How much do you spend???

[chrisg]

I gave up my gym membership,and bought a  basic weight set, I train at home, swim and I spend the free hours of daylight in my garden and the local park, some weekends I push off to the bush, back to reserves I worked in, sharpens up my bush eyes again, now is that for my hunting...?
I don't think I spend more than $250 a year directly on archery/hunting gear,any game is far cheaper per kilo than store bought meat if you take out the trip costs, and those costs are the price of a trip, hunting or holiday.Works out way cheaper than the gym and paid safaris.
Chrisg

[Wednesday Caste]

Not much for my freshman year of Archery. My wife loves me because I can do this...
Bear Bow: Traded w/a refinished bamboo fly rod I did (orig $35). Bow now refinished too.
Pearson Bow: $45 purchased from another site for back-up. Bow now refinished too.
Quiver: Plains Style- made from thrift store leather jacket $3 (and found $7 in a pocket! LOL)
Arras: 17-1916s Traded w/another quiver made. $3
Broadheads: 6 Steelforce? craigslist $10
Boots: Rocky Snake Boots $4 garage sale find
Camo: Army green Extreme Weather Clothing $12
----- Army green BDU pants (3) $18
----- Army desert BDU shirt/pants $19
Knife: Queen given to me from Dad 25 yrs ago.
----- Drop point made w/TG How-To (old saw blade and scrap wood)
----- Swiss army rec'd as a gift from an old boss.
Hunt Pack: $14 at Wallyworld (closeout)

***4 Days lugging around the deserts of NV= PRICELESS!***
(Secret: Focus on what you need not what your want.)

[mcgroundstalker]

If we all went back to 1949 there would be little money to spend... We'd have to make our own archery stuff! Those were the days.

... mike ...

PS... I spend too much money on this trad stuff anyway. Gonna take up bird watchin'.  

[Biggie Hoffman]

Shucks guys I LIKE spending money on bowhunting.
That's what it's for isn't it? If it weren't for the mortgage payment JIll says we have to make every month I'd spend a bunch more!

Guys call me and ask if I want to go on a hunt I hear about the hunt and decide yes or no. Then they say, don't you wanna know how much? Oh yeah sure, ok. LAST consideration. I can work an extra job between now and the hunt date to pay for it.

You won't catch me sitting in a rockin chair 20 years from now wishing I had gone somewhere bowhunting, I'll be tellin the stories!!

[bretto]

Danny Rowan nailed it on the head!!!

[Bakes168]

Ya caught me Foxtail!

But really, readin' what you guys have to say really makes me feel less guilty about what I spend. Compared to you guys it ain't much but for a 17 year old...When it comes to my passions, my Dutch side don't show    

I may not have thousands saved up for college like other kids but I'm out in the woods doing what I love! (Don't worry, I do have savings for college)

Bakes

[Biggie Hoffman]

Bakes my boy, you are about to determine your hunting future. Study hard in college, get an above average job and the bowhunting world will be yours.
Flunk out or don't go, and you'll be one of the guys that HAS to make his own gear and hunt public land.
Now is the time to prepare for all the wonderful outdoors adventures you read about!

[Gehrke145]

Not to much (been saving for the house) but as soon as I move into to the new house GAME ON!!!!

[Dozer]

When I get to old to pull back my bow to hunt I think I'm gonna sneak up on a grizzly bear and kick him in the @ss. At least that way I'll have a funny story to tell while I'm waitin in line to see if I get through the gates.
Spend what ya wanna spend, every damned one of us are gonna die anyway!

[Dr. Ed Ashby]

For the first quarter century I bow hunted I spent as much time and money as I possibly could on hunting (after paying what I then thought were 'necessary' living expenses). Since starting the study a quarter century ago I've spent about $300,000.00 on it alone - not counting 'durable good' (bows, camping gear, hunting vehicles, clothing, etcetera) or any of the other bow hunting I've done along the way. When I retired 15 years ago I sold everything except my hunting library of books and my hunting equipment and tools, then proceeded to spend all that on more hunting.

As I sit here in 'exquisite pain', lower back totally stuffed (from things not at all related to shooting my bows) with some leg muscles that won't move even move one inch when I tell them too and contemplate the surgery that's in my near future do I regret that? No. I wish I had been able to spend even more! Only thing I regret is the money I wasted on the animals I had mounted during those early days. I wish I had spent it on doing more hunting. The memories are irreplaceable in today's world.

Ed

[Toecutter]

Like Irish said: Bows are an investment!  So between them and collectible elvis plates from the Bradford exchange,   I should be set well into my golden years!    At least that's what the commercials tell me.

[Hot Hap]

Bakes-Listen to Biggie, that is some of the best advice [free or paid for] that you will ever get!   Hap

[Jmatt1957]

can we change the subject before my wife reads this?

[Bjorn]

Ed-your best days are still ahead of you!
Good recovery for you-we will all be saying special prayers.

[chrisg]

Yes a big thanks to you Dr Ed for 'wasting all that money' so us knuckleheads can benefit! No doubt at all you have followed your dream AND you have had the generosity to share it with the world. Thanks for that gift. I really trust that you will get your back sorted. I shoot modified 160 grizzlies, now where did I get that idea...?
chrisg

[Biggie Hoffman]

I think Jmatt was just kidding

[Tom Anderson]

Originally posted by Dr. Ed Ashby:
...Only thing I regret is the money I wasted on the animals I had mounted during those early days. I wish I had spent it on doing more hunting. The memories are irreplaceable in today's world. Ed

Amen to that - that's why I don't have stuffed animals all over my walls.  No animal is a "trophy" to me.  Instead, I simply look at it as we just happened to cross paths in the natural world and I was in the game-taking mode.

[Biggie Hoffman]

Tom they're not "trophies" but memories. I sit in my den and look at the critters there and honor them everyday. It's a no brainer to me. Money is nothing, the memories are what keep me alive.
I don't regret a penny I've spent. Hope I never have cause to.

[scriv]

Considering what a shrink charges these days Archery is cheap.  

[Grant Young]

Biggie- I checked your web-page; money well spent. I've begun to regret not mounting more or taking more pictures. Guess I thought I'd live forever.                          Grant