Buying In

Published 4:09 pm Saturday, April 30, 2016

With all the rain in the forecast of late, it is easier to get outdoors stuff done indoors than trying to plan a trip. Well, almost.

I need some fishing reels cleaned. It would seem like such a small thing, but in reality it looks like I am facing at least an 80-mile roundtrip drive for my own negligence in keeping them clean and for a couple drops of oil.

What has happened when it comes to getting fishing and hunting gear?

There is no doubt the fishing and hunting landscape has changed just like other facets of retail and repair, and unfortunately sounding like that guy, it is not alway for the best.

To be honest I like the prices brought about by online and big box store competition, but I miss the old days’ of advice and help you could get walking into a brick and mortar tackle shop, gun shop or even a hardware store with sporting goods department.

In that not-so-distant past Saturday mornings were for going to the barbershop and getting the latest word on what was happening in the neighborhood. Anything after that or any other afternoon was for slipping away to the sporting goods store to spin reels, shake rods, see the newest baits and find out who was catching what where, or to learn about the latest introductions from Remington, Browning and Winchester, and hear stories about hunts past and future.

Today’s Academy, Gander Mountain, Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas are palaces compared to the old mom and pops. Heck, the bathrooms in some of today’s stores are bigger than some of those old stores. In Tyler, The Sportster was a quarter of the size of Academy, and it seemed huge compared to Mac’s and the long-gone Reynold’s or The Tackle Shack.

There was a time when a lot of stores, even Dillard’s, sold fishing and hunting gear. They were not controversial activities then that would result in a call for a boycott, and store buyers added lines that customers wanted and would bring them back into the stores.

Growing up in Dallas I visited a lot of sporting goods stores growing up. Some, like Western Auto, sold cane poles and other essential gear alongside plumbing parts, television tubes and lawnmowers. Others were honest-to-goodness sporting goods stores where fishing and hunting was their only business. My go-to stores were Ketchum and Killum on Kiest (that was indeed the name on the sign), Smitty’s on Jefferson and downtown’s Cullum & Boren.

One of my all-time favorite stories involved a quick trip to Smitty’s for a bottle of skunk scent for an upcoming varmint hunt. That was followed by a couple of hours of basketball at the local recreation center and three days of letting the car air out with the windows and trunk open.

Ketchum and Killum, like Mac’s and Tyler’s old mom and pop stores, was the everyman’s store. Nothing fancy. A storefront and guys inside that could be rough as a cob on a scared newcomer coming in to kick the tires, but helpful as could be when you asked a question.

Cullum & Boren was like a shrine. Going to the multi-story building in downtown Dallas’ concrete jungle was like entering the doors into the Alamo.

For a kid it was best to look and not touch.

The store sold ball and stick sporting gear, but for me it was all about the equipment for everything from safaris that I didn’t understand at the time to bream fishing corks that I did.

The salesmen seemed more expert-like. After all, they were selling for Cullum & Boren. They had to know what they were talking about didn’t they?

Those were my stores. Every town or city had theirs.

Sure times were simpler then, but if you could not walk in the front door of one of those old shops and not be hooked on the great outdoors before seeing the sunlight when you walked back out, you probably weren’t meant to read Outdoor Life and Sports Afield anyway.

Nothing stays the same and I am as guilty as the next at shopping online first.

We all pretty much know a products pros and cons before getting out of the car. Same with price highs and lows.

And while the smaller stores keep getting pushed aside, even the big boxes could be changing if rumors of Bass Pro Shops takeover of Cabelas prove correct. It will mean more change, and maybe not necessarily for the better.

Have a comment or opinion on this story? Contact outdoor writer Steve Knight by email at outdoor@tylerpaper.com. Follow Steve Knight on Facebook at Texas All Out

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