OCONTO FALLS, Wis. — Mike Jepson gently squeezed the trigger, sending the bullet into a paper target downrange.

He was sighting in his hunting rifle ahead of Wisconsin’s gun deer season.

What You Need To Know

  • Hunters and stores around Wisconsin say some ammunition is extremely hard to get

  • A number of factors — ranging from increased gun sales over the pandemic to a snarled global supply chain — are coming together to create a shortage for the second straight hunting season

  • Some distributors have indicated ammo supplies may rebound by the middle of 2022​

As someone who reloads his own bullets, he’s not as concerned about the availability of ammunition this year as many other hunters.

“There’s no scramble the week before deer hunting, I’m ready to go,” he said about loading his own ammunition. “I sight in and I’m good to go.”

But he’s well aware of the difficulties other hunters are having - for the second year - in finding many of the in-demand calibers.

“It’s hard finding ammo right now,” Jepson said. “Anywhere you go, if it’s something common, you’re going to have a hard time finding it.”

This is the second year Mark Micoley of Rocky Ridge Shooters Supply in Oconto Falls has fielded non stop questions about what he has — or doesn’t have —  in stock.

“The phone never stops ringing. All day long that’s all we hear, ‘Do you have this, do you have that?’" he said. "We have to keep telling people, ‘I’m sorry we don’t.’”

Distributors tell him there’s no quick fix in sight.

“They’re saying second quarter of next year which would be two and a half years since this all really started,” Micoley said. “It really affects my bottom line because normally I would be selling a lot more to my customers and right now I’m working as hard as I can to find ammo just to get something in for people.”

Increased prices and limits on the number of boxes people can buy at once are byproducts of the scarcity.

Jepson said he has what he needs to keep reloading, but in the crazy world of jumbled supply chains it seems just about anything can end up on a shortage list.

“I have plenty of brass yet. I don’t know if there’s going to be an issue with getting brass, or if there will be a shortage of brass. I just don’t know,” he said. “But I have it covered because I have plenty of everything right now.”