Cabela’s by Randy Rowley

Randy Rowley recommends Cabela’s retail store in Buda.  When I walked into Cabela’s for the first time 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 a museum.  The store has over 500 mounts; the majority are full-sized.  The poses are very realistic.

You’re greeted by a flight of Canadian geese overhead that are coming in for a landing.

Straight ahead was a 35-foot-tall ‘conservation mountain’ covered with full size mounts. The mountain has three sides. The left side is a polar section that includes 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 of the mountain is a forest section. 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 section that features a herd of pronghorn antelope. 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.

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.

There is a second story with a camping section and their restaurant. The food is good and the prices are reasonable. They even have exotic game fare.

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 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 by 10% or more.

If you’re thinking of buying one of their bows you can try it out in their indoor range.

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!

My only major complaint is they had only one wild boar mount! Don’t they know a beautiful animal when they see it?