Bow Shop Dexter area

[bigslick]

I just moved to Dexter from downriver and am looking for a shop to take my bow into. I think I need a new one (appears to have a cracked limb), but would like someone to take a look at it first. Anyhow, does anyone suggest any shops they have dealt with in the area? I see Wilderness is in AA any thoughts on them? Any others? Thanks for any input.
Godspeed,
bigslick

[wickedcarpenter]

Mill Creek Sports in down town Dexter next to the fire dept could help you out but if buying a new bow hit Vans in Whitmore Lake just off of US 23.

[brdhntr]

Also, can try Hog Wild in Belleville. Howard and his wife are very good. 734-461-1062 to get their hours, they are off Rawsonville Rd, on the west side.

I have used Van's, and they are good, too.

[bucknduck]

Mill Creek Sports in down town Dexter next to the fire dept could help you out but if buying a new bow hit Vans in Whitmore Lake just off of US 23.

I'll keep my comments to myself about my experiences with Mill Creek Sports, but I would second the idea of going to Vans. Everytime I've gone to Vans, they have been extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

[bigslick]

Thanks for the feedback. I will stop by all of these shops in the next few days and check them out. I have never done any buisness with Mill Creek, so I am not bad mouthing them, but when I stopped in there it wasn't exactly what I was looking for in a bow shop. they seemed very nice though.
Godspeed,
bigslick

[polarbare21]

I'll post about Mill Creek, I wont even go there for fishing bait anymore!

Schupachs in Jackson are also excellent, and there is Wilderness Archery in Ann Arbor.

[LJA]

I will put in a good word for Vans in Whitmore Lake (Barker Rd. exit off north US23). They have a nice selection of arrows and are dealers for most of the big names in bows and have helped me with some shooting improvements.

I also like Wilderness Archery in Ann Arbor (from M14, go south on Maple Rd, back in the strip mall that has Dunhams). Less bows, but they have a nice long indoor range with 3D targets, etc.

[fulldraw]

I have to suggest Hog Wild Archery Howard and Carol are the best. I have been buying all my archery equipment from him for about 5yrs. There hours are M-F 4:30pm-9pm, sat. 9am-9pm, and sun. closed. To let you know one weekend out of the month they are at a shoot so they are closed.

I have heard Van's is good only been there once and walked around with nobody asking me if I needed anything so I walked out. Never been back. Not to say they are a bad shop I know a few people who go their, but I would probley never go back.

Give Howard a call 734-461-1062

fulldraw

[buck37]

Wildernes archery is good. They have been overly outgoing when I go there.
Vans has been good when I've been there. I've lived in Dexter all my life and I only go to Mill Creek if I need something fast and don't have time to go to Ann Arbor. Mill Creek has never been what I consider a bow shop, nice people but not a bow shop.
I also like Schupbachs in Jackson.

[bigrackmack]

Vans.....they will take care of you...

[TradeMark]

I am not knocking Hog Wild but if you are willing to go there. Then I would spend the extra 10 minutes to go to ADAM'S ARCHERY, INC 7730 WILLOW RD MILAN MI 48160-9714. I have delt with Dick and Dianna for 4years and they are very helpful.


Also, If you head down there on July 30th or 31st they are having their relay for life 3d shoot and will put a lot of stuff on sale at this time too.
Just a thought, and you can bring your whole family they have a set up for the kids as well.

[Duck-Hunter]

Vans Archrey.

I got my first bow from there and the guy(chum) that runs it is pretty cool if you get to know him. its in whitemore lake right off the freeway but im not sure of it lol(i think its 23)

[wild bill]

vans all the way.

[brdhntr]

Just another note on the service that Howard and Carol do at Hog Wild.

I have an old Jennings (1996?). It's loud, slow by most standards, but a bona fide deer slayer. I shoot very well with it. Last Christmas I received some gift certificates for Cabelas, and bought a NAP drop away for the bow with it. Went to put it on th bow, and I could not get the old rest loose. Not wanting to mess up the riser, I took it to Howard. He got the old rest off, put on the new one, even realigned my nock point. Total cost after an hour or so of messing with it, $0. I'm now shooting better than I have ever before. Hog Wild will get my business for many years to come. Only down side is that every time I go in there, I spend twice as much time BSing with Howard and Carol as I do actually having work done on my bow. Then again, that's not all bad, either. :)

[bigslick]

I stopped in Hog Wild yesterday as it was between where I had to pick up my bow and the new house. Harold was great. brdhntr, I see what you mean, I was there quite a while bs-ing, he showed me a bunch of pictures from his recent trip to Africa. Anyway my bow is shot, but he told me to try contacting PSE as he thought they had a good warranty. He showed me a few bows and did not try to sell me a thing. I was there quite a while longer than planned and ended up getting in Dutch with the old lady as I didn't get home until almost 8pm from work!
I plan on hitting Vans and Wilderness in the next day or two and hope to get to Adams at the end of the month as TM suggested.
I have been to Shupach's and really like the store, I have bought guns there and they have a great selection, my only problem was when I talked to the archery guys they seemd to be annoyed because I didn't know much about it. They were younger guys that day and were all discussing competition shooting and such. This was 2 years ago, maybe I will stop in there agian.
Thanks again for all the help.
Godspeed,
bigslick

[dongiese]

Big,

I work in Ann Arbor, and Coach youth Wrestling in Dexter. There are plenty of shops around, but I go to Wilderness Archery.

My kids took their hunter safety program at Wilderness archery. They aren't like other shops in the regards to their opinons, If you want something they will give you advice but not push you into something.

[fulldraw]

I found that Wilderness Archery is a little high priced for me. The owner seemed to be a nice guy.

Fulldraw

[ART]

I'll post about Mill Creek, I wont even go there for fishing bait anymore!
I will too! I won't go there again until rk is gone, and that is unlikely.
I also have a friend who will NEVER EVER EVER buy a boat from them EVER again.

[uptracker]

I still second Van's by FAE FAR FAR.

[CMR]

FYI, Wilderness is now 4 Seasons.
Talk to John or Allan at 4 Seasons, if ya go.

Haven't gone to Hog Wild or that one down in Milan yet but i have gone to Van's......and will never go back there again. For one, if you're not shooting a Mathews then you aren't shooting, according to them. They really push Mathews because they are a dealer. They also push the most expensive rest, arrows, release, etc. I went there for some help with a new bow and setup (Reflex Grizzly) and they laughed saying I bought a "junk bow". They also pushed on me using a release, which I shoot fingers. Again, they told me to "get in the now" and use a release. At that point I told them I'll go somewhere else that serves the customer.
I'll never go back to Van's. Horrible service and very unprofessional IMO.

[LJA]

CMR,

Sorry to hear about your experience at Vans. I guess I would think twice if I was treated that way, too. I don't know who you spoke with, but I go there often and have never witnessed that kind of treatment of a customer.

I shoot my '03 Fred Bear TRX in there, have had minor improvements done on it, and have never been pushed to upgrade to a Hoyt/Mathews. When looking at bows, they first asked me what price range I was looking at.

When I was buying a new rest, I felt I was told the benefits of the different types of rests for hunting. I'm not a drop away guy yet, and in the end, the guy told me if I didn't need micro-adjustments then a Quicktune 800(?) is hard to beat for the price (maybe $20-25).

I've also bought arrows there and was never pushed to buy the "high dollar" models.

Anyway, for your experience, CMR, hopefully someone was just having a bad day and forgot the customer is always right and doesn't always have $700 to buy a new bow.

[CMR]

"Anyway, for your experience, CMR, hopefully someone was just having a bad day and forgot the customer is always right and doesn't always have $700 to buy a new bow."


Don't think so. They seemed very arrogant and made me, the customer, very uncomfortable.
And I went up there after alot of people on this forum recommended them for service. Figuring I'd get great service.
After my experience, I headed down to Cabelas to get my bow worked on. They made me feel comfortable and set up my bow to what I wanted it to be.

[wild bill]

allthough i gave vans the thumbs up last year in my post i have since changed my mind. my last stop in there i wanted a new rest put on my alpine bow and i was buying the rest from them. i was told to leave the bow with them and they would get it back in 3-4 days cause they where busy and had no time to work on it right now. ok no big deal but while i was looking around another customer came in and wanted a new bow. he then picked out a new bow(mathews), rest, sights and a quiver. well to make a long story short they set his new bow up right in front of me and test shot it till it was tuned. then when i asked for my bow back cause i was going somewhere else they looked at me like i was a piece of #$*^. anyways that was my last trip through there doors.:rant:

[CMR]

Read Wild Bill's post and I'll I have to say.......is...I rest my case.

[pdkpotocki]

Schupachs in Jackson It where i would go When i lived in chelsea They are very good at what they do

[shortbox11]

although i gave vans the thumbs up last year in my post i have since changed my mind. my last stop in there i wanted a new rest put on my alpine bow and i was buying the rest from them. i was told to leave the bow with them and they would get it back in 3-4 days cause they where busy and had no time to work on it right now. OK no big deal but while i was looking around another customer came in and wanted a new bow. he then picked out a new bow(mathews), rest, sights and a quiver. well to make a long story short they set his new bow up right in front of me and test shot it till it was tuned. then when i asked for my bow back cause i was going somewhere else they looked at me like i was a piece of #$*^. anyways that was my last trip through there doors.:rant:


OK let me try to figure this out.

"i was told to leave the bow with them and they would get it back in 3-4 days cause they where busy and had no time to work on it right now."

At that point they were probably busy , and they usually take repair work or add on work like sights, rest , strings , to do on the not so busy times of the day.
They have two to three techs working at one time , usually 2. if they are both busy, they will have to take what they have and do it "later".

"OK no big deal but while i was looking around another customer came in and wanted a new bow. he then picked out a new bow(Mathews), rest, sights and a quiver. well to make a long story short they set his new bow up right in front of me and test shot it till it was tuned"

if there was nothing wrong with you leaving your bow there for 3-4 days in the beginning , why was it a problem when you were browsing the store , and they took on another customer.

I know these guys very well , and will back them up anytime I can , I also will be the first person to tell them when they do something wrong , I in this case don't feel they did wrong , they told you 3-4 days , and they probably would have done it before they left that night.

If you don't like vans , there are other places to take your bow , like Dicks in Howell :dizzy: , they will hook you up.


Vans archery has a very large following in the area , they always take the time out to make sure all there customers are taken care of to the best of there abilities , and they are all that , some of the best shooters in the state and nation I might add.They know there equipment and exactly how it works , and set it up to perform perfectly.



Short

[CMR]

Shortbox:
I'd like to add something to my experience, which is almost like Wild Bill's. When I went there to have my bow worked on, they did have two techs working plus the old guy. I waited for about 15 minutes for mine to be worked on. When the one tech acknowledged me and told me to come over to his station, some guy comes in the store and walks right up to the tech who was gonna deal with me. The guy has had his bow worked on there a few times I guess because they knew each other. Anyhow, the tech starts servicing this guys bow and puts mine aside!! I asked him, "Um what about my bow?" and the tech answers, "This will only take a minute." TRY 45 MINUTES LATER!!!! An hour in there waiting, and no..they weren't extremely busy either.
Sorry but thats poor customer service. If I'm waiting in "line" to get service then I should be the next in line. Good customer service doesn't jump on somebody who walks right in while others are waiting.
Sorry but I'll spend my cash somewhere else.
But I'll betcha if I had a Mathews in my hand, that would be a different story.

[p.s.e man]

i do most of my own bow work,but there are 4 bow shops i go to in the ann arbor area and thay are adams archery,schupach,s,pine grove in clinton,and 4 seasons,if you are dealing with a pse go to 4 seasons in ann arbor ,thay are a pse dealer.if you go to schupach,s in jackson,talk to brian schupach.pine grove bate shop in clinton is also a good place,as is adams.as much as i dont want to start anything here,if you go in to most proshops and say you brought your bow from cabelas or any other chain store,thay will proubaly treat you bad and charge you top dollar,most pro shops dont like cabelas,as these chain stores are running the pro shops out of bussness.and cabelas archery department is not that good.i would not let them work on my bow.just my thoughts.

[jjc155]

I second (or what ever) Adams archery in Milan (S/W Ypsi twp). They have an indoor range and 3D course along with proshop. I have not had alny work done there but shoot there regularly and have bought arrows etc from them.

I also give a big thumbs up to Schpuach (sp) in Jackson. I bought my BT Tribute there and dealt with Brian Schpauch for about 1 1/2 hours while he fit me up, dealt with my endless questions, test shooting and then set up my rest. He is a great guy, very knowledgeable and did a great job. They also have a ton of bows in stock and alot of other stuff too, not just archery.

I have never been to Hog Wild, even though it is only 5 minutes from my house, but have never heard anything bad about them.

Hope this helps
J-

[polarbare21]

SCHUPACHS
Fantastic service from Brian, and I have to mention Gordy. He is the "senior" gentleman in the archery dept.

I have watched both Gordy and Brian take the time to set up bows for handicapped kids, many hours went by and these guys went beyond "just good enough" to make those kids successful archers.

They are fully stocked, educated and trained by the companies they represent. And damn nice guys!

They set me up for Africa, and Brian shared his many experiences there with me to help make my trip easier.

See Brian or Gordy...