The hidden cost of archery

[ty_in_ND]

The following is a transcript of an actual conversation between my wife and I one night while we were eating at a restaurant:

Wife: So, how much money do you spend on hunting every year?

Me: You know my deer lease is $1000/year!

Wife: No, I mean on everything, like lease fee, feed, bows, arrows, clothes, gas.........you know,everything!

Me: (I had to sit back a while as the sweat began to bead up on my forehead and think of a proper response).........Well, I’m not sure I know the answer to that question, and I’m positive you don’t want to know the answer!!!!!!

End of conversation! To this day, she has never since asked me about it. God, l love that woman!!!!!!!!

Bisch

My wife asked me that question not that long ago... and I also had to shift in my seat a little!! But, I don't spend money on other things, so she lets it go, too

[PennDude]

Fitting to this thread, I shot an Easton Carbon Aftermath through the bow I'm buying new arrow for and they flew like absolute darts.  So, I guess I'm going with the Aftermath's 

[Will Telluteyrd]

After 50 plus years of shooting Archery my cost for a year is $13.80. That's the price of two Doe tags in Pa. I get them every year and usually throw them away. I have a life time license and more arrows, broadheads, bows, clothes etc, etc. than I'll use till I reach the happy hunting grounds.

[PennDude]

After 50 plus years of shooting Archery my cost for a year is $13.80. That's the price of two Doe tags in Pa. I get them every year and usually throw them away. I have a life time license and more arrows, broadheads, bows, clothes etc, etc. than I'll use till I reach the happy hunting grounds.

Careful now! You’re just a 40 minute drive for me, so I may just stop on over to “Will Telluteyrd’s” archery shop next time I need something. 

[smokin joe]

It is just the cost of keeping yourself amused and entertained. Gambling, chasing women, and other ways of staying engaged in a pastime are expensive, too. Archery is pretty harmless compared to some other "hobbies."

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

[dnovo]

I’ve had everything I need for many years. I spend a little $ on building arrows I donate at our annual festival and auction. But I have a large supply of shafts, feathers, points built up. I bought my fletching jigs, spine tester, feather burner, etc long ago at a fraction of the cost they are now. I’ve got way more broadheads than I can ever use. I’m using a lot of natural turkey feathers off wild turkeys that cost nothing.

[Kokopelli]

Anybody who thinks traditional archery is expensive ................... strike up a conversation with a golfer.      

[Wose]

I've been shooting trad for six years now. I've arrived at an arrow recipe that works great for me, so now when I break a few shafts I can just order up my standard components. Along the way I accumulated quite the pile of odds and ends shafts, inserts, point weights and etc. As I get older, I become more minimalist, so that was really bugging me.

I boxed it all up and sent it to a guy who is just getting started in trad. He's gonna use it to figure out his arrow recipe, with the understanding that he's probably going to add to the pile and pass it on to a beginner some day.

I got rid of junk I'll never use, and saved him a couple hundred bucks.

I'm about to start shooting woodies, so I'll start the whole process over again....

[V I Archer]

if you only have one hobby, count yourself fortunate, haha. I have a number of bows (not as many as some folks here), enough arrows to take siege of a small castle and all the tools needed to build more (for some reason I was able to justify buying 5 bitzenburgers at one time). Add the binoculars, wool, boots, etc... we aren't even close to the money I have spent on my woodworking hobby, haha.

We recently moved so my wife has a pretty good idea of my present inventory of all things. "How many _______ do you need?" whether arrows, saw blades, chisels, fieldpoints.....

At least I can make a solid side wage with building cabinets, right??

[1Arrow1Kill]

As for me, I will pay a fabulous and unquestioned price for my vision of hunting paradise.  I will pay that price, but I will not count the cost.  Like many, I purge my problem with my poisons with a few extra shekels for traditional archery to help cleanse my soul and keep my system pure.

I suppose I'm more concerned with the high price I might pay if not shooting bows and using equipment worthy of me and the game I pursue.

[Red Beastmaster]

When someone raises their eyebrows over how much archery costs I use this analogy:

When you shoot an arrow you can go get it and shoot it again. You can't do that with a bullet.

[Onehair]

Four or five years ago I got a notice from PayPal that I was required to be verifies as I had exceeded the $10,000 transaction limit. All archery related. Of course that was both buying and selling. It's still cheaper than therapy.

[blacktailbob]

If you are into archery AND fly fishing ( and only want the best ) then it's no wonder you're kids have to pay their own way through college.
GOOD thing I have no kids! 

[matt schuster]

What is more important is the hidden cost of not bowhunting and fishing:   stress, boredom, stupid hobbies like video games, vacations at tourist places with expensive girlfriends . . .

[Deno]

Anybody who thinks traditional archery is expensive ................... strike up a conversation with a golfer.     

You read my mind. Archery is inexpensive by comparison. Ask me how I know!   

Deno

[Patknight]

Ive spent over $1000 in fuel alone bowhunting this year,,and  the year isnt even over, Georgia  comin up!!!  Ill do it again  next year,,, im not a bar guy,  or waste my hard earned money on bs,  but i could have bought  a more gas friendly  truck,,lol

[The Vanilla Gorilla]

My current issue is I’ve been shooting the same arrows for so long that the ones I have are no longer made. And I’m running out of em, So I’ve gotta spent money buying and experimenting with arrows until I find out the ones that shoot the best.

[Markp]

Great posts.
$1,000 in ten years, close to that on arrow shafts, fletch, field points, and broadheads.  Some of this is for making arrows for friends. I fletch by hand. Stone points are not allowed in Arizona. $200 on carbon shafts, early on, which I no longer shoot. I treat myself to douglas fir shafts, a dozen each year. Experimentation costs time and money, but I like confidence in a set up. That is has been my biggest cost, arrows and heads, getting to know what I like to shoot.

I also harvest shafts, and trade, and can attest that Pat B's hillcane makes a great, tough arrow. I make selfbows and sinew-backed bows, and have one old Redwing Hunter. Deer hide becomes quivers. Friend gave me a range finder for helping him hunt.

Compared to what my more tech-inclined friends spend, my roughly $220 a year for ten years is a pittance, with one friend sporting a new $2000 weapon system. I think of that fact when I periodically add up expenditures.

The natural world the hunter sees differs from the backpacker or canoeist. The necessarypatience carries over into my professional life; the tenacity needed to harvest and to learn to shoot well is why I love this activity. Priceless.
Happy Holidays to all, from Stickmark.

[Carpdaddy]

 I build a lot of my hunting stuff myself. Usually let a buddy buy materials for two bows, build them one for price of materials, then mine is free. Build a few quivers, knives, strings, and all I can. But then there is arrows, broadheads, etc..
I probably get by cheaper than many. I figure I probably only have around $500.00 per pound in Deer meat!  That’s only because I’m a good hunter! 

[toddster]

I do not look at it as cost.  I have always viewed it as investment.  This is something that I can do year round, inside or outside (if you want to brave the weather).  In all my time I have only had two bows that broke, but there have been many others, that have been in/out of stable, and no money lost.  The only other investment I have made on bow is a wrap/string here and there.  Arrows, I learned long time ago, never fall in love with your arrows, if you have one you do fall in love with, set a shaft aside for display, as the rest will be lost/broken.  I decided to make my own, arrows, strings, bow as a deeper passion for the skill and a closer connection to the animals I harvest.
The investment, I have made in the money of traditional bowhunting if the greatest I have ever done.  The time in the field, memories made with family and friends, the mental relaxation that comes from it.  We have all hear of the "million dollar view", well I have had and hope will have more, of sitting/standing among nature, either on ground or stand, and seen more beautiful things, than most people will never get to see with their soul.   
To me the hidden cost is a trillion dollars, minimum, because no amount of money can be placed on the above.   
Just my opinion.