With the “ding” of the bell on the door, a glance usually reveals what might happen next. A customer might have a bow case, bow or fistful of arrows in hand. Or an expression of alarm, possibly of dismay. If things are good, the expression will be bland, or a smile that indicates a “just looking around” visit. The saunter to store shelves also is a tell, unless it’s an urgent beeline to the counter.

The final few weeks before deer season opens can be crazy in archery shops throughout the country. Even the best, most well-planned blueprint for opening hours, products on hand from nocks and strings to bows and cases, employee scheduling and more all can be on point or blown to smithereens. An employee’s kid or elder parent gets sick. Somehow, you run out of nocks. A frantic customer needs a new bowstring for his trip … in 2 days! A guy with a big trip next week needs the full setup: new bow, arrows, broadheads, release, case, the works. He shot regularly a dozen or so years ago, but hasn’t in a while, and his pals invited him.

A teenager with unruly hair meekly asks about a value-priced bow and how he’s hoping to start hunting, a project you’d love to work on with him, but a week before season isn’t the time. Still, you recognize the desire. You take a moment to talk with him, encourage him, tell him to come back, and you’ll help when it’s not so busy and you’ll get him set up. He leaves happy, still with a dream in his eye. You have a guy come in wanting to get outfitted with a new crossbow or to refit the older model he has, so his father, who can’t pull a compound anymore (even on low poundage), can still get into the woods to hunt with his grandkids.

Sometime in all of this that goes on for 7, 14, maybe even 20-ish days before the season opens, you find time to have a personal life. Talk with your spouse, eat lunch and supper, go see the grandkid’s ball game before heading back to work a late night catching up. You’re dead set on “I’m not doing this again next year!” and vowing to change, and yet it doesn’t change. Every year, you know you’ll have last-minute customers needing something. You don’t want to turn them away, yet you have to set limits and waitlists, and sometimes, yes, say that you can’t do it right now and it’ll be a week or more. You can’t just drop everything to build a new bowstring a day before the season opens, or cut three dozen arrows right then because you have seven other customers in front of him.

It’s a balancing act of customer service and reality. Here’s how three established bow shops handle the crunch.

Year-Round Interest

Way back in the day, traffic ramped up in archery shops often in mid-summer when the annual deer expos or outdoors shows were held. The public attended the shows, got the itch, started getting out their bows to shoot targets, and realized they needed or wanted some new gear. Or, that something was broken and needed to be repaired or replaced. In southern states where seasons open in late September or October, Labor Day was a kickoff weekend.

Now, 3-D tournaments begin in February and last into autumn. More bowhunters are pursuing turkeys and spring bears. Feral hogs are a year-round option. The opportunities never end. I spent a day in two shops, Full Draw Archery and Custom Archery Center, in my hometown of Huntsville, Alabama, last year before the state’s 2022-23 deer season opened. Phones rang almost non-stop. Someone would leave and the door would open 5 or 10 minutes later. Behind the counters at both, bow presses were in use, fletchings were being glued on, arrows cut and more. Deliveries were made, boxes of products ordered within the last days. Each store was a hive of controlled activity.

“It really doesn’t stop, to tell you the truth,” said Jeff Greer with Music City Archery in Franklin, Tennessee. “We have indoor events, help people with 3-D events, and it seems like there’s always some hunting going on. We start to see an uptick for guys going to Canada in the early seasons, and even in spring, so it never really ends. Of course, we definitely see an increase in mid-summer before Tennessee’s deer season opens in September. It never really stops, though.”

Nostalgia provides more pleasant memories, of course, and it seems like back in the day a problem only involved lost arrows or broken release strap. Hunters didn’t seem keen on changing anything significant weeks before kickoff. Now, a chat with hunting buddies might prompt a guy to buy new broadheads at the last minute, or make a bigger change. And some hunters don’t always have minor issues, either. Some want the full blowout, even a day or two before a season opener.

“It’s not just ‘Oh, I need some broadheads, or I blew off a fletching off and can you fix this?’ anymore,” said Steve Williams with Custom Archery Center in Huntsville. “It's everything from new strings and new bows, cutting new arrows they buy in here or bring in, setting up a bow, the works. We’ve seen a lot, but I’d say probably strings and arrows are the two biggest right before deer season opens. I did have a guy come in once the day before the season who wanted the full setup, everything from a bow to broadheads. He hadn’t hunted in years, or said he hadn’t, and wanted it all. So, we set him up. Next morning, we get here and he has a deer on top of his car, bleeding, guts still in it. So, you never know.”

That sparked another memory for Williams.

“Had a guy come in once in full camo with a crossbow, which we put on the press and realized it was busted. He said he had a big buck lined out and dropped about $3,000 on a new crossbow and the works.”

Little Big Stores

Ronnie Kimbrough has seen it all, too, like many other archery retailers. The owner of Full Draw Archery in Huntsville, he worked in a local outdoors store for many years manning its archery department. He opened Full Draw 14 years ago and has been successful, which isn’t surprising. Before his time with the outdoors store, back in the early 1980s, Kimbrough was with a smaller shop few today in the area might even remember. Full Draw, like Custom Archery, is one of a small handful of independent retailers in Alabama.

“Shops like ours are too big to be little and too little to be big,” he said. “We have guys coming in year-round for things, but mostly we start seeing hunters in mid-July. They’re getting ready to go to Kansas for deer, or for elk in the Rockies, and then you have the Kentucky and Tennessee seasons that open. The guys who just hunt in Alabama, we’ll start seeing an uptick after Labor Day weekend.”

In the 2 weeks before Alabama’s October 15 opener, Kimbrough said that 44 bows were dropped off for work. “But add the other things we’re doing, like selling 20 bows, cutting arrows, whatever else, and it’s go-go-go from open to close.”

George Harris with Custom Archery Center, which has roots of more than 30 years to a prior owner and at least three previous locations. Harris has been with the shop for 3 decades. He greets everyone with “Good morning” no matter the time of day, and like the others, has seen just about everything. That includes hunters with manners, some with no patience, and others who probably didn’t return after a last-minute request wasn’t granted immediately. Being calm and collected in the final weeks before a season-opener is a must, Harris says. 

“Most folks, most bowhunters, are level-headed enough to understand if they walk in 3 or 4 days before the season opens they’re going to be at the back of the line or have to wait for a little while,” Harris said. “We take things as they come in, try to handle it that way, and get them done one-by-one. It depends on the request and issue, though. If it’s minor, we might be able to handle it right away while they wait. Obviously, if it’s something bigger, we can’t just drop everything.”

Greer and Kimbrough share similar views as Harris. If a guy needs three nocks glued on, they might get that done quickly and out of the way. If he needs a dozen nocks, it may be later or the next day or two. Depends on what’s on the existing worklist. At Music City Archery in Franklin, Jeff Greer’s wife, Theresa, handles myriad duties while their kids, Dalton and Jessica, both in their 20s, assist in the bow shop and on the teaching range.

“You never know who will come in with something,” Jeff said. “It might be a guy with a 3-D shoot coming up who needs something, or a hunter going to Canada or overseas. We work with them as best we can, depending on the request and timeframe, and what other things we have going on at the moment ahead of them. There definitely doesn’t seem to be a slow time of the year anymore, which honestly is a good problem to have.”

Sidebar: Last-Minute Tips for the Crazyville Crush

The crush never really ends, but it definitely gets worse just before deer season opens. Here are five takeaways to help you and your staff avoid visiting Crazyville in the final weeks:

1. Be Consistent — If you want to set late hours for 2 weeks, let the staff know and plan for it. Find out if there are conflicts, make adjustments, and remind everyone of the change. Perhaps instead of closing at 6 p.m., you’ll close at 8 p.m. Everyone knows, everyone’s on the same page, and you stay on a consistent track so you can get things done.
2. Lighten the Load — Order pizzas for the staff. Have a drawing each week for a cash bonus for the team members. Or, maybe, each day have a drawing and give a gift card to a restaurant, or cash. If you know your crew likes ice cream, or cold watermelon, or frosty brews from the local pub, get it done. You’re not rowing a Viking ship across the North Sea or digging coal from a seam. Get the work done but have some fun, too, and reward your team.
3. Breathe In, Breathe Out — Stuff will happen. Things will break. Someone will say, “I thought I could count on you to help!” The tension level will rise. It might even get chippy. While you sometimes may need to be firm with a customer, don’t blow it. The best thing is to take some deep breaths and count to 10. Maybe step in the back “to check on an order.” Do some box breathing: take a deep breath and in your mind start the top edge of a box. Breathe out, and create the second edge. Breathe in, and visualize the bottom edge. Breathe out and finish the box. Maybe make a second box. You don’t have to tell the customer that you just stuffed him into the box, but might help you to visualize it.
4. Have Reps on Speed Dial — Yes, you may need to order something overnight and get it done. The customer doesn’t mind. You need those strings or parts or whatever. Have your reps or the company office on speed dial. Things happen, but you’ll no doubt have someone somewhere you can call to help get the task completed. In today’s world an overnight or 2-day delivery and expense is just part of life.
5. Be Appreciative — Yes, it’s tough to go through such a rush at the last minute. You’d think hunters would come in earlier, knowing the season is approaching. Yet, they don’t. But be appreciative that they’re in your shop, asking for your help and advice. They could be somewhere else. Or they could be buying their goodies online. Smile, be as friendly as possible, do what you can to help them, and appreciate that they’re your customers. Find those silver linings.