Has anyone been to scheel's and would you recommend it? Went to the local duck's sporting goods today to look around while the wife Christmas shopped next door and they had 1 small rack of camo. No tree stands or ground blinds. Been pretty unimpressed with Dicks, gander mountain and even bass pro last time I was there. Seems they are more focused on yuppy stuff than hunting. Scheel's would be a 3 hour drive. Was wondering if the trip was worth it or not. Or if you guys have any other places you like. Thanks guys.
Heck, I think most hunting equipment is now "yuppy stuff". The camo looks just like real leaves and bark is glued to the fabric, but it stands out in the woods more than my old wool pants that have the old army camo pattern on it. Compound bows are so advanced I can't afford to buy a new one. The fancy climber stands feel like you're sitting in a La-Z-Boy recliner. The new rifled shotguns with sabbots are as accurate as some centerfire rifles, but my smoothbore pump with a 1 oz Remington slugger still drops deer in their tracks. People spend hundreds on carbon activated suits and no-scent deodorant and soap and carry bottles to put their "bodily fluids" in while hunting, but people have been killing deer for years while smoking and taking leaks from their stand. OK, rant over lol. There aren't any Scheel's around me. I'm not really sure how duck's and Bass Pro and Gander Mountain compare, about all I look at anymore in those stores are ammo and fishing equipment. I haven't bought anything hunting related, other than ammo, in about 10 years.
I'm with you. I used to read the gun rags all the time. Every year or two, there was some new wonder cartridge for hunting. After a while, I realized it was 99% marketing BS and came to the conclusion that my '06 is all I need, at least till I need my 404. It isn't like the deer are upgrading their armor or developing better thermal cameras or otherwise upgrading. They are the same animals they were 100 years ago. If anything, they are less wary because they live closer to people and fewer people (% wise anyway) hunt them. Wear something other than a suit covered in flashing LEDs and/or firecrackers, sit in a shadow, shut up, and mind the wind, and you are good to go. I will admit that I do like one bit of modern gear: a Kindle so I have plenty to read while I'm sitting. As far as the original post, I can't comment on Scheel's. I do almost all my shopping online these days. To me, the value of the store was mostly in the expertise of the staff. These days, the staff rarely makes a career out of it. This week they are at Walmart, next week at the sporting good store. I get more helpful info from the reviews on Amazon.
I hear that about the magazines, for 10 years I subscribed to a few of them, but after I realized they were cycling through basically the same articles again and again and just adding new gear that we NEEDED to buy. There's no "new tactics" to hunt deer or turkey or catch fish!! A Kindle is a really good idea! I've thought about taking a book, but I was worried the sound and movement of turning pages would get me busted. I have a hard time sitting still for more than 10 minutes unless I'm occupied somehow. I've actually shot deer on 3 different occasions by just falling asleep sitting on the ground leaning up against a tree, and then something woke me up right when they were passing 20 yards in front of me.
Sleeping is an underrated tactic. Won't sell too much gear writing an article about it so you'll never read about it. I think the animals somehow can sense when a predator is interested in them. I can see deer within 30 yards if I'm on my tractor (which is loud enough to wake the dead) or if I'm splitting wood. They somehow know what's what.
