Both Minnesota-based Martie’s locations feature plenty of massive, eye-catching sheds and European mounts that hammer home the store’s primary focus: Helping hunters grow productive food plots that lead to bigger, healthier deer.
You know them from their days running one of the most successful archery-focused businesses in recent memory. And now they’re back, immersed in one of today’s hottest retail hunting segments: food plot seeds, products and plot-construction education. All of it is aimed at helping do-it-yourself landowner hunters build better food plots and realize more hunting success — and hunters everywhere are climbing on board.
Former Double Bull Archery co-owner Brooks Johnson, and close friend John Betker, who also worked at Double Bull, are the new co-owners of Minnesota-based Martie’s Farm Supply, which has two locations, Elk River and Monticello, nestled just northwest of the Twin Cities. The area is a hotbed of deer hunting activity, but even more importantly, they’re two prime “pass-through” communities for thousands of avid Twin Cities-based hunters owning and managing hunting land across the state and beyond. Now to be clear, these days Johnson and Betker are no longer selling award-winning pop-up ground blinds. As you might recall, back in 2007, Johnson and partner Keith Beam sold Double Bull to Primos, and that stellar product line continues as part of the impressive lineup of Vista Outdoor companies.
These days for Johnson and Betker, it’s all about focusing on better food plots, and they come at it from a unique perspective. So what does a pro shop have to learn from a feed and seed farm supply store? As it turns out, plenty.
“Food plots keep getting more popular every year,” Betker said. “The primary reason is states want to reduce deer numbers; it’s not like the early 2000s, with deer running around everywhere. Numbers are down, I’d say as much as 60 percent in a lot of areas. So guys are trying to take some of the local deer management back into their own hands, on their own land.”
“Much like with pro shops, this kind of business is a long-term play, you have to do it right,” Johnson explained. “If you try to take a shortcut to save sales on Monday, eventually, that’s going to catch up to you. However, if your customer knows you're a partner, that you’re in their corner and offering them the best advice and products possible, then you have a customer for life.
“A great example is the soil test side of it. We push for customers to get one because everything else is just guessing. And if the results come back and show that a different plan is needed, your customer realizes he’s been steered wrong over the years. Now he knows he’s been wasting a bunch of money on, say, pell lime, instead of something that his ground really needs. “Just in the last week I’ve turned down about $3,000 in fertilizer sales, but they were the wrong products at the wrong time,” Johnson told me in July 2023. “Those guys appreciated learning about the right products at the right time, and now I’ve made a few customers for life.”
How Pro Shops Can Benefit
So how does an archery pro shop maximize the benefits of the food plot craze? Start with a partner or two. “The tough thing for archery shops, is that food plot season is the exact time of year that is their traditional busy time of the year — July and August — when everybody is buying their bowhunting gear,” Johnson explained. “So if you don’t have a large enough staff, or a food plot expert on staff, or access to all of the many products required to build and maintain a successful plot, a pro shop might make a solid referral to a place like Martie’s, or another local expert in the food plot arena. So when your customer comes into your shop, he knows he’s getting good advice. “And in my opinion, if you’re a pro shop, you should be ready to give good recommendations on things like food plots and their construction, as well as state programs and other services that will benefit landowners. If shops are well versed on that kind of info, with some good local contacts, they will have more value for their customers. “As a feed and grain mill, we can also mix and package custom seed blends for individual pro shops; we can even package it with their pro shop name and logo. So shops can make money on the seed, and then can send those customers over to Martie’s, to get all the rest of the products needed to have success with that seed.
“So as an example, I sell an acre of brassica seed for about $20. Now if you want to do it properly, beyond the seed you also need herbicide, pell lime and fertilizer, which will add another $250 or so, but it’s going to be done right. Most people, and most pro shops, don’t know about the rest of the stuff needed for food plot success, and they don’t have the space to stock it. That’s where a Martie’s comes in.”
Eliminate Shelf Space Hassles?
“We can also take the time to help educate pro shop employees on successful food plot construction and maintenance,” Johnson continued. “Maybe that shop can set up a ‘pre-buy’ form online, where customers could buy everything they need from that shop online — and then have those customers pick it up here at Martie’s, where we have the warehouses to stock it.
“We did a big pre-buy [in summer of 2023] with our own customers, and so I was bringing in exactly what I needed, and it worked out great. If you work with a local mill like ours, then shops don’t need to buy forklifts to unload pallets, and you don’t have to warehouse the stuff. Just sell it and have customers pick it up here. And we’re happy to let pro shops have a cut of that business, because those are their customers, and new customers for us.
“Like with pro shops, this business is about expertise and education, and if we don't have an answer, we have vendors we lean on. We work with a [soil testing] lab, it’s one of our key partners. And we recently switched over our herbicide provider, to a place that will actually pick up the telephone. Because that is the type of response, and partner, that we need to do this right. We’re making alliances with the people we buy from, and we’re leaning on them for information, and education. Try getting that out of a big box store. And let’s face it: If you don’t have something that the big boxes don’t have, then you’re not going to make it.” “And we have that exact [competition] scenario here at our Monticello location,” Betker continued. “We have a Fleet Farm a half-mile away in one direction, and a Runnings store a half-mile the other way. Those stores don’t have the capability to take the time to analyze soil to get the proper products, and they most certainly don't have the ability to say, ‘We don't want your money because you’re doing it wrong.’ They have a cookie-cutter product — generic fertilizer and generic seed — but no education or info on how to use them. For that, the consumer is left to fend for themselves. So there is a real need to go deeper.”
Catering to Landowners Pays
“In my opinion, all pro shops need to be partnered with property consultants, land tax programs, and timber company options to help their landowner customers,” Johnson said. “There are so many entities pro shops can partner with to expand their business. If an archery shop can tell its customers, ‘Hey, this guy is the real deal,’ they can make some good money with it. Foresters, timber cutters, guys that actually plant plots. Guys that cut trails. If an archery shop can align themselves with a forester, that can be a big way to get a cut of that business. And that’s fair.
“When it comes to food plots, selling seed is the fun part. Everything else is where the rubber meets the road. Pro shops need to find somebody to partner with to maximize their profits on this segment. Many are already doing referrals, but without a pre-buy program, they’re not making any money at it. And it’s their customers. With a pre-buy program in place, they can track those sales. That’s the way pro shops do it with everything else in their shop — all the bows, all the arrows and broadheads — those categories were likely purchased very early in the year at the ATA Show. They need to buy [and sell] food plot supplies the same way.”
“Ultimately, for archery pro shops, partnering with a feed and seed mill like ours to increase food plot success is a pretty simple idea,” Betker said. “Archery shops are always looking for ways to expand to reach their customers. And when you’ve got a very serious archery customer, chances are he’s got land, and chances are he’s got a food plot there. However, with my experience in the archery industry, I don’t know a lot of pro shops that want to stock 10 pallets of fertilizer and 12 pallets of pell lime. But hey, if they do, I’d love to deliver it to them.”
Sidebar: Top 3 Reasons Food Plots Fail
1: Planting like a farmer. “Most food plotters simply till the ground and plant,” Johnson said. “Farmers can get away with that because they use pre-emergent herbicides to stop weed seeds from growing, and then they spray post-emergent herbicides for any seeds that do sprout. Either of those two methods will kill your plot seeds.
“So what you should be doing is creating a sterile environment, where your seed is the only thing that can grow, so your seed has no competition. You need a good herbicide, maybe glyphosate, 2 quarts per acre is pretty standard for a food plotter. Weed control is
No. 1. If you don’t have a plan to defeat the weeds, then you’re going to fail.”
2: Planting brassicas too thick. “Maybe you’re growing turnips, rape or radish,” Johnson explained. “Those are the big ones in the brassica family. The recommended rate is typically 4 to 8 pounds per acre, and that’s not a lot of seed. So lots of food plotters will double it. And then the plants don’t have the room to grow. So then you have a wonderful carpet of stunted brassica. Those plants need the space to grow. People need to follow the recommended rates. If you have two, three, or four times too much seed, the plants will max out at maybe 5 inches. Not good.”
“This just puts us in a bizarre position, and it happens all the time,” Betker said. “I just had a guy come into the store, and he has just a 1-acre plot, so he needed a total of 4 pounds of brassica seed. He walked out of here with 15 pounds of seed, and we couldn’t convince him otherwise. He said, ‘I’ll plant a little extra and it won’t hurt.’ But actually, it will. Too much is not good.”
3: Failure to fertilize properly. “Sure, we can guess about your soil type, but you can also get a soil test that will tell you exactly what you need,” Betker said. “We offer that service at Martie’s. It costs about 30 bucks, and takes about 7 to 10 days. And it’s well worth it, because you’ll spend less money, or you’ll spend your money more efficiently, so it’s a no-brainer. If you really want to have a successful plot, you need a soil test or you’re just guessing.” Why make the effort to maximize your plot? “If you have a group of six does come into your plot in late muzzleloader season, and five are scrawny and one is fat and healthy, which one are you going to shoot?,” Johnson asked. “All of us want to shoot the biggest, healthiest deer. And if your neighbor next door has healthy food in his plot, that’s where the deer are going to go. That’s why it’s important to maximize the health of your plot, because the deer can absolutely tell the difference.”
Photos by Mark Melotik
