Iowa Whitetails - Xpedition Archery

Curt Headington, VP of Marketing at Xpedition Archery, shares about the latest in the company as well as his own hunting experience. He begins by talking about Iowa whitetail hunting as well as how you can get an Iowa tag. Moving on with Xpedition Archery, Curt pulls one of the bows up and walks us through the risers and the wheels, differentiating what they got versus the other brands in the marketplace.

—

Listen to the podcast here:

Iowa Whitetails – Xpedition Archery – Curt Headington

This is a special Iowa Dear Classic Promotion. First up is Curt Headington. Curt is the VP of Marketing at Xpedition Archery. Curt, welcome to the show. Let’s talk about Xpedition Archery.

Thanks. I appreciate the invite, Bruce. We’re excited to be part of the Iowa Deer Classic being an Iowa guy through and through. We thought it was fitting for Xpedition to have a presence down at the show. We’re excited to be there the first time.

You are up in Yankton, South Dakota, is that correct?

Xpedition originally started in Yankton, South Dakota. We acquired the company back in June of ’18 and it’s relocated into Decorah, Iowa which is about as far north and east as you can go in the State of Iowa. We’re Iowa-based now.

I’ve been hunting whitetails for over 53 years. I’m proud of it. I’ve been fortunate to hop with some great people and chase some whitetails all over North America. It’s fun. You must do a little whitetail hunt yourself?

I’m blessed to have grown up where I grew up. The fact that my professional career has me in arguably one of the best whitetail states. In the state of Iowa, we’re arguably in one of the best spots in Iowa. Northeast, Iowa was known for Allamakee County is the number one Boone and Crockett producing county in the state. Needless to say, it’s an obsession. It’s a lifestyle more than anything, but I love deer hunting.

WTR Classic 1 | Iowa Whitetails — Iowa Whitetails: You can buy a Ferrari and put different tires on it, and you will still have a Ferrari.

The guys and gals that I know that do it well, they’re 365 hunters. It’s simply amazing. It takes me four years to get a tag. I don’t know if that changes now that I shoot with a crossbow. Is there any better chance of me getting an Iowa tag not in four years in your area?

No, we’re Zone 9 for archery. That’s par for the course. The average is somewhere around four years. If you’re lucky, you get it in three. I’ve even had guys that said it took them five. Nonetheless, that’s also part of why our area remains one of the trophies or better trophy areas too is because outfitters can’t really take stake here because you own land as a nonresident doesn’t make you a resident, that sort of thing. I see both sides of the coin. I don’t think having a crossbow permit has any bearing on archery tickets and archery tag. If you can use a crossbow in Iowa, I don’t think it affects the drawl rate at all.

Thanks for that. I know enough guys and gals that want to hunt in Iowa. It gets frustrating. I shouldn’t even be talking because I know some places that I used to take one or two points and now it takes 21 to hunt in Colorado. That’s unbelievable. There are 350 bulls there every day. I’m not an outfitter or anything, but I could go sit you on a ridge with long glass and I’d say there are 350 bulls. That’s just the way it is.

It’s like that here. Everyone has the perception that because it’s Iowa, the Boone and Crockett is behind every tree. Let me be the first to tell you that is not the case. They’re here but you’re going to work for them just like you do anywhere else.

I’ve been blessed to hunt in Buffalo County a number of years. I’ve seen 100, 200 in Buffalo County. I had a shooter 180 Boone and Crockett within ADR to my stand. I had his kids, the younger dear, a lot closer, kill range. I never could get him in. I spent enough time there and realized they’re there. I’ve seen him in my own eyes. A dog out there had to put it on the ground. My hat’s off to the guys that do it day after day, year after year. You take a guy like Todd Prignitz. Todd, an Iowa boy, he works hard at it. There’s no question about it.

It’s what it takes. The President of Xpedition, Mark Heck, no one works harder than Mark does and the guys that helped him manage his farms. Speaking to our good buddy, Derbs, one of the partners here at Xpedition. He shot a 204 this year. It can happen. Monsters do exist.

Let’s give us a bio. We could talk hunting all day. I know that. There’s nothing wrong with that, but let’s have a little background on Xpedition.

The gist of it as I said, Xpedition, their parent company was applied engineering, which is an aerospace company located out in Yankton, South Dakota. A lot of people associate Xpedition with South Dakota still. We acquired the company back in June, picked it up, moved it to Decorah, Iowa because that’s where some of Mark’s other businesses are, our President Mark Heck. It made sense for us to go ahead and do that. We did that. We’ve been here ever since. Other than taken about a 30-day hiatus to catch our breath and get ramped up on a production side over here, it’s been full tilt ever since.

You’ve got a couple of props. Why don’t you pull one of the bowls up and walk us through the risers and the wheels and differentiate what you got versus some of the other brands out in the marketplace?

Bruce, we have the Mako X. This is one of the flagship models for 2019, 33 inches axle-to-axle. This is the five-inch brace bow. IBO is at 364. It’s a legit 364. This thing is a speed demon. Kevin Strother, our lead designer, knocked this out of the park. It feels anything like the speed bows you’ve had in your hand in the past, whether we were at ATA or any of the shows we’ve attended so far. It’s almost funny to sit back in the range or watch guys shoot it because they literally can’t believe that it’s drawing and shooting that smooth, that quiet with no vibration yet it’s streaming fast. We’re arguably one of the fastest production bows in history.

There are a lot of bow companies out there. You go to ATA, you see them all. They’re expensive. What’s the price point of this baby?

The Mako X has an MSRP right in line with most of the other manufacturers. It’s $1,099. By and large, you’d find in hanging on the racks of our dealerships for some who are in that thousand-dollar range.

A crossbow in Iowa does not affect the draw rate at all. Share on X

How much does other stuff do I have to hang on to for I can walk out the door or take it to the range and start shooting?

As far as from our perspective?

I want to go deer hunting. I need practice arrows, shooting arrows brought in all your accessories.

The sky is the limit there, Bruce. I won’t put up a set number on that because there are $50 sites and there are $200 sites. That holds true for all the accessories and we don’t sell any of the accessories directly, at least at this point. There’s such a wide range of it. It would be very hard to put a definitive number on it. You can buy a Ferrari and put different tires on it and you still got a Ferrari.

You have the base model and then you’re going to add on everything else?

Correct. From Xpedition, you would get the bow. My personal one has got a slide on it and arrow rest and what have you. What you’d be getting from us is the base bow.

We’ve got another $300 to $500 to put on our bows?

I would say on average that’s probably somewhere in the neighborhood of where you’re going to end up.

That’s true with all the other top brands in the marketplace.

A lot of them are offering their own accessory line whether it’s rests or quivers. That’s what we’re looking at for the future. Our core competency will always be the best bow, reasonably priced and then with a very dealer-centric focus so that our dealers, they’re the ones that we care about. We don’t sell consumer direct, Bruce. You’ve got to go to an Xpedition dealer to get your hands on one of these. We think that’s important because our dealers will have the means and the training to know how to tune and set up our bows properly. At the end of the day, the end consumer has the best experience possible.

Amazon doesn’t know how to set up my bow.

They could certainly sell you one, but good luck on getting them to set it up.

The bow that I have, I took them back to the shop and pay them what it takes to get the job done. That’s important. You mentioned this is the first time you’re going to Iowa Deer Classic. Why are you going?

Normally, we don’t even attend consumer shows. We do the big industry shows, the ATA, NABA out West. Those are dealer-centric shows because we sell our equipment to a dealership network, by and large, those are our customers. The fact that we’re an Iowa company, new to Iowa, we’re all tore up with deer. It’s our passion by and large. We just thought it would be a good move to get involved with Iowa Deer Classic. If nothing else, for brand awareness that we’re an Iowa company. We want people to know that. Those guys do a heck of a job putting a deer show on. I’ve been to a lot of different shows throughout the year. I want to say, I’ve been to every deer classic since they started in the great state of Iowa. That said, we think it’s the right place. It’s the right audience. We’re excited to be part of it.

At the end of the day, the end consumer should have the best experience possible. Share on X

I’m excited that John and Steve asked me to step up as one of the top whitetail podcasters in the nation to get in touch with you and raise my hand and say, “Let’s put something together and let’s give a shout-out one for your company and two for Iowa Deer Classic.” It’s right in Des Moines, Iowa. There are plenty of places to stay. The only thing that’s going to bulk up the works is if a storm comes through. That’s the only thing that we have no control of. Great people, it’s easy to get in and easy to get out. The facility is wonderful. It’s a great place. They got their Monster Bucks show where they hang 200 and you just marvel at what’s coming out of the state. It’s going to be a great time.

I’m glad, Curt, that you and Chris and the rest of the crew are going to be down there representing Xpedition Archery.

It’s a great show. We’re excited to be there. Go on hands-on and let more people get their hands on our bows. If you’re going to be at the show, swing by or booze there. We actually have a double booth that’s at the end of the exhibit hall. You can test drive them right around the corner. We’ll be shooting all the new 2019. Come check us out for sure.

With that, we’re going to say thank you for Curt, VP of Marketing at Xpedition Archery.

Important Links:

About Curt Headington

XA was started in Yankton, SD 7 years ago. Mark Heck, President, acquired the company in June ’18 and moved the operation to Decorah, IA. XA are exclusively designed by Kevin Strother. XA builds purpose driven bows- New for 2019: Mako X, Mountaineer X, Xcursion 6 & 7 HD

Perfexion XL target bow still available