The 2003 AMO Show

or "Is That Tree Walking?" 

    By Ron McCormick

    What do you call that phenomenon, when you give up trying to do something and suddenly with no effort on your part it happens? So it was for me, after trying for many years to "make it" to the AMO Show, I just stopped trying. This year things just "came together" on their own and Saturday morning at 5:00 AM Jon, Stephanie and Mark Miller along with Corey and I, headed south to Indianapolis Indiana to attended the 2003 AMO Show. The fact that Mark volunteered to do the driving is what made things "come together" and make the trip possible for me.

    For years the show was known as the AMO Show.  This year it was called the ATA Archery Trade Show. AMO stands for Archery Manufacturers and Merchants Organization, they recently reorganized into the Archery Trade Association or ATA. Today with this fresh reorganization the ATA is poised to do many great things for the archery world. For more information on the history of the ATA look here.

    The Archery Trade Show was held in the Indiana Convention Center, very similar in structure to McCormick Place in Chicago, but smaller. It was very easy getting into the center, as the parking area was connected to the main building by an enclosed overhead walkway which gave much needed protection from the weather.

    After a quick "processing in" we entered the main exhibition hall. The exhibit area was huge but well organized. Other shows I have attended were very confusing and difficult to navigate in. The layout was like two main highways along each wall with connecting cross streets. The connecting cross streets contained the exhibitor's displays like little shops along each side. Visitors could move quickly from one end of the hall to the other end by walking along either "highway". By walking from one "highway" to the other using the connecting cross streets, a visitor could weave a path from one end of the hall to the other. We decided to weave our way through so we would not miss a single exhibit.

    The first thing I noticed was that almost everything was camouflaged. I should not have been surprised as bow hunting makes up about 90% of archery in the USA. I lost all interest in hunting after Vietnam, but many of my friends are bow-hunters so I decided to "open my mind" and what I saw and experienced was a pleasant surprise. One such surprise was Gary Coffey the owner of COFFEY Marketing Co. These folks run a small business specializing in providing the small accessories we archers find so indispensable. They design and make many of the products they sell. They also seem to look around for the other neat items we like and make them available also. Talking to Gary was like sitting on the back porch and "chewing the fat" with an old friend. He asked about the young people with me and he immediately took to Stephanie. Gary talked with her about her upcoming trip to France on the US archery team. Gary insisted I accept one of his products as a small gift. It was a little retractable reel about the size of a silver dollar. With a clip on the top you connect it to your belt loop or quiver. A score card or whatever can be connected to a clip on the retractable cord so as not to be lost, neat!  It went this way all day. I saw many products that I did not know existed, being displayed by very pleasant people. One such person was Vicky of Alpen Optics makers of fine spotting scopes, pictured at left along with Jon, Corey, Stephanie and Marleigh. Sprinkled amongst the camo exhibitors were little islands of familiarity and interest. The pulse would quicken when we caught a glimpse of a face or a product we see and use everyday. We visited George Tekmitchov  with Hoyt, Jim Park with Win Win and Greatree, Eric with Lancaster, Michelle Ragsdale with PSE, the folks at Shure Loc, Jim Easton of Hoyt Easton and many others. They were all displaying their latest products and were more than willing to talk about them. One of the first exhibits we stopped to view had a new riser design with a shoot through configuration, a plate on each side and the arrow goes down the middle. They had a recurve version on display  which I thought was a very courageous design. Pentax is offering what must be the ultimate spotting scope. Just where do spotting scopes end and astronomical telescopes begin. I would gladly give up my 8" Celestron Schmidt-Cassegrain for this scope! This beast has a 100 mm ED glass objective lens! It has an industry standard 1.25" astronomical eyepiece holder, adjustable exit pupil, weather-proofing and a price to match. This scope is over kill for the competitor but if you have to call a liner on a 90 meter target  from the spectator area, or view M31 the Andromeda Galaxy, this baby will do it. 

    By far the single most popular item displayed in the hall following compound bows was hunting tree stands. Every conceivable style and configuration was on display. Next to one of these exhibits was the Cavalier Equipments exhibit which was being manned by the man himself Dick Tone. Dick coached many past and present champions and is extremely knowledgeable about everything related to Olympic Archery. Every product Cavalier markets shows how knowledgeable the man is. After exchanging pleasantries we talked about the new items Cavalier has for 2003. Drop away launchers are becoming popular among compound bow shooters. These launchers as their name implies simply drop away from the arrow when the release goes off. Cavalier has the Avalanche Extreme available for 2003. Produced with the usual Cavalier attention to quality, it looked most impressive. Dick then held up what looked like a high-tech bright red anodized aluminum lipstick case. He unscrewed the protective cover and then removed what turned out to be the "New for 2003" Master Plunger Micro. This plunger has it all, micro-click tension adjustment, positive lock and only one hex wrench needed for all adjustments, neat! The case is called "Plunger Pocket" and is designed to protect the plunger while traveling.  We moved on through more neat hunting gear stopping to try to figure out what some gizmo was used for and moving on once satisfied. Win Win was our next stop, Greatree was the exhibitor for the Win Win line of products. Jim Park was present with his staff and along with Guy Gerig showed off the incredible line of Win Win Bows. The high-end Infinite is much the same for 2003 with a new eye catching line of colors, a Gold / White / Black combo is just one example. Clearly seen in the picture on the right is the answer to my wish, a Ferrari-red Infinite. I must have it! Click on the image on the right for a larger view. Of interest to the more technical types is the change to a duller finish on the carbon wrap on the rear of the Infinite riser. Also on the rear of the ledge at the top of the grip was added a lip like extension. The jury is still out on both of these modifications! Cosmetic changes aside this is an incredible riser.  The high-end limb line-up is unchanged. What changes would you want? The Synerzy  limbs are a technological marvel, when they are mated to the Infinite riser an awesome bow is produced!   The low-end is held down by the Evolution, a very capable looking bow for beginners with its own limbs available in 2# increments from 16-36#.

    At this point we were half-way through the exhibits and getting hungry and a bit silly as can be seen in the pictures below. Add your own captions, but be kind! Click the images for a larger view.

    After a lunch purchased inside the exhibit hall (which was a mistake, since just outside the hall entrance could be found much better concessions) that can best be described as survival food, we continued on, determined to meet our mission goal to visit every exhibit. We waded through more hunting tree stands (how many do we need?) and hunting gear. While we gathered in one spot looking through what looked like trees the "trees" started walking and talking to each other. Two people wearing what must be the ultimate in camo clothing that made them look exactly like small trees had been standing perfectly still for some time. We walked past them turning to look at something beyond them only to have the trees suddenly come to life! You could have fun with those outfits on Halloween.

    While we weaved our way through the hall we bumped into many "tournament people" Sonny Glisson, Terry Wunderle, Tim Strickland  and others, stopping to say "You have to see...,""Have you seen...?" and "See you laters!"

    The highlight of the trip came at the end when we visited the Hoyt Easton Exhibits. Jon had to have one of the huge 12"X18" Easton decals. He buzzed around the people at the booth until they relented and somehow dug up a pile of the decals. They divided the decals among Stephanie, Jon and Corey, more about this later. I lost count of the number of compound bows being offered by Hoyt but several versions of each was on display, including my dream compound bows, the ProTec and UltraTec with XT3000 50# -60# limbs with 27.5" draw length in fade red, thank you (anybody please). Hoyt compound bows are state of the art. Very high in quality, value and performance. This year only three recurve bows are offered. The AeroTec, the Matrix and the tried and true Gold Medalist. I guess if you have a good bow design you don't need to have many versions. I like the AeroTec and Matrix designs, and I feel they may be the best recurve bows Hoyt has produced to date. The fact that they are advertised as having original Earl Hoyt Jr. geometry is enough for me. These bows are as capable as any in the world. The quality, finish and performance is on par with any bows being manufactured today. I mentioned to George Tekmitchov that I had a problem  locating the plastic replacement grips for Hoyt Bows and without batting an eye he turned to a young lady working the Hoyt exhibit and said "When we finish on Sunday take the grips off all of the display bows and give them to Mr. McCormick". Thanks George, but did I tell you what a difficult time I'm having finding a flame AeroTec riser?

    We hung around the Easton exhibit kindly accepting all of the goodies they were giving out and waiting for Mark to "do business" with other NAA folk on site. I said this was the highlight of the trip and we were not disappointed. At the conclusion of doing his "business" Mark Miller talked with Mr. Jim Easton and then brought him over and introduced him to us. Mr. Easton's work and contributions to out sport are legendary. I'm at a lost for words to describe the respect this gentleman deserves. As soon as Mr. Easton walked over to talk to us a crowd began to form to see who the "VIPs" were that the VIP was talking to! Mark and the kids posed with Mr. Easton for several pictures and Jon whipped out the huge Easton decal and asked, "May I have your autograph?".  Genuinely embarrassed, Mr. Easton autographed decals for Jon, Stephanie and Corey. Click on the picture for a larger view.

    With our mission completed we made our way to the exit, loaded into the van and headed home. All of us agreed this was a lot of fun and worth the trip. I only touched on some of the manufacturers in attendance, and  failed to mention many other fine companies and their products.

    So, there you have it. If you get a chance to attend one of these shows, by all means take it. You will not be disappointed!

Ron McCormick