Honest question about hunting economics

V

vanguard_anon

New member
I have nothing against hunting. I wasn't raised around guns and it was only about a year ago that I took and interest and eventually got my CCW, etc. However, I was raised by the beach and I know a thing or two about fishing.

I think it's safe to say for the overwhelming majority the most expensive fish you'll even eat are the fish you'll catch yourself. The cost of the rod, reel, bait, lures, lines, tackle box, etc. are enough to make your fish more expensive than store bought fish. Don't even get me started on a boat. In short, the reason you fish is not to save money.

That brings me back to hunting. On the surface it seems like you might save money. If you can just drive your truck to the woods, shoot a deer, and drive out with 200 lbs of meat you'll nearly pay for your gun and knife. But the reality seems to include special clothes, scents, calls, permits, etc.

So whats the truth? Is it cheaper than going to the grocery store?
 
Is it cheaper than going to the grocery store?
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No. LOL


I've probably got $100/pound in elk meat.


There are a lot of deer in your area. Caswell game land is easy driving distance. You can probably find some farmers that consider deer a pest. I usually wear blue jeans unless I'm bow hunting. Don't need all that other stuff. You can find an adequate rifle and scope used for $500. But, you can buy a lot of meat for $500. You really need to enjoy the chase and the outdoors.
 
May not be cheaper than going to the grocery store, but you sure don't have that much fun at the grocery store. No seriously, its not about being cheaper or anything like that. Hunting and getting out into the outdoors is something that you cannot put a price on. Getting outdoors is a great way to get away from all the stress and to see all kinds of wildlife. Lets face it hunting is an essential part of controlling populations and conserving game animals in a way thats better for the animals. You think all the deer car collisions are bad now, think what it would be like if there was no way of keeping the population down.

Get out there and do some hunting, you will enjoy it and provide yourself with some good eating at the same time. Trust me game animals like deer are natural and not pumped full of all those chemicals like beef and chicken...:eek:
 
As for the saltwater fish? I must fish a few thousand days very productively to get my fresh caught fish price UNDER $700.00 per pound!:D
Now for hunting I think if you are a "Hunter" it is more costly as it is a hobby/sport/passtime. I am a "gatherer" I look for the cheap meat. The license is under 25 bucks. One round of 20, 12 or .30-30 is still a dollar per shot round so I am still under 30 bucks for 40-100 pounds of meat. Since my dogs are maintained on a kibble diet I can supplement the palate with a squirrel or rabbit. The look on their face is priceless. If I keep my driving to the same or less than momma's trips to wal-mart... I am slaying their price!:eek:
Brent
 
SWMBO and I went to the local Walstore yesterday, and the cheapest meat we bought was Oscar Mayer bologna to make my fishing sandwiches with. We bought 4 27 lb. buckets of cat litter however, and a 28 lb bag of cat food for the 5 black felines (felons?) that inhabit our home. If I was talking about 10 or 15 years ago, my price per pound of venison would be about $5 per pound assuming I was hunting alone and didn't come home until I got a deer or two depending on just where I was hunting. With the price of gas being twice and almost three times what it was back then, the price has surely gone up substantially, and I've never salt water fished in my life. Haddock is almost $10 a pound at Price Chopper, Wegman's etc. I can eat all I want at the Chinese buffet for $7 but all they have is salmon. I have a friend that hunts caribou every year in Quebec, and he figures right at $25 per pound for his 2 caribou, and that is if he takes 3 other hunters with him. I might not have any fun looking over the Angus beef at the butcher, but hunting is SOOO much more enjoyable than having to push and tow 2 shopping carts along behind the wife.
 
It cost lots more $$$ per pound of meat to hunt than buy it at the store. However, last time I checked the supermarket didn't have deer, elk, game birds, or any other type of wild meat. If you want to have something different you have to hunt or know a hunter. A few restaurants around the country serve wild game but they are few and far between. Like this place:

http://www.buckhorn.com/
 
Really depends, sometimes yes I can go hunting cheaper than going to the store. When I was still living at home I think a deer tag cost me less than $30, my first rifle .243 Win cost me $175 with 100 rounds of ammunition and my orange vest and hat cost me around $20. So my first deer cost me around $225 to hunt got around 80-90 lbs of meat at less than $3 per pound. Of course I was hunting out the back door in dad's hay fields. Less than a 2 mile round trip to pick up my deer with the truck after I drug it to the end of the field.

I can still hunt deer and pronghorn fairly cheap as all it cost me is fuel and tags, and processing supplies. I have a free place to stay, and I get my meals for free. Not exactly free I do have to put in a little manual labor on the farm and ranch. Luckily I live less than 100 miles from my hunting grounds as well with diesel prices edging closer to $5 a gallon.

Elk is the one I chase the most that I put a lot of money into. By the time I get my trailer ready every year as well as the horses and their feed. Drag them up and down mountains for 5-6 hours one way, pay for food and a few comfort items, and buy my tags I'll have somewhere between $1K-1.5K invested in a single elk hunt. I just figure it as a vacation and that is how I justify it, some people go to the beach I head for the hills.

The two most expensive animals that I've ever hunted are feral pigs in TX and my Bear in AK. I bought a hunt off of ebay for pigs in TX. $650 for 3 day 2 night hunt for 2 people. So for the 2000 mile drive plus 2 hotel rooms on the way up and back, tips, license fees, processing charges on 3 pigs, I figured I had close to $11 a pound in that pork, but it was a fun experience. My bear is a $4500 rug on the floor. Plane ticket, hotel, gas, food, hunting and fishing tags, taxidermy, and buying gear to survive AK weather on my unguided black bear hunt was pretty cheap. Didn't bring any meat home donated it all to the locals, so I can't figure price per pound into that hunt but I'd do it again as it was the funnest hunt I've ever done.
 
I figured up what it was costing me to hunt and fish. When I got through I joined a Country Club and took up golf. Much cheaper even eating at the club a few meals a month. :D
 
Short answer, no, it's not cheaper than going to the grocery store. But it's like any hobby, you spend money on it because you enjoy it, not because it saves you any money. For what 200 lbs of venison and pheasant cost me, I could buy a whole Angus steer, cut and wrapped, and still have change left over. But hunting keeps me from going over the edge, and going to the grocery store gets me closer to going over the edge, so let's just say I am performing a valuable social service by going out into the hinterlands and chasing after the local fauna.
 
In my case, it is cheaper and saves me money.
The cost of the rifle and ammo is very well offset by the ammount of meat I bring home.
Feral hogs fill my freezer as much as possible.
I save an estiamted $200 a month instead of the grocery store.
 
The only way hunting or fishing is cheaper than going to the store is if you have your own place to hunt and fish where you live. I am very fortunate as the fishing is only 10 seconds away for me. Below is a picture of my back yard at home in S.E. Texas and the back yard at our weekend place in the Texas Hill Country. Lots of deer in both places but neighbors houses way too close for safe hunting.
HomeAndHome.jpg
 
I can hunt my back yard but there's no fun in that. I've got some land a few miles away that's much mo funner to hunt on. I don't care if I even see a deer every time I go. It's nice to be by myself with peace and quiet and solitude once in a while. I don't get to go as often as I want to tho. Got a pond back behind the house and enough fishing tackle to stock a Wal Mart store and haven't fished in a couple of years.
 
I figured up what it was costing me to hunt and fish. When I got through I joined a Country Club and took up golf. Much cheaper even eating at the club a few meals a month.
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Yeah - but there you have to associate with golfers - uughhh! ;)

Some of us would rather associate with animals and other hunters -

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It's worth the cost - YMMV

:D
 
The way most of us outdoorsman, me included, hunt and fish is very expensive. However, we did get our deer meat last year for about $2/lb including ammo and gas but not the time off of work and the guns that are already paid for. We process our own meat. But lets face it, the CLOSEST fishing hole is about 16 miles away from me. I'm spending $3-$4 just for gas to get there. Throw in beer, munchies, bug spray, bait (if needed), etc. and it's not unusual for me and a buddy to drop $20 a piece on a night of fishing. Makes for some dang expensive fish WHEN we catch something. I sold my boat years ago :D. Also, it isn't unusual for us to burn a tank of gas in 2 trucks while out spotting and stalking coyote/fox. All for $0 thru $50 in fur.

My Buds and I have have talked a lot about how to cut back the cost of our hobbies. We can catch our own bait (crawlers, minnows, and chubs). We can hunt closer to home. Do more predator calling and less driving. We can stop by the fishing hole or hunting spot on the way home from work instead of making special trips. We can also learn better methods to be more proficiant at our hobbies.

Will I ever give up hunting and fishing? No. Can I make it a "worthwhile" activity cost wise? Yes. Will I? I'll get back to you!!!

LK
 
The hunt is expensive, but well worth the experience.

The meat is free. ;)

My family usually bags a few Elk, a couple Mule Deer, 2-3 Antelope, and get gifts of Moose and Bear meat almost every year. Everyone gets a small amount, those that had tags get a little more, and those that bagged the animal get most of it. Having 400 pounds of meat in the freezer saves a lot of money, and as stated... you can't buy meat like this at the grocery store.
 
Against buying cheap beef or pork the numbers I have run indicate it will not be cheaper. I lived in Taiwan and got used to eating more exotic game. When I came back and tried to get some at the store, even special order, venison was $20 a pound!!! Hunting wins out on that competition. I could probably find a hunter or farmer with the culling licenses that would sell to me at half that or less, but I figure it is a good excuse to enjoy a day out in the woods.
 
i don't think it is cheaper than going to the grocery store. to me its about catching a few fish,or taking a deer, or a few rabbits or squirrels and the time spent doing the sport to catch or atleast see something. or atleast trying. as often as i fish or hunt, and come home alot empty handed. and i mean ALOT. its gotta be me :rolleyes:. but i will not give up so easily. i would probably be better off paying for the flounder or weakfish at a market. but i won't, why pay $10.00 per pound or more for a fish that is under the legal limit if i caught it. if i can't catch it. then i'll get it at a diner. (the fish that is) let them cook it for me, cause i'll probably burn it.
 
Depends on your location and how far you go

I would say that on the whole (just counting actual cost of my favorite hunting rifle-used, scope-used, ammo both practice and hunting, tags, gas and misc directly from hunting) that I have saved money on meat since I began hunting.

Granted that I began hunting in Montana, where I could go out my back door, and later after moving to Alaska, where I drive literally a couple of miles to where I normally begin (And could out of my back door). For me an occasional long drive to go hunting in either state would be a half an hour.

It also has helped that I process my own meat. And that in Montana deer, some years doe tag, elk can make for a lot of hauling. In Alaska moose are mighty big.

I have been blessed that most years my big freezer has had meat from hunting. Wild game meat has been my staple meat for many years.

I do not count my time spent out in dollars, as I would be out even if I was not hunting. It is about the journey - the hunt.

Not to mention that I have been known to haul game out of places most hunters would not like to be packing quarters out of. I don't mind spending a couple of days/several days playing pack mule with a hunting buddy doing the same. (You know, three steps up, slide two steps back.)

Aside from the hunt, the quality of the meat is so far superior to anything that I could buy at the local store. (I don't know of any moose that are shooting up with steroids/growth hormones, and/or antibiotics! Not to mention cattle eating who knows what!)

And with a few lean years thrown in, it makes me appreciate the meat/the hunt all the more!
 
My wife teases me about this exact topic - whatever. More per pound than beef, probably. If you really want to run the numbers you would need to consider how many pounds of vension your rifle will take over its life span, number of trips your tent or RV will make, etc.

I honestly think you could build a pretty good case that it is not that bad.

If I spend my vacation time hunting, I know that is a lot cheaper than hauling the whole crew to Disney World or some such - this is know as cost avoidance :D
 
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