Busy Opening Weekend Means Big Business for Firearm Deer Season

Firearm deer season is underway!

Opening day was Sunday, but it is big business for the rest of November. Crummy weather, and even a pandemic, are not keeping hunters away.

Dan Doherty owns Jack’s Sport Shop in Kalkaska. “It’s been an excellent weekend. In fact the Sunday opener is always good for business. People come up, they’ve got a day to get ready. And they bow-hunt a little bit the day before rifle (season) opens.”

At Jacks’ Sport Shop, Doherty says license sales are way up. He says that’s a good indication that people want to be out in the woods this year. But the big story, according to Doherty, is the lack of ammunition.  “That’s been terrible. We sold out of all the popular stuff three or four days before the opener. (That’s) partially due to COVID for sure, the manufacturers just haven’t been producing it. And the demand has been probably 500% increased.”

The pandemic has also brought young hunters out with their parents or grandparents, and brought some people back to the sport after years away. Doherty says, “If they’re not working, or they have the time. Being cooped up when things were shut down. We saw a huge increase in fishing as well.” He says shutdowns of other types of business have driven people to outdoor activities. “You can’t go to the gym. You might as well go out in the woods.”

Hunter Brett Morick agrees. “Cabin fever for sure, right? I think with everyone being cooped up this is a good release. Escape from all the craziness we have to go through daily.” Morick is back from Indiana for his second year of firearm deer season. “Last year I saw very few hunters. This year, considerably more. I don’t think I heard as many gunshots this year but I think that might have been the weather.”

Morick is one of many who are checking in a buck at the Mancelona Buck Pole, just up the road from Kalkaska on highway 131. Joanie Moore with the Mancelona Chamber of Commerce and the Buck Pole Committee says the Chamber “has been sponsoring the Buck Pole for 66 years here in Mancelona. The event has gotten bigger over the years. I think it’s become more popular. We’ve got the same folks running it year after year, we’ve got generations of younger kids taking it over and picking up some of the heavier work for us.”

Moore says they’re seeing more hunters – and more volunteers – supporting the event. And that means more support for local businesses.  “It’s a big event for us. We have a lot of hunters that come in. They support our businesses, the restaurants, the sports shops. The stores we have here. It’s a very big boost to our local community.”