The cost of one animal per pound butchered.

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.
 
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! :p

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.
 
I figured out the cost of deer per pound once. Kinda scary, makes you appreciate certified Angus rib roasts.
 
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.
 
The deer are going to be there whether you own the property or not.
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But if that is where you are hunting, then that may be part of your hunting expense, especially if you bought land for that purpose.

It is sort of like the cost of the hunting lease. The deer will be there whether you lease the property or not, but it is part of your expenses to hunt there.
 
I butcher it my self. I would have this land even if I did not hunt so that is not an issue. I would also have the gun and the ammo.

So basically I am paying for the licence and tag and a few spices.

I typically turn most of the deer into Jerky. That is the only way the kids will eat it. I smoke it with apple wood from my back yard ;) There is also the cost of Propane to run the smoker and then my time processing the meat.
 
Mike Irwin said: "plus the land tax on my property. Uhm... why? "
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The property (160 acres) was bought for hunting purposes to begin with. Not to farm. Not to be logged off. Just to have a place for my son and I to enjoy our favorite pastime. (hunting) Why not add this property's tax into the mix of deductions.
BTW. The land is not my residence of record. It is 100% wild with no structures or fencing on it. i.e. just a nice 1/2 mile X 1/2 mile square place for peace and quiet this family appreciates having. _:)
 
If I am lucky enough to be lying peacefully on my death bed surrounded by my loving family and friends my thoughts will surely be on the things I did, not the amount of money I have made or spent. I don't remember the cost of my many big game hunts, or the steelhead fishing or snowshoeing a trapline or piloting a Pacific City dory from Depoe Bay Oregon up the coast to the Columbia River and across the bar into Astoria....Or the beautiful women in my life or the feeling of riding a big street bike over thousands of miles of highway or playing a guitar for thousands of people in the audience...
How can people reduce their lives to dollars and cents? Makes no sense.
 
If I am lucky enough to be lying peacefully on my death bed surrounded by my loving family and friends my thoughts will surely be on the things I did, not the amount of money I have made or spent. I don't remember the cost of my many big game hunts, or the steelhead fishing or snowshoeing a trapline or piloting a Pacific City dory from Depoe Bay Oregon up the coast to the Columbia River and across the bar into Astoria....Or the beautiful women in my life or the feeling of riding a big street bike over thousands of miles of highway or playing a guitar for thousands of people in the audience...
How can people reduce their lives to dollars and cents? Makes no sense.
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That is one of the best posts I have read in a while.
 
Last year I spent a bit over $300 on gas and maybe $50 processing supplies (freezer paper, saran wrap, tape........ bought some new plastic tubs, too) $60-70 on permits, 14 bucks for beef tallow .... butchered 7 deer,, 4 turkeys, a pheasant and a couple of quail in 10 days, ...... 4 of the deer were small (Sunday Orphan Patrol), while 3 were mature bucks (one was huge)..... the small ones yielded probably 40 pounds of meat, the others on the order of twice that. Approx 120 lbs of deer and a turkey went home with my brother..... leaving me with a freezer of venisonand turkey for about $450...... about $2/lb. Considering the local butcher shop charged me $1.40/lb for beef tallow, not bad.

This year I can't swing the gas, so I'll be hunting local ..... I don't imagine we'll be as successful.....
 
I'll quote my father one this one

"Never add up the price of your passions. No matter what the cost, you always come out ahead."
 
And the other question is, why cant we write it off on our taxes?
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You can, as long as you classify it as a "hobby expense" and your total hobby expenses account for at least 10% of your adjusted gross income. ;)



As for cost...
I figured this year's Elk cost me about $2.37/lb, including the cost of an unfilled cow tag. (that's cheaper than the lowest grade ground beef, around here)
But... there were also 4 hunters that came back empty-handed, and 1 non-hunter, with their own costs. And, if it had been a Deer, the cost per pound would have quadrupled, just for starters. -For Deer, the families (yes, multiple :rolleyes:) would have come along. Plus there's much less meat.
 
"The property (160 acres) was bought for hunting purposes to begin with."

See, you didn't mention that in your OP, so I assumed that you were living on the property.
 
For Deer, the families (yes, multiple ) would have come along.
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The beauty of the Nebraska $6 youth tag! .... 2 deer, 6$ ... and the kid can get 2 tags.....

But finding a deer rifle and load that 11 year old girls can manage well is ....tricky.
 
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