Normally the local Walmarts load up on tons of hunting gear in late summer/early fall. This year none of the Walmarts in my area put out anything for hunting season. No blaze orange gear, no chemical handwarmers, no gun accessories, not even any wool socks! Any thoughts on why this might be? How about Walmarts near you?

-Blast

Man, there's piles of that stuff at the Walmarts here in Denver.

Walmart is like any other store where the local store has some control over what they order. The corp has a huge inventory and the local store managers or department heads can order things they want from it. This way items that don't sell in a certain market are not stocked in the stores. What happens is since thats controlled by humans they sometimes might not order enough or decide that some products don't sell well enough during certain seasons so they might sell a different group of product. So no two stores are exactly alike since there is some control the people in charge have over inventory.

Have they just pulled it all out recently in order to make room for baseball, etc?

I haven't noticed any major change in the hunting goods selection north of the Red River in OK. If there's something in particular you're looking for let me know and I'll check the local wally worlds.

Try a Wal-Mart a little farther out of Houston metro area. Smaller towns usually have more hunting gear.

I work in a small town out from Houston and their Walmart is the same. They still carry guns but no other hunting gear.

It's good to know other Walmarts are did carry hunting stuff. I was beginning to wonder if there was something going on. It probably is just an overstock issue. The past few years they ended the season with a ton of extra stuff that they had to put on clearance. *sigh* I really liked picking up cheap wool socks!

-Blast

A "ton" of clearance stuff huh? That's probably the answer to your original question. If they can't move it at regular price then they sure aren't going to allocate any shelf space for it.

As for socks, I got addicted to SmartWool socks years ago & can't/won't go back even if the price is a smidge high.

-Blast

Heck our area ChinaMarts don't even sell guns. period That's a reason I refuse to shop there anymore.

Blast, it was all up here for a while. Sorry, I think I bought those wool socks you were looking for. *grins and waves my toasty warm feet at you*

*whimper* My socks...

-Blast

Yeah, I guess after ten years they learned their lesson. Bummer.

It was kind of fun to think there was some big conspiresy, though.

-Blast

My local Walmart carries hunting supplies, but no longer carries guns.

I also noticed the other day that they had the survival kits inside a Nalgene-type water bottle in the automotive department.

The size of my local WallyWorld camping/hunting department has seriously dwindled this winter. I don't remember even seeing any guns the last time I was there. No socks, either, as I was looking for them, too. To tell the truth, they tend to have more and more of less and less.

Sue

They actually stopped selling wool socks right after Christmas at my wal-mart Luckily I got 5 or so pair for "xmas gifts" to myself. (Decided to try them out compare to SmartWools)

They always have hunting hear in-stock here though too.

MUHWAHAHAHAHAHAHA....

I got the last pair of thermal socks at my local Walmart today.

edit
That will teach me to lord my woolly sockness over a friend. They are cotton thermals... OK around the house in slippers though.

Blast: Just got back from the local Wally World. The ammo shelfs were almost empty, and gun accessorys were almost gone, of course I live in Calif. so that may explain it.

Harford County (AKA Hazzard County) Maryland reporting in.

The Sporting Goods section up here was swathed in camoflage on schedule this year. They're still trying to clear out the remnants now that the season is over...

Walmarts by my parents place in NJ don't carry any guns, knives, pellet/airsoft/paintball guns, or hunting gear. They stock some camping stuff, but it's mostly sleeping bags and oddball coleman garbage.

Out by me in PA they sell everything but firearms, which they recently stopped selling about two years ago.

Wal-Mart's in Northern Ontario usually have a couple isles of hunting stuff; it is discounted now that the fall season is over. Wal-Mart here does sell air and paint-ball guns, plus some archery but no cartridge/muzzleloading firearms, although they do have a small ammo cabinet that is stocked with common ammunition. The storage/display/purchase/possession of firearms is heavily regulated in Canada and I think Wal-Mart just does not want the hassle.

Mike