33rd Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show Set for August 12-14

The Virginia Outdoor Sportsman show will once again be at the Richmond International Raceway, 600 E. Laburnum Ave.
Richmond VA, 23222, on August 12th, 13th and 14th.  This year's show will feature popular hunting personality Eva Shockey.  Growing up with Professional Hunter and Television personality, Jim Shockey, as her father, Eva was brought outdoors and in front of the camera at an early age. With a combined passion for conservation and adventure, Eva is now a full-fledged Outdoor Channel and Wild TV personality and is quickly making a name for herself within the industry as a proud, female outdoors-woman. She is truly one of the best ambassadors for the sport of hunting.  Eva made headlines in the industry by becoming the first woman in over 30 years to be featured on Field & Stream’s cover, and only the second woman in history to receiver her own cover, the other being Queen Elizabeth.

The hours for this year's show are:
August 12 - 4PM - 9PM
August 13 - 9AM - 7PM
August 14 - 10AM - 6PM

Also, the night before the show starts, the Greater Richmond Friends of NRA will hold their banquet at the Richmond Raceway complex beginning at 5:30 PM.  You can get more information here.

Outdoor Sportsman Show Opens Friday

The 31st Annual Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show opens Friday at the Virginia Raceway Complex (RIR) at 4:00. This year, the VDGIF Law Enforcement K-9 Unit will be putting on demonstrations.

Yearly favorites such as The Virginia Deer Classic, the Virginia Open Calling Contest, and the Virginia Sportsman Gunning Decoy Contest will again be present. New this year, in the Henrico Building, there will be a Gunning Decoy Carving Contest and a kids section with archery, casting and air rifle range.  There will be over 350 Booths, free parking.  This is a family affaire and children 15 and under FREE!  Prices for the event are $10 Daily and $15 for a three day pass.  As has been the case for the last few years, there will be a Greater Richmond Friends of NRA Banquet Thursday night, August 5th, to kick off the show.  But if you don't have a ticket, you're out of luck as this year's Friends Banquest sold out on July 28.

August Events of Interest to Virginia Sportsmen

August is when various outdoor shows and events take place in Virginia that get hunters ready for the upcoming season.  Here are some of the more popular events via the VDGIF Outdoor Report:

The 31st Annual Virginia Outdoor Sportsman's Show returning to the Richmond Raceway Complex! There's plenty of parking, more space for the 350 fun and exciting new exhibits, demonstrations and seminars- something for everyone in the family. The show has expanded into a third building which will include a new air gun shooting range sponsored by Crossman, an archery range sponsored by Parker Bows, decoy exhibit and contest, VDGIF K9 teams, casting range for kids and much more. Experienced and novice sportsmen and sportswomen can try the latest in new equipment and learn about new places and techniques to enjoy Virginia's great outdoors. Hunter Education Instructors will have exhibits and demonstrations on safe firearms handling, tree stand use and safety reminders for both experienced and novice hunters. This is your chance to see the biggest bucks harvested in Virginia. Deer hunters throughout Virginia will bring their mounts to this prestigious contest, organized by the Virginia Deer Hunters Association (VDHA). Celebrity guests R.J. Molinere and Jay Paul Molinere - Swamp People on the History Channel, Kip Campbell, Host of Red Arrow TV and Fred Abbas Co-Host of TV's A-Way Outdoors will be featured at this year's show.

The Virginia Hunter Skills Weekend will be held at Holiday Lake August 22-24. This program open to ages 11-90+ offers opportunities to learn new skills or fine-tune the ones you already have. Three 4-hour sessions in a variety of topics provide skills development for new and seasoned hunters alike and include pistol, rifle, shotgun, skeet, trap and muzzleloading shooting, archery, survival, game processing, cooking, preserving your wild game harvest, and a variety of big and small game hunting techniques. This partnership program is presented by the VA Hunter Education Association, VDGIF and Holiday Lake 4-H Educational Center near Appomattox. Registration is open until August 8, 2014 and the cost is $120.00 (meals and lodging included); a discounted fee is available before August 1, 2014. Completion of a Hunter Education course is preferred but not required; children under 18 must attend with a parent. For more information visit www.holidaylake4h.com, call Holiday Lake at (434) 248-5444 or e-mail bbranch@vt.edu.​​​​

The Annual Farmville Outdoor Festival sponsored by Riverside Community Church is being held  Saturday, August 23 at the Five County Fairgrounds, with many fun filled activities and events planned. VDGIF will be offering shotgun training with the opportunity to try your skills at simulated hunting scenarios with clay throwers, as well as fishing skills at the kid's fish pond. Other activities include a turkey call seminar from Quaker Boy Pro-Staff followed by a Turkey Calling Contest for youth and adults! Bugg's Island Archery is hosting a 3-D archery contest and Appomattox River Kennels is sponsoring a Big Buck Contest.  This event is for all ages, so come out and bring your family and friends for a day of fun in the outdoors!  For more information, view flyer Farmville Outdoor Festival (PDF), or contact Riverside Community Church at 434-547-6770.

Richmond Friends of NRA Banquet Highest Grossing Event in Virginia in 2013

The Richmond Friends of NRA (FNRA) banquet was held last Thursday before the start of the 30th Annual Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show (VOSS). This is the second year the committee has partnered with the annual sportsman show and it has definitely paid off. Preliminary numbers are in and this year's event grossed $101,500. Not only is that the largest grossing FNRA event ever held in Richmond, but it is the highest grossing event in the state so far for 2013.

Richmond has always been had difficult place to hold the typical FNRA banquet. The area has been saturated with National Wild Turkey Federation banquets, Ducks Unlimited banquets, Quality Deer Management Association banquets and the annual Virginia Deer Hunters Association banquet (by far the most successful of all the outdoor banquet events). In the late 90's the original Richmond FNRA committee moved to an outdoor shooting event in partnership with Dance's Sporting Goods, Green Top Sporting Goods, and DeGoff's. That move paid dividends as average attendance increased from 75 to over 200 people. But by around 2003, with a change in the NRA Field Director and the committee members having been involved for almost 10 years, the event was discontinued. An attempted to revive the Richmond FNRA events was attempted but when they tried to transition back to the traditional indoor banquet, the same problem with lack of attendance surfaced.

Enter new NRA Field Director David Wells in 2011. Wells worked with local folks, including Green Top, to partner with the successful Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. The decision was made to hold the first event in 2012 at the Richmond Raceway Complex the night before the start of the outdoor show and in two years, the result has been phenomenal. While there are still FNRA events scheduled through the end of the year, it's going to be tough to top what the Richmond Committee has done. What can be expected for this fledgling event next year? With the VOSS continuing to grow - they added a third building of exhibits - The Green Top Pavilion - this year, as long as they remain partnered, it would seem the sky is the limit.

30th Annual Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show August 9-11

For the 30th year, Hugh Crittenden and the Virginia Deer Hunter's Association will hold present the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show.  As it has in the last two years, will again be held at the Richmond Raceway Complex.  The evening before the show opens, the Richmond Friends of NRA will hold their 2nd Annual Banquet.  Partnering with the VOSS paid dividends last year and this year's event should also be a success. Doors open at the FNRA event Thursday at 5:30.  The VOSS opens Friday at 4PM.

Deeds, the Confederate Flag and the Sportsman Show

I opened up my email this morning and found a story in the Red State Morning Briefing that just should not be a part of a statewide campaign in 2009. It all began when Ben Tribbett's left leaning Not Larry Sabato blog posted a photo of the Sportsmen for McDonnell booth at the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. The angle of the photo shows a Confederate Flag and Tribbett posted the flag was part of the McDonnell booth.

The Washington Post's Anita Kumar reported on the Post's Virginia Politics blog that Creigh Deeds' campaign manager sent out this Tweet:

BREAKING NEWS: MCDONNELL HAS CONFEDERATE FLAG POSTED IN HIS BOOTH AT GUN SHOW IN RICHMOND

First, I think it shows a bit of tone deafness on the part of the Deeds campaign to call the largest and oldest outdoor show in the Commonwealth a "gun show." It's not a gun show and no guns are for sale at the show. It is a collection of over 300 vendors that include hunting clubs, sporting goods retailers, hunting outfitters, conservation groups, and more, where hunters and sportsmen gather to purchase supplies or hunting trips for the upcoming season.

I agree with RedState:

The real story here and the one the Washington Post did not report is that Bob McDonnell showed up at the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show and Creigh Deeds did not.

I was at the Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show on Saturday and Sunday. It was packed to the point you could barely walk the aisles. Deeds missed an excellent opportunity to reach out to over 20,000 sportsmen and women. I don't recall even seeing a booth. Both Tim Kaine and Mark Warner had a campaign booth at the show when they ran for Governor and Warner had a booth last year when he ran for the U.S. Senate.

Deeds needs to wake up the people running his campaign to the fact that sportsmen are not to be taken for granted. Or, maybe Deeds has determined that to reach out to Northern Virginia's more liberal voters he needs to leave his rural past behind. Either way, he puts his hopes for advancing to the Governor's Mansion in jeopardy.

Hat tip to Red State and Anita Kumar.

Busy Weekend for Sportsmen in Virginia

Hunters and Sportsmen of all stripes have plenty to choose from this weekend when it comes to preparing for the coming hunting seasons. First and foremost is the 26th Annual Virginia Outdoor Sportsman Show. This show is put on by Hugh Crittenden in association with the Virginia Deer Hunters Association. This is the longest running outdoor show in the Commonwealth and it attracts upwards of 20,000 people every year. This is a show not to be missed. Also, while you are at the show, be sure to stop by the NRA-ILA booth and sign up to be a Frontlines Volunteer for this year's election.

Also starting this weekend is Bass Pro Shops 2009 Fall Hunting Classic in both the Hampton and Richmond stores. This event runs from August 7-23 and will include sales on hunting supplies and seminars on various topics.

Two of Richmond's local retailers are also holding big sales this weekend to take advantage of the influx of sportsmen. First is Dance's Sporting Goods located in Colonial Heights. This is Dance's 2nd Annual Outdoor Sportsman's Show event and runs from August 8 - 16th.

Greentop Sporting Goods, in Hanover County just down the interstate from Bass Pro Shops, has their annual Summer Sale which began August 5th and runs through August 9th.

In short, there are a lot of activities that sportsmen can take advantage of this weekend.