Elk Camp for the Future

Last weekend it was opener for general Montana big game season. My good friend Jackson, a.k.a Jackie boy, and I took off from school Friday around 2:30 pm to head south of big sky to set up camp. This area was a new area that we only checked out from Google Earth, so we would be heading in blind Saturday morning.

We arrived to our desired area with the truck packed to the max. We were fortunate enough this year to have his Cabelas outfitter tent, which was a luxury for two college kids who are weekend warrior hunters. As we were unloading and setting up camp our neighbor, Tor, came over from the neighboring camp and introduced himself. To say the least, I believe he is one of the most kind, down to earth guys a man could meet. He was there with his 13 year old son Frisk, and later to come good friend Skip. Tor and Skip have hunted the area for about 15 years and had punched their tags consistently for years out of this trail head  Jackie and I took noticed to their set-up which consisted of a camper and a 10x14 wall tent that had all their cooking stuff with a wood stove. Tor, after introducing himself, asked us to join them for some elk spaghetti later that night.  

(Our camp, but it's missing something an elk rack and a.......)

We were both taken by how generous this man was by asking to strangers to come over for dinner. We didn't hesitate to that offer as we joined them for a great dinner that night. As Jackson and I headed back to our tent from Tors kitchen tent (wall tent), we realized that even though our camp is very comfortable, it would be extremely nice to have a similar set-up with a tent for a sleeping quarters and another tent for a eating/cooking area to hangout in.

This is my last year to hunt in Montana as a student before I have to grow up and get a big boy job, but after this great weekend, Jackson and I made a commitment that we would make it an annual trip to come back to this spot with our fathers and good friends to hunt opener. As the more we considered our hunting future together, we came to a conclusion that we need to make an addition to our elk camp, a new wall tent. Now Jackie boy already owns his tent, so it is my turn to make a purchase.

After a successful but unsuccessful (no elk tagged) opener weekend, we headed back to Bozeman with our heads held high as we made new life-long hunting partners, had got into some serious elk country and enjoyed the presence of two good buddies hunting together. After unpacking our mess of stuff from the truck, I was anxious to search craigslist for a new wall tent. I happen to come across and amazing deal on a new tent, 10x14 wall tent for $900 bucks. Now this is a little step for somewhat of an impulsive purchase, but considering the tents retail for almost $1,700, can one go wrong? I don't think so, especially since I want to make it a ritual to make it out here with my dad's to bond over a passion we share. I can hardly believe I have encountered this listing, as it seems almost to good to be true. This Friday Jackie and I will be heading to Whitehall to meet up with the seller of the tent. If it all checks out, I believe that the bank account will be decreasing once again and that new addition will be happening to our elk camp for the future.

Have you ever walk through Costco on a Sunday for the food samples? If you haven't, I highly recommend you do, as it can be pretty comical and help fill your appetite. Although, I must say that after sampling enough food, one is bound to be sucked into buying one of the products that are out for sample. Marketers and designers can have the best graphics combined with health benefits and other attention grabbing effects, but nothing can be more convincing to your consumer than the actual taste of your product. Costco has taken full advantage of this marketing strategy. However, this method to advertise is more costly for the retailer, it seems to be more effective when trying to sell a particular product. It wouldn't make sense to sample all your products as this would definitely be too costly and time consuming. Therefore, if you have a abundance of a product or need to get it off your shelf, allowing your consumer to sample it maybe a profitable option.

Ever been taken advantage of do too the product placement of choice architectures? I would bet you have. The discussion of choice architectures today in class stimulated my interest of my shopping behavior predominately in grocery stores. I found the class discussion to be very intriguing considering yesterday I was at the store buying some ingredients for a cajun chicken pasta. One of the ingredients that I needed was half and half milk to make the sauce. I found the milk isle and began my search for this and found it. It was place eye level and of course it was organic so it came with heavy price, an extra $1.50. I was shopping with a friend and began to complain about how there was only the expensive organic half and half. We were both on the hunt for cheaper milk now and she bumped into in on the bottom of the shelve. Of course I thought to myself, why would the cheap item be at eye level of consumers. Through previous marketing classes I had learned about this, but was confronted with a real life example of how this is implemented by choice architectures. I felt a little upset with myself as I as a marketing major should have been aware of this. Although I guess that is why I am still learning and haven't graduated quite yet.