The 2009 ATA Trade Show in Indianapolis was another huge success! There were a lot of worries with the sluggish economy as to whether the attendance numbers would remain strong, but when the event opened up on Thursday morning, January 8, people were lined up in mass and excitement filled the Convention Center lobby. “Walk up” numbers the first day included 435 dealers, buyers and distributors. These numbers were those who hadn’t pre-registered.

          The numbers released for the 3 day show totaled 7,331 industry professionals, including 2,690 archery dealers and 205 distributors. The total for exhibiting companies totaled 453. The 2,690 dealers represented 986 individual stores, only 43 fewer than the ATA-record 1,029 stores at the 2008 Trade Show. (2009 ATA Newsletter)

At the 2009 show, I was fortunate to be a part of manning the ATSKO booth. ATSKO makes many of the products we all use including: Sport-Wash, UV-KILLER, N-O-DOR Sno-Seal, and much, much more. I also worked several shows for ATSKO last year including one in Harrisburg, PA., and one in Madison, WI. UV-KILLER is always the biggest attraction for the ATSKO booth as people line up to walk through the darkened tent to see how ultra-violet light is seen through a whitetails eye. Occasionally you get skeptics as they walk into the tent, but rarely do you ever see someone walk out the other side a non-believer. UV-KILLER is one of the biggest innovations to come around the hunting industry since the invention of the modern compound bow.

This year I was again blown away by another product ATSKO had to offer that really caught my eye, and the eyes of thousands of others. It was a product called “Permanent Water-Guard”. Permanent Water-Guard comes in a 10-fl. oz aerosol can and a 17-fl. oz spray bottle.

Just for fun, we applied Permanent Water-Guard to a paper towel and placed the paper towel on top of a tray filled with water. The paper towel floated and remained totally dry for 3 straight days! People were walking up, pushing the paper towel down into the water, sprinkling water onto the paper towel, and even asking if these were “regular” paper towels. We explained that all we did was spray the surface with Permanent Water-Guard and then apply direct heat by ironing the paper towel. We even had a manufacturer from a feather fletching company approach ATSKO about treating all their feather fletchings. Their current product (not ATSKO) wasn’t doing the job, and their fletchings were quickly absorbing moisture under wet conditions, causing the feathers to flatten out which directly affects arrow flight. You can see how that would be a major problem.

Another great application for hunters would be to use Permanent Water-Guard on their tree-stand seats. There is nothing more miserable than to get to your tree-stand and find you have a wet seat, or have your seat get saturated underneath you on a rainy day. One of the keys to success in hunting is being able to stay in your tree-stand for hours on end, and a wet, dismal day can significantly cut that outing short. Permanent Water-Guard should put that problem to rest once and for all!

Permanent Water-Guard is a solvent free, water-based fluorocarbon polymer water and stain repellent. It dries odor free and without U-V brighteners.

Guaranteed to remain effective even after 25 washings in Sport-Wash or Sensi-Clean. This is an extraordinary claim no other product is willing to make -- not even factory-applied Durable Water Repellents.

The NEW 10 oz. Aerosol is engineered for synthetic materials and blends like polyester, Microfibers, Nylon, Gore-Tex , Waterproof Breathables, Laminated or Coated, Fleece, Polypropylene, Blends, and Imitation Leather.

The 17 fl. oz. Trigger Spray is engineered for natural absorbent materials like Cotton, Wool, Down, Canvas, Suede and blends that contain Cotton. This Original High Solids formula is unsurpassed on 100% cotton. If used on absorbent materials a second treatment may be required.

ATSKO continues to lead the way in products designed to keep you comfortable in the woods and on the water. So before you go dropping a ton of money in new outdoor equipment, remember that your number one offense is a good defense (as demonstrated this year by the Pittsburgh Steelers). If you are serious about putting time in on the stand or on the water you will need to be odor free, high and dry and invisible to a whitetail’s eye. My hard earned dollars are going to a company whose products I know are the absolute best in the industry…ATSKO!

For more great products from ATSKO, go to: http://www.atsko.com