This year I headed to the deep south for the annual ATA (Archery Trade Association) event which attracts thousands of archery enthusiasts looking at truck loads of new products. According to the statistics from the ATA a record number of 499 exhibitors were pushing their wares this year. This was the third largest crowd in the ATA’s history; the floor space alone covered more than six football fields, and had over 8000 attendees. This show ranked in the top 200 percent of all trade shows in the USA. These numbers are important to help the ATA gain leverage when it comes to future venues and negotiations. Indeed there were some new products that I think will be worth watching for the new year as well as some old favorites that keep a steady course year after year.

The Women Hunters booth again was covered by a dedicated group of girls and one "honorary" women hunter Danny Burch. This year the challenge of keep the booth staffed was divided up and we had many helpers that made the long trek to the Georgia Dome. For some of the girls this was there first time at a show like this. I had to smile as I saw their faces that were beaming from trying to soak in six football fields of HUNTING STUFF. I remembered my first ATA show just a few years ago and the overwhelming feeling I had. I thought the ladies all presented themselves in such a fantastic manner and we should all be proud of them for representing us well.

In addition to the schedule of the show us ladies had a special agenda on the calendar. Two of our own would be going thru an emotional experience called the "Baldy Awards." By now you have probably seen the pictures and read the story of the Arnold S. Leonard cancer research fund http://womenhunters.com/2006baldy-awards.html. I was proud to be sitting in the front row as these two awesome and brave women sat with capes on and tears flowing as their beautiful locks of hair got buzzed off. Deb donated her beautiful golden hair to Locks of Love ® and it touched all of our hearts to know that some little girl somewhere will now have beautiful hair thanks to Deb’s courageous donation. We just hope that some of Deb’s passion for hunting will also be passed on to whoever receives the hair in the form of a wig. Snapping photos and looking around at our group of unselfish women hunters in our beautiful lime green and black shirts made me proud to be a women hunter and a women that cares about cancer research. The day was over and it was now time to get down to some serious business of looking at some of the new products.

There were your normal everyday new products that are always unveiled at this show, it seems like most bow companies are revealing their newest, fastest, lightest bows to the market, or the arrow manufactures are showing off their latest arrow design. A normal flood of new products such as camo patterns, flashlights, decoys, and broadheads are also a major part of this show. But there were a few new products that are worth mentioning. Again this year Marshall Products unveiled more cool products to fill the void that some of us camo crazed decorators see. Marshall Products have an entire new line of beautiful products that reflect classiness with camo that other companies can’t match. Ceiling fans, blinds, office accessories, linens and more are now available to the dedicated outdoor woman to help her bring a little of nature inside. www.johnmarshalldesign.com

Whitetail Joe ® is a company that is breaking into the market with some products that I felt was worth mentioning. Finally someone with a clean sense of humor and a talented artistic eye is putting out decent and funny casual wear such as t-shirts, sweatshirts and hats. All featuring a character that I feel will become a classic in every hunter’s closet…and that is "Whitetail Joe." Created by a couple of guys that saw a need for fun, family friendly clothing this company at www.WhitetailJoe.com is sure to become the hunting industries newest super hero. When interviewing the men behind Whitetail Joe they assured me that they had no plans to corrupt the tame comic appeal of "Joe" with any lude or ridiculous graphics in the future. I think their appeal will be to the masses and this is exactly the type of character that our children can proudly wear to elementary school and display their love of hunting without offending anyone.

Over forty treestand manufactures sit up display booths at the ATA show, it boggles ones mind with the stuff they are coming out with. But I did take a special look into Millennium Treestands booth, as I had the opportunity to use one of their stands back in November http://www.huntingsolutionsusa.com/. I think this company has a comfortable treestand is worth looking at. I have spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours in a thousand different treestands in my life. I have never sat in one that was as comfortable as Millennium.

Along with these new products it is always good to see some old reliable companies bringing out new products that reflect their commitment to our hunting heritage. One of those companies is the beloved Hunter Dan. A few years ago the Hunter Dan company launched the much anticipated female hunter Hunter Ann® . This modern day hunting doll has been a success for the company and the makers of Hunter Dan and Ann have been great supporters of Women Hunters. So I was tickled to see a few new products that they brought out this year. Hunter Ann now comes in a bowhunting model for those ladies young and old that love to bow hunt. This ethical hunting couple also has a few new species added to their line to hunt like the polar bear you can see more at www.HunterDan.com.

Scent Lok is making the leap into women’s sized clothing. Finally, is all I can say. Attention to details that matter to us women have been considered by Scent Lok designers when they came up with their new line. I look forward to this line hitting the catalogs watch for more at www.scentlok.com.

As with any year industry giants such as Mossy Oak ®, Realtree ® , Hoyt®, Muzzy® Mathews® and more were well represented with spectacular display booths. Each year the ATA show is always an exciting and busy place to be for those of us that love to hunt and love the sport of archery. Another record setting event is tucked away for the year; engineers and company professionals head back to their drawing desks to see what type of improvement they can make on their current line of products and what new products they can design for next year. Writers and photographers head back to their computers to report on the event and the industry celebrities head back into the field to capture more exciting hunts for us to see again next year. The Georgia Dome swept the floors and prepared for their next big trade show.  St this time the ATA board has not made a decision on where the show will be next year. It had been scheduled to go to Nashville, TN but due to Nashville plan to remold the show was moved. The ATA will be posting on there main website the details of the next location once agreements are made.