Cabelas in Hamburg, PA

[Dean]

Cabelas just opened their biggest store near me and I went to visit it today.

I have never been to a Cabelas before. It was quite impressive. First off, the place was packed. People were driving from miles away to get there. There was a section of the parking lot devoted to RVs/campers. They were bussing people to the place. Seems like most people go there as sort of an amusement park experience.

Inside, along with the merchandise, there are literally "hundreds" of mounted game animals. One "room" devoted to whitetail & mule deer. Easily over a hundred mounted deer. Many record holding heads & racks. Where do they get them all?

Another room had African animals. Lions, Zebras etc.. In the center of everything were artifical mountains with mounted goats, bears & moose.

Then there was the game fish aquarium. Huge, hundreds of live game fish, including albino variants.

Also, a "Gun History" room. This was filled with collectable sporting firarms. There were a few military commemorative guns. (No lugers ). Some Italian shotguns with $20K price tags. Browning FN custom shop guns.

It all seemed very surreal. Still trying to comprehend it all.

[Big Norm]

Dean,
Cabelas does a nice job in Michigan too. I have read that our store is the biggest tourist attraction in Michigan. Many foreigners taking pictures of that large hill of animals. The record racks on the full mounts are reproductions of the real ones. But they are cool too. I have seen one long barreled commercial Luger in the store. It was redone and way over priced. If memory serves me right, it was in the $7500 area. It never sold and it was eventually sent to another store.

I look at all the full body mounts of animals too. But I have to wonder why anyone would have a full body mount on an elephant? How the heck is that mount shipped from one store to another?
Big Norm

[Dean]

Yep, I wonder if Cabela's is expanding too fast.
After the initial novelty wears off I can't see myself going there very often.

They have some nice stuff but it's pretty pricey. I figure I can get something elsewhere at a better price.

They do have a wide selection of ammo at good prices.

[Herb]

I read an article last year in the newspaper, apparently most if not all of those mounts found in such stores are farm raised animals and are 'farmed' just for that purpose and for lousy hunters that like to brag. Hard to believe, but apparently it is big business. About 90 miles north of me are two elk farms, they have some really impressive racks, must be what they feed them. Most are probably store bound, I didn't ask.

[Dean]

At the Hamburg store's "deer room" they had many top record holding whitetail mounted heads on the wall. My father-in-law was saying that Cabelas aquired many of them (either through estate auctions or donation) from actual hunters.