Preliminary numbers from the state Department of Natural Resources aren’t available yet for the ongoing archery deer season, but three local businesses are shedding a little light on how hunters are faring so far in the woods and fields.
“As of Oct. 27, a lot of people were shooting bucks already,” said Brock Smejkal, of Butch’s Archery and Outdoor Sports, located on state Highway 22 between Clintonville and Shawano. “A lot of people say Halloween’s the best hunt. They’ll start moving at daylight. They’re just starting to chase the does around, but they’re hitting scrapes, and people are able to set up and get a chance at one.”
He said plenty of deer — mostly does — are usually seen in the first week of the hunt, which this year got underway Sept. 13.
“A lot of times, it’s really warm so it keeps a lot of people out of the woods,” Smejkal said. “Guys that are going tend to pattern a deer a little better. When they’re in their summer pattern, they’re going from their bedding to food. If you can find whatever way they’re taking to their food source, that’s where you have luck.”
Meanwhile, 40 miles up Highway 22 in Oconto Falls, two other businesses are catering to gun and bow hunters.
Wade Jeske opened Lena Swamp Archery in 1998 and caters to bowhunters, while Mark Micoley runs Rocky Ridge Shooters Supply and deals with guns.
“One of my customers came in this morning and said, ‘My son got a nice, beautiful buck’ and he showed me the picture,” Micoley said. “I said, ‘That’s really nice; he’s going to be spoiled.’ He said, ‘Yeah, the worst part was that I had to wake him up to shoot it because he was sound asleep. I saw the deer, and he didn’t.’”
“It seems like people are seeing quite a few deer,” Jeske said. “It’s a little different nowadays with Facebook and social media. We see the pictures, but in the old days, we always had weigh-in contests and people took them to a registration station. There are a lot of nice deer taken and it seems early this year.”
“Some people have been out with kids for the youth hunt, and they had pretty good success,” Micoley said. “The basic hunting seasons are doing good. That’s what I’m seeing.”
“October 22 was always kind of the kickoff for big bucks being brought in, and this year was earlier, because it was so warm,” Jeske said. “More people are hunting and the hunter is a lot more skilled. It used to be 20 yards and under and now, the compound (bow) guys are feeling comfortable at 40 (yards) and crossbow guys are probably 50 and under.”
Business is brisk at all three places this time of year.
“This time of year is definitely crunch time,” Smejkal said. “We always start getting busy after the Fourth of July with people practicing or buying a new bow or crossbow. We get a lot of that in the summer. From a couple of weeks ago until now, people that don’t hunt in the early season are coming in to get set up with new stuff.
“We would not be as big as we are if we did not take into account the hunting part of archery. We see more people that are actually hunters than strictly archers. Most of our customers are hunters, and we cater to them. Half of our customers are crossbow hunters, half are bowhunters, and almost all those people are gun hunters.”
Archery keeps growing in popularity, and hunters don’t need to spend $2,000 on a bow to be successful, according to Smejkal and Jeske.
“The technology in bows is insane,” Smejkal said. “You think it can’t get any better, and it does every year. We have a lot of packages where we get bows that are under $1,000 that are fully set up, and hunters are successful.”
“Our biggest-selling bow is the Fred Bear line,” Jeske said. “You can pick up a really nice bow for $400. We have guys with good jobs, and they’ll drop 2,500 (dollars) on a setup, but everything on those bows has a lifetime warranty. You do not have to spend a lot of money to get results.”
Besides selling and repairing bows, Butch’s will help a first-time or novice bowhunter get set up properly, Smejkal said.
“A new shooter will come in, and we’ll show them everything and let them decide based on their budget and experience,” he said. “We teach them how to shoot and get them set up. The more perfect the bow is set up to a person, the better. You have to get their draw length correct and make sure they’re pulling the right weight so it’s not too little or too much.”
Practice is also a part of the sport, Smejkal said.
“I personally try to shoot every day or every other day in the summer leading up to fall,” he said. “I’ll be honest with you, you can’t do it too early. We always tell people if they have stuff they want to change with their hunting this time of year, we recommend doing it in the winter. If you’re getting a new bow, you really can’t start too early. Spring’s a great time to do it. It’s a little slower in here, and we can really spend some time with people.”
Jeske and his team are also available to help hunters pick the right bow and equipment.
“On the compound side, we stock over 150 different models,” he said. “Some people are locked in. If they had Mathews their whole life, they’re going Mathews. Surprisingly, in the last 2, 2 1/2 weeks, we’ve seen more compounds. I take it that’s more people getting back into it or getting into it. Some are new and some are pulled out after 10, 20 years.”
Bowhunting is big in Oconto County, Jeske and Micoley said.
“Bowhunting here is huge,” Jeske said. “2014 was the first year anybody could use a crossbow, and what happened is the crossbow is really an arrow gun. It’s powerful with long range, and you don’t want to shoot it like a compound. Each bow has a limited amount of shots. After 50, 75, 100, 200, you’re changing strings and cables. Every strings and cables (replacement) is going to cost you $175.
“On the new ones that are short, narrow and powerful, it’s every two years. It gets to be pricey. This little shop here, we do close to $1 million a year, and that’s straight archery, no fishing, no guns. It’s almost overwhelming. We run between 100 and 130 people a day here. It’s pretty much year-round.”
“Down the street, the restaurant opens early during the hunting seasons,” Micoley said. “My biggest thing probably a month ago is guys trying to get ready for hunting. Suddenly, they need a new scope or general gunsmithing.”
“This year, we really noticed a lot of guys that never shot a compound are getting into it, because they found out that a crossbow is expensive to shoot,” Jeske said. “It’s an arrow gun vs. a bow that you’re going to shoot 100 or 200 times in a weekend because it’s fun.
“The compound can be intimidating, because there’s a lot more going on than in the old days. As guys get older, they’re finding out that crossbows work well late season. We normally do 60 (percent) crossbow, 40 compound, but we’re starting to see that increase. Everybody that hasn’t got a deer yet is out there hunting, and that’s when things break. You drop, break or miss something and you come in for help.”
Business at Lena Swamp Archery, located 3 miles east of Oconto Falls, ramps up after the Fourth of July, Jeske said.
“June is the slowest, but the day after the Fourth of July, it turns right on because people have that extra time off,” he said. “The compound guy wants to get ready. He’s going out west at the end of August. The crossbow guy knows that something broke, but it took him forever to bring it in. They come in in June and drop the bow off. We get it finished, and it’ll hang here for two months.”
The increased business keeps Jeske from doing a lot of bowhunting.
“Last year, I bowhunted twice,” he said. “That’s all I could get out. We close down for a couple of days during gun season. I’d rather bowhunt, but I can’t get off. We’re fixing between 12 and 15 bows a day. We’re in a really good area, and we’re a factory-authorized service center. If you live in Wausau or Marquette, Michigan, or Sheboygan and you call the factory, they’ll send them here. The location here is great. We have some retired people who live up north. We’re only two miles off of (U.S. Highway) 141, so our market area is huge.”
It’s the same story at Rocky Ridge Shooters Supply, located on Main Street in downtown Oconto Falls.
“I have customers from Kenosha to St. Paul, Minnesota, that come back to the area for some reason,” Micoley said. “We’ve been here 16 years now, and I’ve seen a lot of people that come into the store that are return customers.”
“A lot of these guys live down south,” Jeske said. “The rut’s coming up, and they have one week of vacation. Something breaks, and they don’t have the two or three weeks to wait for this part. More guys are learning how to take care of their bow. Anybody that has problems for the next two weeks, I guarantee that for the rest of their life they’ll have that bow in here in June. They learn.”
Some of Micoley’s customers who need their gun or rifle repaired might not get their request completed in time for the upcoming gun deer season.
“Most people are very understanding, but we have three weekends (until the opener),” he said. “They’re working during the week, so what do they do? They take their gun out Saturday or Sunday to shoot. They find out something’s wrong. Now, they’re getting to the critical stage: ‘Oh my God, I didn’t know my scope was broke’ or ‘I forgot that my gun broke last year, and now I’m remembering.’ It goes back to that old saying: Lack of preparation on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part. We try very hard to get these people going.”
Micoley’s busy season begins in early September with the opening of small game and waterfowl seasons. Business also picked up in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“People would come in to buy a gun trying to defend their toilet paper,” Micoley said. “That was big. I had a lot of customers come in who said, “I never owned a gun in my life, but I want one now, because I’m afraid. It’s nothing for me to spend over an hour trying to find a gun for a person, and then they leave. I see these people come back with a little more information.”
Jeske also deals with hunters who need their bow repaired.
“We have 6,700 customers coming through here in a year and they all know my name,” he said. “It’s not like a car. This is their happy time.”
