You don’t need to be reminded that times are tough — but I guess it won’t hurt to say it again.

Dream bucks like this 203 5/8-inch bruiser don’t come along every day, but the upcoming season may be your best chance ever to get a great deal with an outfitter and up the odds. Dr. Chuck Conner (red shirt) of Plymouth, North Carolina, was hunting with outfitter Sam Moore (top right) of Illinois Finest Outfitters in Pike County, Illinois, in October 2005 when he arrowed this megabuck. Who knows? Maybe you could do the same thing!

In terms of value, your house and 401k probably ain’t what they used to be. Maybe your job is on shaky ground, too. Yeah, it’s been a while since I’ve heard anyone whistling the theme song from “Happy Days.”

But hard though it might be to imagine, there’s a bright side to such woe: As is always the case when there’s too much supply and too little demand, bargains abound. For those with some money set aside and the savvy and patience to shop wisely, there are great victories to be won. And not just in the stock market, but in the deer woods as well.

RETAIL REALITIES
Long before the economy went south, business had become ultra-challenging for most “mom and pop” sporting good stores, archery shops and other independently owned retailers of hunting products. That’s not really news. What’s different today is that we’re seeing a lot of price markdowns even in the catalogs and Web sites of the “big box” retailers. Sales are starting earlier than ever; in fact, they never really ended after last hunting season’s closeouts. Regardless of where you choose to shop, quality goods are out there, and at attractive prices.

Turn on the nightly news, and you’ll hear about the recent run on some semi-automatic firearms in the U.S. It began before the fall 2008 election and has continued since, in large part due to the shooting public’s fear of more restrictions, if not outright bans, on certain designs. Thus, some guns are in short supply, as is the ammunition to feed them.

Dealers have seen a huge run on loaded rounds for these guns, as well as primers and other components for reloading.

Luckily for deer hunters, these scarcities haven’t significantly affected the supply of more standard hunting rifles, muzzleloaders or slug guns. Nor has there been a major impact on ammo supplies for such firearms. There has been a sharp increase in the price of some hunting ammo, but it began well before this most recent frenzy and was due in large part to escalating commodity prices. (Now that those have dropped again, we’ll see if that translates to lower prices for the finished products.)

Top-quality hunting optics will never be dirt-cheap. However, I recently heard of a short-term rebate program from a legendary glassmaker previously unknown to be associated with that word. So even there we’re seeing some scrambling to get product moving. The same type of action is being seen with ATV dealers, many of which count whitetail hunters among their best customers in normal times.

Here’s the bottom line: Most good gear is on sale these days. Stock up now, or risk wishing you had.

DIRT-CHEAP(ER)
Priced any hunting land recently? If so, you probably know that for a lot of it, the cost has come down from a year or two ago.

Not that there’s as much of it on the market as you might guess. Many folks who’ve bought hunting land over the years paid cash and are holding onto it, rather than trying to dump it in a tough market. They aren’t distressed sellers — not yet, anyway. But in recent months there have been relatively few buyers in the market, and that keeps a lid on prices. If you have some money stashed and have faith in the long-term appreciation of land values, it’s not a bad time to be shopping.

GUIDED HUNTS
Not since 2001, when the tragic events of Sept. 11 nixed a lot of fall travel plans, has there been such a blow to the outfitting industry as we’ve seen this year. The difference is that, in 2009, the problem began not right before deer season, but a full year earlier, with the start of a banking crisis that ultimately soured the whole economy.

You might think whitetail outfitters have had time to recover for the 2009 season, but that’s not the case. With the economy in historically dire shape throughout last winter — prime time for booking guided hunts — more hunters than usual held off on doing so. Now the start of deer season is just around the corner, and many spots in camps across North America remain open.

The economy isn’t the only factor in this equation. Recently, we’ve also seen a net increase in the number of whitetail outfitters, particularly in Ohio, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska and some other places in which reasonably priced non-resident tags are either sold over the counter or can be drawn just prior to the season. Meanwhile, the universe of potential clients has, at least in the short term, shrunk. Put all of this together and what do you have? An unprecedented amount of unbooked inventory, that’s what.

The law of supply and demand in the outfitting industry works a bit differently than it does down at the hardware store. If you sell no screwdrivers one week, then sell a month’s worth the next week, you’re in good shape — but try doing that as an outfitter.

You not only must book enough hunters at a price you can live with, for logistical reasons you must space out the flow through as much of the season as possible. You can’t double-book your camp one week to make up for an empty one three weeks ago.

Even in a normal year there are occasional openings at some renowned deer lodges, but they tend to be nonexistent during prime time: late August in the South Carolina Low Country, mid-November in the Midwest or Canada, mid-December in South Texas, for example. What makes 2009 different is that many good operators still have openings even for their best weeks. One recently told me he thinks some camps could end up having only a single client during the peak of the rut. We might never see that happen again — and outfitters most assuredly hope not.

So if you’ve dreamed of booking a hunt but haven’t yet pulled the trigger, perhaps it’s time to start squeezing. You can begin by checking out the ads in this issue (including our “On The Trail” section in back). A lot of quality outfitters advertise here.

Most of these folks offer deer hunts in places that didn’t have a quota drawing for tags earlier in the year, meaning they still can book you for this season. And frankly, even with those in draw states, it might still be possible to slip in. Some wildlife agencies make leftover deer tags available on a first-come, first-served basis, and this year there figure to be more than ever.

PERMIT PRICES
Last spring Montana’s Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks extended the application period for non-resident outfitter-sponsored deer permits. There were roughly 900 unspoken for when the normal March 15 deadline passed — and at a whopping $1,100 per, that meant a wad of about $1 million in lost sales. Ouch. As yet, there’s no word on how many of these permits have been sold since the original deadline passed; all I know is that the price didn’t drop.

And that’s a point worth addressing. Even when the demand for deer tags is down, somehow fees hold fast. In the private sector, a glut in any product or service results in soft prices, which leads to increased demand that at some point rebalances the equation.

The public sector, meanwhile, isn’t directly ruled by the same vagaries of supply vs. demand and so isn’t as responsive to market forces.

As I’m sure you traveling deer hunters have noticed, non-resident tag prices tend to go up when demand greatly exceeds supply, especially over a several-year span. But what if demand drops, and stays down? If it does, will we see a corresponding drop in tag fees, to lure more customers?

Based on history, I’d suggest you not hold your breath. But on the bright side, if the price of that deer tag stays way up there, perhaps you can use some of your savings on that new truck to pay for it!