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Listen to the episode here:
ATA Day 1 – 2: DirtNap Gear
From ATA 2019, I’m visiting with Tom Addleman and he is the Founder, Owner, CEO and chief bottle washer, cooker and bed maker at DirtNap Gear. Tom, welcome to the show.
Thank you, Bruce. I appreciate it.
What’s so special about DirtNap?
In a nutshell, we make quality broadheads. Everybody says that our broadheads are mostly fixed blade, fly fantastic, very durable and we’ve got it patented. All of our products do modular weight system, so your shooting as 100/125 grains. That’s our specialty.
What do you got there?
I’ve got a brand-new product. We’re going to be announcing it this 2019. It’s called the ALPHA and it’s an all-steel broadhead. It’s 100 grains once again with our weight system. You can make it a 125. Shoot it either way. I’m excited about it. We killed a lot of deer with it, animals and all sorts of stuff. It’s a great broadhead. I’m happy to introduce it. Along with this, we’re introducing a single bow bevel version of our HD broadhead. Our deer THD on a single bevel. Those are the two new products for 2019. I’m excited about the ALPHA though.
When somebody says, “There are some great broadheads out here.” You and I both know that there are a lot of companies out here. Why do you even start another broadhead company?
Because at the time years ago, we’re seeing a general movement back towards a lot of fixed blade broadhead. We’re getting guys that have converted over, may have some problems with the rubber bands and mechanical issues and they get it fixed my broadhead fly so well, that what we do is durable. We saw a little hole in the market and we’ve tried to maximize that and then getting some traction. To answer your question, we offer a fixed blade broadhead that flies great. It’s easy to “tune” and just shoot and you know you’re going to get a shot on a deer and it’s going to get through it.
Folks, for your information, my first elk broadhead was very archery, made in Minnesota and Rocky Mountain Supremes. That was a fixed blade broadhead and I never went mechanical. You write me at WhitetailRendezvous.com or call me and say you’re full of it, but I’ve always stayed with it. I’m looking at going to Africa and I will be using a fixed blade in Africa.
If a broadhead doesn't spin true, it's never going to fly true. Share on XWe need to get some DirtNap products in your journey over there. That’s for sure, Bruce.
When somebody uses your product for the first time, is there anything they must know or do?
Generally, we hand spin every single one before it leaves our facility. It was put on the end of the arrow, screwed it in and we put a point down and spin it like a kid’s wheel top. Everyone should spin 100%. There should be no wobbling or anything. A lot of people don’t think about it. If it doesn’t spin true, it’s never going to fly true. It’s the simplest basic bow tuning tip 101, put the bridle on your arrows, spin it like a kid’s top and if there’s any play, there shouldn’t be. If it’s spinning true, it’s going to shoot true. You can go out and have fun.
I’m going to reiterate on that. If every single broadhead you buy, I don’t care where you buy it from, a pro shop, a big box store, on the web, the first thing you do when you unpack that, be very careful, I don’t want you to cut yourself but spin it.
It’s like the most basic element that for some reason is overlooked in our industry. It would prevent so many “tuning years” because that’s the first thing. If that thing’s not coming out of your bows, laser straight and spinning perfect, you’re going to have all sorts of issues.
It’s just like I’m putting it on Michelin tires on my big Ford and if my alignment is out, I’m going to eat those tires up.
Your truck is not going to drive right. It’s going to feel off and yet it’s just simple stuff, but it makes a difference.
What are you looking forward to bringing out in the future?
We’ve already had some requests even though we just introduced this ALPHA. We’re already getting into the single bevel. We’ve got another product in prototype phase right now. We never know what we’re going to be out with. We’re sticking in the broadhead. We enjoy that market, but always got something in the tank working on and who knows what we’ll have next year at ATA.
How do people get in touch with you?
The easiest is Facebook, Instagram, @DirtNapGear and our website at DirtNapGear.com. Those are the easiest channels. We’re in major retailers and you can find us on the net.
Anything else you want to add?
It’s always great having you and visiting with you. Thanks for coming by.
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ATA Day 1 – 2: Burris Optics
I’m Jordan Egli. I’m with Burris Optics. We’re here at the 2019 ATA show in Louisville, Kentucky. We’re from Greeley, Colorado. We’ve been around for a long time. We’re here introducing the new Burris Oracle Laser rangefinding bow sight. Burris is not a stranger to laser rangefinding technology. We introduced the Eliminator Rifle scope years ago and we’ve been leading the industry in laser rangefinding technology with that. We brought it over to the bow sight with this new compound bow sight. It’s got a built-in laser rangefinder and a ballistic calculator. You sight in for twenty yards, you sight in for two additional distances and it provides your entire ballistic curve on the sight. It’s got an illuminated pin set so that when you’re ranging, it tells you right where to shoot. It provides you your yardage over here on the sight. Burris also offers a lifetime warranty on all of their products, no questions asked. You really need to check out the sight. You can find it on our website at BurrisOptics.com or follow us on social media, @BurrisOptics on Instagram and Burris Optics on Facebook or Twitter.
Anything new with your optics?
This is the only new product for the archery side of Burris. We offer some binoculars as well. Signature series binoculars and Droptine binoculars are great binoculars for the price point. They’re going to MSRP at under $400, really bright glass. It also has that lifetime heritage warranty, no questions asked. It also has an amazing signature series spotting scope. They’re all great products that you can put up in your hunting lineup. They go great as a combination with this bow sight. This is the first true archery product that we’ve ever introduced. We released it in 2018 NRA, but it’s new for ATA this 2019. It’s going to make a big splash in this industry. I’ve personally hunted with it. I’ve shot six animals. One particular story was a pig I swore was at fifteen yards. The Oracle said 27, I arrange them five yards. It turns out it was at 27 yards. The pig was so big that I thought it was closer than what it really was. I ended up shooting him in the heart. He died 30, 40 yards. It was a great day of hunting and I trusted the bow sight and it works.
How do people get in touch with you?
You can go to our website, BurrisOptics.com. Check out our Instagram, Facebook or Twitter, @BurrisOptics.
Anything else you’d like to add?
Check out our full line of rifle scopes, binoculars, spotting scopes, red dot sights, pistol optics. We’ve got a large lineup. There are a lot more that Burris has outside of the Oracle bow sight. We’ve got a long legacy of making great products.
If somebody picks up one of your products for the first time, what’s the one thing they should remember to do?
The one thing that I remember from the first time I picked up this optic was it felt like a bow sight. It was designed by bow hunters for bow hunters. It’s got a lot of advanced tech in it, but it feels familiar. It’s not going to be foreign to you. It truly eliminates the guesswork and provides a new level of confidence that I never had previous to using this bow sight.
I’m with Jordan Egli at Burris Optics and they’re introducing Oracle by birth. The number one new bow sight on planet Earth.
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I’m with Logan Holtz. He is the Digital Manager for Burris Optics. What’s new at Burris?
We always have new stuff coming out. The biggest thing this year around the archery world is our Oracle. That’s our laser rangefinding bow sight. We’re extremely excited to be introducing this here and it’s proven to be quite the popular item. As you can tell, our booth is pretty packed.
Tell us about it. It’s unique. I haven’t seen anything like that. How does it work?
It’s a laser rangefinder that’s built into a sight with an inclinometer. It compensates for the angle. How it works is you take this twenty-yard fixed pin here and that tells your bow where the laser rangefinder is aiming. You’re just going to be at full draw or not a full draw. Wherever that twenty-yard pin is pointing, you’re going to click the button that is situated on the grip and it’s going to give you yardage and a suggestive hold-over for that yardage. That yardage is set up for your specific bow and arrow setup.
Our goal is not about extending people’s range; it is about extending their ethical range. Share on XIt’s tuning it precisely to arrow weight, arrow speed, the spine of the arrow, everything. You get the inclinometer and it tells you the angle. It says your shooting line of sight with a deer, 60 yards but because of the angle, it’s only 37 yards.
The factors are all that and you don’t have to do any of that math anymore. As far as setting it up, it’s really easy. Rather than entering a bunch of arrow weights and spinal weight, and speeds. What you’re going to do is you’re going to take this twenty-yard pin, you’re going to set it up with these mechanical adjustments, just like a conventional bow sight. Then you’re going to take two more data points, one beyond 30 and one beyond 40, and you’re going to sight those in with these arrows here on the bottom of the sight, and then the bow is going to take those three data points and it’s going to create a trajectory curve for your arrow. It’s going to know where your arrow is going to hit all the way out to the bottom of your sight. In my bow’s case, it’s about 100 to 110 yards.
That helps people really shoot long range because a lot of people do shoot 80 to 100 yards.
Especially on your spot and stalk situations out West, like antelope hunting. The biggest goal for us is not to necessarily extend people’s ranges, but to extend their ethical range. We want to create more ethical kills and decreased wound rates is our big goals.
When a person uses any of your equipment, especially this for the first time, what should they do?
We have a bunch of good resources as far as setting up this sight. If you go to our YouTube channel, we have tons of videos on how to set it up. It’s pretty simple. It’s three steps. Other than that, you can feel free to call into our customer service department. That’s a huge benefit of working with Burris. Our customer service is phenomenal. All of our products are backed by our forever warranty. No matter what happens, no questions asked, we’ll get you taken care of.
How do people reach you? Where do they need to go to get a hold of you or your product? What do they need to do?
You can always interact with us on social media. We’re on Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook. If you just look up Burris Optics, feel free to interact with us. Our website is BurrisOptics.com. If you have the product and you have any question, feel free to reach out to our customer service department.
Anything else happening that you want people to know about?
We have a bunch of new products coming out for this year. This is new in the archery department. This is built on all the experience we gained from our Eliminator, which is the same basic premise. It’s a laser rangefinding, ballistic, calculating rifle scope. Our Eliminator III is something to check out. Then our award-winning long-range rifle scope is the XTR II. We’re going to be launching the XTR III. It’s pretty exciting, we have a lot of new stuff coming down the pipeline.
Logan, thank you for taking time out from your busy schedule. The show has just opened up, folks. You’re going to get more from Whitetail Rendezvous.
Important Links:
- Burris Optics
- Burris Oracle
- Eliminator Rifle
- @BurrisOptics – Instagram
- Facebook – Burris Optics
- @BurrisOptics – Twitter
- YouTube channel – Burris Optics
- XTR II
- DirtNap Gear
- ALPHA
- Facebook – DirtNap Gear
- @DirtNapGear – Instagram
- www.DirtNapGear.com
- www.BurrisOptics.com
About DirtNap Gear
The idea of DirtNap Gear came about as I sat watching another one of my wife’s reality shows and dreaming of the Outdoor Channel. With my passion and love of the outdoors and bowhunting, I realized it was time to develop a line of broadheads that performed to the highest standards.
I designed the DirtNap Gear line with one thought in my mind…boobs, wait to scratch that, penetration and durability. I am confident that our broadheads will fit all the needs of a seasoned pro or a beginning archer. They are built solid and sharp and have been tested in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, South America, and North America with outstanding results. Penetration, blood trails, and durability are truly the characteristics of our product.
DirtNap Gear consists of myself, Tom and our director of operations, Mike Osborn, who lives just three miles away. We are a small family made business and take great pride in every single aspect of our company. We strive for excellent customer service and personal relationships with our customers. We are also a laid back crew and most times can find the humor in just about everything.
About Burris Optics
Burris Optics is located in Greeley, CO and since 1971 has been the leader in optics innovation. Their customer service and legendary forever warranty is second to none. For the last decade, Burris has been perfecting their Eliminator laser rangefinding, ballistic-calculating rifle scope and, most recently, put that technology into the Oracle range-finding, trajectory-calculating, angle-compensating bow sight.