Hundreds of thousands of hunters have been waiting for this weekend.

Tomorrow marks the first day of Minnesota’s firearm deer hunting opener, which means plenty of hunters are gearing up to prepare for the big day. Blaine, Minnesota is a primary area for deer hunting. Employees at Capra’s Sporting Goods say over the last few weeks, they’ve gotten a lot of business from hunters. Nearly 500,000 Minnesotans are expected to hunt this season.

Hunters have been getting their guns sighted and buying the essentials, ranging from coats and hats to boots. Because of the deer hunting opener tomorrow, Capra has been having to keep up with demand for cold-weather gear.

“There’s some years where we don’t sell hardly any orange jackets at all because it’s 70 degrees. This year, we’re pretty much wiped out. I think we’ve got maybe one or two jackets yet, that’s about it. Our hand warmers got back-ordered because everybody’s out of hand warmers, so if it’s going to be cold, they’re going to be buying stuff to keep them warm,” said Capra’s Sporting Goods owner Dean Capra.

Capra’s gives their employees the day off on the hunting opener so they can also participate.

WCCO has mentioned talks of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), a neurological disease affecting deer and elk. Those zones will have dumpsters so hunters can throw away those carcasses. That will affect Crowley County and parts of southeastern Minnesota.