A certain futures market
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Your opener is coming up soon. I don't care if you're a waterfowler, a pheasant hunter or have that coveted firearms deer tag for this autumn, opening day is approaching faster than a set of mallards with cupped wings descending on your decoy setup. Which is why now is the time to prepare for that day, and all the days that come after it in your season (or, more likely, seasons) this autumn, and lock in your investment in lead. Because just by looking at the past, I can predict the future you'll find if you wait until the days leading up to the start of the season. I can recount in my early days of hunting, rolling into Watford City just before sunset on the Friday before pheasant opener with my cousin, my young lab, and my dad's hand-me-down Remington Wingmaster 870 in tow, stopping in at the last bastion for hunters -- a small nondescript white combination gas station/garage/general store on main street, well before the dollars of the oil boom revitalized the area.
On the gray metal shelf were about half a dozen scattered boxes of shotgun shells of various sorts, with one cardboard container of 12 gauge remaining. It was better than the selection of size four and five I had left over from the previous fall -- my first in the field -- which I had bagged in a gallon Ziploc bag in my duffel. At $14, the price was steep for that particular time in my life, but I knew the small town premium I was paying, and the timing that likely factored in as well. While they weren't my favored make of shell, they at least had the Federal logo emblazoned on the box, so I knew I had the quality I wanted and would back up my limited supply for the long weekend we had planned at my grandmother's farm.
From that point on, I was a bit more proactive both with my upland loads and those rifle cartridges I'd use in November. Saving up and buying in bulk in August and September made sure that I not only caught any preseason deals ahead of the season opener at a lower price, but it also guaranteed that I'd have the shells I preferred to shoot in the field when the sun rose on the start of each season. I found it even more important for deer hunting to have the cartridges I'd first sighted my rifle in with, then did so again each season thereafter, before being assured the same were in the clip and the bolt action of my Savage 30.06 as I took my position in the stand or on a favorite hillside at dawn on opening day.
Unlike the topsy-turvy stock market we observe today, influenced by the tariffs on Canadian syrup to sugar coat a grudge, the bombs falling in the Middle East to cover up a political scandal, and the exponential upswing in society's reliance on artificial intelligence, I can predict with 100 percent certainty where the ammunition market will be going in the next several weeks, and it comes down Adam Smith at his finest. Demand will go up, supplies will go down, the small towns hosting hunters in October and November will have limited stock and likely not of your favorite options, and if you don't buy now, you may still find the shelves as bare as those metal ones on the old Main Street of Watford City 25 years ago.
Thus, to prepare for the season, play that futures market now and make your investments accordingly. Find the shells and cartridges you prefer and need for a successful season at your local retailer and buy ahead of the backside of the bell curve. By doing so, you'll likely save yourself a little money in the near term and a lot of stress on the back end and avoid a scramble before the start of whatever hunting season you enjoy ... in our outdoors.