Have you ever been so impressed with someone's commitment to excellence that you opened a business and took on their name as a show of respect? We did and here is the man and the story behind it.

I met Mike Blanton back in 1999, while working for a great company in the Silicon Valley simply named Metric. San Francisco was many things for us, but hunter friendly was not one of them. Still, I followed what I could about hunting through magazines, word of mouth, and the internet.

During this time there was a new rage going through archery for noise dampening technology. Archery had made quite a leap in this time for speed but along with it came noise and hand shock. In order to counteract these undesireable additions archery manufacturers began putting rubber shocks in the riser, foam in the pockets, rubber silencers on the string and so on. It was an exciting time for archery and I was swept up with it as well. There seemed to be no end of bows on the market that boasted amazing speeds for arrow flight and whisper quiet operation.

So I jumped online and began to delve a little deeper into the subject, possibly in the quest for a new bow myself. A little research gave me a LOT of headaches as there seemed to be no end to all of the opinions out there. Compound it with the fact that there was only one archery retailer in the immediate area where I lived and they went out of their way to treat curious customers with disdain. (I being one of them)

I was all but resigned to giving up on this, when I happened across a discussion thread on Bowsite.com The person writing was letting others know about this great guy he had bought from by the name of Mike Blanton, owner of Hunter's Friend. His initial post was followed up by numerous other respondents also saying what a great guy Mike was and how they thought so much of his company and his commitment to customer service. Curious, I jumped over to the website for Hunter's Friend and was astounded at their webpage. Never before had I come across such a simple, yet thoroughly detailed website with pages upon pages of information.

The website retails everything from Bowtech to blinds but their charts are unparalleled in the market for depth of information. Information that was convenient and concise. Detailed enough to give you a thorough understanding of the subject at hand, but simple enough not to lose you in complex jargon.

So the following morning, I decided to call them for myself and the rest as they say is history. What was a simple infomal call to learn more about the current offerings turned into one of the best friendships I ever made. It was soon apparent to me that Mike personified just about everything great the others had written about him.

Mike had another quality that really appealed to me about him. He was driven to customer satisfaction almost more than anyone I had dealt with in the archery industry and it was refreshing. No longer did I have to deal with rude, short, and generally dismissive remarks about any item I was curious about. I have seen Mike display this same patience and consideration with other people as well, in a relaxed setting here at the Branson Bow Bash.

When it came time to open our newest venture, I felt it would be a nice tribute to Mike and all that he has demonstrated to me over the years to name our resort after his company. And so began Hunter's Friend Resort in Branson, MO on the 25th of August, 2003. A fitting compliment to a man many never meet, but who has assisted so many over the years.

To Mike Blanton and his wife Wendy, may you have continued success in the coming years.