My Walmart here in Shreveport (Pines Road) is out of corn for the season, I talked/complained to the Mgr and she said Bentonville won't allow them to order any more. I explained to her that I feed year around 5 to 10 bags a week. I haven't checked any of the other Walmarts here in the area but I assume they are in the same condition or about to be. The last two years they have been cutting the corn off earlier and earlier. Harly any hunting items left in Sporting Goods area too. How about yours? I guess Walmart is becoming like most "Big Business", it's what they want not the customer that's important.

Thanks
Jack

Walmart ran most of the mom and pop hunting shops out of town and now they really do not care, IMO.

That's their whole business plan...

These brands used to be good ones:
Murray
Weed-Eater
Huffy
Vlasic
Bushnell
Simmons
Sanyo

Wal-Mart killed them..... draw them in, build up sales, then demand more for less, until they are broke. The Vlasic pickles story may be the worst of all time.

Savage is the only one I have read about that made it back from telling wal-mart to kiss it...but Wal-Mart nearly killed them.

I've never had trouble getting corn at local feed stores throughout the year at prices as good or better than those offered by Wal-Mart.

In fact, I can get corn CHEAPER at at feed store. It's under $6 for a 50lb at our local feed store as to Wal Mart over $6 for 40lbs. Also, you can buy corn at the feed store year round!!!

Not here in Shreveport, feed dealers are about $1.00 per bag higher. Academy is competetive but they let us down last year too. I try to buy from local farmers first but they run out first and you have to buy by the skid which I do in the early part of season to fill all my feeders up. But I still need 5 bags a week for spreading on the ground. I feed corn year around, Protein pellets, Rice Bran when needed and plant food crops where I can.

Jack

Yeah, and they'll probably raise their price even higher once Wal-Mart runs out. Their current price is just the profit they're willing to sacrifice in the meantime. It wouldn't surprise me if local "price fixing" is happening with feed dealers in your area. It happens at the local level with many types of goods and services a lot more than you think.

The 2 Wal Marts in the Colleyville area have had almost nothing this year for hunting. Even last year they still were selling a fair amount of camo clothing and gear, this year nothing at all.

I don't like there business practices so I almost never go there or buy anything from them anyway.

Over the past few years, I've watched our Wal Mart stop selling guns and severely reduce the other hunting/shooting supplies. As they run out, they don't replace things and their sporting goods section has gotten smaller and smaller.

All the feed stores in the area charge the same right down to the penny, for corn, protein, and Rice Bran. Isn't that strange!

Jack

our academy has destroyed the local wal-mart in the sporting goods dept. I'm not complaining. But the corn is cheaper at wally world.....

I noticed this too after seeing differences at Wal-Mart stores in the Houston area, as well as East Texas. While a couple of stores in the Spring area carry very little hunting gear, stores in Conroe, Huntsville, and Crockett have lots of it. And their store in Nacogdoches carrys guns as well. I asked a store clerk about this some time ago and was told each store has some say in what they choose to carry.

I've never seen why so many people want to attack Wal-Mart. After all, K-Mart and other discounters have been around for decades and no one ever seemed to think bad about them.
Yes, Wal-Mart put price pressure on the small stores. But should I be expected to pay more just to support the smaller stores with limited inventory.

IMO, Internet markets have put a lot of pressure on mom and pop stores as well. How many times can I remember going into a place to buy a part, only to have some clerk tell me "No, we don't have it, but I can order it for you." Heck, I can do that today and have shipped to my doorstep at a better price.

I only wish there was a way that Wal-Mart could get into the new car business and overturn that apple cart as well.

Wal-Mart did nothing more than provide the consumer with the products they needed at a good price while the likes of K-Mart, JC Penney, Sears, and others were asleep at the wheel. Like any retailer, they have their problems. And poor management at the store level is one of them today. Still, they're still the place most people go to get what they need, and their satisfaction guarantee is still the best in the business.

As far as the corn goes at Walmart, are you saying you could get 50# bags at Walmart because all I have ever seen is 50's at feed stores and when you break it out per pound, the feed store price is cheaper.

I think the feed store's are a better and more reliable option if you have close by.

As far as Walmart here where I live, when I moved out here they always carried a good selection of guns/camo and such. Well after the population increased, the hunting section decreased to a few gun cases, shotgun shells and camo shirts for dove season. The fishing section has even decreased and were next to a lake, and you can hunt this are too. If what you say is true, the stores can decide on what they want to carry, then Walmart needs to go back to the business model that worked, this one sucks.

I dont even mess with them anymore, I only go back to see if they have anything on clearance, but that has been pretty crappy now. I do get my license, which I bet that wont be around for too much longer.

Agreed about Walmart being higher on corn per pound than feed stores. The only downside to feed store corn is that the 50 pound bags keep getting heavier as I get older.

Also, read the warning label about aflotoxin. Not sure about what it exactly is. However, I contacted some wildlife chemists a couple of years ago and they said that they personally wouldn't feed it to their deer and then eat them. The warning is that it is safe for deer but lethal to rabbits and horses. Both Academy and Walmart corn have the warning label. Dicks Sporting Goods and the feed stores do not so I assume that it is safer. I really don't want to save a little $ by putting something in the food chain that is dangerous to anything.

I hear ya on the weight of the bags and getting older. I am lucky to have 3 boys that are able and willing to lift the bags.

Very good reading on it at the link below.

http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/publications/pwdpubs/media/pwd_bk_w7000_0033.pdf

Thanks Dan. I didn't know about the problems to turkey, quail and other birds.

Thanks Dan,

I wasn't aware of this at all. Scary to me to think that I may be feeding toxic corn to my deer, turkeys, and any of the other animals that are eating it. I am spending a lot of money and hard work that actually may be more harmful than helpful. I guess you have to read the labels on everything now days. I never thought they (Gov't) would allow anything harmful that's consumed by humans or animals to be sold. Silly me I guess.

Jack

Here is some of what I found on Aflatoxins:

Aflatoxins are naturally occurring mycotoxins that are produced by many species of Aspergillus, a fungus, most notably Aspergillus flavus and Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxins are toxic and among the most carcinogenic substances known.[1] After entering the body, aflatoxins are metabolized by the liver to a reactive intermediate, aflatoxin M1, an epoxide.



http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Publications/PM1800.pdf

http://southwestfarmpress.com/grains/aflatoxin-contamination-1215/

Went to Wal-Mart in Snyder earlier this year to buy corn for the feeders. Somone had just beat me to it and bought the whole pallet.

Figured while I was there I needed to get my Federal Duck Stamp. They told me I would have to order it. The guy asked me how many ducks I was planning on shooting and I told him as many as I legally could. His response, "Well, you'll need to purchase a stamp for each duck you kill."

What an idiot.

quote - "Well, you'll need to purchase a stamp for each duck you kill."

Thats funny right there.

But I did get my stamp from Walmart and it came in the mail about a week later, not a bad deal, could have gotten it from the post office quicker but it save me a trip.

Sorry about that. Ezell Key's corn was left over from last year and full of weevils, so I went into Wally World and loaded up. I figured I was about the only one in that area that fed corn.

I wonder if the Feed store and Dick's supplier are just leaving that info off their bags. After reading up on it, I think it must be more of a "protect the vendor" warning. Could have, might have, lets put this aflotoxin warning on just to be safe.

Jack

That's why I go to Tractor Supply. They have corn year round.

Don't drive in to Goldthwaite planning on buying a duck stamp at the post office when you arrive. I tried to buy one last year and they thought I was joking with them about buying duck stamps there.