First of all, I apologize for having only 1 picture. I left my memory card at home in the hard drive of the computer......My camera has very little internal memory.
We arrived on Friday, oh, around 1'ish I guess. We split into 2 groups and just walked around a bit. The first thing that caught my eye was the PSE booth/semi truck. They were VERY busy, I assume because of this year's Drury endorsement. Anyway, we wanted to shoot the new Limbsaver bow (which by the way, is pretty friggin sweet) and ran into our very own HNI Justin. Apparently I was easy to find w/ my orange HNI hat on.
From there I went to the Sword booth to look at their line of sights. I'm wanting one for 3D, and after looking them over I will be in contact w/ them to see about our selling them. Very high quality.
The first day was pretty overwhelming for me. It's difficult transition from consumer to consumer/retailer......I had to stop thinking in terms of what I wanted and more in terms of what we could sell at the shop.
I was surprised that ScentLok wasn't there. ScentBlocker was, but no lock. Mathews was a no show as well. For me, part of it was just the experience. I mean, we're in the Hoyt booth talking to our rep and right next to me is T-bone, aka Travis Turner. The Realtree booth was right next door, and suddenly there's Michael Wadell, giving T-bone trouble.I didn't want to bother them, so I just let them be. About then, Lee and Tiffany walked past, about 10 feet from me. Now, first of all......Lee is ONE BIG BOY! Ugh.......And, ya'll think Tiffany is good lookin on TV.......HAHAHA.......you should see her in person......
Just being in close proximity to celebrities like that was amazing for me. It's just not anything I ever figured I would have a chance to do. The first person we saw when we walked in the convention doors were Dan and Guy Fitzgerald.....I got Stan Potts autograph, and other than those already mentioned, I saw; Jackie Bushman, Brooks Johnson, Vicki and Ralph Ciancurilo, Bob Foulkrod, Tom Miranda, and a couple others I can't remember.
I did stop by and talk to Michael Hunsucker.....Dude, you are freakin quiet!! Nice guy though, I enjoyed our visit. But dude.......WHERE'S MY HAT???? LOL
Oh, I also ran into Mindy and Scott Hesterly (onestringer), and what a great bunch of people they are. I was next to the Bowtech booth hoping once again to run into Matt and Greg (never did, by the way) and this lady walks up and shakes my hand.....I'm like, "HUH?" till she said who she was...it was Mindy....VERY nice gal.
Talked to Justin and Todd some more.....We bought 2 new bow presses for the shop and Parker introduced a new Pro Shop ONLYbow, along w/ a youth model. The adult model is the Blackhawk, and I can't remember the youth model's name. But we ordered a few of each. The youth models we will sell very quickly. I shot the Blackhawk, it's pretty nice. A very smooth single cam that's quiet, but it does have some vibration.
Anyway, not much new to speak of really. But man did we have a great time! And oh, by the way...........My shop owner WON A 3 DAY WHITETAIL HUNT W/ BOB FOULKROD!! Was that ever exciting!! That's the only picture I got...Bob is a stand up guy to be sure. We talked to him for quite a while on Saturday.
Home from the ATA, my report...
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