Hunters are becoming a vanishing breed. Fortunately for retailers in the hunting business, the hunters that continue to pursue the activity are avid participants whose heavy spending habits more than make up for the number of fewer overall hunters.

The hunting business has been good so far this year, and the outlook for the fall season is favorable, according to retailers. To maintain growth, retailers have managed their assortments to offer hunters the new equipment and apparel.

Today, someone who hunts frequently can choose from endless camouflage patterns depending on the time of year, color and texture of the habitat in which they seek concealment. Avid hunters have also moved into different forms of hunting. Archery enjoyed surging popularity a few years ago and has since flattened. The emergence of simplified black powder equipment also created the opportunity to sell more merchandise. New gadgets such as laser range finders and handheld global positioning satellite systems have also helped.

Since the number of hunters isn't growing, the challenge of maximizing the existing business is being met by retailers with promotions, new store layouts and an emphasis on regional assortments.

"The growth in category has come from micromarketing," said Brian Davis, a divisional merchandise manager with 59store JumboSports. "[Making] sure you have the right regional mix is the most difficult aspect of the hunting business."

In the case of national retailers such as Kmart and Wal-Mart, the situation is even more complex.

"Managing the hunting business is very difficult if you are a national chain because it is seasonal-, species-, habitat- and climate-driven," said Walt Davis, Kmart hunting buyer. "It makes timing a very crucial element."

Seasons for different species start and end at different times depending on whether a hunter is using archery equipment or a rifle. The duration of seasons also varies considerably from state to state depending in part on the prevalence of game and conservation efforts.

The regional nature of hunting means national retailers can only promote the most basic items suitable for all types of hunting. Or, in the case of Wal-Mart, it means no products are promoted. An early September direct mail circular featured a full page image ad encouraging customers to visit Wal-Mart before the hunt so they may "stock up on all the gear required to help make [the] adventure a success." No specific items or prices were shown, although some of the retailer's more familiar brand names were listed.

The same week Wal-Mart's monthly circular broke, Kmart's weekly Sunday newspaper circular was a dollar days promotion that featured Remington and Winchester brand 25-count boxes of shotguns shells for $3 and a Marlin .22 caliber rifle for $99. A week later, in mid-September, Kmart promoted Remington and Winchester shells for $3.39, a Mossberg shotgun for 229 and a Ruger .22 with a scope for $159.

The Sports Authority, JumboSports and Oshman's aren't in as many markets as Wal-Mart and Kmart, but they follow a similar advertising strategy in that most of the featured items aren't specific to a particular species or season. A TSA Sept. 12 page circular featured four pages of guns, knives, binoculars, footwear and some miscellaneous accessories. Oshman's and JumboSports also tended to emphasize guns in their advertising.

The prevailing philosophy among retailers in the hunting business is to send a message of commitment to customers by showing them the guns. It applies to circular advertising and also to store design.

Guns are a prominent feature of Wal-Mart's newest sporting goods layout. Tall, cylindrical gun display cases anchor the front corners of a bullpen in the sporting goods department at the rear of the store. Customers circling the store's racetrack can't miss seeing the guns.

The sporting goods department at a new supercenter in Broken Arrow, Okla., contains such a layout, and when the store opened in August it was set for hunting season. The store featured an extensive assortment of hunting, archery and black powder equipment and supplies. Eight feet was de voted to air and pellet guns and another 4 ft. was given to paintball supplies. Displays of camouflage and high visibility apparel and deer decoys on top of gondolas gave the department the feel of a hunting store.

Wal-Mart's Hilsboro, Texas, supercenter opened in May and featured a similar sporting goods layout and bullpen/gun display configuration.

Kmart also shows the guns but takes a slightly different approach. Its newer stores and larger, older stores contain a sporting goods department at the rear of the store with a bullpen on the racetrack configuration. However, the guns are in a display case at the rear of the bullpen, as opposed to twin rotating racks at Wal-Mart.

Kmart and Wal-Mart also make sure hunters take their stores seriously by selling licenses and posting information about the start dates and end dates of various seasons. Those things are a given at big box sporting goods stores, where customers are also expect to find higher end guns, more knowledgeable staff and specialized products.