Howdy everybody! Michael Sims here, owner and co-founder of Hook + Gaff.
I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays. We are well into the new year. We've had some crazy weather in the South the last few months. Hurricane Helene did a number on several states, including our home base here in the Carolinas. We had a lot of devastation in SC and GA in the Aiken/Augusta area, and of course you all saw the flooding and damage in the mountains of western NC. Very sad. We then had snow all across the South just over a week ago, with some of the heavier snowfalls happening on our Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. It was quite a scene to see guys snowboarding down the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston! Definitely a first.
The Southeastern Wildlife Expo in Charleston begins on Friday February 14th and goes through that Sunday. This event is always held Valentine's Day weekend, and it brings tens of thousands of people to the Charleston area every year. We will be set up in our usual spot in the Gaillard Center off of Calhoun Street for our 10th SEWE this year! We're pretty pumped to celebrate with you guys, and we're looking forward to talking shop, hunting, and fishing, and we want to show you some of our new watches in person.
This year we'll be showing off the new Divers that were just put on the website over the holidays. This watch is a 42mm ceramic-plated bezel watch with many of the same high-standard features you're used to in our others, including the sapphire crystal, comfortable left-side crown placement, screw-down crown for 200m WR, and tritium illuminated hands and markers. This watch also features the new VH31 "sweeping second hand" movement, providing the shock-resistance of a quartz watch but with the action of a high-end automatic. We love it! The watch is available on the website now in a white dial or black dial, both with the black ceramic-plated bezel. Folks headed to SEWE in two weeks will also be able to check out our newest Diver in a beige or blue dial, that one with a blue bezel (not on the website just yet).
Lastly, as deer and duck seasons have come to a close across much of the South, there's still some time to get out in the woods and do some upland hunting. As many of you do, I like to read the comments on our state's DNR postings to get a feel for sentiment among our anglers/hunters. It's no secret our bird populations have been in decline for a number of years, and the comments by our hunters definitely echo and support the evidence. But over the last 12 months I've been encouraged to see some wild quail in areas I've not seen them in many years. We have spotted some coveys in Fairfield and Orangeburg Counties on private land, and we've jumped coveys in Newberry and Sumter on public land. Just last week, I spotted wild birds here in Lexington County in the middle of the state while duck hunting believe it or not. I don't really know what this means but personally I'm starting to see a few wild birds here and there, so I'm encouraged by that! Check out the colors on this one!
Thanks everybody, and looking forward to catching up with many of you at SEWE in two weeks!
Michael Sims, CoFounder/President, H+G