Venue Smithgall Woods State Park ( Smithgall Cottages) 5 out of 5 stars…read more After copious amounts of research and several venue tours, we decided on Smithgall Woods state park, and more specifically the cottages as the venue for our wedding on June 8th. We just have to say we loved the team we worked with at Smithgall, mainly Todd, Patty, and Art. Todd at Guestservices was simply fantastic! As he will be quick to mention "the venue sells itself", however having him as our man on the inside was a pretty huge selling point on its own. He was with us every step of the way to answer our plethora of questions, work with vendors, and generally keep our minds at ease. Honestly, I doubt the wedding weekend would have gone as smoothly and been as much of a success had it not been for Todd's guidance and cooperation. The venue is magical. I know how that sounds, but it's the truth. It's tucked away deep in the beautiful North Georgia mountains, surrounded by a lush forest teaming with wildlife. This majestic property consists of five "cottages", in quotations because they are more like log cabin style mansions. The two largest being; the expansive 4 bedroom 4.5 bathroom cottage called the Smithgall Cottage, and the even larger 5 bedroom 5 bathroom Dover cottage. The Creekside Cottage is 3 bedrooms, and The Laurel and Garden cottages are one bedroom cottages with hot tubs on secluded side porches. All the cottages were clean, modern, and a huge hit with our guests. We were able to house both our families, close friends and wedding party all on the same property. Which saved us a great deal on lodging. Which after factoring in the cost of rooms made this one of the more affordable wedding venues out there. Also you get it for the whole weekend!!! We used the Smithgall Cottage for our wedding location due to the large wrap around porch and decks, and also due to the picturesque, covered foot bridge under which flows a gorgeous champion trout stream. We had some difficulty deciding where on this property to hold our ceremony because it is simply lovely all over. Unfortunately, the record rainfall that weekend made the decision for us. Even though the storms limited our use of the enormous field in front of the Dover cottage, and the gardens next to Smithgall we still were able to comfortably host our 50 or so guests and dozen vendors, at the Smithgall Cottage and our ceremony and reception went along wonderfully. We would highly recommend this venue to anyone wishing to have a once in a lifetime event at a once in a lifetime location.

I came here to see the covered bridge, but discovered they have so much more…read more THE SCENE Smithgall Woods may not be someplace Georgians are familiar with, unless you are an avid hunter or trout fisherman. It was once private property that was gifted to the state by conservationist Charles A. Smithgall Jr. in 1994. A large section still remains private property for the Smithgall family, but what was gifted is a treasure trove of beautiful mountains, streams, meadow fields and wetlands. I began my solo hike around 12:15pm from the Visitors Center. There I was given a map and a few brief highlights of points of interest, like the waterfalls and gold mine. I then set off one what turned out to be a 4.5 hour adventure. Probably not the smartest of ideas since I had surgery just three weeks ago. But I was tired of resting around the house and desperately wanted to get out and do something. Besides, nature brings a calmness to my inner being and allows me to relax my mind in ways I just can't at home. It was a perfect day with perfect temperatures for hiking. In my entire time there, I only ran across one other human. ----- THE HIKE Inside the Visitor's Center is a gift shop and small wildlife museum of the nature plants and animals. I walked down the paved Tsalaki Trail towards the Cathy Ellis Trail (approximately 2.6 mile away). The trail starts off as a fairly steep incline. Along the way I saw a sign saying "caution - bees". I thought that was a curious warning until I noticed the white honey bee houses in the woods nearby. Next came the wetlands with a one mile looping trail and a boardwalk into the marshes. Here you have a strong possibility of seeing a beaver at work on a dam. I decided to save this area for my return hike and I'm glad I did. My energy on the return leg was running very low and I needed the benches here for a nice long rest. I reached the covered bridge about 37 minutes after leaving the visitors center. It was a real beauty made in the simple Town Lattice style. The memorial plaque at the entrance was titled "Bay's Bridge In loving memory of 'Bay' Elizabeth Smithgall Watts", whom died the year the land for the state park was gifted. It crosses the amazing mountain stream known as Duke's Creek. The creek from here will be a large part of your journey. The trail turns to gravel just past the bridge. MARTIN'S MINE was one of the first Gold mines in Georgia. Most of the mining occurred from 1829 to 1935. By the 1840's most of the easy gold was gone and hard mining began. Miners dug tunnels and shafts to remove ore from deep underground. You can still see some of the entrances and shafts. The trail is well marked with numbers, so be sure to pick up the Mining Trail brochure at the Visitor's Center to help you decode the locations. There is a spur trail off the Martin's Mine loop that takes you to a waterfall used for hydraulic mining, which began in the 1850's. It is an uphill hike, but the waterfall is very nice. Back on the main trail I traveled another 1/2 mile to Cathy Ellis Trail. This 1/2 mile trail starts off uphill, but once you reach the shelter it's all downhill from there. The trail ends at the beautiful Chunannee waterfall (which means friendship). Lots of vegetation on this portion of the hike. This land was once the home of Lucy Bryant, a Cherokee Indian widow whom was granted this 640 acre parcel in the Treaty of 1817. But by 1839 the Trail of Tear forced all Cherokee Indians off their land to relocate in Oklahoma. They curiously chose to name the trail after a 19 year old girl who fell over a waterfall in a different county altogether instead of the Indian widow Lucy. I don't get that, but whatever. The waterfall here is beautiful. I sat here about 25 minutes resting and admiring its beauty and feeling sad for the ancient Cherokee Indian nation. I arrived here approx. 2.5 hours after I began my journey from the visitors center. NOTE: Prior to arriving at the Cathy Ellis trail there is another steep incline, similar to the one near the Visitor's Center. ----- FINAL THOUGHTS In total I hiked approximately 7.5 miles today. I would normally have done this in probably 3 hours, but I tried to go at an easier pace since I'm still recovering from surgery. I allowed myself plenty of places to sit and rest, the most enjoyable of them being the waterfall on the Cathy Ellis Trail. Smithgall Woods State Park is indeed a wonderful place for those who love nature and peaceful hiking venues. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND giving them a visit.

Terrible service, inept employees and high prices. Selection is small and prices are exorbitant.read more

I attended an Intro to Archery workshop put on by TNWF and hosted by Jeff and his team here at the…read moreshop. I did archery as a kid (many moons ago) so felt a bit like starting over. The workshop was great, and all the guys were very patient and kind with all of us (mostly women). I went out a couple weeks later to try out a couple bows and Brent was very helpful and patient despite the fact I am so new to archery. He explained things to me as we went that helped me understand more about the sport and made me even more excited about it, and he didn't balk at my many questions. I'm looking forward to getting back out there to make my purchase and then making good use of their ranges and improving my skills!

Idiots. I bought a shotgun off of Gunbroker from a seller local to that area named "jpservices"…read more "jpservices" delivered the shotgun to JC Outdoors in a case for FFL transfer and shipment. JC Outdoors kept the case, disassembled the shotgun, packed the shotgun in a too small unprotected cardboard box and shipped it USPS. It arrived with a broken stock and butt plate. They are beyond incompetent.

From the owner: Archery, Camping, Fishing, Huntingread more

Their 19th anniversary event was a JOKE. No one offered me tickets for drawings . Don't see any BBQ…read moreanywhere. Don't have any great sales.

Need Faster turn around on getting guns worked on. Need more computers and staff especially on…read moreweekends.

GREAT SHOP AND A REALLY GREAT GUY. Services my bow (even though it's not a Matthews), has time for…read moreadvice and recomendations, and very friendly. It's easy to trust these guys

Mitch Saxon is the best most professional archery dealer in the state of Georgia. I wouldn't go…read moreanywhere else.!

Nicest people with a great selection of well priced firearms, bows, fishing gear, knives, and more…read more Also, their archery center is amazing. Their staff is super knowledgeable and helped me setup and adjust my bow for free. 10/10 every time

Does this place have a good selection/value, I'll never know, because not only is it an absolute…read moredisaster, like piles boxes and crap absolutely everywhere, I've also never been able to successfully view a gun/knife nor do any sort of business at this establishment before. In the years I've lived in Gainesville I've always had strange interactions at this place, like they wanna "teach you a thing or two" an interaction that stands out is one came in here years ago, I asked to see the desert eagle they had. I said "I wanna take a look at this thing, is is a 50AE?" The old man behind the counter said "nope, it's a 357" in an annoyed tone and just waddled away, not to help someone else, there was no other customers at the store, he just went and sat at the computer. And on top of that, it was a 50AE, I could see the marking on the slide, I was just trying to make conversation. So ever since I've just avoided it, but a few weeks ago, I needed to ship a gun I had sold on gun broker. And since it was the only gun store in the Gainesville area that was open after 5pm, this place was the only option. Me and a friend of mine called this store to attempt ship a gun I had sold on GunBroker to another FFL dealer. Immediately upon letting the man at the store know the gun was a Kriss vector he started acting strange, saying "i don't know what that is" and "I can't find it" and "I'm not interested" as he was searching for examples of this gun for sale. Though I'm not sure why he cares what the gun is beyond the legality of it, because I wasn't selling it to them, and I made that abundantly clear over the phone. As we arrived at the store, he was completely disinterested in what we had to say. He wouldn't even take a look at the gun, although we explained that all we needed them to do was ship the firearm. And he made fun of us when my friend called the "serial number" the "vin number" saying "a vin number is for a car buddy, it's called a serial number" we were a little confused when he said this, because it sounded like it was supposed to be a joke, but not for us, for his employees. The sarcastic tone in how he said "buddy" and the fact that he interrupted my friend mid sentence to say it made that pretty clear. Very awkward, he clearly knew what my friend meant so this was totally unnecessary and very weird. So here's how the rest of the conversation went. *We explain again that the firearm is registered, has a completely legal brace, and is already sold through gun broker, we just need an FFL to ship through* Owner - *without even approaching or examining the firearm in its case* "I think I'm gonna have to pass on that buddy" Me - "Why? You're an FFL dealer, that's part of what you do, I can't ship it in my own." Owner - "I'm not sure why you're getting smart with me. The pistol brace law is in limbo right now so I'm not sure I wanna mess with that" *awkward pause* Owner - "We just don't really a lot of pistols, you should probably go elsewhere and have them do it for you" ^ First of all, getting smart with you? I'm not your child, I'm an adult. Can you blame me for displaying a frustrated tone when you openly make fun of us in an attempt to joke around with your employees and deny me service you're supposed to provide, based on the rationalle of "I don't know what it is"? Then maybe you should do your due diligence. I can't even begin to express how unprofessional this was, it actually left us at a loss for words because it was so awkward. Second "in limbo"? I think you mean completely legal. Because that's a far more accurate way to describe it. And third, now he's just bull-shitting to get us to leave the store, because they they have at least a hundred pistols here and they have to ship/receive them somehow, plus how often you do it is irrelevant, you're a still an FFL, so don't act like there's someone stopping you. So we just left. Clearly nobody was listening to us because they wouldn't give a valid reason as to why they couldn't ship the firearm. Plus they were basically swatting us out the door at this point, acting like they were in a hurry to leave even though they weren't supposed to close for another 40 minutes. I understand if he was afraid to ship the gun because he's not aware of the legality of the pistol brace, but why not check rather than rudely refuse service to a customer based on your own confidently incorrect knowledge of firearm laws. The most unbelievable part is, my friend and I went to the gun store right across the street from this place the very next day and got the gun shipped no problem, took no more than 5 minutes. The people at this place are just exceedingly rude, especially the bald man that I believe is the owner. Worst store experience I've ever had, let alone gun store. I'd give 0 stars if I could.

Needed a part for my PSE and called them up and they got my info and got me my part in the mail and…read morewas just in time to get ready for my hunting weekend.

Over 20 years ago I bought my first PSE compound bow from Russell when American Archery was located…read morein Tucker Ga. Throughout the years me, my family, and friends have bought dozens of bows and all sorts of accessories from American Archery, either through the shop or online. We would shoot at the indoor range at the old shop locations and really I never would have bought a bow from anyone or anywhere else. Now with that said I was not going write a bad review and its taken me 5 years to write a bad review but people need to know what kind of person Russell the owner is. So after doing business exclusivly with American Archery and specifically Russell I wanted the all new (at the time) PSE Dreamseason DNA. I called Russell and he knew who I was and he told me well I come on over and get one. So I went to his internet only store and pad out about $1200 for the bow. The next morning I went and got the correct arrows cut and went home eager to shoot my new bow. I shot the bow 3 times and it exploded on the 3rd shot. I thought no problem its under warranty theres a cam lean issue being talked about im sure Russell will just switch it out for me. NO I WAS VERY WRONG. When I called Russell and told him what happened he literally argued with me to the point of yelling that I didnt know how to properly nock an arrow, its my fault, and he would not honer the warranty! I argued with him 3 days and then he calked me with a supposed PSE rep who proceeded to tell me tge same thing Russell continues to say which was I didnt know how to nock an arrow correctly. It was a month before deer season with this bs about me not able to shoot a bow correctly or nock an arrow right had become what was consistantly said. Even with me getting to the point of absolutly pissed off every time it was said because he knew I had been shooting for 20+ years. Russell never gave in telling me pretty much I was an idiot and would not give me any warranty on the bow brcause I didnt know how to shoot a bow (UNFRICKINBELIEVABLE). Anyway I bypassed the fake PSE rep and called PSE directly to explain my situation. They told me they didnt know any rep that would be in Russells shop at that time but PSE got right on it. Without going directly to PSE Russell woukd never have done anything and I would have lost $1200.00 in 1 day. PSE HAD ME A NEW BOW IN 10 DAYS THANKS PSE...Now you would think after over 20 years of business Russell would care and get me right...but he didnt care about anything but taking my money and screwing me out of my warranty. I have bought 5 more bows in the last 4 years but none would ever come from American Archery. I will not buy anything from American Archery ever again. If they would completly screw over a 20+ year customer jist imagine how he is if he dosnt know you.