You know youâre at the SHOT Show when:

A. Your dogs are dead tired and sore from walking the show floor.

B. You run into fellow Canucks from the outdoor media industry.

C. You find yet another new product (and then some) well worth telling folks back home about.

D. You can drink that first end-of-day beer in less than 10 seconds.

E. All of the above.

The answer, of course, is E. Yes, the beer part is true. I ran into Outdoor Canada Field Editor Brad Fenson around 4:30 and we made our way up to the Sportsmanâs Lounge, a private oasis set up by Field & Stream and Outdoor Life magazines at the SHOT Show. There we found F&S Editor Anthony Licata and a tub of ice-cold beer. I recommend the Fat Tire brew out of Colorado. But I digress. We had a good chat with Anthony before finally calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.

And yes, I saw lots of cool new products today. One thing I can safely bet will be included in Ken Baileyâs roundup of the best new gear for 2010 (due out in the May issue of Outdoor Canada) is the new Omni-Heat outerwear lining from Columbia Sportswear Company. Put in their wigeon and big-game jackets for 2010, Omni-Heat promises 20 per cent more heat retention, a real boon to guys sitting for hours on end in the duck blind or treestand. As Columbia General Merchandise Manager Joe Boyle put it, Omni-Heat is a âgame changer for the industry.â

Also somewhat revolutionary in the outdoor garment category is the new Scent-A-Way technology from Hunterâs Specialties. Without getting into too much detail, HS says the new silver antimicrobial fabric yarn will remain active for the lifetime of the garment (wash it as much as you like) and keep the human stink at bay. For 2010, theyâre offering Scent-A-Way socks, gloves, toques, caps, travel bags and base layers. The way the techies at HS see it, this new scent eliminator will take over where carbon scent reduction systems left off.

There was piles more great stuff, of course, and I expect much of it to be included in Kenâs May roundup (for example, I thought Quaker Boyâs new, smaller diaphragm turkey calls designed just for femalesâ"with pink foam, no lessâ"were a great idea). Stay tuned for more.

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