The opening of firearms season is just hours away, so you better believe everyone from the old pro all the way down to novice is getting ready.

"I'm buying some last minute things for deer season," Chris Scott of Lansing said.

"Really, I prepare myself the previous year, so I just came out to see if there are any good deals," Craig Brusser of Lansing said.

Nick Lamers of Gander Mountain said it's been tough keeping any and all hunting merchandise on the shelves.

"It's been really busy the past week or so," Lamers said. "Slugs, any type of ammunition, have been really popular this year."

Which isn't much different from previous years, except this year, there's a twist.

"People with the economy the way it is, are looking for more discounted ways to go," Lamers said.

This year, hunters will have a big challenge ahead of them because most of the corn in the state hasn't been harvested yet, so the deer will have plenty of places to hide.

"In most years, around November 15th about 80 percent of the corn has been harvested, as of early this week, we were only at 16 percent in some places," Brent Rudolph, deer research specialist for the DNR said.

So the deer won't exactly feel pressure to move Rudolph said. So he said if you go in to find them, make sure you do so with caution.

"You want to be safe if you're working into the cornfields, because you won't be able to see the other hunters either," he said.

Craig Brusser is expecting a challenge.

"Up by my mom's she said most of the fields are still standing, obviously that's a downside, but if you can someone to push the corn, that should push the deer toward you," Brusser said.

But regardless of conditions, Brusser and many more hunters out there, still hope this is the year for 'the big one.'

Rudolph said hunters may have to wait a bit longer and have fewer hours to get to deer checks because the DNR is stretched so thin this year.