Western Outdoor Times - Times Spent Outdoors: Priceless!

Safety is huge at the SHOT Show, and there are always lots of companies with gun safety products to show. This year was no exception. The Allen Company has a new holster called the Swipe MQR (Magnetic Quick Release) holster that makes it easy for you to quickly access your weapon while keeping it safe from anybody wanting to walk up and take it off you. It works by using a patented magnetic system that releases in half the time as a regular snap – you clear the lock by "swiping" directionally to break the magnetic bond. To lock it back up, just get the two parts close together and they'll snap shut with a locking force that can only be reversed from one direction. This is a great idea, even if you don't usually open carry. Best of all, they're only $29.99. Look them up at byallen.com.

One of the keys to being a really good shot is constant practice, and that doesn't necessarily mean you have to go to the range. There are tons of dry fire drills out there to help you develop the right muscle memory, but the downside to dry fire is that it isn't really very realistic – you get no recoil or sense of actually shooting. Until now, that is. Dvorak Instruments has introduced the CoolFire Trainer. You buy a kit for your training pistol first. Mine is a Glock 19, so the kit would be just a hair under $400. It consists of an air barrel that replaces your gun barrel (during training), a recoil spring, ditto, and two slide release inserts for your gun's magazine to prevent slide lock. It also comes with a charging adapter, a red laser that threads into the end of the air barrel, and three reflective targets. You charge it up with CO2 cartridges or a tank, and when you fire this, it really does feel like you're actually shooting. We got to try this out at the booth, and it's pretty amazing. $400 may seem like an awful lot of money, but it doesn't take that long to rack up that much cost in range fees and buying ammo. To see if they have a kit for your pistol and learn more about it, go to coolfiretrainer.com.

HECSStealthScreen High-Performance Base Layer literally stopped me in my tracks at the SHOT Show this year. They were showing a video of a guy walking right up to a huge mule deer buck – I mean literally within yards of him! How does it work? The patented technology blocks your body's naturally occurring electrical emissions. The company says that it has been proven that many species of animals, birds, and fish use these emissions to help distinguish between inanimate and living things. By wearing something that blocks them, you can get much closer and stay undetected significantly longer. The video is absolutely incredible. You'd swear the deer must be blind not to see the guy. Their website has more videos, and explanations of how it works. A 3-piece base layer suit costs $229.99, so it's not cheap, but after you've invested all that time and money into tags, permits, guns, gear, etc., what's a couple hundred more, right? Seriously, you really need to go to hecsllc.com and check this out. You can also get shirts, pants, hats, socks, and even complete head covers in camo patterns with the technology.

PhoneSkope is an adaptor that lets you attach your smartphone to your optics so that you can take great photos and share them easily. All you have to do is slip your phone into the PhoneSkope phone case, attach it to the optic adapter, and slide it over the eyepiece. They recommend that you download the ProCamera App, which will allow you to pick the lens you want to use any time. It comes with complete, easy to use instructions and once you've got it attached to your spotting scope or your binoculars (or soon, even your rifle scope), you just use the phone camera to apply filters or take photos or videos. It's pretty cool, and would be great for birding and animal photography. When you go to their website, you just enter the model of scope or binoculars and the model of phone you have, and you'll get a PhoneSkope that will fit perfectly. Prices vary depending on the phone and optics, but when I just randomly picked a spotting scope and an iPhone 8+, it priced out at $78.98. Just go to phoneskope.com to get started.

One thing that surprised us (and probably shouldn't have), was that Lucas Oil was there at the SHOT Show. Lucas Oil is a huge supporter of tournament fishing, and in fact they sponsored the free wifi at the SHOT Show. So they're a great company to support, since they support us. They have a full line of gun oils and gun cleaning products. You can see all of their products at lucasoil.com.