Big Game Hunting Guides & Outfitters

An article by outdoor writer Doug Smith in yesterday’s Minneapolis Star-Tribune reports that four Minnesota men have filed suit against Michigan-based ALS Enterprises Inc. Retailers and companies licensed to produce similar hunting clothes are named as co-defendants - including Gander Mountain, Cabela’s, Bass Pro Shops and Browning. The suit alleges conspiracy and deception by the defendants.

“Consumers have been duped into spending significant amounts of money on a product that does not work as represented,” the suit states.

Mike Andrews, vice president of marketing for ALS, defends the company’s products and says the suit is totally without merit.

“We’ve done years of research…we have hundreds of testimonials from consumers over the years,” he said. “We know it works. And we’re excited about the opportunity to prove to the world once and for all how effective our product is.”

Four men who bought the clothing — Mike Buetow of Shakopee, Theodore Carlson of Edina, Gary Richardson Jr. of St. Paul and Joe Rohrbach of Shakopee — are named as plaintiffs in the suit. But attorneys are seeking class-action status, meaning it would be argued on behalf of all those who bought the clothing. The suit says “tens of thousands” of Minnesota hunters have been deceived into buying millions of dollars of odor-eliminating clothing.

Buetow, a bow hunter, said he and the others can’t comment on the case on the advice of attorneys. He said he bought $1,000 worth of Scent-Lok gear — including pants, coats, face masks, hats and gloves — in 2003.

The lawsuit is just the latest salvo fired at ALS and its sellers. The question of whether the company’s clothing works as claimed has been the topic of Internet chat rooms for about the past year.

And a Minnesotan — T.R. Michels, 57, of Burnsville, an outdoor writer, author, hunting guide and frequent hunting seminar speaker who has his own website (www.trmichels.com) — acknowledges he is responsible for raising much of the stink.

“Hunters have been screwed,” he said. “They have been misled. And they [companies] are making tons of money off the stuff.”

He said he has no ax to grind and began looking at the clothing because his job as a writer and outdoor expert is to “look into myths and dispell them.”

Said Michels: “I was lied to, and that really ticked me off.”

He is not involved in the lawsuit, and won’t be because, while he has used Scent-Lok clothing, he’s never purchased it, he said. However, Michels has questioned the performance of the clothing with the U.S. Patent Office and has posted numerous exchanges he’s had with the company on his website and others.

He said outdoor magazines won’t write about the issue for fear of losing lucrative advertising dollars for the hunting clothing, and that he has lost freelance work because of his stance.

Read the rest of the article for more details on this hot issue.

Happy Hunting (Scent-Lok or No!)
- Michael
OutfitterPros.com