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Hunter Education On Site Leads to Strong Youth Gun Sales
John Lewis—Herb Bauer Sporting Goods, Fresno, Cali.
Youth hunters and shooters are a growing part of the business done at Herb Bauer Sporting Goods, and the store itself facilitates much of that youth “traffic” by offering the state-mandated hunter education course on site.
“Our shop prides ourselves in educating many, many youths every year in our hunter education program,” says Gun Department Manager John Lewis. “Our hunter safety teacher is a second generation female instructor who has a real passion for recruiting more kids to hunt in our state! She works closely with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and coordinates many special youth hunts each year, including dove, quail and pheasant hunts.”
With these many young people coming through the store—with parents in tow—sales are very good on a number of youth model shotguns, especially single-shots made by Rossi and NEF. Top youth pump guns include Remington, Mossberg, Browning and Benelli Novas, and these young shooters prefer their new scatterguns in .20 gauge and .410.
For young rifleshooters, the Savage Rascal, a single-shot bolt-action with Savage’s AccuTrigger, is tops here.
“Air guns are popular, too, especially as we get into the holiday season where we will sell over 50 Daisy Red Ryders—after customers watch their holiday favorite video!” says Lewis. That movie, of course, is 1983’s A Christmas Story where young lead character Ralphie Parker pines for “an official” Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. The Red Ryder sells for just under $50.
Herb Bauer’s also sells a good selection of Crosman youth rifles, popular as they can shoot both BB's and lead pellets.
Editor's Note: This brief originally appeared in the Winter 2015 issue of Gun Digest the Magazine.
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