Bass Pro Shops gives first responders 10% off most merchandise and 5% off firearms and ammunition. The eligibility list is unusual, and so is one rule about how you’re allowed to verify.
Bass Pro Shops is an outdoor retailer selling fishing, hunting, camping, boating and marine gear, along with apparel and footwear, through large destination stores and online. It also owns Cabela’s, which runs its own separate program.
How To Get The Bass Pro Shops First Responder Discount
Bass Pro’s own wording sets out both the groups and the split: it “offers a discount to verified military personnel, law enforcement officers (LEOs), firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs), and fish & wildlife agents. Eligible customers receive a 5% discount on firearms and ammunition and a 10% discount on all other eligible merchandise.”
In store, you “show a current ID that verifies your military status or current employment as an LEO, firefighter, EMT, or fish & wildlife agent.”
Online, you create an account in their store, sign in, and submit your verification information. Once verified you get instructions for applying the discount to an order.
Fish and Wildlife Agents Can’t Verify Online
This is the detail worth the whole page, and no list carries it.
Bass Pro states that online verification covers “Military, LEOs, Firefighters, and EMTs.” Then, separately: “At this time, we are not able to confirm eligibility for wildlife agents online, but the discount can be applied to a retail purchase.”
So a conservation officer or game warden qualifies for exactly the same discount as everyone else on the list, and can only claim it by walking into a store. If you’re in that role and you’ve tried to verify online and failed, nothing is wrong with your credentials. The online path simply doesn’t cover you.
Who Isn’t On The List
Bass Pro names LEOs, firefighters, EMTs and fish and wildlife agents. 911 dispatchers and nurses aren’t named.
That’s a narrower first responder definition than several other outdoor retailers use, and it’s the kind of gap that’s easier to find out here than at a register. If you’re a dispatcher, ask before you shop rather than after you’ve filled a cart.
Q&A
Q: How much is the Bass Pro first responder discount?
A: 10% on most eligible merchandise, 5% on firearms and ammunition.
Q: Who qualifies?
A: Military personnel, law enforcement officers, firefighters, EMTs, and fish and wildlife agents.
Q: Do 911 dispatchers qualify?
A: They aren’t on Bass Pro’s published list.
Q: Can wildlife agents order online?
A: They can order, but they can’t verify online. Bass Pro says the discount can be applied to a retail purchase instead.
Q: Do I need an account to use it online?
A: Yes. You create an account, sign in, then submit your verification.
Q: Does the Cabela’s discount work here?
A: Bass Pro owns Cabela’s, but they run separate programs. Check the one for the store you’re actually buying from.
More Information:
Outdoor retail is one of the stronger categories for first responders, and Bass Pro’s program is genuinely broad on paper. What makes it worth reading closely is that the same program treats two eligible groups differently depending on where they shop, and it publishes that difference rather than hiding it.
The firearms and ammunition split is standard across the industry, since margins there are thin. Expect it anywhere, not just here.
