"On the road again, just can't wait to get on the road again", heck you guys know the rest of the words, I don't need to keep singing now do I? No one wants to hear that anyway, at least that is what my wife keeps telling me each time I bust out in song. At any rate, on the road again is exactly where the Crosman Shooting team was last week, headed to North Carolina and the spectacular vineyards owned by Richard Childress. Yep, that Richard Childress, owner of 4 NASCAR teams, an avid outdoorsman and host for the 4th Annual "Wine, Wheels and Wildlife" fundraising dinner at his vineyard located in Lexington, North Carolina.
This event was presented by the Congressional Sportsmen's Foundation, the National Assembly of Sportsmen's Caucuses and of course Childress Vineyards. For almost 20 years the CSF has maintained a singleness of purpose that has guided the organization to become the most respected and trusted hunting and fishing organization in the political arena. CSF's sole focus is providing access and a voice for sportsmen in the U.S. Congress, the Administration and federal land management agencies, as well as state legislatures across the country. While at the same time, the NASC serves as the umbrella organization for launching and working with state legislative sportsmen's caucuses inside the state legislatures. This places the NASC at the core of the legislative front protecting and promoting hunting, fishing and wildlife management in state legislatures. Sound like an event a legendary gun company and year old crossbow manufacturer would want to be seen and heard? You bet it does.
Now that I have established what the event was, and why the Crosman Shooting team was there, let me tell you about the event itself. We arrived into town late on Tuesday October the 14th, got a look at the area and headed out for a quick dinner, then back to the hotel for some much needed rest. Wednesday the 15th found us ready to "go to work", get set up, sighted in and ready to put on our shooting show. We arrived at the Vineyard around 10am, and were quickly shown our area for set up. Once unloaded the set up went quickly with a little help from our friends at Bass Pro who were also there setting up for the evening event. Once the "hay was in the barn", we took a break for some snacks and iced tea on the terrace that overlooked the 65 acre vineyard. Tough gig, huh? After a quick tour of the property and the wine making process we headed back to the hotel to shower and change for the evening.
Around 5pm we found ourselves back at the vineyards, parking our vehicles in front this time, not like earlier in the day when we ran around like we owned the joint! We were greeted to an awesome sight, all of RCR's cars lined up in front with the awe inspiring 3 car set off to the side and slightly up hill overlooking the rest of the stable of cars like the black stallion that car was for years on the racing circuit. Big photo opportunity for our group, as none of us have ever had the chance to be that close to one of Dale's actual race cars and get a good picture at the same time. So, after spending a few minutes looking over the cars of Harvick, Burton, and Bowyer, we headed towards the back of the Tuscan styled villa to where the outdoor event would take place that night. Back in the Crosman Shooting Team tent, we were sighted in and ready to shoot. I would run the crossbow side, while my partner in crime for this trip, Mark DeBoard would run the PCP hunting gun side for Crosman.
What I thought would be more of a "celebrity" based crowd, turned out to be a more "political" based crowd and we could not have been more thrilled with the opportunity. Mark and I spent the next two hours running shooting demonstrations, teaching and having some invaluable conversations with top state legislature folks about hunting seasons, weapons of choice and impact in dollars for each state. This was truly a rare opportunity and we did not take it for granted, using each and every opportunity to tell our story, our message and our position on the crossbow with each person that stopped by to shoot our products. The bulk of our conversations centered on the importance of the crossbow being viewed as another style of archery equipment and an additional choice for archers headed to the woods. We discussed in detail how the crossbow plays a vital role in hunter retention and in hunter introduction. Both of these actions will continue to fund the state coffers, adding valuable dollars to each state's resources. Each conversation went very well, with the state representatives leaving our tent with a better perception of the crossbow, having shot it themselves and possibly seeing the crossbow as an avenue to improve their state's resources, while providing new and old archers alike additional options.
All in all it was a great night. The food was excellent, the conversations impactful and the scenery was unforgettable. I am so proud of how our products performed and how much effort we at Crosman are putting in behind the scenes, in order to assist crossbow expansion efforts nationwide. This past week was just further evidence that Crosman is not just a manufacturer of shooting products, but truly a leader in the shooting sports industry since 1923. You have got to love a group that talks the talk and more importantly walks the walk. Until next time, look sharp and shoot straight.
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