How Much of Your Yearly Earnings to Spend on Hunting?

[RSHusker]

Never could afford out of state elk tags so I solved that by finding teaching jobs for my wife and I in western Wyoming! LOL I probably drop a grand a year on licenses, gas, tags etc when I lived in Nebraska. Hunted deer, antelope, upland birds and waterfowl, along with calling coyotes. I didn't count tree stands, guns etc because they where one time purchases and I could get some of my money back out of them by selling them. I'm hoping I can keep it about the same out here but gas prices are really causing me to look close home (2 to 3 hour radius) for elk and deer hunting. Luckily there is lots of public ground out here. I can't play with the big boys on a teachers salary but I get enough hunting in to keep my family in venison and me happy.

 

[tdcour]

I don't spend a whole lot on hunting each year. I'm not sure on the actual percentage or dollar amount, but I usually go on one trip with a buddy about 3 hours away for archery then go a little bit later with my dad for rifle. I don't get to go much, but end up spending about a week each trip so its not a bad deal. I have some places I hunt WT close to home, but haven't gotten the chance to arrow one yet. I'd love to hunt a ton right now, but my wife and I are more concerned about paying everything off while we are young, so 15-20 years from now we won't have any payments of any kind and will be able to do pretty much whatever we want when we want. Hopefully that means by the time my baby (due the first part of July) will be able to come hunting with me a lot more!

 

[Old Hunter]

Hunt while you're young enough to do it well.

 

[packmule]

Everything except elk.

No elk on this side of the state that aren't pen raised. A buddy of mine has a 70k acre lease in West Tx with free ranging elk on it. Last helicopter survey showed 150 head had come in from the Davis Mountains. The $ & management goals here is in mule deer & whitetail so a lot of landowners out there want you shooting them year-round. For that lease it's $3000 with 5 guys hunting it, but they have a 10yr avg of 180 on their MD bucks.

 

[25contender]

To much!! I need to move!

 

[Old Hunter]

No elk on this side of the state that aren't pen raised. A buddy of mine has a 70k acre lease in West Tx with free ranging elk on it. Last helicopter survey showed 150 head had come in from the Davis Mountains. The $ & management goals here is in mule deer & whitetail so a lot of landowners out there want you shooting them year-round. For that lease it's $3000 with 5 guys hunting it, but they have a 10yr avg of 180 on their MD bucks.

Cheaper to move to Colorado.

 

[packmule]

Could be, they get 10 buck permits and 20 doe permits to divide amongst theirselves....and can still apply for the public drawing to use the tags on their licenses

 

[packmule]

....for me, 1 of our places I limit to 2 bucks shot total & some does if the ratio falls under 2:1. On another place, I get between 35-50 deer permits from the state every year. I've only shot 2 deer total off that place in 6yrs, but the community 4H kids (who must be on Honor Roll) get to wreck havoc on those deer. I have them be picky on bucks after they've shot their firsts, but the does are scared. All those tags run me a cool $68 for a Super Combo hunting/fishing license and a small amount of my time finalizing a harvest log and emailing it to one of the State's biologists. Of course, it is TX and you know how we are about feeding and planting stuff for deer, so it runs more than the initial $68 out of want rather than necessity.

 

[Old Hunter]

All that food you feed them doesn't seem to make them grow much bigger than our rabbits.

 

[packmule]

Lol..no they dont, but there's a lot more of them and a different subspecies..does usually weigh between 80-120 LW, bucks between 150-200 depending on their builds. The elk get bigger on a 20% protein & gulf coastal diet though

 

[Doe Nob]

Out of state guided elk hunts have been running $6-$7k, Deer hunts $1500-$2500, unguided antelope about $1000.

It takes me $1000 just to drive to the west and back, gas adds up, throw in a hotel overnight here and there for a week.

I keep a duck lease here in Texas, but the gas for that adds up too when you drive 150 miles round trip every Sat and Sun the season is open.

 

[Muleys 24/7]

I have never figured out the exact percent, but I do make priority's to afford my habit.

 

[Eberle]

$10k on family vacation (which I try to sneak in a day of fishing, depending on where we go) & $5k on hunting. I figured out after having kids, a nice vacation makes my wife very happy. She never says a word about my hunting trips. I agree with Pete hunt hard while you are young! When you get a little older & have kids you don't have as much time to go.

 

[hoshour]

I have an agreement with my wife that the money I make at my side job is mine to spend however I want, usually on hunting. Of that, I spend anywhere from a couple thousand to several thousand, depending on the year, what I buy and how many hunting trips I take.

Living in NC really runs up the tab, not just for NR tags but for transportation to get out west and then to rent a vehicle. Flying SW Air with their two bag allowance really helps. Plus, I have clients in several western states so I have my investment business pay for the air fare because I always start my western hunts by visiting clients first. Now if I could just write off the cost of the hunt...