Well, my feet are screaming, I'm slightly chafed and it's not at all my style to be offering so many courtesy smiles while some clueless fool holds up aisle traffic so he can snap a cell photo to send home to Mama. But the second day of the ATA show is officially rocking.
It's early in the day, but I've already gotten my hands on some exceptionally cool gear, and sitting down to blog about it gives my bunions a chance to stop smoking.
Knight & Hale: If you haven't already been prepping for turkey season, you should be. And if you haven't been paying attention to the new gobble-calling trend ... again, you should be! Knight & Hale is introducing the Hale Fire, a reeded gobbler call that creates some pheromone-raising gobbles, and most importantly, it makes this sausage-fingered turkey junkie sound like a pro. Best news of the day: When they're available in mid-February, you'll be able to trade a $20 bill to get one.
Hot Shot: I am sick and tired of watching bowhunters release arrows from a $1,000 bow setup with a $20 release. It makes about as much sense as having open sights on a sniper rifle. A clean shot starts with a clean release, no? Duh! I was blown away by the smoothness of the Hot Shot Nano. If you think a release is a release, you have to shoot the Nano.
Moultrie: I'm super excited about the "black flash" trend that sweeping through the scouting cam market these days. I'm tired of replacing cameras that have been mauled by bears because the flash looked tasty, infrared or otherwise. But my jaw dropped when Moultrie's Mike Mattly introduced me to the M-80XT with Motion Freeze technology. No more blurred photos of cruising bucks. Finally! It truly is an awesome feature.
Back to the floor for now to scout out booth babes and more new products. Like the Terminator, I'll be back.
Keep your nose to the wind.