Nine participants (one officer, three members, three guests, and two sons) had a great time at the 7/23/05 Hunting and Gathering Trip at Cabela's. Most of us met at Great Hills Baptist Church and caravanned down to Buda. Cabela's is 22 miles from Great Hills.
When we walked into Cabela's all we could say was "WOW!" I knew that they had mounts but it's really best described as part store and part museum. Easily 1/5 of the store is museum. You're greeted by a flight of Canadian geese overhead that are coming in for a landing. Straight ahead is a 35 foot tall "conservation" mountain covered with full size mounts. The mountain has four sides. The front side is a forest scene with lots of deer and elk. The left side is a polar scene. It features a polar bear that's about 10 feet tall. Next to the polar bear is a pack of wolves chasing after a herd of musk ox. The back side of the mountain is a forest scene. It features a black bear that is covered with bees (too bad that he's trying to get honey out of a hornet nest instead of a bee hive; it's also interesting that the bees were in a hornet nest). Also on that side are three reindeer that are being chased by a pack of wolves. The right side of the mountain is a desert scene that features a herd of pronghorn antelope and a pack of javelinas. At the base of the mountain is a B&C moose in a pond with live trout. To the left of the store is the gun section including a "Gun Library." The most expensive gun that we saw was a Winchester lever action for $165,000.00. There were many guns in the $5,000.00 range. At the back left of the store is an American game section filled with full sized mounts including several very impressive deer. There is also a fallow buck that is chasing off a couple of coyotes (highly unlikely that they would attack a full grown deer). To the right of the store is a 60,000 gallon aquarium filled with bass, catfish, gar, crappie, perch, and more. The fishing section is also on the right side of the store. At the back right of the store is an African section with several full body mounts. At the left of this section are three lions that are facing off against three hyenas, with a bush hog in the middle. If this were real life the poor bush hog would be going wee-wee-wee all the way home! There is a second story with a camping section and laser shooting gallery. Their is also a restaurant. We ate lunch there. The food was good and the prices were reasonable. They even had exotic game fare. The store has over 500 mounts; the majority are full sized. Their poses are very realistic.
Regarding the merchandise you'll be very impressed. There is a large used gun section where the long guns are readily accessible. They take trade-ins and their prices were competitive. I found several items that aren't available at Sportsmen's Warehouse or Academy. They had everything that can be found in the Cabela's catalogs and more. There were even some items that were cheaper than their catalog prices. There is also a large "Bargain Cave" but the prices there are only discounted about 10%. If you're thinking of buying one of their bows you can try it out in their indoor range.
I got a half dozen Redhead decoys, decoy weights, decoy line, a floating shotgun case (for our kayak trips), a neoprene shotshell holder (that holds 24 shells in shell loops and clips to waders), a big $30.00 duffel bag for $10.00, mesh shotgun shooting gloves (for our future 24 Hour Clay Target Shoots), weighted casting floats, leaders, and circle hooks. I got all of the above for $151.00. I had $48.00 worth of Cabela's points (saved up from using my Cabela's Visa) so I only spent $103.00. I also got a high visibility shotgun sight but it doesn't fit my gun so I'm going to take it back. To the best of my knowledge I bagged the most and the most expensive game.
Cabela's also has celebrities and expert hunters and fishermen who are readily available to the public. They also have several giveaways.
I highly recommend Cabela's. Go only if you have at least four hours to kill, a good pair of walking shoes, napkins to catch your drool, and a friend to restrain you from draining your savings account! Go early in the morning (they open at 9:00 AM). They were packed by noon. My only major complaint is they had only one wild boar mount! Don't they know a beautiful animal when they see it?
We'll be hunting and gathering there again!