Affiliate disclosure
We earn a commission if you buy from Cabela’s through the links on this page — excluding firearms, ammunition and gift cards, which the programme does not pay on and which this review does not cover. It did not buy a favourable review.
Cabela’s is one of the largest outdoor recreation retailers in the United States, owned by the same parent as Bass Pro Shops, selling camping, hiking, fishing, paddling and hunting gear. For readers of this site, the reason it matters is that walking and hiking are the activities people actually stick with while losing weight. The most useful thing we can tell you about the retailer is not a product price — it is that its return window is 60 days as standard and 365 only if you open its credit card, while REI gives members the same year for a one-off $30 membership.
What This Review Covers
Two scoping notes, stated up front so you know what you are reading.
We do not cover firearms or ammunition. Cabela’s is a hunting retailer and sells both; they sit outside this review’s remit and outside the affiliate arrangement disclosed above. What follows is about the outdoor-recreation side — the walking, hiking, camping, fishing and paddling gear that is relevant to a readership working on health and weight.
We could not price-check the catalogue. Cabela’s site blocked our automated access, so rather than repeat prices from third-party pages we cannot verify, we have published none. For a retailer with tens of thousands of constantly changing SKUs, individual prices are close to worthless in a review anyway — the terms you buy under are what actually differ between retailers, and those we could verify.
The Return Policy Is the Real Product
Outdoor gear has an unusual property: you often cannot tell whether it works until the season it was bought for. Boots feel fine in a shop and rub at mile six. A sleeping bag is warm enough until the one cold night. A pack is comfortable empty. That makes the length of the return window a genuine feature rather than fine print.
| How you bought it | Return window | What you get back |
|---|---|---|
| Standard purchase, with receipt | 60 days | Refund to original payment |
| Paid with the CLUB Visa/Mastercard | 365 days | Refund, on almost all standard items |
| No receipt | — | Lowest sale price, as merchandise credit or same-item exchange |
| After 60 days, no CLUB card | Discretionary | Inspection basis only — sole discretion of the company |
Two details are genuinely in your favour. Cross-brand returns work — a Bass Pro purchase can go back at a Cabela’s counter and vice versa, which matters if one is closer to you. And 60 days as a baseline is longer than the 30 days many retailers offer.
The one to plan around is the “inspection basis only” language after day 60. That is not a right; it is discretion. Keep receipts, and if something is wrong with an item, deal with it inside the window rather than hoping goodwill covers you later.
The CLUB Card Trade-Off
Going from 60 days to 365 is a big jump, and it is worth being clear about what it costs.
The extended window is tied to the CLUB Visa or Mastercard — a credit card, not a membership. Applying means a credit application and a check. Carrying any balance means interest charges that will comfortably exceed the value of the return you were protecting. A store card that changes where you shop is a real cost, and “better returns” is a persuasive reason to open one that has nothing to do with whether the credit terms suit you.
Compare that with the obvious alternative. REI gives Co-op members 365 days for a one-time $30 membership — no credit product, no application, no interest — and 90 days to non-members. If a long return window is genuinely what you want, $30 buys it outright.
That is not an argument against the CLUB card for everyone. If you already shop there heavily, pay in full every month, and value the rewards, it may make sense on its own terms. It is an argument against opening a credit line because of a return policy, which is the framing the benefit invites.
Warranty on Boots and Footwear
Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s branded boots, shoes and waders carry a one-year limited warranty against manufacturer defects. It explicitly does not cover normal wear and tear.
That exclusion is worth reading carefully, because for footwear wear is the failure mode most people actually experience. Soles wearing smooth, cushioning flattening, uppers creasing through — none of that is a defect. A genuine defect is a sole separating, a seam failing, or waterproofing that never worked. Know which one you have before you make a claim.
Note also that this covers house-brand footwear. Third-party brands sold at Cabela’s carry their own manufacturer warranties, which vary and are frequently more generous. If warranty matters to your purchase, the brand on the boot matters more than the shop you bought it from.
What the Complaint Record Shows
The Better Business Bureau profile for Bass Pro Shops carries an A+ rating, with 273 complaints over the last three years which the company is recorded as having addressed. For a retailer of this size, that is a modest number, and an A+ with complaints answered is a reasonable result.
The recurring themes are worth knowing before you order online rather than visit a store:
- Delivery delays, including reports of expedited two-day shipping arriving in four to seven days. If you need something by a date, that is a reason to buy in store.
- Warranty disputes — customers reporting the company declined to honour a warranty.
- Customer service responsiveness, including unanswered emails and, in one 2026 complaint, live chat giving materially incorrect return-shipping instructions.
Consumer review aggregators score the brand considerably lower than its BBB rating suggests. We are not publishing a figure from those, because such sites skew heavily negative for large retailers — people who receive their order on time do not write reviews. The honest summary is that the complaints concern speed and communication, not orders vanishing. Buy in store if timing matters; keep your correspondence if it does not go smoothly.
Walking and Hiking for Weight Loss: What Gear Matters
This is where an outdoor retailer is genuinely relevant to this site, and where the most useful advice is to buy less than the store would like.
Walking is the activity people are most likely to keep doing, which is the property that matters most. It has a low injury rate, needs no skill, scales with fitness, and — unlike most structured exercise — can be attached to things you already do. Hiking, fishing and paddling add the same benefit in a form many people do not experience as exercise at all, which is an adherence advantage rather than a compromise.
| Buy first | Why |
|---|---|
| Footwear that fits | The only item where a bad choice reliably stops you walking. Fit and width beat brand and price — try them on, late in the day when feet are largest. |
| Something to carry water | A bottle or bladder. Cheap, and the thing most often forgotten. |
| Layers, not a coat | Being able to add and remove is what keeps you comfortable across a walk. One expensive jacket does less than three cheap layers. |
| Trekking poles, if hills are involved | The one accessory with measured joint-load numbers behind it — see below. |
| Everything else — wait | Buy it when a repeated, actual problem tells you to. Gear bought in advance of a problem is usually gear bought instead of walking. |
A note on footwear for heavier walkers specifically: fit and width matter more than anything printed on the box, and feet often need a size or width you did not previously wear. If you are partway through significant weight loss, expect your feet to change — reduced swelling and volume are common — which is an argument against buying two pairs at once, however good the deal.
And the honest warning a shop will not give you: buying equipment is not doing the activity. Kit purchased in a burst of motivation is the most common form of exercise procrastination there is. The walk you take in trainers you already own counts exactly as much as the one in new boots.
Trekking Poles: The One Purchase With Numbers Behind It
Most outdoor gear is sold on comfort and preference. Poles are the exception — there is measured biomechanical data, and it is favourable.
Research on downhill walking found significant reductions of roughly 12% to 25% in peak and average ground reaction force, knee joint moment, and tibiofemoral compressive and shear forces when hiking poles were used. The effect is largest going downhill — which is exactly where knee pain tends to appear, and where most people are surprised to find descending hurts more than climbing.
Two honest caveats. The frequently cited study behind those figures used eight participants on a 25-degree ramp, which is a small sample and a steep slope — so treat the precise percentages as indicative rather than exact. And poles help most when used properly; carried in one hand or set to the wrong length, they do very little.
For a heavier walker returning to hills, that combination — a real mechanism, a consistent direction of effect, and a modest price — makes poles the accessory we would prioritise over almost anything else in the store.
A Note for GLP-1 Users Heading Outdoors
Three practical points if you are on a GLP-1 medication and increasing outdoor activity. This is general information, not medical advice — raise anything that concerns you with your prescriber.
- Hydration needs deliberate attention. Reduced appetite frequently means reduced drinking, and thirst is an unreliable signal at the best of times. On a warm day out, carry more water than you think you need and drink on a schedule rather than on thirst.
- Take food even if you do not want it. Appetite suppression does not remove your need for fuel on a long walk, and being far from the car with nothing to eat is a miserable way to learn that.
- Walking does not protect lean mass. Rapid weight loss carries a documented risk of losing muscle alongside fat. Hiking is excellent for adherence and cardiovascular health, but resistance training and adequate protein are what preserve muscle — do not let one substitute for the other.
How Cabela’s Compares
| Retailer | Standard returns | Best window | What it costs to unlock |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cabela’s / Bass Pro | 60 days | 365 days | A credit card application |
| REI | 90 days (non-member) | 365 days (member) | A one-time $30 membership |
On returns alone, REI is the better structure — a longer baseline for non-members, the same year at the top tier, and no credit product required to get there. REI also accepts lightly used items where you are genuinely dissatisfied with performance, which is materially more useful for gear you cannot evaluate without using it. One caveat in fairness: REI has begun restricting members with a demonstrated pattern of excessive returns, so the policy is generous rather than unlimited.
Where Cabela’s wins is range, footprint and price positioning. It carries categories REI does not touch, its stores are large and stock deep, and it is generally cheaper on comparable mid-range gear. If you fish, paddle or camp as well as walk, one shop covering all of it has real value.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- 60-day standard return window, longer than many retailers’ 30
- 365-day window available on almost all standard items with the CLUB card
- Cross-brand returns — Bass Pro purchases go back at Cabela’s and vice versa
- BBB A+ rating with complaints recorded as addressed
- 273 complaints over three years is modest for a retailer of this scale
- Very broad range across hiking, camping, fishing and paddling
- Large physical stores — you can try footwear on, which matters more than anything
- One-year limited warranty on house-brand boots, shoes and waders
- Generally competitive pricing on mid-range outdoor gear
Cons
- The 365-day return requires opening a credit card, not a cheap membership
- REI gives members the same year for a one-off $30 and no credit check
- After 60 days without the card, returns are discretionary — “inspection basis only”
- Returns without a receipt refund only the lowest sale price, as merchandise credit
- House-brand footwear warranty excludes normal wear, the usual failure mode
- Reported delivery delays, including expedited shipping arriving well late
- Complaints about warranty claims being declined
- Reports of unresponsive customer service and incorrect live-chat guidance
- Consumer review aggregators score the brand poorly
- Site blocked our automated access, so we could not verify any pricing
Who Should Pick It, and Who Should Look Elsewhere
Cabela’s suits you if there is a store near you and you want to try footwear on before buying — which, for the one purchase that actually matters, is worth more than any online discount. It suits you if your outdoor interests span several categories, since the range is genuinely broad, and if you value depth of stock over the boutique experience.
Look elsewhere if the return policy is what you are buying. REI’s $30 membership is a far cheaper route to a 365-day window than a credit application, and its willingness to take back lightly used gear you are dissatisfied with is the more useful policy for equipment you cannot evaluate in a shop. Look elsewhere too if you need something by a specific date and cannot collect it in store, given the delivery complaints.
And if you are here because you have decided to start walking: consider buying nothing yet. Walk in what you own for a few weeks. Let the blisters, the cold hands or the sore knees tell you what to buy. That order of operations saves money and, more importantly, means the gear arrives for a habit that already exists.
Limitations of This Review
We have not bought from Cabela’s, visited a store, or tested any product, so we cannot speak to stock levels, staff quality, fitting service or delivery experience. Cabela’s site blocked our automated access, so we verified no prices at all and have published none rather than repeat third-party figures — that is a real gap in a retail review, and it is why this page focuses on terms rather than products.
Specific gaps: return and warranty terms are as reported by help-centre and third-party coverage rather than read directly from the retailer’s own policy page. We did not verify CLUB card APR, fees, rewards rates or approval criteria — anyone considering it should read the card agreement, not this page. We read BBB complaint totals and themes but not all 273 complaints individually, and complaint narratives are one-sided accounts. REI’s terms are as reported by third-party coverage rather than checked on REI’s own site. The trekking pole figures come from published research summaries rather than our own reading of the primary papers, and the main study is small. And we have deliberately excluded firearms and ammunition from scope.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Cabela's return policy?
Most items carry a 60-day return window from purchase. That extends to 365 days on almost all standard items if you paid with a Cabela’s or Bass Pro Shops CLUB Visa or Mastercard. After 60 days without the card, returns are accepted on an inspection basis only, at the company’s sole discretion. Returns without a receipt are processed at the lowest sale price and refunded as merchandise credit or exchanged for the same product. Because Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s share a parent company, you can return either brand’s purchase at either brand’s store.
Is the CLUB card worth it just for returns?
Only if you would carry the card responsibly anyway. It is a credit card, not a loyalty membership — applying means a credit check, and carrying a balance means interest that will dwarf the value of any return you were hoping to make. Compare it with REI, where a one-off $30 Co-op membership buys a 365-day return window with no credit product involved. If a long return window is what you are after, that is a much cheaper way to buy one.
What warranty do Cabela's boots carry?
Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s branded boots, shoes and waders carry a one-year limited warranty against manufacturer defects. It does not cover normal wear and tear, which for footwear is the failure mode most people actually experience. Third-party brands sold at Cabela’s carry their own manufacturer warranties, which vary and are often better — check the brand, not the retailer.
Does Cabela's have a good reputation?
Mixed, and it depends which measure you use. The Better Business Bureau profile for Bass Pro Shops carries an A+ rating, with 273 complaints in the last three years which the company is recorded as having addressed. Complaint themes centre on delivery delays — including expedited shipping arriving well outside its promised window — warranty disputes, and unresponsive customer service. Consumer review aggregators score the brand considerably lower, though such sites skew negative for large retailers because satisfied shoppers rarely post. The complaints are about speed and communication rather than orders never arriving.
What gear do I actually need to start walking or hiking?
Much less than a large outdoor store implies. Footwear that fits properly, something to carry water in, and clothing you can add or remove in layers will cover the great majority of day walking. Everything else is optional and can wait until an actual, repeated problem tells you what to buy. The most common expensive mistake in this category is buying equipment as a substitute for starting.
Do trekking poles actually help?
This is the one item in the category with measured numbers behind it. Research on downhill walking found significant reductions of roughly 12% to 25% in peak and average ground reaction force, knee joint moment, and tibiofemoral compressive and shear forces when poles were used. The benefit is largest going downhill, which is where knee pain usually shows up. The main study behind those figures used eight participants on a 25-degree ramp, so it is a small sample — but the mechanism is straightforward and the effect is consistent across the literature.
Is walking enough exercise to lose weight?
Walking is the activity people are most likely to keep doing, and consistency matters more than intensity for long-term results. But no amount of walking outruns what you eat, and if you are losing weight rapidly — including on a GLP-1 medication — walking alone does not protect lean mass. Resistance training and adequate protein do that. Treat outdoor activity as the part you will sustain and enjoy, not as the whole plan, and this review is general information rather than medical advice.
Does this review cover firearms or ammunition?
No. Cabela’s sells hunting equipment including firearms and ammunition, and those categories are outside the scope of this review — they are also excluded from the affiliate arrangement disclosed at the top of this page. This review covers the outdoor recreation side that is relevant to our readers: walking, hiking, camping, fishing and paddling gear.
Verdict
3.8 / 5
A serious retailer with real range, big stores and a decent 60-day baseline — marked down because its best return window is gated behind a credit card that a competitor sells for $30, and because delivery and service complaints cluster where online buyers feel them.
Cabela’s does the fundamentals well. Sixty days is a fair standard window, cross-brand returns are genuinely convenient, the BBB record is respectable for a company this size, and the stores let you do the one thing that matters most for a walker — put boots on your feet before paying for them. For someone whose outdoor life spans hiking, camping and fishing, the breadth is a real advantage over a specialist.
The deduction is about how the best terms are sold. Extending returns from 60 days to a year is exactly the benefit an outdoor buyer wants, because gear reveals its faults a season late — and tying it to a credit card application converts a shopping decision into a borrowing one. REI offering the same year for a $30 membership makes the comparison unflattering, and it is the single most useful thing on this page: if the long window is what you want, you do not need a credit line to get it.
Beyond that, the honest advice for most readers of this site is deflationary. The gear that matters for walking is footwear that fits, water, layers, and poles if there are hills. That is a short list in a very large shop, and the walk in shoes you already own counts just as much as the one in new boots.
Try the Boots On, Skip the Credit Card
Footwear fit is the one thing worth going to a store for — try them late in the day when your feet are largest. Take the standard 60-day window rather than opening a credit line for returns, and if hills are involved, poles are the accessory with real numbers behind them.