Archery on a budget...lets share

[stringstretcher]

Since times are tough on everyone finacially and emotionally, share some of the ways you are cutting corners to allow yourself to enjoy the sport of archery.  I myself find as many ways to trade items with others to get things I want to try or use.  I also check at the Goodwill now and then for possible leather products to use and sooner or later find some wool clothing that I might be able to use.  I also try to make as much of the equipment as I can for my own use.  Lets hear some other suggestions to save so we can play?

[Jim now in Kentucky]

I make everything but gloves, nocks, points and string material. I do make my strings.

Repair broken arrows, of course.

Jim

[Wannabe1]

Well, I've pretty much sold off my hunting rifles since I am now exclusively Trad only. Like you, I haunt the Goodwills and am constantly on the look out for a good deal. I have now started fletching my own arrows and am looking to start making them myself too. Eventually I want to learn to make my bows.

[ishiwannabe]

Well, I always need arrows. So this winter, Im going to harvest some wild rose and some red dogwood shoots and see how I do. Worse case scenario.....bunny arrows.

[Jerry Jeffer]

I've been selling off some old packs and other stuff no longer used to help get some new arrows, fletching etc. I sold off my banjo to help buy my new yew long bow: which is soooooo choice I'll probably be shooting it forever!  I also only buy a few good arrows for hunting. I buy cheeper arrows for 3-d, stumping etc. I also make my own small game and stumping heads.
 

[Izzy]

Ive been auctioning some of the things Ive horded since my youth and some recent aqisitions that I really dont need and with the money buying some of the stuff that I really, really want.Hunting close to home and buying here on the classifieds is also a big money saver.Ive been doing some trading as well.

[rascal]

It wasnt a small investment but last year I set myself up with a tent and all the camping gear I needed to go hunting without breaking the bank on hotel stays.  Ive used this rig in December in southern Iowa and it was very comfortable and by my estimates it will save me hundreds of dollars and add countless hours to my hunting time in the future.  Other than that I do the obvious and look for deals on my equipment, and in my opinion a deal is only a deal if the equipment is of good quality.  No point in wasting my hard earned cash on sub standard gear that will ultimately let me down in the field.

[Buckeye Trad Hunter]

I also haunt the clearance sales and try to make as much of my own stuff as I can.  This year to finance a new bow, I'm finally going to sell the wheel bow that hasn't been out of it's case for three years.  

[mcgroundstalker]

I try to save $$$ by doing all the stuff on the "Honey Do List" myself and not bringin' someone in to do it. We can all understand that. Other times... Like now, I get into the Buy-Sell-Trade mode. Then anything goes! But don't tell my wife.  

... mike ...    ...

[KSdan]

-NUMBER ONE:  Learn the discipline of being content! Our culture has deeply influenced us to covet and always want more. It is too easy to justify buying an item I REALLY do not need.
-Live on a budget.  I have $30-40 in an envelope per month. If I buy a magazine it comes out of that.  If I want to go on a fall hunt I accumulate it throughout the year.  Gift money also goes in there.  When it is gone- its gone!
-I may visit with some trad guys at a rendevous, but I rarely pay to shoot 3-Ds anymore.
-I rarely buy magazines (money out of my budget).
-Trade as much as I can.
-Fix things up your self.
-Share hunting opps.  I have hunted other states-all with friends.  I had 7 different NRs here in KS last year. My home is always open.
-For the deer hunters out there. . . I also use just one stand. Up and down each time.
-I accumulate those Cabelas or Bass Pro points and use the points to get my licenses.  Dollar for dollar the best use of the point.
-FINALLY:  (Though I do no think it is ethically wrong) I do not feed the commercial machine of leasing and a private deer herd management. If I must do that to hunt, I may just have to quit.

My 2c
Dan

[JEFF B]

i just trade stuff that i make for what i want. i just traded two knives and some heads and arrows for a longbow and thats a good  deal.  

[RC]

I try to keep the freezer full. Hunting public land that cost only 19 bucks for access a full freezer is money in the bank. I don`t trophy hunt I meat hunt. But a biggun is nice when it happens.I also primitive camp and hunt with my buddies when I drive a distance to help share and cut down cost.RC

[Dave Bulla]

Two words.....

Yard Sales!

I'm NOT talking about going out and finding archery stuff at a yard sale even though sometimes you do.  It's just simply too hit or miss to count on that.

I'm talking about going to yard sales to save money on day to day things throughout the summer so that you save money and have extra to spend on hunting gear.  Kids clothes are the number one item you can save on.  25 to 75 cents is about average for newborn to toddler clothes and you can often find brand new stuff with the tags still on!  My wife and I go to LOTS of yard sales all summer long.  She looks for clothes for the kids and I look for "guy stuff" which could be any sort of tool that I've been thinking about getting but didn't want to spend the money on, (I'm a mechanic) or maybe I'll find something for camping, hunting, fishing etc for a great price.  Last year I found an Apple Archery cut off saw like brand new for $20 and also a Summit climbing stand for $20.  New, they both cost about $300.  I'd no idea at the time how much they cost but I was danged sure it was more than $20.

Went to an estate sale last summer and they had a Honda riding mower for sale marked $1000.  The wife had been wanting one for some time and that's not a bad price so I walked inside and was about to ask the guy how much for the tractor when I noticed a little .22 rifle leaning against the wall and asked to see it.  (ALWAYS go straight to any hunting item and get it in your hands or sure as shootin', someone else will pick it before you do.)  Anyway, I asked "How much for the tractor and the .22?"  

The guy said "$550"

Turns out it was the last day of the sale and everything was half price!  Bought them both and when I got home, the wife tried the tractor out, didn't like it and I found it was leaking oil a little.  Put it on Craigs list and sold it for $800 two days later.

By the way, around here, half price on the last day of an estate sale is standard proceedure.  The very best two times to hit an estate sale are as soon as they open the doors and just before they close them back up on the last day.  First day you find the coolest items that always go quick and on the last day the big pricey stuff that's still sitting there is starting to feel like an albatross around the neck of the estate sale company so they're more than willing to deal.

Made $250 tax free profit on the tractor and had money to buy some hunting toys.

Now normally, I don't go to yard sales looking for things to turn around and sell, but there are people who make a nice bit of cash doing exactly that.

Plus, there is always the chance that you will walk into some ladys garage and ask "got any bowhunting stuff?" and she'll say

"No, sorry.  Unless your interested in an antique bow?"  All I have is some real old stuff my _________ (Inesrt appropriate son, husband, dad etc) used to use."

Say "Would you mind if I look at it?"

Might just be a nice old collectable and or shootable recurve.

Done that more than once and came away with a good deal.

[DelSnavely]

I've just got started with this "lifestyle"...lol In the past year since a friend gave me a recurve, I have passed the recurve on to another newbie, and bought a Montana longbow. Within the last month I have ordered a new JD Berry Viper and bought a 1 year old Berry Appollo in the classifieds on another site. I got bit bad, quickly...lol I figure on using the Appollo and my Montana for trade to get to shoot other bows.

I've always been a yard sale/thrift store/flea market nut. I can't pass one up if I have .50 in my pocket...lol I think I just like going through other people's stuff...lol

DS

[Dave Bulla]

Del, you sound like me.

The wife and I often kinda ease up to the curb and eyeball things from the street trying to decide wether to stop or not.  Quite often if it's a kinda run down house or neighborhood, she'll say something like "Nah, lets not stop."  But I'm always thinking "All it takes is that ONE THING to make it worthwile."  Some of my best deals have been at sales with about zero "curb apeal".  Ya just never know what you will find and for me, THAT is the draw.

[Benny Nganabbarru]

If you don't have access to an archery range, and portable targets are too expensive (I got sick of buying them), simply use steel blunts and soft drink bottles. You need a bit of ground (I can shoot at my school oval). You'll find it difficult to lose any blunt-tipped arrows.

[Dave Bulla]

Ben, if a fella brought a bow within about 500ft of a school around here he'd probably be hauled off to the local sheriff's office as a menace to society.  

Bows are "firearms" don't ya know?  

I always have to ask, OK show me "the fire" when I shoot.  

Danged lawyers....

[Benny Nganabbarru]

Yeah, I s'spose that's a wise consideration for you, Dave. If you have access to a paddock, or some rock-free bush, that'd do.

[TradOnly]

I make targets from giant coffee bags from a local company.  I study pictures of some of the things I want, draw out a plan, make a prototype, buy some decently priced materials and make it myself.  (tabs, quivers, whatever catches my eye) I save a wallet full of money by utilizing the DIY principle.
If I can't make it myself, I check the closeout lists of every archery store that has a website.
My next project is table saw blade knives from the How To section of Trad Gang.

[bushytail]

I`m trying to save money by staying away from the vending machines at work.Also,car pooling helps.Saving up for a hunt out of state.As long as work holds out.That`s always a ? the way things are going now.Gonna check the yard sales out this summer to.