SHOT Show tentatively returning in January
LIKE so many of the major trade shows that usually visit Las Vegas on an annual basis, the 2021 in-person edition of the Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade (SHOT) Show was a victim of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Once expected to be the largest SHOT Show to date, the January event was cancelled due to health concerns and pandemic restrictions.
All was not lost, however. The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF), owner of SHOT, retooled and deftly made the jump into the virtual world. Billed as SHOT Show on Demand, the trade show and many of its exhibitors threw open their virtual doors to participants from around the globe.
While a virtual event can’t match the experience of an in-person show, it made possible the continuation of business for manufacturers and retailers. It also provided gun writers with the information needed to meet their readers’ needs.
A post at Gunmagwarehouse.com said, “SHOT Show 2021 was different than any SHOT we’ve experienced so far. … Although it was disappointing that the show didn’t happen in Vegas, the show was far from neutralized. … It was different, for sure, but it was still loaded with new guns, gear, information and personalities. … Hopefully we’ll all be physically able to put hands on products at SHOT Show 2022.”
If everything goes according to plan and the pandemic’s impacts are held at bay, the writer of that post is about to get his wish.
As of this writing, the 2022 event will take place Jan. 18-21 at the Venetian Convention Expo Center and is being promoted as SHOT Show
All In. Additional space has been added at the Caesars Forum, making it possible to house more than 2,000 exhibits.
It will be a gathering the NSSF described as “the largest ever industry collection of manufacturers and distributors in the shooting sports, hunting, outdoor, law enforcement and armed forces industries.”
In 2020, more than 60,000 people attended SHOT. My guess is at least that many and probably more will be at the 2022 event.
SHOT is a business-to-business trade event where deals are made between manufacturers, service providers, retailers, shooting ranges, law enforcement agencies and the armed forces. Which means the show is not open to the general public.
Nevertheless, what happens at the show determines what you will see on store shelves or in the pages of your favorite shooting-related publications.
To ensure the safety of show attendees and hotel personnel, masks are required.
Arizona trail camera law
If you hunt in Arizona and use trail cameras in your scouting efforts, be advised that a new regulation governing the use of those cameras goes into effect Jan. 1.
The regulation makes it unlawful to use a trail camera “for the purposes of taking or locating or aiding in the take of wildlife,” according to an Arizona Game Fish Department news release.
The agency’s talking points define take as “pursuing, shooting, hunting, fishing, trapping, killing, capturing, snaring or netting wildlife or placing or using any net or other device or trap in a manner that may result in capturing or killing wildlife.”
The new regulation does not apply to other general uses of trail cameras such as cattle operations, protection of private property, research or photography.
Freelance writer Doug Nielsen is a conservation educator for the Nevada Department of Wildlife. His “In the Outdoors” column is not affiliated with or endorsed by the NDOW. Any opinions he states in his column are his own. Find him on Facebook at @ dougwritesoutdoors. He can be reached at intheoutdoorslv@gmail.com.