Cabelas Bombed on the Cree

[flymaker2]

It must have been six months ago when Cabelas announced that they were offering premium Cree Necks for about $70.00. I immediately ordered one and was put on backorder status. About three months ago I was contacted to make sure I "REALLY" wanted it still. I said of course and was kept on BO status.

Well today I get a personal phone call from Cabelas and they say thet the vendor can not supply the Cree neck ! I asked if I was way down the list and perhaps others ahead of me got their Cree Necks? "Nope"-she said-"I don't see that anyone got the Cree Necks".

So the Mythical Cree Necks at a working man's price is back to Unobtainium status.

Did anyone here actually get a Cabela's Cree Neck?

Rich

[This message has been edited by flymaker2 (edited 02 June 2005).]

[billknepp]

Not knocking you or my beloved Cabela's....But for some items...I'd not ever consider mail order...If I were you,I'd thank my lucky stars,as they could very well have pawned off some rather interesting substitutes.....Glad they were upfront with you anyhow....another reason I like em....was'nt their fault they seemed to have given their "supplier" a major benifit of the doubt..even at the cost of having prolly a few of their better customer's waiting....

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"I've often wondered why it is that so many anglers spend so much money on,and pay so much attention to.the details on the wrong end of the fly line.If they took as much care in selecting or tying their flies as they did in the selection of the reel and rod,They might be able to gain the real extra edge that makes it possible to fool a fish that has,in fact,seen it all before" A.K.Best

"Wish ya great fishing"

Bill

[billknepp]

yes JC....to good to be true.....is what kept me from ordering myself...that and I've been lucky in having a bro in-law drop out of the fly game and in so doing ,gave me some really good deals....Cree being just the tip of a rather large ice berg,the 5 bamboo rods for 50 bucks was what I really liked....wooo hoooo....

[flymaker2]

I've got some nice "Cree" necks and saddles; well at least I call them Cree I also have had some Cree on order with the nice folks @ Conranch and expect to get those items sometime this year. Denny gave me an update on the birds not all that long ago. Really excited to see a Cree Hen.

I ordered the "Cree" from Cabelas because I was very curious to see just what it could have been. If it had turned out to be an actual honest-to-gosh Cree skin, then good for me. If it was just a barred ginger in wolf's clothing, then so be it. That is what the "Things for Sale" section on FOAL is for-right?

So was not really counting on getting that Cree. Not surprised that the big chain couldn't come up with the goods either-this time. Thought it newsworthy just the same.

Rich

[DG]

My cree showed up in a shipment of saddles one day at the store. I was unpacking the box, and Lo! there it was. Needless to say, it did not make it to the shelf. #1 Metz saddle, feathers about ten inches long. I tied a couple hundred PMDs off of it, mostly 16s, and it is still half here. Not bad for employee discount off retail.

Buwahahahahahaha. Haven't seen another on the shelf since.

[whatfly]

Flymaker2,

Actually, I think Whiting is having a problem with supply because I had the exact same problem with Cabelas...only I was ordering just a "plain" gold grizzly neck...and it never showed up, even after 4 months. Checked the site today, and a gold-grade grizzly neck is STILL on backorder.

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-whatfly

[flymaker2]

I was informed of one of the major reasons that the major Cree Supplier has hardly any skins to share with the US Dealers. A guarded source said that there is a fellow who buys product for the lucrative Japanese Fly Tying market. This Kingpin is well-to-do. He flies over here every couple of months and visits "the farm". He then hand-picks the birds that he will take back to Japan when they are done growing. In other words, the flock is being high-graded by this gentleman beacause he has clout and spends big, big bucks to have this privelege.

Then to top that off, I figure that the dealers high-grade the Cree out of the shipments to the stores when they arrive. (Can't blame them if the staff gets a first pick at the cool stuff). That leaves the dregs for us common folk. I am told, again by another good source, that if you call "the farm" that you can get on a waiting list and eventually you will get a pretty good Cree. Sadly, it sounds like the superb skins are being exported-at least from the biggest source of these "Crees".

There sure are other quality sources for Cree Skins. Conranch, Knoll's Farms, and probably others too.

Just throwing this out here for the sake of the discussion. What I have been told may be total Bullfeathers. Sounds plausable to me. Standing by for a Conranch Cree Shipment....

Rich