classic since it started in Waterloo in 1991 and I think I’ve only missed one. The classic has never been for vendors what it could be related to deer hunting.
The present company that puts it on only cares about selling booths and not hunting products so it first come first served and they always sale out. I agree it could be MUCH better it that aspect.
I treat it like deer camp to see all the friends I’ve made over the years so I go back to visit with them.
Now with IW promise to be there again next year the deer camp has now grown.....:)
 
FWIW, I haven't been in a few years now, I used to make a point of going to it about every other year or so. For me, the real drawback was the wall to wall people, the older I get the less I like just being crammed into a space and feeling crowded. (I know, I know...here come the "Get off of my lawn..." quips. :) )

What I liked most were the very informative "how-to" seminars. I don't know if they still do those or not. I was glad to hear that IW is back on the scene there, good job Skip and all of his helpers.
 
I've noticed a drastic decline over recent years of the number of whitetails being entered in the contest. I know people will point to not wanting their names out there or possibly revealing the location a deer was harvested. I'm wondering if just the thought of not placing in the top 5 or being considered one of the top deer is a factor? Also, there's not any personnel from hunting shows on the major networks there hardly. While I enjoy talking with the guys from Heartland Bowhunter and the knowledge Winke has is top notch. I do think that once Lee and Tiffany stopped attending to instead go to deer classics in southern states it's taken away some of the drawing of younger hunters. I did end up making an appearance later Saturday evening after I left drill at Camp Dodge, and the crowd wasn't terrible. However, overall I covered the show in about an hour since I could bypass 75% of the booths as I have no desire to pay a kid $2 if he can open a knife, and I have no desire to go on a safari. I'll always attend the show as I typically have drill that weekend each year anyways, and the $9 beers are hard to beat ;)
 
Here’s what classic needs to do....... put vendors that are not whitetail related in the hall section of booths. Or designate a row to booths not related to Whitetail’s.
The guys next to us were blowing duck calls the whole time- about lost my mind. ;).
 
This was the first time I went in probably 14 years and I gotta say I really enjoyed it. Yes there are a lot of outfitters and non-whitetail related items that don't seem to fit the purpose of the show. But I can look past that stuff without a problem. I'm with Ishi in that I had a great time talking with people, both from this site as well as others that I've met over the years. I could very easily go just for the sake of jawing with fellow enthusiasts.
 
I didnt make it to all the booths, but I had a blast just for the fact of chatting and meeting a ton of people who enjoy hunting like I do. Aside from working it with my booth- I would still go every year just to chat away like Lyon and Ishi pointed out.
 
Hey, I gotta free MudBum koozie, worth the trip!

Was good to see some old faces and meet some new. Next year will be even bettr for the booth.
 
I still enjoy going. I agree that it would be nice if there were more new products, innovative items or new releases like at the ATA show.

That said it's always been dominated by people selling tshirts and dvds. For a while everybody and their brother was putting together and trying to sell hunting dvds. Thankfully the number of those has decreased quite a bit. I think they are realizing people don't want to buy dvds when there is already more hunting videos than you could possibly watch on tv, you tube and the Internet.

The biggest disappointment is the number of deer brought in and on display. Seems to be a fraction of what they once had.

I did get to spend the day with friends, talk to some outfitters I've hunted with and industry people I know and in general had a good time. Can't ask for much more than that for 10 bucks.
 
When u got a Celeb next to u- it does add to the excitement. Cletis McNastee made the whole show worth it to me ;). We did have to pay him to add Iowawhitetail to his name badge & stand in the booth but that was the best $10k ever spent!!
4397949f8fc6b9ac416fd793a30bf9b1.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sligh1 said:
When u got a Celeb next to u- it does add to the excitement. Cletis McNastee made the whole show worth it to me ;). We did have to pay him to add Iowawhitetail to his name badge & stand in the booth but that was the best $10k ever spent!!
4397949f8fc6b9ac416fd793a30bf9b1.jpg



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
You guys complaining about the calls obviously didn't have to listen to Josh's Snapchats. That godforsaken noise had to be 10000000 times worse

Sent from my SM-G930R4 using Tapatalk
 
I went for the first time last year, didn’t have a bad experience and enjoyed it but didn’t feel a desire to go again this year. Hardly missed a Boat/RV and Sports show at the Dome in CedarFalls for many years but I haven’t been to either of those for several years. Same stuff it seems every year and I’m not a huge fan of the crowds BUT it was always more fun when you knew someone at a booth or two. Iowa Shows puts all three on and are based out of Waterloo, nice people who I’m sure would appreciate any suggestions. Check their website out sometime for contact info.
 
I'm with Swampwright on this Whitetail show. The last few years it has definitely turned into who ever pays can have a booth. You can almost predict what you'll see from year to year. We always make the trip and complain each time we drive home. I went this year to buy some plot seed and to research a fall bear hunt and to see some other taxidermy work. With the amount of deer hunters in this state, it's sad to say the manufacturers of the hunting products we buy aren't more displayed and readily available for sale. Hats off to the shops that do bring hunting type products there to sell. I enjoy seeing and hearing the lectures from Bill Winke. This guy truly cares about promoting the hunting of whitetails. But as far as the rest of the TV hunters in this state, they can go to other shows where the audience might believe in all they say. Remember most hunt same whitetails we all do just in a way more controlled habitat/environment. And how many freaking boxblinds do you need displayed. Any real guess on amount of Iowa hunters that buy and use these concraptions for 2-4 grand. But to each their own, I guess. Well, I've vented enough and will prob go back again next year as a creature of habit.
 
I haven't gone in five or so years but I used to go to see the entries and watch a few seminars. From a few of the snaps floating around it looked like several big deer harvested this year. Anyone want to weigh in on number of entries and size compared to the past five or ten years??
 
I haven't been in a couple years, I'd probably go more often if it wasn't the same time as prime time shed hunting. Glad the IW crew is throwing their hat back in the ring though, chatting with those dudes would be the most appealing part.

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk
 
It has become a "Lifestyle" event as much as a deer hunting expo. I didn't make it up and down all the aisles this year. I pretty much just stayed in the IBA booth.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom