WEST FARGO, ND (KFGO) – It’s no secret. Ammunition has been in short supply everywhere for some time but it can be a struggle for hunters gearing up for the deer hunting season and not prepared for the opener Friday in North Dakota and Saturday in Minnesota.
Lisa Dirks knows. She’s treasurer of Red River Regional Marksmanship Center, a member-owned indoor shooting range run by volunteers in West Fargo. She said hunting ammo has been especially difficult to find.
“We have quite a few people coming into our shooting range to sight in their rifles in and they have ammo. They have been actively involved in the shooting sports and have understood the ammo shortages and they’ve planned ahead and picked it up when they could and hung on to it,” Dirks said.
There are reports that with a sudden spike in new gun owners, manufacturers have focused on the production of handgun ammunition instead of hunting ammo. Others have said there are shipping issues that have also caused backlogs.
Plenty of deer hunters will be out this weekend. North Dakota sold more than 72,000 licenses this season. That’s more than 3100 compared to 2020. The Minnesota DNR has sold more than 220,000 licenses this season.
