Pics from the Toronto Sportsmen's Show 2023

[RL1]

Last year I broke from my tradition of covering all things firearms related first but with the entrance of O’Dell Engineering and Wolverine Supplies, guns are back in the limelight at the Toronto Sportsmen’s Show!

The O’Dell Engineering booth had the best spot in the show, meeting show-goers right at the entrance.



The booth was divided into Bergara precision rifles and Canuck shotguns.



I headed straight for Bergara to check out the Premier line, including the MgLite, Competition, and Divide









Other fine Bergaras



Canuck shotguns including the Engage, Operator, Sentry





The extremely popular FD12



And new Freedom Enforcer



There were multiple chances for show-goers to win a Canuck shotgun by tagging pics at the booth (although as media I did not enter)



Morgy and Phil O’Dell



Morgy and Tom



Ian from O’Dell, Dave from NAS Outdoors and Tyson from Wolverine Supplies



Speaking of Wolverine, I was sooo excited for them to be at the show!



I LOVE B&T! The newly approved non-restricted SPC9 has not arrived yet, but that’s okay, I would gladly take an APC or GHM9 (or anything else they offer lol)







Accuracy International is not too shabby either



The GHM9 with a Freedom Ordnance FX9



Closeup of the GHM9



And FX9



Non-restricted variant of the FX9



Andrea and Tyson of Wolverine’s The Breakfast Club podcast



Me with the B&T APC





More great firearms on display at Stoeger Canada, Benelli shotguns including the Super Black Eagle, Nova, M2 etc.



Big selection at Shooters Choice



High Falls Outfitters



Wing’s Live Bait and Tackle



Ok on to knives!

PUMA was the star of last year’s show. I covered them quite comprehensively so I won’t go into the details again but just to recap their three main product lines are Hand Made in Germany, PUMA IP, and PUMA TEC.






















PUMA Defender Elforyn Damasteel Superclean, a limited edition of 50 pieces





PUMA Knife of the Year 2022 carbon Superclean Damascus, also limited to 50 pieces









PUMA IP Longhorn Stag





PUMA also has some unique knives. Last year I was smitten with the Fishing knife (ended up buying one), while this year I liked the PUMA IP mushroom knife with brush, tweezers, carabiner, and walnut wood scales









Finally the El Hacha





Happy to see Svord from New Zealand back at the show







My favourites were the Giant Peasant







And Von Tempsky Golok







Also nice to see Skip’s Customs back at the show. As I mentioned last year, this Canadian knifemaker has been making custom knives for over 30 years.













and from the other side







HUGE selection of knives at Blades4You, including brands such as Spyderco, CRKT, SOG, United Cutlery, Ka-Bar etc. etc.







The Rambo knives were my personal favourites lol





More custom knives from Ash Gears, MAB Impex, and The Pocket Blade











I must confess that I don’t know much about game calls but fortunately there were three great custom makers at the show to teach me all about them. First up, some pot calls from TS Custom Calls



Beautiful hand-made duck and goose calls







Next, some beautiful wood and acrylic duck and goose calls from Knotty Beaver





My favourites were this white acrylic duck call



And this buck call



Although their pot calls were pretty stunning









It was great to meet Claude Piette of Conception CP



I liked these acrylic predator calls so much…



that I picked up a couple



Later on in the show, Claude was to provide a demo of how he makes the calls by hand (using this machine)



Claude was sharing his booth with Samuel Côté-Sculpture sur panache & Antler carving. His carvings are absolutely incredible!









In past shows I have kind of breezed by the fur and pelts but this year I wanted to take a closer look, particularly because I have some old fur pieces that are shedding and need replacement.

The great selection of pelts at Ontario Fur Managers Federation provided a great opportunity to see what I like









And the answer is wow, this wolf pelt would make such a great stole lol. It felt so bada$$, I wanted to walk around the show like this.





More incredible fur pieces at Fur the North.







These coyote mitts are even bigger than my rabbit ones and I absolutely love them..definite show favourites.



Morgy liked them too!



On a related note, taxidermy…I know lots of people like Owls so I tried to capture all of the ones on display





















Though personally I liked the beaver the best





Looks angry



Beautiful colours





I got a much greater appreciation for taxidermy at this show



















I guess this show was all about learning for me, or at least exploring things that I have glossed over in the past like game calls, fur/taxidermy, and archery/crossbows. I spent some time at Excalibur’s booth and it was quite educational.





I took a close look at their top-of-the-line Assassin 400TD, which has a lot of great features such as take-down with a simple push of a button and without affecting accuracy, a dead-silent integrated crank, tool-less fully adjustable stock, sound deadening system, and match-grade trigger











In terms of optics for your crossbow, the Garmin XERO X1i was one of the coolest optics I have ever seen! It has a built in laser rangefinder and allows you to use digital aim points automatically calibrated to your crossbow setup. Check out their website for descriptions of the Steady Aim and other features, truly impressive!









They also have a red-dot for bows but it is much simpler than the crossbow optic





Speaking of red-dots, the new Defender ulta low profile CCW sight from Vortex. While small in size, this thing is tough! The ShockShield polymer insert absorbs shock to the 7075 aluminum body protecting it from everyday abuse. In fact, it is shockproof, waterproof, and fogproof. It has motion activation with 14 hour shutoff and batter life of over 9000 hours.







More great optics from Vortex






And Steiner







The rumours that Yeti coolers are addictive are completely true! I don’t know anyone (including myself) who has just one lol. While most people like all of Yeti’s crazy colour releases, such as Canopy and High Desert Clay shown here



I prefer the ones with laser engraving, like the Ducks Unlimited on the re-designed stackable lowball









In addition to Yeti, there were other cooler brands at the show, like Chilly Moose with their cool wood-grain print











And Calcutta



Great gear selection from Hudson, including Tasmanian Tiger, Nanuk, and Bridgford MRE





















Glad to see Radioworld back at the show, I love this store! While they offer a huge array of electronics, they mostly concentrate on their marine line and metal detection for the Sportsmen’s Show












It was great to run into Muskyhunter, a fellow gunnut who now works at Radioworld!



Another welcome returnee, Army Issue Surplus recently moved into a bigger retail space









Some massive ropes at Afraid Knot





Survival gear at Offgridtrailers



One of my biggest surprises at last year’s show was the SHERP…so great to see it again!







Extreme off-grid appeared to be a theme with vehicles at the show





Love the old-school KC lights



But the heating system housed in a Pelican case was even more impressive



Now that’s old school



More trucks





For the ultimate protection





If you need to load-out your truck, Tasmanian Tiger has just the thing


The OPP had a Zodiac boat at the Toronto Boat Show…this time a Boston Whaler



Or if you prefer to travel under your own power, lots of SUP and paddleboards at the show









And now a special shout-out to some of the organizations that promote our sport/lifestyle.

Just Hunt promoting the sport to women





I love balaclavas



Thanks to Amanda Lynn Mayhew for autographing a hat for my Mother’s partner. They watch her show all the time.











And last but certainly not least the CCFR, thanks to Rod and Tracey for all you do.



I picked up a nice new shirt







Morgy and Rod



Morgy and Tracey




And with the rest of the crew







My haul from the show



Once again, a fantastic show! I spoke with a few of the exhibitors and the consensus was that the show was very well organized (better than past shows in fact). It was also bigger than last year’s show with nearly 300 exhibitors covering a larger space.

I was super happy to see the increased presence of firearms, notably O’Dell and Wolverine, as well as in TSS communications/social media posts. Also good to see more “tactical” gear, e.g. Hudson and Army Issue Surplus. I found that the previous management focused too much on fishing, kids, and dogs and I really like the new direction.

Now I wonder if I could fire those B&Ts while wearing those giant fur gloves…

RL

[RangeBob]

I heard on the radio the other day that there was an upcoming "Toronto Sportsmen's Show", and I said aloud in the car alone "You radio journalists meant to say the Toronto Sportsmen's & RL1 Show".

And yes, I love the beaver.








I admit "beaver bias"

[RL1]

you got that right! in fact every show is an RL1 show

RL

[Purdom234]

Stellar coverage as always RL1.

The moose antler carvings are pretty remarkable.

[Dewey Cox]

Nice review.
Maybe you should have picked up a new hat...

[RL1]

well i did get a balaclava





and i would love that fur hat....but $465! i would get the mitts first

[Aniest]

Love the taxidermy owls! Just saying that so your efforts don't go unnoticed RL1.

I went to the Edmonton Sportsman's Show years ago and a conservation society, maybe the Alberta Society for Injured Birds of Prey, had a table with half a dozen owls. Five were taxidermy from road kills, electric wire strikes and so forth... but one was quite alive! It got to scare a few people when it would suddenly move.

[RL1]

yes everyone seems to love owls lol

past Sportsmen's shows have had live Falcons and other birds, i wonder if they will bring that back.

they almost did inadvertently though...this guy was blowing his turkey call so loud all day that i was sure that taxidermy turkey was gonna come back to life (i even told him so lol)

RL