Where does a hunter/shooter go to find good deer-scent attractants and shooting gear? Big box outdoors stores deliver quantity and fair quality for hunting and shooting accessories. But an expert owner operating a specialty shop or outlet gives hunters, shooters, and outdoors enthusiasts in general an abundance of tips, tricks, and techie help hunters need to get set up smoothly and more fully enjoy each day of the hunt.

Two new shops opened this fall in Western New York. Each offers sound advice as well as quality products and services.

Northern Whitetail Scents

Doors open at 10 a. m. Monday for the Grand Opening of the Northern Whitetail Scents store at 10255 Main St. in Clarence.

Proprietor/hostess Pati Vacanti will be on hand with a full line of extensively field tested deer attractant and cover scents that could fool the wariest and most wise of whitetail deer this year.

Together with husband Robert, they researched and started their deer-farming business. But Pati serves as chief cook and (urine) bottler in this operation. Scent is collected and bottled daily.

The Vacantis began setting up their deer-scents operation about 13 years ago on a hillside in Warsaw. More recently, they moved the entire farm operation to Akron. “For the past six years we have been closer to Buffalo,” Pati said of their business, which has shipped deer-urine scents (liquid and gel) across the country.

“We fill many orders shipped to England and Canada, but most other countries don’t allow the importation of scents,” Pati said of past production years.

Orders come in as soon as hunters’ thoughts first turn to season starts. “One guy from Georgia asked to have an order rushed in late August,” she recalls. When she asked about his earnest ordering, he said, “I’ll finally have a reason to go out and sit in a tree,” he replied.

The first deer season in Georgia opened Sept.

12. Western New York’s archery season begins at sunrise on Saturday; Pennsylvania’s bow season opened Oct. 3.

Northern Whitetail Scent’s array of scents works all season—archery start to late-season muzzleloader hunts. “We introduced two new products a couple of years ago, but our regular supply of fresh scents—with no preservatives or additives—is our mainstay,” Pati said. Fighting Mad Gel and Nature’s Draw are their newest product items.

“Nature’s Draw is a kind of food gel that works like candy for whitetails,” she said of the second product.

The Vacantis kept an extensive photo gallery of trophy-sized deer drawn in with their scent products. Pati will have many of those shots on hand in the store when it opens Monday. By next Monday, the gallery could include additional big-buck harvests from Akron, Arcade, Allegany, and every other big-deer hunting spot around Western New York. Many have entered the New York State record books.

Look for the Northern Whitetails Scents sign in the Clarence Courtyard Plaza, just west of Don George’s Motorsports on Main St. Store hours will be 10 a. m.-2 p. m. Mondays, 2-6 p. m., Tuesday- Friday, and 11 a. m.-1 p. m. Saturdays.

If you can’t stop by the shop, orders can be taken by phone at 685-4019 and the farm’s product line is posted at NorthernWhitetail.com.

Hunter’s Landing

Looking for specialized archery and firearm gear? Check out the Landing. Hunter’s Landing, a bow and gun shop, held its grand opening Sept. 21.

The shop, at 8348 Lewiston Road in Batavia, former site of Fin, Feather and Fur, offers a complete line of Matthews archery products—bows, accessories, the works. Along with a nice selection of used guns, the Landing also handles all lines of Benelli firearms.

Three experienced shop guys-Paul Grefrath, Raymond Smith, Jr., and Wayne Meritt moved to this busy corner on Route 63 from a shop they previously ran in Oakfield.

All three shopkeepers have an extensive background in shooting gear, but I chatted mainly with Meritt during a visit to the shop last week. He has a long career in bow and gun sales and service. “I spent much of my time in the past at Creekside Gun Shop,” Meritt said of his background.

Veteran gunners will recall that Creekside in Bloomfield once had the largest collection of in-shop guns on sale and the widest and farthest shooting ranges in Western New York.

Hunters Landing may not expand to the size of Creekside, but the shop, and its experienced staffers, is worth checking out before big-game gun seasons start. For more details, give them a call at (585) 343-1474.