Hello all,

For as long as I can remember I've bought my hunting gear from Cabelas. For the past 2 years or so everything I buy ends up going back. The quality is so bad it's ridiculous. I bought a light hoodie for $80 a few weeks ago, one would think a $80 hoodie would be somewhat nice, it was not. Out of random luck I was shopping at old navy with the family and found a camo hoodie that was the same. I'm talking all the way down to the zippers and everything for $15.

I get the feeling these big companies are starting to sell us over priced garbage with cool camo patterns.

My finishing question would be what are some good alternatives and where do you all buy your gear?

Cabelas used to be good. Not so much anymore.

Bass pro shops has always been mediocre

Academy is getting more and more of my business.

bass pro used to have better apparel than cabelas but that has changed obviously now that they are the same company, gander mountain had good quality at big prices though but no longer in sherman. i go to academy for most stuff but lack of quality is there also now that they want all their products to be their own brand of magellan or game winner.

For "nicer" hunting equipment, I always check BassPro and Cabela's, but rarely buy anything. It's a cool shopping "experience" I guess, but if you can price check while there you'll almost always see Academy is cheaper.
BUT, while Academy is cheaper for basics (ammo, cheap camo) - it's also Cheaper with all the Magellan and Game Winner stuff. I've bought some clothes online from Kuiu and First Light and my God the difference in quality.
I tend to buy disposable things from Academy, camping things from REI, expensive hunting equip online, and keep tabs on CL and Offerup for the occasional bargain. Really wish there was a good hunting store in the general Houston area...

Luckily we don't have these 200 acre sized warehouse stores out here in the sticks. They apparently don't want our business which is fine with me. The local stores and Academy have everything I need, and it is not a half day trip through one store just to pick up a few items.

I've noticed that Academy has bumped up the quality, more Magellan and less Game Winner. I've also been getting gear at Sportsman's Guide online. They carry the Guide Gear brand, which also used to be available at Gander Mtn. I don't need the super technical lightweight stuff needed for back country hunts. You can't get that at Academy, Cabelas or the Dick's/Field and Stream is the place to go if you don't go online. I have a few First Lite pieces and that's the good stuff. I do like the gloves from the Cabela's line, Academy has the knock offs but they just are not as good. But, they are cheaper.

I'm on a budget and expanding into waterfowl hunting too. I'm happy so far with the Magellan line, don't have to drop a ton of coin to see if it's something I'm interested long term.

I generally buy Cabelas hunting clothes only after the season when it's heavily marketed down and priced correctly. I laugh when I look at the prices during hunting season, it's outrageous.

Natural Gear is a pretty good and reasonably priced. You can buy from their website.

https://naturalgear.com

. Walmart... Times is tough.
Brand name merchandise not what it used ta be.

Camofire.com

I guess step one would be not to buy an $80 hoodie, just screams setting up for disappointment to me.

just me- the folks that hunt from an enclosed blind, especially an
elevated blind don't need any special "hunting" clothes. i'd be
wearing my everyday comfortable clothing and be covered up with a
cheap $14.00 sleeping bag to stay warm. it doesn't take a fraction
of a second to let the bag drop free to get ready for a shot.
anyway from what i read here and other places, there are many who sleep
and diddle with their phones while "hunting" instead of watching
for deer. that can be done while wearing neon striped sweats as opposed
to any kind of special cammo "hunting" clothes.

But i dont want to get my velour tracksuit bloody...

I do not buy clothing at Cabelas or Bass Pro. I find no fault with their firearms, fishing gear or luggage.

Welcome aboard, been expecting ya for a while.

The hogs I been killing don't seem to mind the cheap jeans and T-shirts I've been wearing. They know I'm funding retirement, 2 college funds, and trying to keep up with the mortgage so they accept the cheap stuff. I do have camo coveralls I put on over everything occasionally when needed, for turkey hunts.

You said it, brother. For some reason, todays hunters (especially women hunters) think that it is necessary to dress full camo from head to toe including facepaint to be successful. Amateurs!

I don't know, the benefit to buying camo patterns is that my better half can't tell when I have gotten something new. It all just kind of runs together in the closet.

And I would have to agree that Cabela's quality has taken a nosedive. Agree with the other poster to shop when it's on sale.

Kuiu hands down, try it you wont be dissapointed

I agree with you on both lacking quality of late. I also hit up Academy for stuff like bullets and stuff like that. I have gone to KUIU and Sitka for my hunting gear now. I really like KUIU with their sold colors you can wear when not hunting.

L L Bean

Rivers west

They have gone up in price on many things they sell. I compared prices on several items I had bought in the past and they are now 10%-20% higher than every competitor on the same items I had bought from then.

Well my only reason for going to Cabela's is gone.... they have closed the "Bargain Cave" to make room for more overpriced crap. About once or twice a year I would stumble in and bee line to the back for the clearance room. I would look at the stamp to see what was an additional 40-60% off and those would be the only things I would shop for. If I couldn't find what I wanted with 50% off the original sticker then additional 40-60% off that, too bad for me!

Thank you for the different options out there I'll have to look into it.
I also hate that cabelas removed their B cave. I've been look at buying the 050 parka. May dad has one thats about 8 years old. That coat is amazing! It's like baby jesus is hugging you. The new one is less than impressive but it's on sale.
I want something I can hunt out of a deer blind, duck hunt, works for a elk hunt in Colorado, blind into sagebrush when I'm hunting pronghorn in NM, and so on.

I have an older MT050 Parka and it has been bullet proof in blizzards and downpours. I really wanted to pick up the lightweight mt050 rain jacket. my brother has one of those that has been bulletproof and it is about as old as my parka. Unfortunately I've heard a lot of nightmare stories about the newer rain jacket failing to keep people dry. You might get lucky with the new parka those hand warmer pockets are awesome but don't expect to stay dry.

You might look into https://www.hellyhansen.com/en_us/

Good gear for keeping you dry but not necessarily good selection of camo.

LOL, if I am spending $80 on a hoodie, it isn't going to be a light hoodie. It is going to be one to keep me warm for years to come in the deep cold winter.

You should have taken pics of the two products from Cabela's and Old Navy to show the comparison. That would have been really interesting.