by PAUL RAYNER

Every fall, Barwick’s Sports Shop becomes a centre for hunting activity in Boissevain.

This has been true for 33 years, when the shop got its start. Proprietor Bert Barwick had been operating a snowmobile sales and repair business out of his garage previously, but the sports shop got going after he quit his job as the Town Water Supervisor. He purchased the present facility on Mill Road, once the Gift Shop, later adding an addition to the back. During the early period, Barwick also worked for Robert Warnez at the Boissevain Inn.

“I worked for Robert Warnez there for about six months,” Barwick stated. “Even when the shop was already opened, I had a job as a bouncer on weekends.”

In the early years, the Sports Shop sold a lot of mini-motorcycles, purchasing used ones from a motorcycle training school in Winnipeg. They were an agent for Rupp equipment and later Barwick took on a Polaris snowmobile dealership for about eight years. Moving away from this development more recently, he still has the franchise for Stihl equipment such as chain saws and trimmers.

Of course, all variety of fishing equipment, as well as the all-important nightcrawlers, is still available, as well as licenses. At this time of year, however, it is waterfowl hunting that is king.

One of the big business events from the shop is guiding. Barwick himself no longer participates in taking hunters out on the field, leaving that to sons Craig and Ritchie, who are also licensed guides. Barwick himself still does some booking.

Most of the people coming up looking for experienced guides to help them find and get the birds are American hunters, the mainstay of the fall tourist economy in Boissevain. Barwick said he recognizes a lot of faces each year.

“There is a lot of return business year after year. They come for years, unless something comes up like a sickness in the family, and then they come back later.”

Most of this business traditionally comes from Minnesota, although now he said they are starting to inch further away to places like New York.

“I think people are getting to hear about us,” Barwick said. “Mainly, it’s word of mouth. I used to send out calendars, and when people hung them up, the name would be right there. But there is a lot of word of mouth; people get to know us from other people. We always try to send them away happy.”

Although the American hunter is still prevalent, Barwick said there were other peak periods, such as the early 1960’s and late 1980’s. He remembers one year selling over 400 licenses.

“There was a peak period when the snow geese came in great numbers, there were a lot of Americans. The motels and hotels here in Killarney and Deloraine were full all the time. The snow goose then was easier to decoy too, because they had not been shot at that much.”

Another change he has noticed is in gun sales, as Barwick’s continues to be a full outfitter. They have not been as strong as in the past, which he blames on the gun registration problems. At the shop, they also used to load shotgun shells when hunters brought in their empties. But that was when the shells were lead, and he has not been reloading steel shot.

As well, the bird plucker still sees action at the back of the shop.

“We’ve done that for 25 years. We’ve picked a lot of birds over the years.”

Barwick also was involved in the beginning of the unique hunting exchange where American hunters visit here to hunt sandhill cranes and then locals go down to South Dakota to hunt pheasants in December. Barwick himself no longer participates in the southern hunt, although it still continues.

Barwick’s Sports Shop still does some repairs (the old motto is “We sell the best and fix the rest”) including some guns, although he does not always carry the parts for smaller caliber’s.

He continues his business in his personal style, chatting with his customers, helping them with hunting strategies and making them feel welcome. He has no plans at this point to say goodbye to what he has been doing for more than three decades.

“A lot of guys come in here just to talk,” he stated. “I enjoy this. I’m not quitting. They’re going to have to drag me out of here.”