In today’s episode of Sportsman of Colorado, we take a deep dive into the impact suppressors have on the hunting community. Host Scott Watley, along with audiologist Dr. Melissa Fling, explores the advancements in suppressor technology and demystifies common misconceptions. Learn how to maximize hearing safety on your hunting trips with detailed discussion on sound levels, legalities, and practical advice from an esteemed expert in the field. Don’t miss out on this critical conversation about protecting your hearing.
SPEAKER 01 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado, Colorado’s premier outdoor radio show heard every Saturday afternoon on KLZ 560 with insights on hunting, fishing, archery, guns, and ammo from Colorado’s top outfitters featuring the industry’s leading experts on how to enhance your experience in the great outdoors. Now, here’s your host, Scott Watley.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Sportsman of Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Just a quick reminder now, we’re here several times a week for you. Saturdays, of course, our live show 1 to 2. And then on Sundays, 8 to 9 a.m., you’ll hear a rebroadcast. Also, 8 to 9 p.m. Sunday night. Then also on the following Thursday, 9 to 10 a.m. So, hey, four times a week you can catch Sportsman of Colorado. And if you miss out on all that, hey, you can get our podcast where you get yours. Well, hey, we are always glad to welcome in studio and have our exclusive audiologist, Dr. Melissa Fling. And this is a segment we’re going to start calling Listen Up. All right. So, hey, listen up with Dr. Melissa Fling. All right. So how’s that? How are you?
SPEAKER 04 :
Sounds great.
SPEAKER 03 :
I’m great. How are you? I’m doing well. Thank you. You know, you’re on both of our shows, Haystack and Sportsman. And today we’re going to talk about something that is important. really selling like crazy right now, and that’s suppressors, okay? In the past, it has taken about a year to 14 months sometimes to get a suppressor because you have to go through this long process, and now some of them are coming back and 48 hours 72 hours so suppressor sales are through the roof okay okay so this is a great topic you picked out to talk today uh you know about our hearing and uh how we can protect that and that is our main goal with this show is just show is just getting everyone to understand hey Maybe you’re like me and you did not do this early on and you were reaping, I can’t say the benefits, you were reaping the non-benefits of not wearing protection. Maybe you’ve got some hearing loss. Maybe you’ve got some ringing in the ears with tennis like I do. And we’re going to get into all that today with Melissa. But we’re going to talk about this whole concept of suppressors and, hey, do you need hearing protection when you shoot a suppressor? Some refer to them as silencers. So Melissa came in, hey, did a little study on this. So we’re going to get into this today. So what did you find out? And this is kind of cool because, you know, I mean, you’re not…
SPEAKER 04 :
big into hunting and and shooting a lot and stuff but you delved into this idea of suppressors so what did your studies find right yeah i’m not i’m not a shooter i’m and i’ve really only done it one time and it’s i’m not interested in it we’re gonna have to take you i’ll get you to try it so you can really see what a suppressor is so yeah yeah i might i might like it if i try it again So I have heard the terms silencer and suppressor, and I was always thinking, well, what’s the difference between them? So I did some research, and I’m sure a lot of your listeners already know this. Turns out those terms are interchangeable. They mean the same thing. It’s just that the history is such that the silencer term was used first, and when the silencer was first designed was, I guess, in 1902, and then it was patented in 1909, and I don’t think they meant for it. Well, really, it was a marketing term because silencers do not silence a firearm shot. That’s impossible. And then later down the road, the term kind of evolved more into a suppressor, which is more accurate to what it does. So what I found is… Obviously, most of your listeners know that silencers and suppressors reduce how loud a shot is, but it doesn’t silence it. And most firearms, the impulse sound that is produced by them is at least 140 dB. Most of them have been measured far beyond that. 160 dB, 170, 140 is where OSHA says… That could cause instant damage, so try to keep your exposures below that if possible. Now, there have been some different measurements of how much suppressors can suppress or reduce the impulse peak sound of a firearm, but there’s no standardized way yet for that. manufacturers of suppressors to say this suppressor will reduce it by X amount. There’s no good way to measure that because there are so many variables with different firearms and different suppressors. Um, another thing that I found, which I didn’t know is that they’re not legal everywhere. And in some places where they are legal, um, for certain uses, they might not be legal for hunting. The majority of states have legalized them for hunting, but it looks like there are about eight states where they’re still illegal. Three of those where they’re legal, but not for hunting.
SPEAKER 11 :
Gotcha.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay. Right. And those are California, Delaware.
SPEAKER 03 :
Of course, California.
SPEAKER 04 :
Delaware, Hawaii. Illinois, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island. In Connecticut and Vermont, they’re legal, but not for hunting. So that was interesting to me, something that I didn’t know about. But in Colorado, they’re legal and for hunting. So they can be used here. Now, will they protect your hearing? Yes and no. They’ll make your exposure to the peak impulse sound lower but it will still be at a volume where it can be instantly damaging so a suppressor is better than not having a suppressor for your hearing but if you are willing to and if you have access to good hearing protection using that in addition to a suppressor would be the best option no doubt yeah and you know it is something uh
SPEAKER 03 :
There was something, I think, going around at first that I think actually President Trump in his last term was talking about this Hearing Protection Act where we could just make them legal for everywhere. Because it is… better for everybody you know and when we’re hunting yes we want to protect our hearing but then also it helps when you’re hunting it doesn’t disturb everything quite as much as a big high-powered rifle going off and all the other animals and so there’s some advantages from using the suppressor there and even some predator hunting like coyotes and different things like that But I think there have been a lot of misconceptions about them, like, oh, you don’t even need to wear hearing protection if you’ve got a suppressor. And that is not true.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right, right. Yeah, and some of the – let me look at some of the numbers that I have here. Okay, so the – Sound pressure level or the intensity of sound from a firearm. So for a big bore rifle, pistol, or shotgun, those can reach up to 160 to 170 dB, which will do instant damage to your hearing. You might not notice it right then, but each time you do it counts and it will accumulate over time. At a certain point, you will start to notice something’s different with your hearing, that it’s muffled or you might have ringing in your ears. Because I think in the hunting community, I don’t know if you’ve heard it or said it, I’ve heard it a lot. A lot of hunters have told me, well, it’s just one shot. Yes, it is, but it’s cumulative over time, and it might do a little bit of damage that one time that’s not noticeable, but over time it will become noticeable. So even if it’s just one shot, it’s so loud that it can do damage right then, and it’s so important to use hearing protection every time if you can.
SPEAKER 03 :
Right.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
And, you know, I know we’ve talked about this before, but when you waterfowl hunt and you get in these pits that are kind of underground where they dig a big hole, it sounds kind of weird. I tried to explain this to my wife. She’s like, you guys are idiots. You dig a hole, you get in it. And you have a board or something, a mesh thing sometimes over you, and then when the geese come in or the ducks come in, you slide that back, and then everybody starts shooting right on left unless you’re on the end. Then you have a guy to your left or, you know, shooting. And I have had before when I wasn’t wearing hearing protection where a shot was just at the right angle and so on. where, man, instantly, and like I say, my ears ring all the time, but where my ears just, man, it sent a real high-pitched signal to my ears. I was like, oh, man, that was a bummer, you know, like that. And so then you try to readjust your seating, and before you know it, you’re right back where you were and doing it again. Yeah. And so it… What you’re saying is true.
SPEAKER 04 :
I’m glad you brought up the bird hunting because in my research, I found that bird hunters are at higher risk of noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus because you guys tend to hunt in groups. You tend to hunt in those blinds, which is an enclosed area. And if you’re not… kind of putting your firearm outside of the enclosed area when you take a shot it’ll reverberate within that enclosed area and make it louder um so that was interesting too bird hunt bird hunters out there what huh you you guys are at higher risk so um it’d be a good idea to consider use of hearing protection right yeah and again you know
SPEAKER 03 :
been doing this all my life and I’ve seen so many people and we’ve talked about the little foam things and most times those are inserted improperly and they’re better than nothing than not doing anything but I’ll just throw in here real quick Melissa made me a couple of different types a couple of months ago and I’ve been able to use those on the range one and I’ll let her get into this before we get out of here today but One is kind of more of just a block type setup where I’m not needing to talk with anybody else. I’m just there to protect my hearing and shoot. And, man, it cut down so much. And then I’ve been wearing the muffs over, so trying to do the double protection, so to speak. And then the ones then when we’ve done pheasant hunt, Kevin Flesch and I went out to Kansas and did a pheasant hunt where we got a bunch of guys lined up, you know, separated pretty good yardage apart but still you want to be able to hear what’s going on and then those just worked exceptionally well and i don’t even know because of the custom fit i don’t even know they’re in my ear you know i mean from a feel uh and so and that’s what was cool too because sometimes you’re cramming something in your ear like man i can’t wait to get that out of my ear And that’s what that the whole custom side of things, I think, is a big, big plus, because if it’s comfortable, you’re going to wear it.
SPEAKER 04 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
If it’s not comfortable or you have a hard time putting them in right, you’re not going to wear them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah. And how do you what’s your experience with your level of awareness with those on?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, I mean, yeah, very well.
SPEAKER 04 :
Okay, still feel like you can hear semi-normally with those in?
SPEAKER 03 :
Absolutely, absolutely. Okay, good.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, and that’s the point of those.
SPEAKER 03 :
Good, okay. And so, yeah, I’ve been very, very happy with them.
SPEAKER 04 :
Good, good. Always glad to hear that. Good.
SPEAKER 03 :
So, and this is interesting because as someone who’s a non-hunter and really not, you know, goes out and shoots guns a lot, I mean, when you look at all the different advertising and different things that they put on these sites, you’re going to understand that way more than we are we’re mainly looking for something maybe you know some guys just shop by when i say guys i mean i don’t mean that just guys girls too because uh but um shopping by price for something they’re not understanding what that those decibels meaning and the quality of suppressors so how do you there’s no safe really gunfire i think without hearing protection and even a 22 i mean the smallest caliber right
SPEAKER 04 :
Right. And even with hearing protection, it just depends what the exposure level is, but you know, if you could get your exposure, let’s say without a suppressor and without hearing protection, your exposure is 170 dB. Let’s say with a suppressor and with hearing protection, let’s say you could get up to 50 dB of reduction. So now you’re down to 120. which is better. That’s still dangerous. It can still cause instant damage, but not as quickly as OSHA’s threshold of 140. That one is said to be instant in a second that that will do damage whether you recognize it or not so if you could get your exposure below 140 db and this is loose science obviously we don’t we don’t know for sure there’s been a lot of research done about it but it’s still a little loose but if you can get your exposure below 140 db with the use of a suppressor and or hearing protection that’s ideal right still not safe you’re still being exposed to something that’s hazardous but far better than an exposure at 170 dB.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. You’re listening to a special segment here on Sportsman of Colorado. We call Listen Up with Dr. Melissa Fling. Custom Air Solutions is her company. You can go to customairsolutions.com. Her number is 720-839-7705. And her setup is a little bit different. Most of the time, if you hear any kind of advertising noise, about hearing. It is going to be a company that will do hearing tests, of course, which she does, but mainly into the hearing aid type of sales and things, which are definitely needed. And we certainly have those hookups for you if Melissa feels like that’s what you need. But her whole concept is this. Hey, look, How can we protect your hearing from today on? And that is with custom ear solutions. And we talked about this the last couple weeks when she was on. When something is custom, you’re going to get that consistent protection instead of When maybe you shoot something, you think, oh, that didn’t protect as well. And you’re trying to cram that foam back in your ear, you know, to get it back. Because you’re like, oh, that was louder than before, you know. And just moving your head, walking, maybe got a hood on, a hat, whatever the case may be. And I’m telling you, with these custom ones that she makes. They’re a great fit. They’re a comfortable fit. And I’m telling you, you will notice instantly that, oh, I forgot to put those in. You need to go get them. So I hope you’ll give her a call. Let her know you heard her here on Sportsman of Colorado or Haystack. There’s KLZ 560. And here’s what we’re doing. If you come in and you get a hearing test with her and you buy any of her custom ear solutions is what I call it, We’re going to give you a $50 gift card to shoot indoors Buckley. That’s right over here off of 225 in Mississippi. And we’ll give you a $50 gift card for doing so. So when you look through this, and I can’t wait. I do want to get you to a range. Yeah, I’d like to also. Yeah, just to see, because I was at one yesterday, actually, and I’ve got a friend of mine that has an air gun outdoors, a little plug here for him. It’s air rifles, so like pellet guns and BB guns. So it’s pew. i mean it’s so not yeah well the guy was right next to me and he was shooting it had to be like a 300 way to be magnum you know and i mean and i mean man and i wasn’t ready and i should be but man he shot i was like wow that was so loud you know this was the air gun no no this was a guy sitting next to i was shooting an air gun okay and um And I’ll be honest, I did it on a whim. I’ve got to start carrying those with me in my truck because they were in my range bag.
SPEAKER 04 :
Maybe we should get you another pair so you have one in each area that you need them.
SPEAKER 03 :
And so I just had on earmuffs kind of like we were wearing here in the studio. And I was like, oh, man, I can tell the difference of not having that, you know, when that guy shot, you know. And so – and here’s the thing. You can’t plan – A lot of times where that loud noise is going to come from. So we’re in these. And, hey, we can’t walk around all day with hearing. I get that. That’s not what I’m saying. But when you know you’re going to an environment, be ready.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Because that one shot can cause a problem that can start you on a downhill road, right?
SPEAKER 04 :
Yep, definitely.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. Anything from your studies more you think you want to bring out?
SPEAKER 04 :
Do we have some time for me to read this story?
SPEAKER 03 :
Oh, you know what? You did have a story there. I want you to, because I hadn’t heard it yet, but you said it was good, so yeah.
SPEAKER 04 :
It might take a few minutes to read through. I found it on silencercentral.com. Okay. And it’s a gentleman named Bryce M. Towsley. Hopefully I’m pronouncing that correctly. Okay. So he’s a renowned firearms and hunting writer, and he kind of just wrote a little story about his experience with his hearing degrading over time due to exposure to firearms. So I’m just going to read a little bit from him. OK, so he says, I’m looking at the results of my most recent hearing test and the lines on the graph drop off faster than one step too far at the Grand Canyon. It didn’t have to be that way. There are several factors that caused my hearing loss, but shooting is a big one. Guns and hunting have been my passion and my profession for a very long time. And that steep line on the chart is the price extracted. Trust me, you do not want that to happen to you. I now wear extremely expensive hearing aids and still have the TV too loud for anyone else to sit in the room. I can’t understand conversation in a noisy restaurant, and it’s been a long time since I’ve heard a deer grunt or a turkey drum. I have learned by default to read lips, so that whole mask up to stop the spread thing was a nightmare. With the background noise in places like the SHOT Show, I look like a fool, just grinning and nodding because I can’t understand a word anyone is saying to me. Even at home, my wife must be facing me when we talk, otherwise she mumbles. Using silencers on my guns would have helped prevent this outcome, except they were not legal to own in my home state of Vermont until just recently. If I’d been allowed to use them decades ago, then maybe I would not bicker with my wife about that mumbling thing so much. Maybe, too, I could still go to the movies and not keep repeating. What did he say? For the record, the answer seems to be, he said, be quiet and watch the dang movie. If your ears are ringing after a loud shot or several loud shots, there will be consequences. Even if your hearing seems to be okay once the ringing goes away, it’s not. Permanent damage accumulates and each time a little more is added to the damage of the past. It’s like dropping a dime in a piggy bank. It takes a while to fill the piggy bank, but just like it takes a while to become profoundly hard of hearing. You’re not even aware of it until people start mumbling and the audio system on your TV begins losing its sound quality. It will not heal or get better. It’s with you forever. Once you lose any of your hearing, there’s no way to get it back. Sure, hearing aids help, but they are a very long way from bringing it back to what it is. Frankly, they’re a pain in the neck, not just because using them is frustrating, but for other reasons too, like when I lost one in a huge bog while hunting woodcock. I could have paid off what I owed on my truck for what the replacement cost. The price of my last pair would have paid for most of a cape buffalo hunt. A lot of money for something you learn to hate. Yeah. Now, this is both funny and serious. This is really his experience. Now, I have a little more if we have time. Sure. Okay. So this is regarding, well, just furthermore about his experience with hearing protection. So he says, sure, I always tried to wear hearing protection, but that is just not practical for a lot of hunting. So we kid ourselves into thinking that it’s just one shot or maybe two and it’s fine. I remember long ago when I was a kid at a Cub Scout meeting and for some reason we were talking about the mileage on a car and how it adds up. One of the moms said, well, it just measures long trips. Things like going to the store don’t count. Of course they do, and every mile that car rolls is reflected on the odometer. It’s the same with hearing. We think, well, it’s just one shot, it won’t matter. The hard truth is that every shot is captured in your hearing loss, just like a trip to the store. It may not be very noticeable at the time, but like that trip, every single one is banked, and sooner or later, it adds up. I joke when talking about my general condition, saying that I had a hell of a good time getting this way. The condition being the aches and pains and trials and tribulations of getting older. It’s all payment for a lifetime of activities which take a toll. I’m asked if I would change anything, and for the most part, the answer is no. I understood that some of these things would come with a price due later in life. Things like hang gliding, motorcycles, martial arts, and even drinking whiskey. Walking miles with heavy packs, frostbiting my feet while trapping beavers. freezing my hands, rabbit hunting in Arctic cold or miles riding horseback in the back country. The results has been broken bones and worn out bodies. Much of it, I suppose, could have been avoided with a different lifestyle, but those things are what made life worth living. So I’ll pay the price because I don’t want to whisper. It could have been on my deathbed. When it comes to my hearing loss, turns out that I could have still enjoyed all those years of shooting and hunting, but maybe without this price I am paying now. I feel cheated. My generation is winding down and what’s done is done, but the rest of you have a choice. The government prevented us from using the available technology and Things have changed, and now you have access to the tools needed to prevent or at least mitigate any future hearing loss from hunting and shooting. Some regrets are preventable. This one is your choice. Wow. Yeah, I thought that was a really powerful story of his.
SPEAKER 03 :
I guarantee you, many of us, when I say us, could pin something like that. Yeah, I think it resonates. Yeah, it really, really does. But, hey, yes, that story paid the price. But you know what? You don’t have to continue paying the price. And we’re not saying your hearing is going to get better, okay, from doing it. But maybe we can get it from getting worse. Yes.
SPEAKER 04 :
Yeah, I always say it’s never too late to start protecting your hearing.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. One hundred twenty five dollars for a hearing exam. Yes. Right. OK. Which is a smoking deal to me. I mean, that should be one twenty five each year, you know. So but one hundred twenty five dollars there. And then let’s break down your main couple of products.
SPEAKER 04 :
Solid ear molds for maximum protection are one sixty for the pair. Filtered hearing protection for target shooting or for the need to be aware between shots are 260 for the pair. Right now I’m pausing on offering those electronic, that electronic hearing protection because I’m considering looking at other manufacturers. The one that I have used in the past is I haven’t gotten great feedback on those lately. So I’m going to back off of those for a little bit and what I might start doing, which seems to be because there are so many manufacturers now that offer the electronic custom hearing protection. And really all they require is that you as the, the buyer sends your impressions of your ears into them and they’ll manufacture them and send them straight to you. So they’re direct to consumer companies and, So what I’ll offer is I can do the impressions for you and you can send them off to the manufacturer of your choice. But I’m going to wait to hear back from a couple gentlemen that have decided to purchase from two different companies and see what their feedback is on it. And then as I kind of learn. who has good products from the hunter’s perspective, then I’ll start talking about those a little bit more.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. Good deal. Yeah. All right. Hey, you’ve been listening to a special edition here on Sportsman of Colorado of Listen Up with Dr. Melissa Fling, Custom Air Solutions, customairsolutions.com. Once again, our number is 720-839-7705. When you call, make sure you mention you heard her here on the show. We’d appreciate that as well. And once again, if you get a hearing test, yeah, you buy just one, one set of her custom ear solutions products and hearing protection. We’ll give you a $50 gift card to shoot indoors on Buckley. So, Melissa, we appreciate your time.
SPEAKER 04 :
Thanks, Scott.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. And real quick. Don’t forget, she’ll be at the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo April 11th through the 13th. That’s at the Gaylord Rockies Resort. You can go to milehighhuntexpo.com for more information on tickets and details. And if you put in a promo code now for your general admission tickets, put in the promo code SOCR for Sportsman of Colorado Radio, SOCR2025. and that will get you a couple of bucks off your general admission tickets. There are some private events, not private, but special ticket events Friday night and Saturday night, a couple of different banquets and things we’ve got going on that require a separate ticket. There is not a discount on those. But your general admission ticket, hey, we can help you out a couple of bucks. It’s going to be awesome. It’s at the Gaylord. It’s the Mile High Hunt and Fish Expo, and Melissa will be there with us. You’re listening to Sports from Colorado. We’ve got to take a quick break, and we’ll be back with more right after this.
SPEAKER 08 :
Here’s why you need personal injury attorney Kevin Flesch on your side. He understands the way the jury thinks. In the context of a personal injury case, you’ve been hurt by someone else’s negligence. The idea is that you’re going to try to recover so that you can get back to where you were just prior to that incident occurring. What that really means from a jurist’s perspective is that you’re going to be asking them to award you money. So when we talk about fairness, we’re talking about six people that you don’t know. Those six people view the evidence and make a unanimous decision that will decide what the fair value is. When you’re the one who’s hurt, you have a good idea of what you think it’s worth. The question is, can you persuade those other individuals whom you don’t know and were witnesses to believe that’s what the case is worth? Kevin Flesch understands the way the jury thinks. Call now for a free consultation, 303-806-8886. You’re listening to KLZ 560, your home station.
SPEAKER 03 :
Welcome to Sports from Colorado. Thank you so much for joining us today. Hey, just a quick reminder, people join in different times of the show. Of course, our live show is Saturdays 1 to 2. Then on Sundays, 8 a.m., 8 p.m., you can hear a replay. And then on the following Thursday, 9 to 10 a.m. So hopefully one of those four times will catch you. If not, our podcasts are where you find yours, and we appreciate you being with us. Well, the show is coming. It’s the Mile High Hunting Fish Expo. It is around the corner, and we’re pretty excited. Glad to have Phil Mendoza in studio with us and Abe Arian. Phil, good to see you, bud. Hey, it’s been a little while. It has been a while, man. It’s so crazy because you’re together, you’re together, you’re together, and then we all go back to our lives a little bit, and then you don’t see each other for a number of months. But, yeah, great to have you in. Abe, good to see you again.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, thanks for having me back. Happy to be here.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep, Abe was with us a few weeks ago and kind of kicking off here. So, Phil, since Abe was on last time, we’ll let you kick us off today, man. When you look back, you thought of the idea, you guys, and man, when those doors opened last year, dude, I’m telling you what, it was an awesome feeling, wasn’t it?
SPEAKER 07 :
I agree. And it was, you know, it was a little bit of drinking from a fire hose at first, you know, a couple days. But you know what? The staff, the team that we put around us, and Abe and I just, we were… relentless in our preparation and even by doing so and having that mindset we still learned quite a bit you know we we didn’t know we didn’t know and uh but but i feel like we had a great start you know and the exhibitors you know had great really good feedback attendees and gave us some really good feedback so we’re excited man i mean we’ve kind of took what we did last year you know peeled off some of the the pieces that maybe didn’t pan out like we thought and we added a few things that to improve and and i’m excited to see what happens here what we’re about six seven weeks out or so right now yeah i mean it’s crazy so
SPEAKER 03 :
And, of course, the venue, the Gaylord, beautiful, beautiful place. And I think just talking to people, even recently, you know, at the previous show that was here in January, man, just everybody is already so excited about it and have been since it finished last year. I mean, just a whole different aura. I mean, from clientele to our booth exhibitors to speakers to I mean, the events in the evening. I mean, it’s a whole new game, man.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, and for those that came and dabbled a little bit last year, I’d encourage you to consider getting a room with the Gaylord, hanging out with us a couple days or one of the evening activities because it is. There’s no shortage of activities and offerings that we have that are different. You can hang out all day and – Go back and forth with some of the exhibitors on the booths, on the floor, and then go catch a couple guest speakers, presenters. Come have a dinner at a banquet with us. You know, Saturday we’re going to be – did you talk about the Saturday night collab yet with the – We haven’t put it all out there yet.
SPEAKER 06 :
Okay.
SPEAKER 07 :
Well, so we have two activities Saturday night we’ll talk about here in a bit. But there’s going to be something for everybody all weekend long.
SPEAKER 03 :
Okay. And, Abe, you and I went through last time you were on just, you know, the success of even the drawing. You walked in, dude. It was the price was right on steroids as far as gifts. I mean, things to go. I mean, I don’t think there was anything on that table less than two grand. You know what I mean? Oh, yeah. I mean, from hunts to bows to guns. I mean, everything. And those were for some decent prices to get into the drawing. I think it was $20, $25. So walk us through what this is going to look like.
SPEAKER 06 :
So we’re doing something similar. You know, I know we look back and the one thing I will say before, Phil and I are constantly forward, right? Look forward. We’re forward thinking people. And so. Fortunately, this worked out. Phil and I work on the same plane, and it’s good that we have two different people from two different angles. So there’s always new ideas. I mean, we have ideas for 26, for 27, for 28. So just talking strictly about 25 for now. First off, and I hope that this is the feeling that you got, but we wanted everything to be first class. That’s our goal. You take your first step into that expo, and it’s got to look, feel, taste, and smell first class. Second thing is you can expect those drawings and better this year. Yeah. We don’t do anything cheap. Here’s the deal. You go to a lot of these events, you can win a $400 bow, $600 bow, or you can win a $900 off-the-shelf Walmart rifle, or at least back when Walmart used to sell rifles, right? Exactly. And so we don’t do that. That doesn’t excite anybody. Nobody’s going to spend the next six months or the year saying, oh my gosh, I won… you know, this bow or this rifle or this hunting or fishing trip, and they’re not going to go tell all our friends. So if there’s one thing I request of all the listeners, you know, Phil already touched on the fact that we have something for everyone. And this year I think we’re going to have more than something for everybody. Not I think, I know. We’ll have multiple things that everybody walks in. So if there’s the one thing I ask is if you came last year, Thank you. Bring a buddy. All we ask is that you bring a buddy so that we can grow the awareness to this. And if you didn’t make it last year, mark it on your calendar, come this year, and I promise you you’ll never, ever miss another year. Um, but back to your question. So this year you can expect some of the same. We actually, uh, um, we had some, some good sponsors come in this year. So this year we’re offering, like we did last year, high, high quality hunts, uh, good fishing trips, um, and the gear, the gear’s a big deal. I mean, really, really nice stuff from multiple different vendors, no cheap stuff. Um, high end bows. Again, this year we have Hoyt, we have Elite, um, You know, between the archery companies and No Limits Archery in Denver, just on the north side of Denver, you know, our archery influence is really big. This year, last year we had some Christensen’s rifles. This year we signed up a really, I mean, the highest level off-the-shelf rifle you’re going to get is a Seekins Precision. Everybody knows it. So this year we have Seekins Precision’s rifles in drawings everywhere. They will be present. They have a big booth. They are our… Bolt rifle and modern sporting rifle sponsor for 25. So people are going to have an opportunity at really, really nice rifles. And on top of that, we didn’t leave our muzzleloader guys out this year. So this year we made an additional move. CVA muzzleloaders will be present. They have a booth. And on top of that, we’re going to have— CVA muzzleloaders in our drawings, both on the floor and in the banquet nights. So any weapon you hunt with, right, we’re bringing it to you and we’re bringing you the best of the best. Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
april 11th through the 13th by the way i don’t think we’ve given a date yet so excited about just talking about it but april 11th through the 13th go to milehighhuntexpo.com hey there you can get your tickets now and also uh the the evening events we’re going to talk about here in a little bit um those are separate ticketed events those will go quickly and if you’re a business out there or or just hey maybe a team of friends you want to get a table uh phil we can get into that i guess a little bit uh Now is the time to get on those tables because those are going to go pretty quick.
SPEAKER 07 :
Absolutely. Last year we just had one banquet Saturday night, and this year we’re going to offer two. But I’ll tell you, last year we started with a 400-person reservation probably, what, a week or so before we bumped it to 450. We ended up squeezing in, I think, 460. Yeah. And we still had more people that were trying to buy tickets at the weekend for that event. And it sold out, and we’re optimistic it’s going to be the same this year. So this year we’ve got a Friday night, kind of a fun night banquet, right? We have a casino night theme we’re bringing in Friday night. It’s going to be still – the Gaylord doesn’t do anything, you know, Mid-tier. The food is top-notch. We’re going to have a buffet-style dinner Friday night, and there’s going to be 20 to 25 casino-style games in the event, right? Blackjack, roulette, craps, some poker games. It’s for all ages. We went to an event similar to this with my kids, and I’ve got a 10- and a 15-year-old now, and you couldn’t pull them off the tables, man. I’m trying not to raise addicts by any means, but they had a good time, and it was fun and all in good nature. The proceeds of that essentially are all for conservation again. So the way it’s going to work is you come in, you buy some poker chips, you go play. Whatever your winnings are, you come back and trade those in for tickets towards our, again, Abe mentioned it, high-end prizes in gear and rifles and bows. We’re going to have prizes Friday night. that are a full docket of prizes. And then at the end of that night, we’re going to have a live auction. So there’s so many hunts that have been brought to the table. And that evening is just going to have that kind of kickback fun feel with what we’re bringing there. And tickets are available. Like I said, that’s a Friday night casino night through our Web site. We do have some corporate tables. We have a few corporate tables we can sell there. If you’re interested in purchasing one of those, you can message you can message Scott. You can message a bribe directly. You can go right to the Web site on our contact page and submit a submission there and just say you’re interested in a corporate table.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sure. And hey, if you want, again, we have our text line for the show. So 720-201-8585. You’re driving and you want some information, just shoot me a text and I’ll get it to these guys and they can get you fixed up. You know, one thing that I think you’ve got to set out with this is a lot of expos in the past have just been, you know, full of outfitters. Then you’ve got the expos that are some outfitters and purses and candles and things that don’t belong in an expo.
SPEAKER 05 :
Right.
SPEAKER 03 :
So your mindset, putting this together… It’s what?
SPEAKER 07 :
It’s hunting and fishing related. And if you can articulately and relevantly present that to us, we’re going to consider it. But the massage units, the pillows, the purses, that stuff’s not – we’re just not inviting them into the show. And it’s not that those businesses aren’t – I’m an entrepreneur. I have nothing against people trying to make money, right? Sure. We’re putting on a hunting and fishing expo. We want you to see hunting and fishing-related brands, top-quality brands at that. So we’re vetting that, and we’re filtering that process to where that’s who we’re bringing to the table.
SPEAKER 03 :
And limiting a lot of those to where it’s not just inundated with certain categories.
SPEAKER 1 :
100%.
SPEAKER 07 :
The balance is huge. And, Abe, I’ll let you attest to that on the outfitter side. I mean, balance was first and foremost one of the things that we talked about.
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, look, at the end of the day, you know, you get folks, the percentage of folks that come in to talk to outfitters to buy a hunt, They go to a lot of these expos and they leave confused. There’s 15 different options, and whoever hosted this expo didn’t take the time to say, hey, is this really a good outfitter? No. They want to buy a booth space, they sell them a booth space, and they stick them in there. We do things differently. We really pay attention to what the prior experiences are now that we have a year under our belt. We’ll just say we made adjustments from what we heard about outfitters. Mm-hmm. And we will continually do that every year. That being said, you know, if somebody buys a trip at one of our shows and didn’t have a bad experience, you know, we’ve listened, we’ve heard some, and we’ve made adjustments for that reason. So we don’t want to give… people 15 options. We’d rather have a category and give them five options where they can look at timing and pricing and availability and know that any one of those options, they’re going to have a good experience, right? And that way you don’t overrun the expo with a bunch of outfitters and too many options, just really good options. which leaves a lot of room for manufacturers and and the way we do manufacturers is you know we have the big names right from gunworks to sequins to leica to zeiss swarovski hoyt you know elite so on and so forth we can go down the list but the point is these are big well-known manufacturers in the hunting and fishing space There are up and coming brands and what I like to call, for lack of a better term, boutique brands. Brands that have been around for two, three, four years that are on the up and up and are going to be a real market share placeholder with a quality product. And whether it be on the waterfowl side, the fishing side, the big game side, these new innovative products either solve a problem or do better than what’s offered on the market. So we target companies like that. We invite companies that innovate and make the hunting and fishing experience better and more effective and more enjoyable and more advanced, right? Outfitters and our manufacturers. Yeah. You know, we don’t just let anybody in the door. And that’s the honest truth. Yeah. Like Phil said, we have a zero tolerance policy when it comes to if it’s not hunting or fishing, it’s not in the expo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah, absolutely. You’re listening to Sportsman Colorado. Tell you what, we’re going to get a quick break real quick. Be back with more with Phil Mendoza, Avery, and right after this, today’s show is brought to you by the Mile High Hunting Fish Expo. Go to milehighhuntexpo.com, get your tickets now, and hey, get your tickets for these evening events as well. And once again, if you’re looking to get a table, I highly recommend you do that very, very soon, and I promise you it will be a fun few days, and we would love for you to join us. We’ll be right back.
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SPEAKER 03 :
back to sports from colorado if you’re just joining us my name is scott watley along with phil mendoza abarian hey mile high hunting fish expo april 11th through the 13th at the gaylord the rockies resort and convention center and we hope you will join us all right if you’re just joining us we’ve already talked a little bit about the friday night um a deal going on with the casino night but then uh saturday night is a great beautiful sit down dinner phil and uh tell us a little bit more about that
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, so last year we did a really nice plated dinner. The venue is just top-notch all around, and we’re going to continue that. Our Saturday night banquet will always be our premier night with the higher dollar prizes, hunts, excursions, rifles, et cetera, and we’re going to continue that this year and dial it up a little bit more from what we did last year. So very excited to continue that night of conservation. collaborating with multiple conservation organizations. That’s the big thing, too. We wanted to invite everyone in that field and participate and be able to do some focus on their own individual fundraising aspects and projects. So Saturday night is going to be that. It’s that nicer plate of dinner. Abe and I were dressed up to prove our – The level of commitment, exactly, with where we’re at with this whole project, specifically that night. So Saturday night is, I would say, a notch or two above what maybe you’ve seen at other conservation banquets around the area. Because our goal, like Abe said, is presentation and first class with what we’re putting out there. So that’s that Saturday night. Again, there are two different levels of corporate tables offered for that night. Live auction, too? The live auction is where it’s at on Saturday night. Last year, we had elk tag from Arizona. We had a Wyoming commissioner’s tag. We had some hunts from New Mexico, other hunts at Pronghorn. whitetail hunts in Kansas. And this year, we’ve got mule deer hunts in Arizona. We’ve got elk hunts. We’re working on a couple governor slash commissioner tags as well this year, multiple to bring to the table. And I’ll say that our goal with that night moving forward is to push and exceed that $50,000 to $100,000 tag value multiple times over. That’s the goal, and we want to set ourselves on that same stage of some of the big conservation banquets around the country that are pushing those kind of numbers and benefits to the project for those organizations. I mean, what else would you add to that? I know there’s a lot, right?
SPEAKER 06 :
Yeah, I mean, first off, so this year, both Friday and Saturday nights have live auctions. They’re just killer hunts and trips. I mean, last year we had really, really good offerings. This year they’re on fire. I mean, we have… Everything. First off, I’m going to start by saying, you know, where does the money go? Right. Who’s this benefiting? So our partnerships are with with Muley Fanatic Foundation. And they actually just told us yesterday the commissioner tag that they’re bringing will go to directly benefit Animal Crossings. And For us being Colorado residents, we see the amount of animals, for example, by Green Mountain Reservoir and Meeker and all these areas where you see the elk and the deer migrate through. Animal crossings are a big deal. A lot of them get killed on the roads. And a lot of them can’t get to that food in that safe haven. So one of our big things last year that we pushed for and that we have commitment to is making more animal crossings. So that’s directly where the money will go through MFF for the commissioner’s tag, number one. Number two, I mean, we’ve got the Colorado pronghorn governor’s tag this year. So that’s going to be available. And like Phil had mentioned, we’ve got – Really, really, really good hunts. And the dollars and we’ve got everything from black bear hunts were in negotiations for for even bigger hunts like grizzly bear hunts and potential moose hunts. And these things aren’t off the table. You know, we were going to bring these really, really high quality, desirable hunts in. And so we have Muley Fanatic Foundation, we have Howell for Wildlife, and Ducks Unlimited and the Colorado Wildlife Council. And between those four, and especially the first three that I mentioned, we’re driving… Every year we’re raising the bar on how much money goes back to conservation. And to be very clear, a lot of people may be at home listening to this thinking, oh, these guys are getting all these money at this banquet for themselves. No, we don’t keep any of the money. We cover our cost to hold the event, and everything goes back, and we can prove it, goes back to all the wildlife organizations. And a lot of them are specific projects where they’re going to benefit Colorado or they’re going to benefit our flyway or they’re going to benefit surrounding states so that a lot of guys like to hunt Wyoming, Kansas, Nebraska. You know, it’s one state over, right? A lot of guys have points. A lot of guys buy hunts. We’re making sure that we raise these dollars and bring you a top, top quality experience. Like, we’ve got some awesome celebrity hunts. There’s one that I can’t mention yet that’s going to be, it’s looking like it’s going to be put together. And all I can tell you is it’ll be, we’ll have it. If we finalize it and money couldn’t buy you this hunt. Right. So it’s not just something that you can go do. You’re not going to tell them it’s with me? No, no. You’re right. Money couldn’t buy it. Yeah. So, I mean, our offerings this year, I mean, with the hunts and, once again, high-end rifles, muzzleloaders, archery equipment, I mean, we’re stepping it up. And we have better offerings this year than we had last year, and now we have two nights of offerings.
SPEAKER 03 :
All right. A couple of things definitely want to hit on film festival. Tell us.
SPEAKER 07 :
So this year we’re taking the film festival and we’re collaborating with the Full Draw Film Tour. The Full Draw Film Tour has been a longstanding film festival that comes through the Colorado area and different for this year. So let me back up. They’re still going to be doing their normal film festival that runs like summer, you know, late summer. We’re going to do more of a showcase with them. They’re going to showcase some of their upcoming hunts, tease some of those, show some hunts that they have in their hopper. We have some featured hunts we’re bringing to the table as well. There’s going to be a film showcase in collaboration with the Full Draw Film Tour. That night is Saturday night. It’s going to be at the same time as the conservation banquet. So it’s one of those things that… There’s only so many hours, right?
SPEAKER 03 :
That’s it.
SPEAKER 07 :
But right after the film festival ends, we’re rolling that room in that area into the after party with the Gladiators Unleashed and kind of collaborating with Gladiators again and some meet and greet. Luke is a fun guy, great guy. He brings a lot of energy and energy. he’s well connected with a lot of people that are just fun to be around. And I won’t say any names. I know there’s some big MMA names that he’s chalking up to come that night. So if you pay for the ticket for the film festival and the after party, that’s one essential event. So it’s in the same room. But the good thing is as soon as the conservation banquet’s over, if you want to head over to the after party, it’s about that time. So you’ll roll right over and be able to enjoy still some of that event experience. on saturday night so conservation banquet starts outdoors open at five the film festival doors open at six it’ll start around six six thirty and then the gladiators unleashed after party will go from about nine to eleven ish you know so but so though there’s two events on saturday night okay And you know what? Doing this for three days is perfect. Yes.
SPEAKER 03 :
I mean, you don’t need four days. It’d be a lot. It’s too much. Yeah. I don’t know if we could withstand four days.
SPEAKER 07 :
I might have to bring in the IV to give me some.
SPEAKER 03 :
And Abe, you’ve got some calling contests again.
SPEAKER 06 :
Oh, yeah. We turned up. Once again, we raised the bar. So the waterfowl calling contest, I’ll start there. We’ve got cool figures, you know, people like Jeff Foyles is going to come in and be one of the judges. He has a booth this year at the Expo. Wadsworth Waterfowl Quilt Creek Calls, they’re running the waterfowl calling contest site again. But really what we did is… we want to make this open and inviting to everybody. So we turned up the prize money. So now, you know, just one of our divisions and goose calling pays two and a half thousand dollars, um, just for first place, along with prizes and, and, and all those other things. We have partners this year, for example, a banded and Avery and green head gear. Not only do they have, and that, that they have, uh, their big game site, they have, uh, They have a booth. They will have a ton of inventory available to people there. But the flip side is they’re also backing our waterfowl calling contest. So we’re going to have some killer prizes. Last year, the waterfowl calling contest was so big, we ended up having to get a bigger room just to have seats for everybody. And this year, we anticipate it’ll be even bigger. The elk calling contest has a lot of involvement from a lot of big names. We have Joe Giglio coming up from Elk Bros from New Mexico. They’re coming to be a part of this. And we’ll have Phelps at the expo. And we’ll have what PD Game calls. And, I mean, the list goes on. I don’t know who I’m missing, Phil.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, well, I mean, Western Hunt Fest essentially is running that event. So that’s where you’re going to look for information on registration and details. Obviously, we’ll have information on our website as well.
SPEAKER 06 :
And just so that we’re clear, we are going to have a youth division so that the kids that want to compete, we’re going to keep that. You know, we’re big in the youth. So both Waterfowl and Elk will have youth divisions with cool prizes, really cool prizes. And for the pro divisions or the open divisions, for example, our top division for elk pays $5,000 for first place this year. Wow. So it’s a big pot. No doubt. Yeah, this is going to be a series. I mean, we’re bringing what calling contests should be from all over the United States to our expo.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yep. Again, go to MileHighHuntExpo.com. Now, look, Phil mentioned it earlier. Hey, come stay at the Gaylord. Make it a nice event for yourself. And we’ve already booked our rooms there. And I’m going to say this, Phil. Victoria and I went out there for dinner a couple weeks ago, booked our rooms. And then when I showed the guy there the rate that we got, he goes, I don’t think that’s right. Yeah. No, he did. And he goes and I said, what do you mean? He goes, I haven’t seen a rate that low.
SPEAKER 1 :
Yeah.
SPEAKER 03 :
Yeah. And they go quick. Yeah. And they are going to go quick. But then you worked out some deals with some other hotels not too far away with some shuttles. All that’s on the Web site.
SPEAKER 07 :
So actually the complimentary hotels that are on Tower Road will be up on the website here soon. That update has not been made. I checked this morning. But it should be up within the next few days. There’s three different hotels, again, a mile away. And we’ll be running a shuttle service. We’re not running a… you know, a 200-person shuttle bus, but we’re running a, you know, somewhere, it’s going to be somewhere a 17 to 24 passenger.
SPEAKER 03 :
Sure.
SPEAKER 07 :
Back and forth, just from those hotels, you know. So it’s going to be one of those things that we’re just giving the customers that, again, they comment, hey, you know what, we would love to stay at the Gaylord, but it’s still a touch out of our price range. You know, we’d rather spend money at the expo doing other things, so can we save a few bucks on a room? Yeah. Well, we helped you out there. I mean, there’s rooms from $139 to $159 a night down the road.
SPEAKER 03 :
And parking may range $10 to $20, you know, but here’s what I told people. We have a lower parking rate this year, actually. Yeah, and we talked last year, I mean, last time Abe was on, you know, hey, downtown, hey, I will promise you this. Your car will be out there when you leave the expo. Okay. We couldn’t make that promise if you were downtown. And all the windows will still be intact. But seriously, man, you guys have done a great job. And, man, we’re looking forward to it again and, you know, working with you guys on this.
SPEAKER 06 :
And to be clear, Scotty, parking is less this year. We renegotiated the cost. Right. Okay.
SPEAKER 03 :
MileHighHuntExpo.com. Don’t wait. Get your tickets now and get those evening tickets event, ticketed events as well. And we look forward to seeing you there. We’ll get these guys on another time or two here before the event. But don’t wait. That’s the big message from Takeaway today. MileHighHuntExpo.com. So, Phil, thanks, man.
SPEAKER 07 :
Yeah, thanks, guys.
SPEAKER 03 :
Appreciate it. Abe, thank you. Thanks for having us. Quick reminder now, if you miss our live show on Saturdays 1 to 2, catch us twice on Sundays. That’s 8 to 9 a.m. and once again, 7 to 8 p.m. on Sunday evening, and we thank you for being with us. Hope you have a great rest of your day and a great rest of your weekend. The views and opinions expressed on KLZ 560 are those of the speaker, commentators, hosts, their guests and callers.
SPEAKER 11 :
They are not necessarily the views and opinions of Crawford Broadcasting or KLZ management, employees, associates or advertisers. KLZ 560 is a Crawford Broadcasting.
