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Firearms, ammunition and camouflage don’t represent the whole story for hunting customers any more than tent and sleeping bags are all campers need to buy. In both instances, it pays to accessorize, and that’s true of the retailer as well as the sportsman who shops there.

Where to begin with hunting accessories? A better question might be: where does it end? The category is limited only by practical considerations of display and inventory space—less of an issue if your store also has a strong online presence—as well as common-sense considerations of what and what not to carry. If your state does not lend itself to a certain type of hunting—e.g., upland waterfowl in, say, Arizona—then it stands to reason that your inventory should not go heavy on duck calls or duck blinds.

To gauge how wide a gamut of merchandise the hunting accessories universe encompasses, consider how many items center around the firearm itself, and in particular getting the most accurate shot from that rifle or shotgun. These can include shooting sticks (also known as monopods), bipods or tripods of different heights. At the 2011 SHOT Show, for example, Browning introduced a line of lightweight shooting sticks made from 6061-T6 aircraft aluminum. Different customers will have different requirements and preferences among sticks or multi-legged supports, with considerations including whether they’re more likely to take a shot from a seated or standing position. Naturally, most sticks, bipods and tripods are adjustable within a certain range, although not so wide a range that your store could conceivably take a one-size-fits-all approach.

Then there are sights, rails and, farther up the price ladder, binoculars and scopes, although these may fall more into the category of sporting optics. Choke tubes also fall into the category of improving shooting accuracy, less in terms of aiming the firearm itself than of directing the spray of ammo.

The list of firearm-related accessories doesn’t end with helping the hunter zero in on his target. There are also gun cleaning kits and, for the hunting enthusiast who’s especially handy on the workbench, gunsmithing kits. In a related area are spare and replacement gun parts. Accessories related to firearms also include stocks, slings, shoulder bags, ammo pouches, gun cases, safety locks, loaders and so on. Army/navy stores that sell to hunting customers will find that G.I. ammo cans may serve the same purpose in civilian life as they do in the military.

Seating arrangements
Since hunting usually means hours of waiting, why not ensure that your customer has a comfortable place to sit while on a stakeout for that nine-point buck? A camo-patterned folding stool will prove handy. If your customer is going to be in an elevated perch, a tree stand, and perhaps portable steps to help climb into it, will be called for. While up there, the hunter may find that it gets cold, so warmers would be a welcome accessory.

Decoys take a variety of forms, and so do the accessories for them. Some decoys operate by remote control, others by wind power. Your customer shouldn’t be without decoy cord for rigging up these devices, and neither should your store’s inventory.

Game calls as well as scents can further help the hunting enthusiast lure his (or her) prey, and here it makes sense to key your selection to the types of game animals popular in your selling area. For a completely different reason, scent concealers and eliminators may also aid in the hunter’s subterfuge. The idea is not to trick the animal into believing that a potential mate is in the area, but to leave the prey unaware that the hunter is even there.

While camo outerwear, pants and coveralls fall under the heading of hunting apparel, as boots belong in the footwear category, headwear and handwear count as accessory items. Your selling area’s seasonal climate may dictate how much inventory to stock in this area; a shooter may not need to wear gloves in temperatures that would call for warm-weather camo. But even under those circumstances, a camo hat may offer sun protection as well as helping the hunter blend in with his surroundings.

Many accessory items that are relevant to your hunting customer would be applicable to any outdoor sports, although with a few wrinkles that make them especially useful for hunters. For example, a backpacker as well as a hunter could make good use of a portable GPS system to help navigate through the woods and fields—but it’s the latter type of customer who would also find it useful to store the coordinates of a spot frequented by the game animal of choice, for later reference. Similarly, the backpacker may want to bring a digital camera to record favorite sights, but the hunter would use such a device to do reconnaissance on a favorite hunting spot.

Similarly, a pocket knife or multi-tool may find more ready use during the hunter’s day in the outdoors than in that backpacker’s regimen. The backpacker may consider a multi-tool reassuring to have on hand, but the hunter may end up using it many times in the course of a day: to rig up decoys, for example, or to tighten a scope.