New store in town

Yesterday I pandered to my atavistic self and spent a whole hour in the new Wholesale Sports Outdoor Outfitters which opened at the end of last week just off the Island Highway in Nanaimo. There's no direct access off the highway because the entrance is off Wellington Road which is a minor nuisance. However, it's jam packed with good stuff, even if you can pick up the odd item cheaper in Canadian Tire. What has me wagging my metaphorical tail is the sheer range of stuff they have.

Went and had a salivate at the Archery section and drooled over all the stuff that you can't buy over the counter in the UK for fear of giving the Home Secretary a heart attack (Broadhead arrow points etc.). Talked to the guy on the counter who said yes they would be getting traditional materials for the dedicated traditional field archer (Cedar shafts, nocking points and all that jazz). He picked up on my accent (Which I'm keeping for tax purposes) and was pretty scathing about the hunting laws in the UK. Being a bit of a hunter gatherer at heart I tend to agree, although I'm aware that the UK is an ever more crowded place these days and you can't have every Tom, Dick or whoever popping off without some form of control like we used to do when I was fifteen. My home town used to boast three very good gun stores, now there aren't any. Did all the knee jerk legislation after Dunblane do a thing to the UK crime rate? Did it buggery.

Over here you can buy machete's for brush clearance almost as long as your arm providing you have valid ID, and I must say their gun counter looked rather enticing, and might just be worth jumping through the hoops to get a hunting licence for. Although I might just stay with a bow, being a trained Archer, just for the physical challenge it adds. Bow hunting has it's own season (which is two weeks longer than season for hunting with a rifle), and Mrs S is quite happy for me to 'buddy up' and disappear into the forest to see if I can bring home some venison. My very good lady knows exactly who I am, bless her.