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Old October 17, 2013, 11:31 AM   #1
Wild Bill Bucks
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Why do we keep doing this ?

I got to thinking about last years deer hunting, and put a pencil to it, and this is what I came up with.

My share of lease $250.00

Gas to and from lease (8 trips) $128.00

Misc expense (Food, T-paper, pop, ice, ect) $185.00

Ammo and Arrow cost $53.00

Processing fee (5 deer) $350.00

New Scope ( absolute necessity if you see Mrs. WBB) $500.00

Dr. Bill after turning ATV over on top of myself $360.00

Total was $1826.00 without figuring anything in for cost of weapons or clothing.

My meat yield was 198 lbs of eatable meat.

Thats $9.22 per pound.

Can anyone tell me why I'm so anxious to get back out there next week-end, and do it again ?
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Old October 17, 2013, 11:51 AM   #2
Brian Pfleuger
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Well, some of those are rare and even never recurring costs. Particularly the Dr bill and scope. A good many of us pay $0 for processing too.

However, the point is certainly valid.

It's why the argument that this rule or another will "take meat off my table" is so silly.

I've figured it out several times myself. My biggest costs are ammunition (gun and bow) and fuel. Archery costs me at least $50 a year and gun is probably about $25-30 by the time I've sighted in and shot the animals. Fuel is much worse. I spend around $8 in gas for EVERY trip. Over the course of the season, that might be $160 or better. I honestly don't remember what my lease costs but I think it's $150 a year. Add it all up and I'm at least up to $400.

I typically shoot 3-5 deer a year. Each one yields 35-50 pounds of meat. At 50/deer I'm not doing to bad if I get 5 but some years it's more like 35 and 2 deer. That's 70 pounds of meat for $450.

The real kicker is that I give most of it away, so I probably eat maybe 10 pounds a year... costing me about $45/pound.
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Old October 17, 2013, 11:52 AM   #3
2damnold4this
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We do spend money for entertainment. I'm not sure I would count food and tp as you would be eating and pooping even if you weren't at deer camp.


If you were very cost conscious, you could get the cost per pound down by processing the meat yourself and not buying new gear.
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Old October 17, 2013, 12:12 PM   #4
buck460XVR
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This is why I always doubt most folks when they say they only hunt for the meat. If your prefer venison that much over beef, pork or chicken, you can buy game farm venison for less than $9 a pound. To me, coming home with meat is just a bonus. The cost of the hunt is what it is. No different than going out to eat and a movie. The hunt is why you want to get back out there next week.....
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Old October 17, 2013, 12:48 PM   #5
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It costs me $5000 to go elk hunting. And, I have been doing it since 1985. I don't care whether I kill an elk or not. I guess everybody has their own insanity.
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Old October 17, 2013, 12:51 PM   #6
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My biggest expense is gas- somewhere in the neghborhood of $200.

Tags for me and the kids ran close to $100 this year.

I bought and loaded 3 boxes of bullets (300 rounds) for practice and hunting ...... though if we did not hunt, I'm sure we'd shoot that much anyhow- we shoot more than that in the spring at Easter eggs and milk jugs.....

Food gets eaten and TP used whether we are at deer camp or not.

We process our own.

I need to weigh the cut and wrapped deer to figure out cost/lb.....

..... last year we filled the 12 cubic foot chest freezer 3/4 full of boneless (save the ribs) venison....... and that did not count the summer sausage (40 lbs) and several bags of jerky ....... we don't buy much beef.
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Old October 17, 2013, 01:28 PM   #7
Panfisher
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I have always refused to put it down on paper what it costs me to hunt or fish. Yep I know I could buy a lot of chicken, beef, pork etc. for what it costs, I just don't want to know how much. Its cheaper than drinking, smoking or maybe playing golf. (thats my story anyway)
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Old October 17, 2013, 02:30 PM   #8
FrankenMauser
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Quote:
Thats $9.22 per pound.

Can anyone tell me why I'm so anxious to get back out there next week-end, and do it again ?
Go price some "Organic Deer" at the grocery store.

...or any "Organic" meat, for that matter.
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Old October 17, 2013, 03:02 PM   #9
AllenJ
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Why do some people feel the need to climb mountains so high you have to bring oxygen with you? Others like to get into cars and drive insane speeds....in a oval? We do it to push ourselves, we do it for relaxation, we do it because we love it!
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Old October 17, 2013, 03:56 PM   #10
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Whatever it costs, in all the years of time and stacks of dollars invested, it is but a molehill next to the mountain of watching your kid plan a stalk, execute same, and drop a buck on a dead run. That is absolutely priceless, and can not be bought at any price.
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Old October 17, 2013, 04:08 PM   #11
tahunua001
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I have no clue.
heck, I got my deer after 5 hours of hunting on someone else' land 3 miles from my house(about $2 gas) with a 9mm(20 cents a round) and $10 deer tag and in the end I got about 30LBs of meat and I still have trouble convincing myself it was worth it if all I look at is the cost of meat.
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Old October 17, 2013, 04:19 PM   #12
jimbob86
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30 lbs of meat?

t, are you killing jackalopes and thinking they are deer?
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Old October 17, 2013, 04:21 PM   #13
tahunua001
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sorry, typo, 50LBs,
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Old October 17, 2013, 04:25 PM   #14
jimbob86
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I have seen some very tiny deer in Maryland, Virginia and Florida, but I would think a deer that did not have a bit of size to him would not make it through an Idaho winter .......
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Old October 17, 2013, 04:50 PM   #15
Brian Pfleuger
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Quote:
Originally Posted by jimbob86
30 lbs of meat?
t, are you killing jackalopes and thinking they are deer?
30 pounds of meat wouldn't be all that unusual, depending on the area.

I just posted in another thread this report from the state of Texas that put an average 4.5+ year old buck at 105 pounds field-dressed. That's going to be no more than about 50 or 60 pounds of meat, tops.

In other places, even up here in NY where an average 2.5yr old doe is about 105 pounds, shooting a yearling or this years fawn can easily yield under 50 pounds.

2 years ago I shot the smallest deer I've ever seen during the season. Turned out to be that years fawn with some sort of jaw defect. I literally picked it up and carried it back to camp, guts and all. No way was it over 50 pounds. We got 18 pounds of meat.
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Old October 17, 2013, 05:01 PM   #16
upstate81
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Keep in mind deer that small are like veal. melt in your mouth delicious! Generally ill take 1 small doe for that exact reason. Then hide it in the freezer away from friends and relatives.
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Old October 17, 2013, 05:11 PM   #17
kraigwy
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I suppose if you figure it "per pound" then hunting isn't cost effective. It can be, but it probably isn't.

I'm retired. What else would I spend my money on. I could go on a cruse, but that doesn't interest me. Could go to the VFW and play bingo one night a week, that's not cost effective either. I don't drink so setting in a bar isn't for me.

I could go camping in the mountains, yeah that would work, I love that. I do it whether is hunting season or not. Might as well see if I can pick up an elk while I'm up there. Of course 400 lbs meat is expense. What $3 a lb in the store. That 400 lbs of elk actually helps pay for my camping trips.

But I could make hunting cost effective if I stuck to deer. I can load cast bullets in one of my rifles and shoot one in the back yard. $35 for the tag, $20 if its just a doe tag, 2o cents for the ammo. I butcher my self so another 5 bucks for rapping paper.

But what would I do the rest of the year. Set around and twittle my thumbs.

There is more to hunting then the killing of game. Just setting around the camp fire is worth the price to me.

It's like my last moose hunt when I was in Alaska, I spent a week on a river bank watching a beaver build a damn on a little slough. One of the best hunting trips I ever had.

Before my granddaughter became a teenager and got into boys, she use to go hunting with my.

Having the only snowman in elk camp is worth much more then the elk you kill.

When glassing for elk on a hill side, nothing beats getting wacked in the back of the head with a snowball because she's bored. Worth more then the price of the meat to me.

And then there is stopping to build a fire and have some little girls feet tucked under your shirt so you can warm them up while she drinks hot chocolate.

I guess I'm different, to me the cost of hunting is cheap at twice the price.
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Old October 17, 2013, 05:17 PM   #18
jimbob86
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Quote:
I just posted in another thread this report from the state of Texas that put an average 4.5+ year old buck at 105 pounds field-dressed. That's going to be no more than about 50 or 60 pounds of meat, tops.
I know, I read it ..... and laughed at the "Hollywood Deer".....

Quote:
Keep in mind deer that small are like veal.
I know this as well ...... 3 years ago we took 7 deer, 4 of them fawns ...... not only are they goooooood eating, shoting female fawns cuts down on the deer population much more than shooting bucks: well fed whitetail does can breed the same year they are born, and have twins.

The landowners where I hunt encourage hunting, as they have more deer in the bottoms than they care to have ..... car/deer interactions being one of the chief complaints.
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Old October 17, 2013, 05:24 PM   #19
jimbob86
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Before my granddaughter became a teenager and got into boys, she use to go hunting with me.
Eldest daughter seems to be interested in only one boy ...... we are bringing him along to deer camp this year. This should be interesting......
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Old October 17, 2013, 06:42 PM   #20
JerryM
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I never considered the economics of hunting. You can buy prime beef for less money than deer unless you hunt close to home. But considering the cost of equipment, transportation, and logistics wild game is not cheap.
Now in some states meat has to be boned due to wasting disease, and if you have the meat cut up it is expensive indeed. In the past I always processed deer, but elk and moose is just too much, especially to hang for a period.

We hunt because we like to, and recreation is expensive. If cost is the criterion then buy your meat.

Jerry
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Old October 17, 2013, 06:53 PM   #21
Daggitt
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It is a far better form of recreation than going to the bar or watching spectator sports (or watching anything on TV).
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Old October 17, 2013, 06:54 PM   #22
dahermit
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For those of us who live in deer country, the costs are not so sever. Cost of guns for deer hunting, $0.00...I would have them anyway. Cost of deer processing, $0.00 I have never paid to have a deer processed, I have always done it myself. Cost of camping stuff, $0.00...deer hunting has never been a social event for me, I always do it solo. Cost of ammo, $0.00...bullet caster, hand loader, I shoot all the time anyway. Cost of travel to deer hunting sight, $0.00...I walk the 100 yards or so into my woods.
If you turn it into a social event, drive around acting crazy on four wheelers, pay the price to have good meat turned into an abomination of inedible sticks of salt and artificial smoke, etc. What you call "deer hunting" is not what I call "deer hunting".
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Old October 17, 2013, 08:37 PM   #23
Art Eatman
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My deer lease and travel costs were a helluva lot cheaper than my racing sports cars in SCCA.

But, hey, it's what I wanted to do. Ya wanna play, ya gotta pay. Heck, even if I stayed home and hunted the old family place at no cost for the hunting, I still had to pay the school district their $35/acre for 230 acres.
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Old October 17, 2013, 08:43 PM   #24
ZeroJunk
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I like using a four wheeler, socializing with other hunters, and summer sausage myself. And, if I never work up another deer it suits me if I can pay somebody $40 to do it for me.
I still spend less hunting than boating/fishing, ham radio, playing golf and other stuff.
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Old October 17, 2013, 09:25 PM   #25
shortwave
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Quote:
Why do we keep doing this ?
It's much cheaper then seeing a shrink.
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