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Old October 17, 2012, 07:15 PM   #1
Sure Shot Mc Gee
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The cost of one animal per pound butchered.

I'm curious.
While sitting enjoying the Sportsman Channel here last night. I tallied my usual expenses plus the land tax on my property. After all said and done. I figured on one medium size deer harvested off that property I maybe clear 75-80 pounds of meat after its butchering. I then divided that poundage into my overall expensive's which could include its prep by my friendly butcher if I chose to use one. Came to be over $23.00 a pound.
WHAT!!_

Quote:
What do you figure its costing you to hunt this year per pound wraped for the freezer?_
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Old October 17, 2012, 07:34 PM   #2
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Add in the tractor and implements, seed, fertilizer and time messing around with food plots I don't even want to think about it. Good thing it is fun.
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Old October 17, 2012, 08:27 PM   #3
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A true businessman would calculate in all the overhead costs and expenses....like land cost, taxes, insurance, fuel, seed, vehicles, ATV's, etc. That way you know the true cost of this addictive pastime.
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Old October 17, 2012, 08:34 PM   #4
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And the other question is, why cant we write it off on our taxes?
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Old October 17, 2012, 09:07 PM   #5
Art Eatman
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Don't sweat it. Women and race cars are a helluva lot more expensive. The only reason I ever worked was to support my huntin', fishin' and sports-car racin'. When I quit racin', the pay raise was big enough I didn't have to work any more--but I could still afford huntin' and fishin'.
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Old October 17, 2012, 09:16 PM   #6
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all cost figured fuel, food, gas for atvs & generator, cost of hunt, its been about a year now and i dont remember all that was figured in but we put all the meat together and had bologna made. everything came out to about $300 per stick of bologna. trip was from maryland to wyoming. makes coby beef almost look cheap.
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Old October 17, 2012, 09:17 PM   #7
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What is your time worth per hour? Was that figured in the equation?

How many hours of scouting? Planting food plots(if you do that)? Practicing shooting and actual time spent hunting.

Cost of all gear, with the above mentioned, plus what the OP stated(taxes,etc.) I'd say more like $100-$125/ pound.

But, there are a few things in life worth spending our hard earned money on. Getting out in the woods is great mental therapy for me whether I shoot anything or not, as I'm sure it is for many.
Too, if I quit getting out in the woods, I'd probably end up seeing a shrink at least once a week to the tune of about $150-$200/hr.

Thinking of things along those lines, I'll keep paying my $100-$125/pound and enjoying my expensive venison.

Last edited by shortwave; October 17, 2012 at 10:31 PM.
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Old October 17, 2012, 09:33 PM   #8
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The fringe benefits make it well worth the cost. Primary one, time in the field with my 13 year old daughter away from the TV and internet and building her interest in the shooting sports before boys and friends take over all her time. Lost her older sister to all that and she will go target shoot now and then but has no interest in hunting.
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Old October 17, 2012, 09:38 PM   #9
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Your bad math...

If you subtract the cost of what other vices you would have been engaged in you'd find the cost per pound was closer to free
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Old October 17, 2012, 10:59 PM   #10
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Naw, TV don't cost that much.

A buddy of mine figured it costs him about $1.25 per pound on the hoof to harvest and self process deer and hogs and that is just feed, plot, and tractoring, not including anything else. Of course, he shoots a lot of hogs he doesn't eat as well because the freezer only holds so much.
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Old October 17, 2012, 11:28 PM   #11
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As others said, one cannot worry about the cost. You can't put a price on staying out of work to enjoy the peaceful outdoors.
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Old October 18, 2012, 12:50 AM   #12
Sure Shot Mc Gee
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It appears a few here could take a winter cruise down in the Caribbean with the wife/ sweetie for the same amount its costing to chase that elusive Speed Beef around back in the bush. Ain't that some'thin. lol
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Old October 18, 2012, 01:00 AM   #13
Edward429451
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Who takes their hard earned meat to a butcher that you probably can't trust?

It only cost me for the tag and some gas. I don't count food, I'd have to eat if I were home too. No way would I pay for a butcher to take me for a nice cut of meat or worse. I can run a knife.
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Old October 18, 2012, 02:30 AM   #14
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Re: Art's observation about the cost of women and race cars - great point.

The best-tasting, big, juicy piece of meat I've eaten in 70 years was the grilled elk filet my son-in-law shared with me a couple of years ago, after his first elk hunt. I will remember the taste of that meal 'til the day I die. Did it taste better because of the significance of the ritual? Probably. So what. It was outstanding. Can't buy that at Publix.
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Old October 18, 2012, 03:54 AM   #15
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Interesting thread............lots to think about here.............

What someone said about sanity comes across as the counterweight to it all. Don't know how often it is, maybe most of the time!, but when Louann and I hit the woods, as soon as the trees close in around the dirt road and the gate hitches shut, the blood pressure goes down.

Some days we'll spend a couple of hours just idling down the roads looking at the trees, flowers and now and again snatching up the binoculars to inspect a animal of some sort. Other times we cut wood, or mend a fence or run the tractor down a few fire lanes.......and then there are the times we "hunt".

Less hunting than anything else BUT everything else is in preparation for and support of the "hunt"...........and what is hunted?

In our case it's more and more about the afore mentioned "sanity".......well worth every dime.

Especially as the sister in law NEVER shows up in the woods!!!!
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Old October 18, 2012, 06:42 AM   #16
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I always tell my wife that I love her so much that I'm willing to spend $1,500 to go on week long Wyoming hunting trips to provide her with the highest quality $20 a pound antelope that money cab buy.

When you factor in all you expenses, it adds up, but what hobby doesn't.
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Old October 18, 2012, 09:15 AM   #17
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This is a depressing thread

I try and think of it like this: Some things I do to make money and some things I do to give me a reason to keep making money!
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Old October 18, 2012, 09:28 AM   #18
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It is embarrassing to think of what I spend per pound on wild meat, but even as expensive as it is, it's cheaper than chasing the wild painted up city women.

Mrs. WBB is costing me thousands of dollars per pound, over the last 35 years, and tells me she's not going to get any cheaper in the future.
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Old October 18, 2012, 09:40 AM   #19
Art Eatman
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I've never hunted solely for the meat*. I've spent what I could afford to spend on the total package which we call "the hunt". Getting out in the boonies with friends, sitting around the campfire telling yarns, chousing around in the brush, trying to outwit some critter: That beats the heck out of watching some Vidiot-box or hanging out in a beer joint.

Personal enjoyment costs money. That's the system in which we live. I've never had a problem dealing with that reality.

* Well, okay, sometimes in my back pasture, back when I ranched near Austin. Drive out, kill a doe, drive back to the house. But I never really thought of that as "hunting".
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:02 AM   #20
Ole man 52
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The cost of hunting deer

Bought a truck 10,000 dollars------ had to have a 4 wheeler ---3000 dollars---
Bought a new gun-----600 dollars----- spending time in the woods with family and friends ------- PRICELESS !!!!
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:34 AM   #21
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I wouldn't want to see how much it costs in relation to a lb of meat. The experience, stress relief, and relaxation far outweigh the harvest IMO. All the rest is just money I'd spend on something else anyway.

However, if you think hunting is expensive, the cost per lb of fish for an offshore fisherman is much higher. By a lot. Especially when you factor in the boat, insurance, fuel (try an economy of 1.5 to 3.5 mpg), tackle, bait, ice, food etc. LOL, hunting is cheap by comparison unless you travel to exotic locales to do it all the time.
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:37 AM   #22
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Putting a cost per pound on meat and trying to make it justify a hunting trip is comparable to a cost per plate of fried fish on a fishing trip. Hunting and fishing trips are sports and the meat or fish obtained are just extras.

No one makes a living hunting or fishing North American game by profiting from the meat or fish. No one pays for their hunting or fishing trip with the meat they harvest. At least with both sports, you can bring home something to eat occasionally. Try a day of expensive golf with the goal being a bucket of boiled golf balls for supper!

I live out in the country and most years I will harvest a doe or two for freezer meat. I see deer every day here. They are about as tame as a herd of cows. You can set your watch as to when they move through a certain area. When I harvest one it is usually from my back porch. It is not hunting. It is harvesting some good tasting meat for the cost of a license. I butcher it myself because just the cost of having it processed, defeats the purpose of saving any money vs. buying the same poundage of beef.

Here is the true value of hunting;

I have a friend that still lives in the big city 400 miles from here. This friend and I grew up together, but over twenty years ago I moved away and out to the country and he stayed put. We kinda lost touch with each other. We are in our fifties now. Recently we have gotten back in contact with each other. He has a teenage son who has never had the opportunity to shoot a deer. Both are good and safe shooters because the father teaches hunter safety courses and the son shoots often at the range. Unfortunately the son's firearms experiences are mostly at gun ranges or hunting small game. Very hard for them to find an affordable place to hunt deer . He has taken the boy deer hunting before, but no deer were seen.

This year I have invited them to travel down to see us (800 mile round trip) and hunt on my land for a few days. Although I will not charge them to hunt, just the trip will be expensive for them, considering the cost of gasoline. I can't promise that a big buck will be seen, but they will see some does. I feel certain that my friend's son will be able to get his first deer.

My friend will NOT be calculating the cost per pound of any venison they take home. To him it will be a PRICELESS hunt because he will be helping his son to get his first deer. I think it will be just as important to his son as it is to him. I know it makes me feel good to be able to help them with that father and son bond that comes with hunting together. I know I still cherish the hunt 46 years ago when my Papa took me on my first deer hunt and I got my first deer. That is the value of hunting.
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:47 AM   #23
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I figured out the cost of deer per pound once. Kinda scary, makes you appreciate certified Angus rib roasts.
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:56 AM   #24
anothernewb
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I haven't done much hunting, but I once added up what I had invested to go fishing.

Once I wrote that final number down, I burned the paper and vowed never again to think about it. It might have been cheaper to get divorced, give her half of everything, and then get remarried, and pay for everything.

It's a damn good thing my wife thinks I love her more than fishing (or shooting) because I don't think could prove it moneywise.
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Old October 18, 2012, 10:56 AM   #25
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It's a very thin gray line that separates hobby from insanity.
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