News
Sunday, Oct 5th, 2007Pheasant survey routes indicate that hunters who take the fields in 2007 will be greeted by one of the largest pheasant populations in South Dakota history.
Brood count surveys by the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department project pheasant numbers the likes of which has not been seen since the Soil Bank years of the 1950s and 60s. The pheasant population index was at a 40-year high in 2005 and the 2007 index tops that historic mark. Overall statewide numbers for 2007 are 23% higher than the 2006 counts and 18% higher than the 2005 mark.
Read More at: http://www.sdgfp.info/Wildlife/hunting/Pheasant/Outlook.htm
Sunday, April 15th, 2007
Watch Wild Dakota Outdoors 7:30 AM Sunday on FOX to see the Shackle in action on a guided goose hunt in Pierre, South Dakota. http://www.wilddakota.com/
Checkout this story and link featuring the Shackle that the Argus Leader posted on 10/16/2006.
Hunters can shoot, Shackle birds this season
TERRY WOSTER
twoster@midco.net
PUBLISHED: October 16, 2006
PIERRE - With South Dakotas statewide hunt coming this weekend, its possible some trucks will be rolling down highways with a line of birds strapped into what a Sioux Falls inventor has aptly named The Shackle.
Peter Thompson, a traveling salesman and avid hunter, said he grew weary of trying to figure out how to keep track of the pheasants, ducks and geese he hunted successfully and how to keep feathers and blood out of the back end of his sport-utility vehicle.
It always seemed there had to be a better way than to try to throw the birds into coolers or sacks in the back end, along with the guns and kennel and all the gear that goes into a hunt, Thompson said. I started fooling around with some ideas, and the result is The Shackle.
Its a simple-looking device, nothing more than three pieces of high-strength plastic that snap into the luggage racks of SUVs or minivans. The cross member has a dozen slots, each with three holes of different sizes. The holes are designed to fit the necks of different-sized upland birds or waterfowl, and the goal is to carry the downed birds atop the vehicle, rather than inside.
Its nifty, and it works, Thompson said.
Ive gone the speed limit on the interstate, and the birds dont move around at all. And if you use it during the hunt, it lays the birds out so you can see at a glance how many you have and how your party is doing as far as the legal limits.
Thompson has been working the highways and back roads of the state this fall, showing the product to potential retailers, lining up some sources willing to carry it during this hunting season. Among those is Steamboat Game and Fish of Pierre, where Josh Gilkerson said hes never seen anything like Thompsons creation.
Its unique, thats for sure, Gilkerson said. We just got ours in, so we havent sold any yet. The weekend of the 21st (Saturday is the full pheasant seasons opening) will be the test, when we start getting the walk-ins and see what people think.
The product retails for $89.95 on Thompsons Web site, theshackle.com.
Gilkerson said the device appears easy to fasten to a vehicle and just as easy to remove. He said a vehicles roof rack must be adjustable in order for the product to fasten properly.
Thats about the only issue I see with it, he said. Otherwise, it looks pretty simple.
Thompson developed the product on his own, working evenings and weekends with potential manufacturers and with the Enterprise Institute in Sioux Falls.
Mari Beth Baumberger of the institutes Sioux Falls office said Thompson has certainly kept his project on a fast track due in large part to his personal motivation and entrepreneurial spirit.
She said Thompson understood both his product and his market and had the skills to promote it.
The institute gave him suggestions about business plans, as well as lists of potential customers. An Aberdeen firm is manufacturing the product.
I was able to take this from a cardboard concept to a product on the market in a year, Thompson said. Im also the one out making the sales calls, doing the demonstrations, setting up the display racks, everything.
It has been an incredible experience.
Reach Terry Woster at 605-224-2760.
Checkout this story and link featuring the Shackle that KSFY TV posted on 10/06/2006. http://www.ksfy.com/Stories/Story.cfm?SID=8492
Reinventing the Hunt
A successful pheasant hunt always used to present a slight problem for Peter Thompson. What Ive found is that driving an SUV now for hunting, the back end of my vehicle was typically getting full of dog kennels, coolers, guns, gear, etc, Thompson said. And I didnt have a place to keep my birds.But just before last years hunt, Peter had an idea for a one-of-a-kind accessory made to fit the top of his truck, so he jotted down his concept, and got to work on a prototype. What you have here are three different receptor sites, Thompson said. Three different neck holes to accommodate different size birds. All you do is drop the bird into the slot, put the neck in there. The head goes in front of the cross member and (the birds) trail behind beautifully.
With a full-color box complete with directions, streamlined design, and a nifty name, The Shackle looks like a good idea made easy, but just because it looks easy doesnt mean it goes from idea to reality in a year without some hard work. In fact, in addition to assembling the first thousand in his garage, Thompson has been doing just about everything himself. With this company Im the inventor, the president, the marketer, the salesman, the bookkeeper, uh pretty much everything at this point.
That includes being the model on The Shackles box and serving as its number-one spokesman. Drive that forward onto the wedges, tighten those down, and your done, Thompson said, demonstrating how to mount The Shackle. Its secure and your ready to go.
Thompson has also been a pretty busy distributor, traveling to stores across the state, taking the product from dolly to display. Twenty Shackle ready to go, he said.
Thompson says being ready right now is a dream come true. To have a product thats designed for hunters that simplifies their life and to see it on different vehicles going down the road and knowing that I accomplished that in less than a year and to have my own company and my own new product and patent, there are a lot of things about it that are an awful good feeling.
Now with the pheasant season just around the corner, Thompson will have to wait to see if that good feeling takes off.
The Shackle is made completely in South Dakota, and Thompson says an Aberdeen company will be packaging the product for him soon. You can currently find The Shackle in at least 18 stores across South Dakota. For a complete list of stores or to purchase The Shackle go to www.theshackle.com.
By Kent Erdahl