JeffB

Well. I'm beat and there's a whole lot to be said but I'll just give general rundown.

First of all..all of the BowTech folks I met were awesome..really... They treated me like an old friend or even family. Jerid Strasheim & Pat Dinan RAWK! I spent alot of time talking w/ Kevin Strother and his wife Stacey. Enlighteneing to say the least. Learned alot of neat tech/engineering/design stuff, and heck... we also laughed alot and had a good time over dinner. Stacey & Kevin both were a riot! If They are reading: I'll see what I can do about that Africa trip Stacey, but no promises

Also met quite a few of the online crowd:

My room-mate was Matt/PA. Matt and I had a blast. Though we've talked for years, we had never met. We had a ton of fun, and stayed up way too late at night BS'ing about Archery equipment..or girls.

500 FPS showed up, and again is another person I've been emailing for quite some time, but never met. Likewise, we had a ton of fun, and laughed alot. Felt like I'd known him in person for years.

5-Shot and I had some very good discussion re: bows, broadheads and arrows. Another class act and a heckuva nice guy.

Kidd642 also was there representing Kinseys and is best friends w/ Matt. Boy the stories I heard about Kidd. Get him and Matt together and they are a terror. We laughed and laughed and laughed. Had a great time. The Fox hunting story in particular was brilliant. And how is your tooth?

KBacon was there and we BS'ed a bit about bows and whatnot. Real nice fellow. Enjoyed it!

Len came by the booth to BS, shoot, and borrow a bow for his seminar..and I apologize Len for missing your seminar. I did really want to see it. It was the first time I had met Len, and I really enjoyed talking with him. Obviously the man knows his way around a Bowpress, and he also posesses a great sense of humor as well!

I also met a few of the fellows from AT like "Daniel Boone" (whom I believe is OKbowhunter here) and Target Tony. Real nice folks.

Pro38 Shooter is on the BowTech 3D team and was there helping out in the shooting booth the whole show. Helluva a nice guy and a real class act.

I'm sure I'm not remembering some folks at the moment and I apologize. My brain is frazzled from getting only about 22 hours of sleep since Tuesday night.

Talked to some other industry folks and picked their brains a bit. Much fun.

Unfortunately I was not able to spend hardly any time perusing the show & the other vendors. The BowTech booth was insanely busy at times, and the few times it did slow down a bit I only had time to grab a soda or head to the little boys room. I didn't get to see 1/1000th of the stuff that was there but I did see a few things...

1) APA brought over several of their rests to put on our shooter bows. I was very impressed w/ the drop-away version. Our bows got pounded w/ so many people shooting them and the APA rests never loosened up or gave way. They are quiet, worked flawlessly and I'd definitely recommend for folks to take a look.

2) Spott-Hogg has some wicked cool stuff. Talked to Josh (goes by the name "hoggler" on AT) a bit. Very enlightening. We had some of their sights on our bows and again they took it all the pounding in stride.

3) Those new NAP vanes look to be real impressive. I may be getting some samples, but retail cost on them is going to be high. Higher than feathers. Figure about $38 bucks plus for a 100 pk. New broadheads looked wicked cool

4) We had a 3D target in the shooting booth that was abused with at least 3000 shots and was still holding up like a champ. I believe the name was GlenDel Buck? or GlenDale buck?

5) MO Obsession is a really neat pattern. Lighter than most MO patterns. I may just grab me some this year.

6) Predator camo had a new Deception Green. Way Cool

7) Did not see the Trophy Taker sight when I went by the booth...they didn't have it out [:'(]

8) Not much new on the arrow front except for the ST AXIS. Most other companies just had variations on other companies theme (new linecutters, thinner walls, new camo, etc).

I didn't get to shoot hardly any of the new BowTech's (maybe 10 shots total) and no-one elses bows. I did handle a few other bows though.

New Parker Phoenixes were very nice looking w/ the full camo.

Mathews Classic is basically a Feathermax/FX w/ suppressors and mid range price-tag. They had a longbow too this year.

The Oneida guys were next to us at the shooting area and they had some cool bowfishing colors.

Of the new BowTech's I came away really impressed w/ the Pro 40 F-cam and the two Patriot models. The Pat Dually was cranking in the high 320's to low 330s @ 29/70. And the Pat singles were doing 317 to 320 @ 29/70. Pat single was real smooth. Many dealers liked it as much as the Liberty, though the Liberty & Justice were the big stars. The dual cams got a lot of "HOLY S%$T" comments blowing through the chrono no matter what the draw length.

But the best thing about the show was all the wonderful folks I met and got to spend some time with laughing, talking archery, or talking business. I made alot of new friends, and had some very enlightening conversations. Awesome time.

walks with a gimp

Sounds like you had lots of fun Jeff, (typed with an envious authority to the keys of this keyboard) I can just bet that you wanted to do much more "roaming around" than Jerrid or Pat was willing to let you do
Glad to hear you made it back in one piece!!!! Russ.

HighBow

Thanks Jeff, for a great report glad you had a good trip.

Matt / PA

Did I mention yet that Jeff snores?[:-]


I'll add more later myself.......gotta take a nap, about 12hrs worth. Thanks Jeffy.

5 shot

Yes I finally got to meet Jeff and Matt along with Len and Kbacon. All really nice fellows if not a bit on the UGLY side! It was just as I suspected, I am the most handsome dude on Hunting net[] I am also glad jeff got the "I am a heck of a nice guy" part correct. I told him I was, just ask me and I will tell you, LOL. All kidding aside it was great to meet so many nice people and put faces to names. Matt talked me into shooting some of them there "bow tech bows". I must say that liberty really impressed me. Smoooooth, quiet, and as fast as most bows out. Good thing I Mrs 5 shot's got me on a budget! I am sorry I didn't get to meet everyone. I couldn't believe how fast the show went, and I cut out early and skipped Sunday morning to beat the snow and ice. Maybe if I get another Invite next year I will get to meet up with the rest of you.

Arthur P

Good to see all you fellers made it back in one piece (mostly?).

Now Jeff, you don't think I'm gonna let you slide on this'n do ya?

Now, does Mathews have a LONGBOW or a LONG BOW? Definitely need some photographic evidence if it's a longbow.

PABowhntr

I think he meant a long axle to axle length bow Arthur....but somehow I just knew you would pick up on that. What is it called? I forget....

Jeff,

Nice recap. Sounds like some great new accessories to try out this year. I can't wait to give one of those APA rests a try as well as those new NAP vanes.

Matt,

I am eagerly awaiting your comments as well.

Big John

I take exception to this statement, as I'm sure alot of others do too. I believe it's time for a steel cage match. I got to find my superman outfit and defend my handsomest self against this underhanded statement, anyone want to tag team with me????

JeffB

That I did not see w/ my own eyes but my dealer is the one who told me about it. I even asked for clarification..I said, you sure it's not a recurve? Nope..Longbow.

Makes sense..they make Acoustic Guitars.

JeffB

Take that up w/ my deviated septum. I had nothing to do with it