SHOOTER

The Life and Times of Bob Allen
Bob Allen
The fifth most interesting character I have known is Leon Measures

This is the most enthusiastic guy and the most avid quail hunter I have ever had the pleasure of knowing! I met Leon through a rather strange set of circumstances. He was a big booster for my hunting clothing but I had never met him. Leon and a friend, Mike Jones, were hunting together in south Texas on a day when the temperature was about 80 degrees. You don't want to wear heavy clothing in this kind of weather so they were hunting in shirtsleeves; however, they were wearing the new BOB ALLEN snake chaps, which I had just designed and placed on the market. The dogs hit a point on a covey of quail and Mike walked up to them. As he stepped into the brush beside a ledge, a big rattlesnake hit him from behind on the calf of his let. He let out a yell and shot the snake as Leon came running. Although Mike was struck so hard it almost knocked him over, when they took off the chaps they found that the fangs had not been able to pierce the chaps' special nylon. There were just two wet spots of venom on the inside of the chaps where the fangs had struck. The snake was so large that had the fangs pierced the chaps they undoubtedly would have also pierced the jeans Mike was wearing underneath. With a snake this large, it surely would have been a fatal attack. Leon was so pleased with the protection our chaps had given his friend, he wrote me a letter. Because the chaps were new in our line and this was our first real field test with a snake in the wild, we were thrilled with the result. We had tested the chaps with all kinds of snakes at a snake farm but this was the real thing! I was so excited that I immediately called Leon to thank him for the feedback. In his own inimitable way, he charmed me into an invite to quail hunt with him in Texas. That was the start of a friendship that has endured to this day. As a thank you, we sent Leon a free pair of snake chaps, which he is still wearing.

Shortly thereafter Leon phoned me to get some marketing advice on a new system for teaching instinct shooting for which he had registered the trademark "Shoot Where You Look." We had many phone conversations and letters concerning this system that involved shooting with a BB gun with the sights removed. He starts his students out by having them shoot at a spot on a piece of paper. He then has them mount the gun up to the shoulder and cheek and shoot by looking over the gun at the target without sighting. Repetitive shooting like this causes your instincts to take over and all of a sudden, you are miraculously hitting the spot nine times out of ten. He then has his students graduate to throwing cans up in the air and following the same procedure until they are hitting the can every time. Next, he has the shooter s tart shooting at smaller and smaller items until finally he has them able to hit a penny every time. Finally, and this is hard to believe, he teaches them to toss up a BB and hit it with the same size BB from the BB gun. You have to see it to believe it!

The best part of it is that Leon is an excellent instructor and loves teaching. He started by teaching Boy Scout and Girl Scout groups. As his reputation grew, adult skeet and trapshooters sought him out for help. Leon now travels around the country putting on "Shoot Where You Look" seminars. What he enjoys the most is setting up a special booth at gun shows, fairs, and similar functions where people walking by are intrigued to stop and try his system. His booth has a canvas and clear perimeter so he can actually shoot the BB gun and demonstrate in the booth. Before long he draws a crowd and they are entertained not only by his shooting but also by the line of Texas chatter that definitely adds to the show. To promote his system he has written the best book I have ever read on instinct shooting. He also has created excellent videotape. As part of his program, Leon has created a kit that includes the specially altered gun, his book, some safety glasses, and the video. The video is as entertaining as his line of chatter in person. When he first contacted me and before he had fine-tuned his program I suggested that he copy right it and then sell it to someone like the Daisy Air Rifle Company as it would be perfect for them to use in promoting the sale of their BB guns. Daisy discussed a royalty program with him but the restrictions were such that it was difficult for Leon to make a deal. They wanted him to buy 1000 guns at a time but forbade him to sell his kits to any of their dealers. This wasn't practical because it limited him to selling only to the consumer. They also wanted to change his book and video, which I have already said are the best I've seen. It just didn't work out and the last I heard Leon was negotiating to have his own line of BB guns produced.

Leon was constantly urging me to come and hunt quail with him but my work schedule at the time made it impossible for me to carve out the necessary time. Finally, in February of 1995 I was invited to shoot in "The Big Country Celebrity Quail Hunt" at Abilene, Texas. This seemed like an excellent time to work in a hunt with Leon so we set it up however I didn't realize what I was getting into!

Leon picked me up at my hotel in Abilene and his hunting rig astounded me! It started with a Chevy Suburban that was packed to the roof with enough gear for an Alaskan expedition and a special trailer with six dogs. He had every kind of soft drink you ever heard of, ice, plus sandwiches for our 200-mile trip to Big Spring, Texas where a motel would be our headquarters. During the drive, he regaled me with stories about his dad and hunting. When we arrived he insisted on sharing a motel room and I then learned that this meant sharing it with the dogs too as he brought them in to feed. By this time in my life I had become sort of a "hot house" hunter whose idea of roughing was staying at a Holiday Inn. I always preferred quail hunting because you don't have to get up in the middle of the night and freeze your rear off in a blind. It was not to be that way with Leon! He had me up at the crack of dawn, and after a breakfast, which I insisted we stop for, we were on our way to the quail area he had reserved for us with a rancher friend. It seemed like we went through fifty gates, each of which had a different way of fastening. If you have hunted anywhere in the west you know what I am talking about. Every rancher has his own idea of gate fasteners and some really rugged cowboy had made those we encountered. My city muscles had a hell of a time getting some of the gates open, let alone shutting them again!

About twenty miles into this ranch backcountry following just a dirt path, it suddenly started to rain. Do you all know about Texas and rain? Well, the rain soaked up the first three inches of that Texas red topsoil which quickly became a glue-like gumbo that clogged the wheels so badly that even the Suburban's four-wheel drive couldn't move us forward. We were mired down to the running boards and even though we piled brush under the wheels, we couldn't move. I thought we were there for the summer and, this being before cell phones were so common, we couldn't just call for help. I don't know who could have come to our aid anyway. It didn't bother Leon one bit. He said, "We're here, we're stuck, so we might just as well hunt until the sun comes out to dry up this mud," and that is just what we did. He let out a couple of dogs and it was only a few moments before they hit a point and we had our first birds. Plus, I learned very quickly that if you wanted to get in a shot, you had better be quick, as Leon is one-hell-of-a-quail shot. To make it worse, he showed me up by shooting with a Winchester model 42, 410 gauge shotgun. For those of you who don't know about the 410, it is the smallest gauge shotgun made and has only about one third the amount of shot my 12 gauge throws. By noon the sun came out, the mud dried up just as Leon had predicted, and we were able to get the Suburban moving again.

At the time I was about seventy-five years and Leon wasn't too far b behind me but he walked me off my feet. By five o'clock I was pooped but Leon was still going strong. Finally, I had to say uncle and begged him to quit for the day. Back at the motel, after dinner, I got another surprise when Leon brought all the quail into the room to clean them and to flush the unwanted remains down the toilet. We slept that night with the aroma of quail, feathers, guts, and wet dog smell permeating the room.

The next day was a repeat of the first except that I was having some intense hip pains and had to quit walking shortly after noon. A few weeks later I had my hip replaced. Ever since that operation I have told people that Leon not only walked me off my feet but he wore out my hip.

A big part of the fun was hearing Leon's stories and unique Texas sayings. As an example, in describing a rather stupid guy we ran into, Leon said, "That dog won't hunt!" It was with regret that I had to leave for my flight back to Des Moines. Leon, being the perfect host, had the quail we had bagged, frozen and over-nighted to me in Des Moines. All in all, it was an outstanding and very enjoyable hunt that I will never forget and always be grateful to Leon for providing.

Leon really loves practical jokes and played one on me that is about as good as I've ever heard or experienced. To make it work he used the services of my secretary Lynn Rappold. He told her to relay to me that he had called to tell me that he was shipping me a bird dog puppy named "Spike" that was the best of the litter from his finest dog. When Lynn told me about the puppy I instructed her to immediately call Leon back, thank him for his generosity, but tell him that there was no way in which I could keep a bird dog in the City of Des Moines. Lynn went to her desk to call Leon and then returned to my office to inform me that it was too late; the dog had already been shipped via airfreight and it was sitting in our receiving (who was also in on the joke) burst into my office carrying a huge box. I angrily opened the box thinking I really don't want or need a dog, Leon! My receiving guy lifted the puppy out and to my amazement "Spike" was indeed a pointer, but made out of steel railroad spikes welded together. He was on point with his front leg lifted in the characteristic pose, his head erect, and his tail straight out in a classic point. He is still with me and now points the way to our home's front door on Lake Okoboji

Leon had really sucked me in and I remember the long few moments being absolutely aghast not knowing what I could say to refuse the dog without hurting Leon's feelings. I immediately phoned him to let him know that he had indeed zinged me really well. My secretary and everyone else at the factory knew about the gag and all enjoyed my befuddled moments. At the Shot Show this past year, Leon saw fit to add a friend for Spike ~ a cute little pup that we named "Spiffy."

Leon and I are in constant contact and in 1997 he and his wonderful wife Frillie were invited to our hose-warming party on Lake Okoboji. They arrived the night before the party from Texas and just like Leon with this thoughtfulness, he and Frillie pitched in to help us with the last minute preparations that certainly made the party a success. We had about two hundred guests for which Leon became a star! He had brought along his BB gun and fascinated the guests with a shooting demonstration that lasted into the night.

Leon and Frillie are now traveling around the country putting on their "Shoot Where You Look TM" seminars and he has marketing plans which include a web site as well as nationwide distribution. Knowing Leon and his enthusiasm, I know he will get the job done and in style.

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Safety!! Never, ever, point a gun; loaded, unloaded, on safe, off safe, or otherwise at anything you don't intend to shoot! You will never have to say, "I didn't know it was loaded."

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Leon Measures'
Shoot Where You Look^SM
340 Pan American Dr.
Suite A-3
Livingston, TX 77351

(800) 201-5535 Office
(936) 328-7927 Cell
(936) 327-2603 FAX
info@shootwhereyoulook.com