Return of the Booth Babes: The 2007 SHOT Show
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An Idea Whose Time Has Come
A century or so ago, when I was a baby editor, the magazine for which I worked received a news release from an inventor who had devised a simple system for getting Mr. Happy clear of heavy hunting pants and longjohns. He pointed out that if your member had shriveled to an inch and you had to extend it past 2 inches of clothing, you were in a world of trouble. His idea, and the product, made sense, mostly. But the project never went anywhere…as it were.
Now we have a similar proposal in the form of a product called Seasonshot. Its developers describe it as seasoning bound together by some sort of edible bonding agent and formed into shot pellets. So when you shoot a bird, you no longer have to worry either about seasoning or about chomping down on shot pellets and fracturing your fangs. Just pop the critter in the oven; the Seasonshot then melt as the bird cooks, suffusing the meat with whatever flavor you have chosen.
The Seasonshot folks are a little vague about sizes, patterning, flavors, legality, etc., but it’s a proposal so sensible that it’s bound to succeed. Next: Barbecue-flavored bullets for shooting deer in the ribs? It’s a great world we live in. www.seasonshot.com
Its sure to piss PETA off so it must be at least partially good.
Posted by: Matt | November 15, 2006 at 11:10 AM
There is no seasoning, in any quantity, delivered by any means, that can make game hair and bird feathers look good and taste good. Just another example of why there are so many "gurus" around: very few people can spell "charlatan" any more.
Posted by: Brian | November 15, 2006 at 11:34 AM
Instead of flavored shot, why can't they invent something really useful, like shot that plucks and eviserates the bird?
Posted by: Robert W. Sprague | November 15, 2006 at 03:00 PM
I feel very fortunate to have been born and lived in the time of PC’s, Internet, electric musical instruments, and premapress cotton clothes. Flavored, melting shot I can do without.
Posted by: Mark | November 15, 2006 at 04:30 PM
I guess the jury is out on when/if this will sell but its one more piece of evidence that; 1) marketing has taken over hunting and 2) PT Barnum was right. Frankly, this isn't any less in the spirit of hunting that robo-ducks and heated tree stands or as ridiculous as fifty patterns of camouflage.
Posted by: SteveC | November 15, 2006 at 04:51 PM
So, I wonder, after you hunt with this stuff, do you clean your gun with Hoppe's or Dawn?
But, seriously, I would be worried about more cripples, and, what kinds of contaminants would these pellets pick up as they moved down the barrel with the burning powder gasses? Maybe it would be no different from steel, bismuth or lead, but I wonder about safety.
Posted by: Richard A. Smith | November 15, 2006 at 05:12 PM
nothing says flavor like the taste of burnt powder and primer. Not to mention hoppes cleaning liquids and copper cutter. Yum.
Posted by: Gflyz | November 15, 2006 at 06:22 PM
DP,
you should be arrested for reckless use of sense of humor.
Posted by: O Garcia | November 15, 2006 at 09:19 PM
This is an early April Fools story, right?
Posted by: PbHead | November 15, 2006 at 11:08 PM
LeadHead is right. Silly!
Posted by: Animal One | November 16, 2006 at 12:57 AM
It's a joke, right? Seasoned shot pellets? Is there a product Americans will not buy for the sake of mother invention?
Posted by: Ralph Bernieri | November 16, 2006 at 09:28 AM
How long do you think it will take before this invention makes its way into a Hollywood spy thriller/assassination movie?
Posted by: O Garcia | November 16, 2006 at 10:01 PM
Maybe it's just me, but I can see myself going out there with a vest full of #7½ cajun and coming back to find my wife expected #6's with soy sauce.
Posted by: Big Ed | November 16, 2006 at 11:01 PM
Funny you should mention that, Dave. I had a similar idea a number of years ago, and built the mother of all "spud guns" to take pig hunting. I had visions of returning triumphant with a pig ready to roast with the apple already in its mouth, but sad to say it really was a miserable failure. The main problem was this....if the apple went fast enough to hurt the pig it disintegrated in the gun barrel, and that was even using these modern apples they've bred with thick skins so they don't bruise easily. But when I reduced the charge enough to keep the apple whole it just bounced off the pig like a ping-pong ball. I think the pig was annoyed though, as it chased me a long way for no other good reason that I could figure. Still, I will keep trying now that you've given me heart with your flavoured shot story.
Posted by: Richard McBride | November 17, 2006 at 06:13 AM
ive got a couple of broken teeth in the past .pheasant ,grouse, and ducks their all here and full of jaw breakers ouch. the trade shows must be interesting of late NOT!! Richard can you make something in a 180 gr. hollow point for my TC. id love to go hunt some pigs with a mackintosh !!
Posted by: craig curtis | November 18, 2006 at 11:26 AM
Sure, Craig.....would that be in bolt action or semi automatic? The hollow point bit is easy....use a household apple corer.
To Dave....thank you for these lighter moments. I'm glad to see that many Americans are still keeping a sense of humour in these troubled times.
Posted by: Richard McBride | November 19, 2006 at 03:45 PM
Sure, Craig.....would that be in bolt action or semi automatic? The hollow point bit is easy....use a household apple corer.
To Dave....thank you for these lighter moments. I'm glad to see that many Americans are still keeping a sense of humour in these troubled times.
Posted by: Richard McBride | November 19, 2006 at 03:47 PM
I entered the web page and seems too elaborated to be a joke, either if it would work or not. I wouldn´t bother about meat contamination more than when using lead pellets, and the chemicals of powder and solvents in the gun will be there with any kind o pellet. What I can´t guess is how are they going to make pellets made of spice hard and heavy enough to actually kill the birds at a decent distance?
A biodegradble shot is a good idea though, even if not intended to be eaten.
Posted by: Ricardo Rodriguez | November 22, 2006 at 06:45 PM
what if it did work and why not.
With our technology today anything is possible if you think it out well enough.
If you can make the shot hard enough and to where it won't fall apart say at 50 to 75 yards make it!
As far as cleaning the barrel swab it out and use vegitable oil.
I say, make it heppen!
Posted by: Bill yeager. | December 04, 2006 at 09:47 PM
As a caterer that has done many wild game dinners, I would love it if this ammo really works!! Try cleaning and dressing and cooking a wild game dinner for 200 people! Don't even get me started on the dove breasts!! I had to go out and announce every dish with warnings! I hope this Seaon Shot works, and if it works well, I'll buy it for the guys to use next season if only to save myself the headaches of digging out shot from all those birds!
Posted by: Lady G | November 23, 2007 at 01:44 AM
As a caterer that has done many wild game dinners, I would love it if this ammo really works!! Try cleaning and dressing and cooking a wild game dinner for 200 people! Don't even get me started on the dove breasts!! I had to go out and announce every dish with warnings! I hope this Seaon Shot works, and if it works well, I'll buy it for the guys to use next season if only to save myself the headaches of digging out shot from all those birds!
Posted by: Lady G | November 23, 2007 at 01:46 AM
Hmmmmm......!
Low salt?
No salt?
Sugar free?
All natural?
No preservatives?
MSG added to preserve freshness?
I have another suggestion! Why not use a substance that actually "pickles" the desired target so that it may be cleaned at a later time instead of while you're tired from chasing it down?
Bubba
Posted by: Bubba | November 23, 2007 at 06:58 AM
Hmm, here it is, over a year later, and the website still claims, "under development." Call me cynical, but I'm beginning to suspect a hoax.
Posted by: Eastcheap | December 12, 2007 at 10:15 PM