Most practical hunting accessories fall into a few different camps. You have decoys and calls, clothing and footwear, among other generally camouflaged accessories, scent control, game cameras and optics, and then a series of shooting accessories.

If you can tack it onto your shotgun or rifle platform, it counts as a shooting accessory. Bipods and rests add stability for rifle shooters who have to take long shots that reach out past 300 yards or even longer. High-power, low-light optics, similarly, make those long shots possible. Tighter choke tubes make it possible for scattergunners (with good practice on plenty of...

Have you been to a gun shop or sporting goods store recently? We have to assume the answer is yes, in which case our follow-up question is - have you tried to buy ammo?

Whether the answer to that subsequent question is yes or no, it would be almost impossible for you to notice the bare shelves. Ammo is short, and not just esoteric cartridges, but staples, like .22 LR, 12 gauge target loads, .308 Winchester, and .223 Remington. In the current climate, reloading supplies like power, primer, brass, and even bullets, are also scarce.

Theories abound, but what...