Well this may be a bit of topic and long but I think it applies some to this thread and hunting in general.
I hunt regularly as i please on four private properties, but only set stands on 3. Only one I own and it is the smallest and just some low land hunting ground I got with a friend real cheap years ago. I wish i didn't have that sometimes. I hunt as a guest on some others as well. You don't have to own private land or lease it to hunt it, but it does take some effort to find.
Often a large public tract is better than a small private one. Hunting pressure in my area is just as high on private as public.
Most times buying enough land to have quality hunting is not practical. You can buy a lot of gas and travel hunt DIY in some great places for the cost of just taxes on a decent size property.
Unfortunately in my area land sizes are not so big and cover types such that you can do much stalking without running everything off or messing up others hunting the same area.
A back injury and several surgeries keeps me from setting still long so for me being able to move a bit more and stand leaning back on a tree tucked in good cover in a tree is almost a necessity if I am going to hunt longer hours. I used to hunt as much or more from the ground as a stand back 15 years ago.
So there are a lot of factors that dictate how and where I hunt. So how to do it with limited budget? Well life is about choices and balancing needs and wants. There are a whole lot of people who make as much or more than I do and only have more bills than I do to show for it. That is because we define need a lot different and go about getting our wants a lot different
I have been accumulating hunting equipment over 38 years. I sell stand stuff i don't like and scrap stuff when not safe. I buy all my new stuff after season at deep discount. I get a stick ladder or two a year at the local Meijer's stores when they are on clearance and then have a 15% of general merchandise day when you use you store credit card. For hard to find items I go new and use cabela points I save from putting everything I can on the card and paying it off every month. I get stands of Craigs list and other places if they are the kind I like. One of my lone Wolf stand came from the auction site in the box used once 1/3 retail. The lone Wolf climber over half off from this site.
My waterfowl stuff takes up more space than my bow hunting stuff. I got all that mostly used from internet.
Times are tough and the bills add up, but you can do a lot on a budget if you do a little at a time, take care of your stuff, get good deals, have a great budget minded wife, and make sacrifices in spending areas. We don't go to bars, don't eat out much, gave up smoking years ago, no cable tv, used cars,smaller paid for house that is not as large or fancy a many people in and below my income have. The kids are trained to have some garage sale stuff like things they grow out of fast and not to expect every new thing the other kids all have like cell phones and so on. We don't know what is currently in fashion
I put my disposable time, effort, and limited finance to work hunting local, but others do the same kinds of stuff to travel hunt.
If you want to do a lot of hunting and still cover the family needs and plan for the future, you have to make some choices and do some work.
Took a long time to write this on the smart phone my employer provides me. You know how many stands and other stuff you can get for the cost of one of those and a year of a data plan?
Topic: How many stands do you maintain?? (Read 2569 times)
