It's been a whirlwind of handshakes, dinner banquets and business meetings but this year is proving to be as busy as ever. I've already been on the road for over a month and haven't caught a cold yet, so things are looking good (knock on wood). Louisey came to a few of the earlier shows with me and Eva has been doing a tradeshow tour of her own around the states for the first time this year selling the Shockey apparel and giving seminars at various chapter events and expos. Branlin joined us at SHOT Show and SCI in Las Vegas, as did a handful of The Professionals and some of our close friends. This time of year is always a blur for me, but it's a blur of friends and faces that I look forward to seeing year after year. 

Right now I'm sitting in a hotel in Harrisonburg, VA waiting to attend the Greater Virginia Sports & Big Game expo tomorrow and Sunday. Eva came early to set up our booth and start selling the brand new Shockey apparel that she designed during the past year. We'll be here at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds this weekend to meet everyone and do seminars, so if you're in the Virginia area, make sure you come stop by! 

This year started out at the Dallas Safari Club, then jumped to ATA in Columbus, OH, then on to Fort Wayne for a SCI Chapter event. From there, we met up with Eva and Branlin in Las Vegas for SHOT Show which is always a fun week for us. A highlight for our family is attending the annual Golden Moose Awards, hosted by the Outdoor Channel. They always put on a great event and this year was no exception. They added in a "red carpet" element, which Eva actually got a chance to host pre-show and interview all of the award nominees - I was so proud of her! We were nominated for a handful of awards and were honored to win "Best Videography" for The Professionals. This is a huge accomplishment for our camera men who work so hard all year long, so we couldn't have been any happier to accept it on behalf of their talent and dedication to our TV shows. 

Following SHOT Show, everyone flew home except for Eva and I, who continued on to Laredo, TX for a 5-day hunt on Corey Knowlton's property. Whitetail and javalina were on our list and we had a fun few days in the warmth. We both ended up getting a nice buck and two javalina each, so we couldn't have been happier, especially since we snuck the hunt into the middle of our trade show season. 

After Laredo, Eva went to Nebraska SCI for their expo, and then met us all back in Las Vegas for SCI National. The SCI convention was a huge sucess as always and apparently had more attendees than ever before. At the Saturday night banquet SCI presented me with the International Hunter of the Year Award, which was very humbling and something that I watched some of the best hunters in the industry accept over the years. The honor for me was enourmous and as I said in my acceptance speech, I couldn't have done any of it without the loving support of Louisey by my side, so again, thank you Wifer for allowing me to do what I do.

 From SCI, Eva and I continued on to Harrisburg for the Eastern Sports and Outdoors Show which was busy, busy, busy as always. I left Eva there to (wo)man the booth, and I met up with Louisey in Tucson for our 4th Annual Jim Shockey Desert Golf Shootout. We raised more money than ever before and had some great people attend. If you've never made it out to this event, I recommend you try to get here next year because it's a wonderful weekend and the money we raise allows us to bring wounded war veterans hunting - it doesn't get much better than that. 

Now I'm in here in Harrisonburg, VA with Eva nearing the end of my tradeshow season. Monday will bring me to Moncton, NB then the following weekend I'll be in Seattle with Louisey for my final chapter event of 2012. Lots more updates to come, including the details of a super-duper-top-secret-tour of South West Asia, where I'll be heading with a handful of the industry's best, to visit our troops in the field. Too much to tell, not enough time! Stay tuned for more stories from yours truly... 

Shoot straight,

JIm.