Cabin Fever
 

My wife and I made the cabin fever “rounds” yesterday. Started out at LL Beans in Freeport, then down to Portland for some libation and “Chowdah” at J’s Oysters on the pier in the Old Port. After lunch off to Cabelas and finally Kittery Trading Post.( And yes John, KTP was the best:rolleyes:) But the Gun Library at Cableas was quite amusing. While looking at the ten or so Parkers in the gun cabinet, I spied a tag with “Parker D3” on it, and another with “Parker DH” on it. Close inspection revealed the gun labeled “D3” was actually a PH, and the one labeled “DH” was a GH.:corn:

sounds like ya ll had a very good evening to me would like to visit some of those places mentioned myself someday...yep a grand day for sure...... charlie

Steve, did you get any of those LL Bean decoys?

I understand Jack Dudley is longer with Cabela's, maybe that explains it.

You are correct, he is gone.

...and the Cabela's Gun Library just ain't the same without him. He is a true gentleman and knew his guns very well. They lost a gem when they didn't keep Jack.

They (Cabelas) isn't interested in knowledgeable people. They can hire someone for less money they do it. It's all about the bottom line these days. I bet most of them couldn't tell the difference from a Fox pin gun and a Parker.

I prefer KTP over Cabelas too but they make the similar mistakes, I remember there was once a straight grip DHE labeled GHE there :)

Unfortunately, alot of the people at Cabelas Gun Rooms are not all that informed on older and collectible guns. They just need people to man the store. I was recently discussing a French 16 sxs at the Gun Room in Wheeling and mentioned it was short chambered at 2 1/2" and showed him the barrel flats marked 65mm. He said I was wrong and that 65 is the bore diam. of a 16 ga. They were asking $1200 for the gun and I showed him that the gun rarely goes for over 500 on several internet sites. It appears to be a French guild gun, and no manufacturers name can be found. Needless to say, it is still there.

All the guys do is look at the computer screen as to what they have bought and sold a cerrtain model gun for and make their buy/sell decisions from there.
Just as there is a finite number of collectible vintage guns there are even fewer knowledgeable people working at the big box stores selling them.

That could present a buying opportunity as well

Wow a 2 1/2'' bore diameter! Must have been a cannon. This is why we need to teach the metric system early.

What is said here about Cabela's is so true. When they opened the Rogers, MN store they had a knowledgeable guy in charge. They kept him around (he moved his family to MN from another state) while they got the store going then after a year he was gone. They've been open about 6-7 years now and have had as many Library managers.

:smiley7:

What's the problem with this location? What is Cabella's doing that they can't hold their Gun Library Managers. If there has been a succession of Managers who leave, you can bet Cabella's is doing something wrong.

They are on salary so you get paid for 40hrs and work 70+.If you need to go look at a gun collection you usually do it on your day off. No time off for hunting, shooting etc.

It was without a doubt the worst year of my life!:eek:

When I retired from the corporate world, I thought I'd teach high school for a while. I decided to work for a bit as a substitute teacher (bad move, subs are not treated well by today's students). When the Assistant Principal approached me one day and asked me to come work full time, I asked him about time off in the Fall (for you know what) and he said NO WAY< ABSOLUTELY NOT POSSIBLE! That was the day I decided it wasn't the right environment for me. Company's have to be flexible today (apart from the recession) or they loose good people.

I'm not sure any particular Cabelas is better or worse than other's with regard to how they retain their Gun Room managers. The East Hartford store had a guy in there when they first opened who wouldn't' come out of his office for anyone. If you had a question, an underling would take it to Joe, who would wave his hands around, like it was the stupidest question he had heard all week, and send the peon back out. He finally got fired. They guy in there now isn't the sharpest cheddar in the pantry, but he's friendly and does what he can.
I remember Jack Dudley from 20 years ago when he was retained to appraise my collection for my ex's divorce atty. He had to write up about 150 pieces, and I left him to do his thing. when it began to get dark, I went downstairs to see if he was still alive and he was not half done. I offered to help him to speed things along, but left the values up to him. We knocked of the rest in an hour and when he showed me what he had written before I came down, I was stunned how little he knew. I will grant you he was a gentleman, but he had had 3 jobs in 3 years and I began to see why. I guess he's learned a fair bit in the past 20 years.