Through the Lens

Gobble Gobble Gobble

Mon, February 13, 2012

a close up look at a limited edition series of calls made by Wilper Custom Calls from Wellington, MO

A few random thoughts from NWTF before I start inundating you with some of the products and people that were my favorite parts of the NWTF convention.

If it is electronic - it will malfunction. My phone went belly up on several occasions, the tablet refused to hold a signal, the internet connection in the media room,  was over loaded and my laptop kept dropping it, the pins on the card reader ended up bent and I had no card reader for the CF cards. Yes, I was the goofy old lady in the corner of the media room clutching her 47th cup of coffee and banging her head in frustration on the table.

After looking at and testing what seemed like the 100th set of calls; they all began to sound the same and I was beginning to think I should have packed ear protection. (That problem was solved with some custom made ear protection from EAR, Inc.  I’ll be telling you about in the next post) .

Camouflage -  It’s incredibly hard to find one’s traveling companions in a sea of camouflage, especially when they are wearing camouflage! Not only is nearly every other person on the floor wearing camouflage, virtually every booth contained camouflage . Notably there were some very high tech and new camo patterns being introduced, and not to worry, I’ll be doing a post about a couple of those that stood out from the crowd with their innovative and high tech approach to concealment. My friends at M2D Camo were kind enough to send a full set home with me to try out, test, and photograph in variety of settings. Coming soon, instead of playing “Where In the World Is Waldo?” , we’ll have a rousing game of where in the world is G? We’ll see if the eagle eyes here at Heartland folks spot me in a variety of habitats as I put the M2D Camo to the test.

Decoys - holy smokes..umbrella decoys, flat decoys, 3D decoys, motion decoys.. decoys..decoys..decoys… by the end of the three days they were all starting to look a little bit alive and sinister. Those beady eyes,, those jelly heads.. seriously; I had nightmares a la Night at the Museum and suspect that when the lights went down and the exhibit hall closed those decoys all had some turkey party without us. Again; I came home with a set Mississippi Decoys that I thought were particularly nifty, and of course I’ll be telling you about them in the next couple of posts.

Walking all day in the woods is tiring.. walking all day on concrete is miserable. Each day when I left the convention center I was the goofy one risking arrest and walking through the landscaped flower beds and dividers in the parking lot, just to feel DIRT under my feet!

I was treated to “behind the scenes” look at all that goes into the banquets, parties, and award ceremonies by Karen Lee, Editor of Turkey Country magazine. It was truly amazing to be backstage, and see the inner workings of how it all happens and comes together.

Stay tuned friends.. We’re going to be talking turkey here for days to come, but for right now, I’m taking a rest, sorting and organizing and, sifting through about 500 images.  Three full days of all things turkey is just a little overwhelming!

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