What is the future of hunting and fishing in West Virginia? I’m not really sure, but after attending the Wild and Wonderful Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation Expo at the Greenbrier Resort I feel pretty good about it. The Greenbrier hosted the three day event this past weekend and when things kicked off on Friday I was probably a little skeptical. Rain was coming down in White Sulphur Springs and with much of this event being outside things looked a little dreary. I caught a shuttle bus outside the main entrance and proceeded on to the considerable grounds of the Greenbrier. The signs for the Wild Wonderful Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation Expo in front of the spacious main building of the Greenbrier Resort warmed the heart of this old squirrel hunter.
For more than a century The Greenbrier Resort has been known as a sportsman’s paradise. With 11,000 breathtaking acres set in the Allegheny Mountains of West Virginia, the resort features the topography, water and wildlife that is sought out by outdoorsmen from around the world. Fishing, bird hunting, archery, skeet and trap shooting, sporting clays, off-road driving and falconry are just a sampling of the outdoor offerings featured daily for guests of The Greenbrier, along with more than 50 other indoor and outdoor activities.
Providing an ideal location for vendors, speakers and outdoor enthusiasts to showcase their products and skills is at the heart of the Wild and Wonderful Hunting, Fishing and Conservation Expo at The Greenbrier. The team at the Greenbrier had some major goals for this event. They want to spread knowledge about the incredible sporting opportunities available on The Greenbrier property and the expert instructors on staff and manage the outside perception of West Virginia. They also want to spread awareness of its beauty and everything it has to offer to outdoor enthusiasts of all types. This event will hopefully foster an awareness and appreciation of outdoor sports among youth throughout West Virginia and beyond. The event will also provide outdoor sporting opportunities for military veterans, and partner with West Virginia Division of Natural Resources on conservation efforts in West Virginia.
Opportunities is what I saw at the event as many companies in the outdoor, shooting, hunting and fishing world were present. Sig Sauer, a firearms and ammunition company had a booth in the Colonial Hall at the Greenbrier, as well as an impressive shooting range nearby. By simply signing up the public could go to the range and shoot a variety of Sig Sauer rifles and pistols and their ammo, all free of charge. At the long range rifle station with a little coaching the Sig Sauer staff could have you hitting a target at 1,000 yards. That’s right, a thousand yards.
“We think this is a great opportunity for us to reach people in this part of the country,” said Hana Bilodeau, Director for Training and Special Events at Sig Sauer. “Our hunting related guns and optics are newer in our line; hunting is a sport that transfers through the generations as you know so to have a new comer to this it is very important that we meet the people in the hunting industry world and this event allows us to do this.”
Along with Sig Sauer I saw the Midway Foundation, a giant in the world of supporting youth shooting sports, who did a Sporting Clays match for teams to compete at the Greenbrier Sporting Club range and contribute to funding youth shooting sports teams. Indoors in the Colonial Hall I saw Irish Setter Boots, Smoky Mountain Knife Works, the suppressor company Silencer Central, Mec Outdoors, makers of clay target throwers, Big Game African Safaris, the Ward Burton Wildlife Foundation, Miss Mayfly makers of ladies waders and other fishing accessories, Project Healing Waters, who do a fantastic job working with veterans taking them fly fishing, and just to be honest the number of vendors there in booths are too many to list. This list does not include you understand the many, many displays that were on the outside, with Airstream trailers, James River fishing equipment, Paradise RV’s, and Quiet Kat electric bikes were but a few of the things to be seen on the outside. (You could ride the Quiet Kat bikes! I want one!)
The West Virginia DNR was there along with the WV DEP, and the US Fish and Wildlife Service, all supplying information to the public. The DNR Officers manned a booth answering questions as well as supervised an archery station so thatyoungsters could try their hand with a bow and arrow. Also during the event the Greenbrier held an archery match sanctioned by the popular Archery in the Schools Program. The team from Eastern Greenbrier Middle School, coached byteachers from Alderson Elementary School, won this competition.
Along with all this, among all the booths and companies, all in the midst of the grandeur of the Greenbrier I saw something else. Several times during the day there would be seminars given in the Colonial Hall. Ronnie Snedegar from Maxwelton had a booth and gave talks on the wonders of hunting squirrels with a dog, as he calls it, “squirrel doggin’ “. Kish Justice from White Sulphur Springs gave impassioned talks on the world of hunting bears with hounds that were extremely interesting. Also presentwere a couple of other icons in the hunting world, Jim Crumley and Jim Clay.
Mr. Cumley holds the title as the inventor of the very first camouflage for hunting and that is Trebark. His story and how his camouflage and product came to be is very interesting to anyone that hunts and I was glad to see in his audience young hunters like some of the guides that work at the Greenbrier. The same goes for Jim Clay, many turkey hunters in West Virginia and other states remember and will tell you they used his Perfection Turkey Calls for years and still do. When it comes to turkey hunting and making and using turkey calls, Mr. Clay has been there and done that. Again it was good to see him interacting with young hunters who stopped by the booth.
There are many hunting and fishing related expos around the country, but I don’t think many have the people attached to their banner like Ronnie Snedegar, Kish Justice, and Jim Clay and Jim Cumley, in the setting of the Greenbrier Resort. I have no doubt that next year’s Wild and Wonderful Hunting, Fishing, and Conservation Expo will be even bigger and better. Better get it on your calendar now. www.greenbrier.com
Larry Case