Cabela’s banning African hunting pictures from pro staff

[wesheltonj]

RESPONSE FROM BASS PRO / CABELAS

Recently you requested personal assistance from our Customer Support Center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.


Subject
African Hunting pic ban



Response By Email (Ashley) (01/03/2019 04:13 PM)
Dear Sir/Ma'am,

Thank you for contacting basspro.com. Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s is steadfast in our support of hunting, which is a critical conservation tool for saving species in Africa and around the world. Our proud commitment is reflected through our decades of strong support for the conservation efforts of Dallas Safari Club and Safari Club International and throughout our stores, sponsored television shows, ambassadors and partnerships. Despite a recent misunderstanding causing some confusion on social media, we fully encourage our pro team members to share photos from their hunts and adventures around the world to help us promote legal and responsible hunting and a shared love of the outdoors.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

Best regards,
Ashley
Bass Pro Shops
2500 E Kearney
Springfield, MO 65898
1-800-BASS-PRO

That walk back did not take long, now if they will just stop selling Yeti products.

 

[LivingTheDream]

I can see the next Midway USA commercial....I'm Larry Potterfield and Cabelas thanks for your business.

 

[Hogpatrol]

They may only have less than 20% hunting sales but a backlash creates inventory and inventory is dead money. Also don't think any business wants to lose 20% PLUS what the wife and kids buy when the old man is in the store. The latter is what's hurting Dick's.

 

[meigsbucks]

After reading this, I sent a message to BPS/C condemning this policy and letting them know that I no longer do business with Dick’s due to their policy and have no problem doing the same with them.
I hope wesheltonjs’ posting of BPS/C’s response is their true view. Only time will tell.

 

[BWH]

And for all you haters out there.... Yeti has not.

 

[Rock375]

I just emailed both Cabela’s and Bass Pro as well. I no longer shop Dick’s and now Cabelas or Bass Pro. I was going to buy a gun from Cabelas next week. However, Sportsman’s Warehouse has one in stock, so I’ll drive the extra miles and get it there! Yeti is also off my list.

 

[CAustin]

Big discussion on this elsewhere, with BPS denying it.

From Bass Pro:

"This is not true.
Please check out our 1 Source as well as our Pro Team members posting of African Trophies. At this moment I can’t provide you with the story as its source is being investigated.
Thanks for sharing and trust that nothing has changed at Bass Pro Shops and Cabelas as it relates to hunting worldlwide.
As we learn more, we will provide a response."

The above was from Karl Evans of DSC post.

However someone posted a screenshot of said memo. "Do not post animal shots that are excessive bloody/inappropriate and/or exotic animals (safari aminals, etc)"

Will be interesting to see, how this all shakes out.

Screen shots of memos or emails are killers. Be careful what you send in a message!

 

[Hank2211]

RESPONSE FROM BASS PRO / CABELAS

Recently you requested personal assistance from our Customer Support Center. Below is a summary of your request and our response.


Subject
African Hunting pic ban



Response By Email (Ashley) (01/03/2019 04:13 PM)
Dear Sir/Ma'am,

Thank you for contacting basspro.com. Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s is steadfast in our support of hunting, which is a critical conservation tool for saving species in Africa and around the world. Our proud commitment is reflected through our decades of strong support for the conservation efforts of Dallas Safari Club and Safari Club International and throughout our stores, sponsored television shows, ambassadors and partnerships. Despite a recent misunderstanding causing some confusion on social media, we fully encourage our pro team members to share photos from their hunts and adventures around the world to help us promote legal and responsible hunting and a shared love of the outdoors.

Thank you for allowing us to be of service to you.

Best regards,
Ashley
Bass Pro Shops
2500 E Kearney
Springfield, MO 65898
1-800-BASS-PRO

That walk back did not take long, now if they will just stop selling Yeti products.

Seems to me that BPS/Cabelas did the right thing . . . they responded to pressure from hunters (for a change), and that's assuming the original story was correct.

So I went to Bass Pro and bought some camp pants for an upcoming hunt.

Why still unhappy? Because someone messed up? It's been fixed. So let's be gracious and take the win . . .

 

[CAustin]

I also hope the walk back email posted here is the true view of BPS/CAB management

 

[JakeH]

I also hope the walk back email posted here is the true view of BPS/CAB management

As do I. I suppose only time can tell. Would be much more convenient for me if it is true though, as my employer does give out bonuses in the form of BPS/CAB gift cards...

 

[JimP]

I have actually been through buying items from either Cabela's or Bass Pro. I used to buy hunting clothing from Cabela's but since Bass Pro took them over the quality has gone a long ways downhill and if you look at the reviews that people are giving for the Redhead items I am not alone.

On the pictures I can understand not taking the blood covered tongue hanging out with the hunter sitting on top of the animal picture. It only takes a couple of minutes to clean up a animal to the point that you will get a lot better picture that you will be proud of.

 

[wesheltonj]

(1) I have bought a few Red Head items, and the ones that I have purchased were quite good and cheap for their purpose.

(2) The mark-up in the rag trade is substantially more then the gun trade. Which is why you are seeing more soft goods then hard in the stores and why Dick's does not care about the guns, hunter and shooters.

(3) It would be interesting to see, if the screen shot of "no safari animals" is real or fake. If true, BPS back tracked real fast and should be congratulated for doing the right thing. (And those responsible for the memo should find alternative employment.) Unlike Yeti, that's still anti NRA.

 

[sambarhunter]

I might check Cab`s now,sales will be down..the bargain cave will be full ha ha...joke fellas calm down!

 

[Philip Glass]

We will just have to wait and see when more info is available. Sounds bad but people do post stupid stuff online as we all know. There may be more to the story.
I am not a fan of these stores except for the fun of going there. They mostly have their own fairly mediocre quality brand and little else. At this point in my life I am looking for higher quality gear sorry. Also I support my local gun shops owned by people I know and care about.
Regards,
Philip

 

[Von S.]

Yeti coolers?

I consider them the finest coolers made and have a few on my boat as they are very sturdy and do keep ice for a long period of time.

Yeti, as a business practice, offered members of some organizations a generous discount as an incentive for them to buy yeti products. They did not offer this discount to all groups and let out groups like the Black Panthers, KKK, or the First Baptist Church of let's disrespect our brave dead soldiers and their families and many, many others who might have also wanted that discount as well. So as a business practice they stopped organization association discounts for everyone.

So on a early morning we were loading up the boat to head offshore and a neighbor who I invited asked if he could bring his boss as he was looking for some points towards a promotion.

I normally say no, but he looked desperate so I said ok.

He seemed nice enough and seemed pleasant enough during the short orientation.

He asked what could he help with and I mentioned that helping my on with the ice would be a big help. Hat is when he noticed my Yeti cooler an he announced that he wasn't going to fish on a boat with those coolers.

To make t short the neighbor stood with him and I asked them both to leave immediately as we had fish to catch. They both looked surprised as my son and friend showed them out.

For those of you who now hate and boycott Yeti Coolers for discontinuing their discount by association program, as well as the stores would sell their products .I have to ask ,"Why don't you hate and boycott all stores and all products who have never offered you any discount on anything ever because you are a member of the NRA?why aren't you hating Igloo coolers for no discount and Wal-Mart where you bought that 150 quart cooler that went for $39.95 on Memorial Day Weekend? You know the one I'm talking about.....the one where it's hinges break the second year and if you sit on in the heat it retans a perminent mold of your ass for eternity.

As far as boycotting Cabela's and Bass Pro on the word of an obviously disgruntled employee is that really all it takes to get your ire and rage ablazing?

I haven't bought anything from them in years. Should I stop shopping at Midway cause they don't have pictures of dead African animals festooning their site?

Think about it

 

[Hunter4752001]

Their spin doctors like to refer to the Bass Pro - Cabelas "merger". In fact Bass Pro bought Cabelas for $4 billion. That's a takeover not a merger. Since that time the old Cabelas' lines have been disappearing and replaced with Bass Pro lines. The hunting focus is very much diminished and their website looks much more like a general outdoors shop with a concentration on hiking and fashion. I've stopped bothering to search their website for gear, especially anything to do with safari hunting. Great pity.

 

[Brent in Az]

It was a sad day, when Cabela's sold out to BPS. I've been a customer since the 1970's.

 

[Deleted member 43267]

Whatever your feelings, it boils down to demographics. The membership of this forum is 42,000 and includes North American hunters and international members. Anyway you look at it, this group is on a scale equivalent to the 70,000 people who visit a single Cabelas annually (Reading Eagle newspaper article about economic impacts of a newer Cabelas in Hamburg, PA). They now have 82 stores, mail order, and internet sales. Safari hunters buy specialized rifles, optics, and not much else compared to a bass angler that might put $100 k into their high end boat, electronics, and other stuff. And as a former member of the big box outdoor industry, the markup on our gear is tiny compared to the markup on tackle (10% vs 50-100%). Yes, the hunting department is filled with people the week before deer season, but overall sales and marketing are driven by factors that make hunters a tiny part of the equation and our numbers are far lower compared to 20 years ago. I think that it gets even weirder in that the average hunter who walks into a BPS has never even dreamed of a safari because their dream is one affordable rifle and a day off for the deer opener (note that I was one of those guys for 30 years). Even the gun library is driven by this. BPS does not want Blasers sitting on a shelf for 4 years, but needs things that will sell quickly. Otherwise they are losing money. We are just an odd little corner of the big box industry, so I was not surprised at all by the marketing directive.

Thanks,

Jeff

 

[LivingTheDream]

I think this touches a good point. The hunting and guns market is becoming more and more specialized. Most hunters I know aren't walking into a Dicks, Cabelas or Gander Mountain and buying a ton of stuff, they are looking for one or two things and maybe picking up some ammo since they are there. I will say, I think Cabelas was crushing it from an online stand point, because it was easy to look up and find the exact specific item, including some of the higher end items (scopes, optics, gear) that just wouldn't make sense to carry a full line of at a medium size store.

 

[Hank2211]

Their spin doctors like to refer to the Bass Pro - Cabelas "merger". In fact Bass Pro bought Cabelas for $4 billion. That's a takeover not a merger. Since that time the old Cabelas' lines have been disappearing and replaced with Bass Pro lines. The hunting focus is very much diminished and their website looks much more like a general outdoors shop with a concentration on hiking and fashion. I've stopped bothering to search their website for gear, especially anything to do with safari hunting. Great pity.

I think we can all legitimately have diverging views on this. For example, I've never found Cabela's branded clothing to be any better (or worse) than Red Head branded clothing. I've found the stores to be pretty similar, depending on location. Where I live, the Bass Pro is twice the size of the Cabela's, and has more "African" ammunition than the Cabela's, so I tend to shop there.

As for what the deal between the two companies was called, well, having been in the M&A business for most of my life, I can say with some assurance that almost every takeover is called a merger, simply because that's often the legal mechanism by which the deal is structured at the end of the day. We also often hear a "merger of equals" when there is in fact rarely, if ever, such a thing. This isn't meant to mislead anyone, it's just meant to either reflect a legal reality (which is rightly opaque to the average customer and employee) or to try to assuage any feelings which might be hurt by the transaction.

The reality is that the outdoor industry is an extremely competitive one, with low margins, and very few cities could economically support both a Cabela's and a Bass Pro. Yet where there was one, there was usually the other, just because neither felt they could cede market share. Much like airlines, these mega-stores were driving themselves out of business. I supported the "merger" because I want to see these stores survive and in order to do that, they have to make money. And as long as they support hunting by offering hunting products (unlike Dick's), I will continue to shop there for all but the higher end stuff that is found more easily elsewhere.