Save money on food?

[Pacsd]

How many times do I have to say this??????: Never EVER count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!!!

 

[MCgunner]

The subject has come up before. HERE, I rely on hogs, mostly. Deer are a treat when I get one. I've shot one the last two years. They don't have all THAT much meat on 'em, but I like venison chilli and jerky. Don't do THAT with pork. But, pork are everywhere and I let the trap do my hunting. People here cuss the pigs, but hey, it's free protein.

I'm hunting squirrel, lately. Spring hunting is decent here. We can hunt squirrel year around in this part of Texas. Now, I do it because I love to do it. I don't do it for the meat. I'd do it anyway, so yeah, the corn and the licenses are justified, but I don't know, I like a good steak once in a while. We have chickens, mostly because the wife wanted 'em. I had to build the pen, of course... But, I like fresh eggs. Eggs are cheap, though, at the store.

I might raise some goats, but it'll be just for the money and the wife also likes goats. I don't know that I'll eat 'em. Tried cabrito once, didn't really like it.

How many times do I have to say this??????: Never EVER count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!!!

Intuitive knowledge after you've done it for a while.

 

[slamfirev10]

How many times do I have to say this??????: Never EVER count the money you spend on a hobby!!!!!!

lol !!!

 

[velojym]

Certainly not cheaper, as most of us do it, though I've known a few guys who subsistence-hunt (or knew 'em long ago, it's been a couple decades) and have it down to the point where they're essentially eating for nearly free.
Even those of us who do it the expensive way are keeping some skills alive that could serve us well in harder times.

 

[3212]

The people who can walk out of their home and hunt without fees can save money. Those who have to pay to practice shooting,pay for licenses,pay to travel probably do not.I drive 100 miles to hunt deer,pay 30$ a year to shoot at a range and have a lifetime license in my state.If I get 2 adult (140 lb) deer per year I save some money.Any less than that I lose money.But keeping my skills up to par is part of the equation.I do not pay for access to hunt.Those 140 lb deer yield about 50 to 55 lbs of meat each depending on bullet damage.

 

[LOLBELL]

I am one of those people that can walk out the door and start hunting. I own the property so I don't have to have a license. I use a $400 Ruger hand gun that was not purchased for hunting or a hunting rifle that I have owned for 30 years and killed countless deer with. 78 one year - all legal and all eaten. I usually try to put 6 or 8 in the freezer every year depending on size. We process our own. I figure I have less than a dollar a pound in meat for the year. I don't buy every new gizmo that comes along that promises you bigger and better bucks either. You can, if you try, get buy pretty cheap.

 

[3212]

The key to this is owning the land.Depending on the use of the land it can be part of the expense of hunting or hunting can be a side benefit of farming or timbering.

 

[PonyKiller]

I know I've spent about 600 bucks in the last two years to not kill a thing! fortunately my failure is close to home, about a ten minute ride till i'm hoofing it to my sleeping area in the woods.

 

[dogrunner]

Ponykiller I spend that much for just gas and dogfood in two months!


I long past quit trying to justify in economic terms what I love to do.......if I went that route I'd also get rid of the women in my life!!


And yeah, figure up the cost of those offspring too!

 

[DM~]

Well, i figure i have about $17.00 into this one, including the tag and ammo, i processed it myself.



But that doesn't include the $350.00 that i paid for the rifle 30 years ago and it had put meat on my table every year that i've owned it.

I got LOT'S of meat out of that buck, so it seems like a pretty good deal to me.

DM

 

[Lloyd Smale]

easy to figure out. An average whitetail will net you about 30 lbs of good meat. Maybe 40 at most. Figure beef at about 3 bucks a lb and if you spending much more then a 100 bucks for every deer you shoot your loosing money and if you pay to have someone else butcher your usually over the top before you even start. You also need to factor in the giveaway thing. I rarely give away my beef but it seems ill allways giving someone a piece of venison or some sausage i made from it. Might sound good when your impressing your wife with your hunting skills and how your putting meat on the family table but truth be told very few hunters can say it make economic sense

 

[Lloyd Smale]

DM is that 17 bucks factoring in gas, wear and tear on a vehicle. Cost of the equiptment- grinder, wrapping paper, vaccum packer ect., Cost of the gun scope, ammo, hunting clothes, boots. Even your gun at 350 has cost you about 10 bucks a year to use. Do you use an atv to haul it out with or a horse? Lots of things that people dont figure in. If your taking vacation from work and its paid vacation youd even have to factor that in to be fair. We do crop damage shooting about 3 months out of the year. Two of us do it and we drive about a 100 miles round trip every day. We figured that between the two of us we need to shoot at least one deer to brake even and two to make it profitable. Factor in all the venision we give away (about half the deer we shoot) and when its all said and done we figure at the end of the year we paid about 2bucks a lb for our meat. Now thats still fairly cheap if youve looked at the cost of beef lately but its far from eating for free and that doesnt even factor in wear and tear on the trucks, the fact we both end up buying at least one new gun every year and the cost of load developement on all the guns we use or anything else. Thats just the cost of gas.

 

[DM~]

I walk to my hunting spot, i don't wear any spl cloths, and i took no time off work. I wear the same Carhards/boots i wear for work, i didn't buy them for hunting. I'm useing a $100.00 meat grinder i bought in the 70's and i've run TON'S of meat through it now! It's paid for itself many times over!

The ATV in the pict was bought years ago, for work and it's used for everything from gathering firewood for the house/shop to hauling my dad on his trapline to all kinds of things around here.

The tag was $15.00 and i added 2 bucks for the one shell i fired and what ever else i forgot. lol

BTW, apparently the deer are bigger in my area, because i bone out my deer and i average 50 pounds of meat each from the doe, the bucks are bigger.

As for the $350.00 for the rifle, i didn't add that in BECAUSE, i've shot several moose, bear, caribou, and a truck load of deer with it, so i figure it's already paid for! (the meat has run into the TON's by now)

DM

 

[inclinebench]

Some of these posts make me think some fellows are jealous that they pay so much for so little, while some of us get so much without much monetary expenditure. To each his own, but I save very much money by hunting.

 

[der Teufel]

I certainly don't come out ahead economically by hunting, but as others have said I do it for the enjoyment. I find it very relaxing simply to be outdoors. However, the meat I get from hog hunting is a nice bonus!

Last year I shot eight hogs with an average weight of 100 Lbs. I get maybe a 25% yield so that's 25 X 8 = 200 Lbs. of meat.

I drive 140 miles round trip, plus about 40 more miles into town for a meal and around the property. Gasoline prices are dropping at the moment, but assume that gas is ~$3.60/gallon and my truck gets 18mpg. (140+40)mi ÷ 18mi/gal X $3.60/gal = $36 for gas

I spend probably $20 on food each time I go hunting (I'm including a beer in the evening) and I make about 15 hunting trips each year, so my typical costs come to ($36+$20) X 15 trips = $840/year.

Divide that by 200 Lbs of meat and the meat cost is $4.20/Lb. Hmm, if I'm not coming out ahead, at least I'm close to even. Lately beef has been running close to $4.20/Lb or more around here for most cuts. Of course I haven't included ammunition, nor did I amortize the non-recurring costs for my rifle(s), hunting clothes, etc. The real cost is obviously higher. However, it really doesn't matter, 'cuz I'd do it even if it cost three times as much!

 

[ldlfh7]

Let's not forget the quality of meat we get when hunting. Organic, natural, lean and healthy meat comes from eating game while the meat at the grocery store has so many anti-biotics, chemicals etc.. in it. I would much rather take the healthy natural meat over something that has grown up in a feedlot living in its own filth and waste while being pumped full of shots of god knows what. How much do you think 1lb of Organic venison would go for at the store?

 

[leadaddict]

I spend between 200 and 400 dollars per year hunting deer. I shoot 2 to 4 deer per year. For the most part I use equipment and clothing that I would own even if I didn't deer hunt, but there are definitely expenses involved. The question is, would I spend any less if I couldn't eat the deer? For me, not much. I enjoy the art and activity of hunting and would probably do it regardless of the meat gained. So in that sense, the meat processing equipment/supplies are the only avoidable costs that I should consider. It's one of the few hobbies that has such nice perks.

(See, anything's justifiable if you try hard enough.)

 

[Xiphoticness]

Well, I've had a lifetime sportsman's license since I was 12, my parents got me a Mossberg 20 gauge pump the same year that I still use to good effect, and I have plenty of friends of the family who are willing to let me hunt their land for doves, squirrel, deer, rabbits, and whatever else I can find. Come to think of it, I still need to get out and deal with some coyotes for my dad's friend who has cows, they keep bothering the calves and I told him I'd see what I could do with them since he lets me hunt deer on his property in season. I've been meaning to look through the old threads here for 'yote hunting advice as I'm only used to hunting prey rather than predators. Only big expense I see on my hunting horizon is I'm planning to find a nice big freezer on Craigeslist so I can store more than a deer and a few squirrels at a time. I don't waste money on cover scents or fancy hunting clothes. You want to know the best hunting clothes in the world for covering scent and keeping quiet in the woods? Learn to tan buckskin and wear those when you go hunting. Works like a charm, certainly worked in the old days so why wouldn't you expect it to now. And the most expensive thing you invest in tanning hides is time. I honestly never understood making hunting an expensive hobby. I have always felt buying all the bells and whistles distracts from what is to me the most attractive aspect of the hobby (besides the tasty food), the intense feeling of connection to nature and the fundamental realities of life. You don't get more fundamental than life and death. Hunting reminds you that in order for life to exist there must be death, anyone who says otherwise has lost contact with the reality of the natural world. But then again, I suppose that's what you get when you cross a backwoods hunter with a Bachelors degree in Philosophy.

 

[climbnjump]

A chicken in our Village store is 20$ while a steak is 15$ a pound, but Caribou are 10 minute drive and 20 minutes of work, than home before the hours out and another 5 minutes to skin, 15 to basic butcher and put up in the cache.

I'm on the other end of that caribou cost equation... I drove about 6400 miles round trip to Anchorage, helped pay gas for another person's vehicle for about 1600 miles round trip from Anchorage to the North Slope, paid for a bush flight, a non-resident tag, etc. So all costs included, my Alaska caribou meat probably cost somewhere somewhere north of $70/lbs.

Obviously, the point of that trip wasn't to save money on meat.

 

[Paul7]

Let's not forget the quality of meat we get when hunting. Organic, natural, lean and healthy meat comes from eating game while the meat at the grocery store has so many anti-biotics, chemicals etc.. in it. I would much rather take the healthy natural meat over something that has grown up in a feedlot living in its own filth and waste while being pumped full of shots of god knows what. How much do you think 1lb of Organic venison would go for at the store?

Exactly, it is comparing apples to oranges to equate wild game with the bland factory store meat. Last weekend I spend about $600 on a hog hunt and came back with a bit less than 100 lbs. of meat. I'm OK with that. My hobby is cheaper than golf or skiing.

 

[fdf]

First deer off our ranch was about $10,000 or so, not including taxes.

Yep, some cheap meat.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Well, if you own your property, or are in an area where you can hunt land without leasing, yeah its prolly cheaper than buying it.

Can't really do that here though. I'm paying $450/year for lease dues, monthly contributing for power at the campsite, pulling the camper down and the expense that goes into that (propane, stocking it with food, etc), keeping beer in the cooler (for the evenings AFTER the hunt of course), yeah I'd be a lot better off just buying beef if it was a price thing.

 

[Collects]

It costs almost nothing for me to hunt and kill deer, only the single arrow (which I use again), or the single round of ammo used to kill the deer. Let's say $1 for a deer.

I do not count the cost of buying my hunting acreage, paying its taxes and insurance, donating my hunting cabin and barn to the local volunteer fire department to burn down and train on, the 4X4 truck, gas, insurance and maintenance to get to the acreage, the trailer to stay in when I am not in the field, provisions, the bows, arrows and accessories, guns, ammo, cases, accessories, hunting boots, camo clothes, lost time from work, medical bills for the knee I blew out at my acreage, practice ammo and arrows, the tractor, fuel and repairs to work the acreage, etc., ad nauseum.

If you add it all up, venison, grouse, squirrel, rabbit and turkey probably costs way over $1,000 per pound. LOL.

$450 annual lease dues sounds REALLY CHEAP! Good going, Arkansas Paul!

 

[locnload]

Lets see, I started hunting when I was 12 and I'm 62 now so figure 50 years, subtract 4 years of hunting seasons while away in the Military (unless VC count) so this year will make 46 years of hunting. Multiply by licenses, guns ammo, archery equipment, flowers for wife, miscellaneous gear, camping stuff, travel expenses, flowers for wife, cold weather clothes, warm weather close, new better guns, jewelry for wife. I figure wild game meat is running me an average of $227.50 per pound. But I have had a heck of a lot of good times and that's what its about.

 

[ApacheCoTodd]

Tough call for many.

Equipment
Time
Licensing
Travel
Processing (if)
Storage space/equipment

I kinda liken it to us laying up quarters and halves of porkers or beeves. Our success at "saving" was directly related to higher levels of consumption. These days our red meat consumption is so low I prefer to donate a fair percentage rather than run a freezer.

Savin' money? Not us - not anymore.
Still enjoying the activity? You bet.

Or another perspective:

Rifle, ammo and various equipment... $425.00
Time... $relative
Licensing... $125+/-
Travel... $varied
Processing... $65.00
Storage space/equipment... $250.00 + $30.00+/- annually

Keeping left wing wack-o family members away from dinners and bar-b-ques? Priceless!