How much does it cost you to go hunting for a day?

PeakXV

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Okay we're in the dog days of winter now, time for some basic accounting. It would be interesting to see how the numbers breakdown across the country for expenses per diem.

Obviously game hunted, distance to grounds, & style of hunting will vary greatly & add to or subtract from the total.

Here's my numbers for 2010(grouse hunting only, walking all day but must drive (to covert) 120km round trip):



3 gatorades - $6.00
2 powerbars - $5.00
homemade sandwiches $2.00
gas/mileage - $15.00
hunting license(s) - $4.00($40/10 hunts)
hunting boots $10.00($100/10 hunts)
3 boxes of shells - $4.00(40.00/10 hunts)
residual small stuff - $2.00

----------------------------------------------------

= $48.00 / day of hunting
 
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Either you are paying too much for crap boots or you are day trippin' into the scree slopes every time you go out.

At $10 per trip I could be making car payments, instead of buying boots.
Close, anyways.

I figure a typical day out costs me around $30, mostly gas money and a hot coffee for the trip out. A thermos of tea, a couple sandwiches and an apple or two for about $4. Under $1 for ammo if I shoot anything, either rimfire or reloads for my deer rifle.

My boots were not expensive, and I figure they are costing me maybe a nickel a trip in wear.

My tags an licences for the year are a bit over $100. So my first trip costs me $130. The rest, not so much, as I only need tags for the first trip, eh.

Cheers
Trev
 
At $10 per trip I could be making car payments, instead of buying boots.
Close, anyways.Cheers
Trev

They don't make them like they used to 200kms or less seem to be the limit on boots .... I'm still looking for a decent brand/pair .... the Irish Setters crapped out early in the year & I had to go back to the Meindls which were already sucking dirty pond water. As they say it's not the age, it's the miles.


My boots were not expensive, and I figure they are costing me maybe a nickel a trip in wear.

A nickel a trip? Math. What do you have, how far do you walk, how long do they last? I'll buy em if they can stand up to 20km treks/hunt for more than a year & are lite enough for the extra long hikes.
 
Okay we're in the dog days of winter now, time for some basic accounting. It would be interesting to see how the numbers breakdown across the country for expenses per diem.

Obviously game hunted, distance to grounds, & style of hunting will vary greatly & add to or subtract from the total.

Here's my numbers for 2010(grouse hunting only, walking all day but must drive (to covert) 120km round trip):



3 gatorades - $6.00
2 powerbars - $5.00
homemade sandwiches $2.00
gas/mileage - $15.00
hunting license(s) - $4.00($40/10 hunts)
hunting boots $10.00($100/10 hunts)
3 boxes of shells - $4.00(40.00/10 hunts)
residual small stuff - $2.00

----------------------------------------------------

= $48.00 / day of hunting

You may not realise it, but hunting costs way more than what youve described there PeakXV...
Start with dogs and feed and vet bills, mileage depreciation on vehicles @ 10 cents a km.
Hunting equipment like waders, binos, calls, expensive non toxic waterfowl loads, boats.....the list is endless.....

Then theres air fare and non resident tag fees, car rentals and hotels..... You get off cheap hunting out side the back door.

I figure a fishing trip locally is about 50 bucks.:) But I dont care, Id rather be doing it than wishing I was!.:D
 
Less than 15 bucks per day. Hunting license is insignificant when you hunt over 40 or 50 days per season. I was going to eat and have a few beers anyways that day, so food n beverages is not an extra cost. I usually go for at least 4 days per trip so 40 bucks worth of gas is really my only expense.
 
You may not realise it, but hunting costs way more than what youve described there PeakXV...
Start with dogs and feed and vet bills, mileage depreciation on vehicles @ 10 cents a km.
Hunting equipment like waders, binos, calls, expensive non toxic waterfowl loads, boats.....the list is endless.....

Absolutely .... but to each his own. I have none of the above with the exception of mileage depreciation. You could add $10 bucks to the per diem for that .... but I can write often some of the mileage/gas off if I do some business on the way to or from.

Depends if I am hunting outside the front door or traveling to Northern BC...

...... yup, it sure does.
 
Tags (2 deer Muley, WT and bear) and licence are about 80 + but I don't know if that fits the daily cost. My big one is gas. It cost about $110 + to fill my '06 F150. Now that gas is 1.18 per liter bear hunting this spring could be a little more costly.

I was REALLY lucky this past year though. Total days hunting (spring and fall) was 5 and I tagged out, 2 deer and a great big bear. Seasons like that don't come around very often.
 
Tags (2 deer Muley, WT and bear) and licence are about 80 + but I don't know if that fits the daily cost. My big one is gas. It cost about $110 + to fill my '06 F150. Now that gas is 1.18 per liter bear hunting this spring could be a little more costly.

I was REALLY lucky this past year though. Total days hunting (spring and fall) was 5 and I tagged out, 2 deer and a great big bear. Seasons like that don't come around very often.


That's really good .... especially in the 'What's it cost you per pound of meat?' category/debate.
 
You cannot put a dollar value on hunting. IMO if you start doing that you will be looking at it in the incorrect light.

I used to hunt 2 hours away, now I am 25 minutes from door step to stand. Why, so I could get more time in, actually probably spending more on fuel due to the fact that you can just go on a whim even after work in the evenings.

I know it's just a hypothetical question, but........

more hunting, less calculating!
 
A nickel a trip? Math. What do you have, how far do you walk, how long do they last? I'll buy em if they can stand up to 20km treks/hunt for more than a year & are lite enough for the extra long hikes.

Paid $245 for a set of Foresters, by JB Goodhue, when they were made in Canada. Got 4 years of almost daily wear out of them at work, as well as wearing them for hunting, They have been stitched together a couple times, the soles are about done, and the toe on one looks like a frankenstein job, stitched and glued back together after a pass with a chainsaw opened it up.
I bought another set of JB Goodhue Forester 2's. Made in Viet Nam or somewhere similar. Same price. Comfortable enough, but falling apart after only a year and a half.
I still wear the first pair for hunting. The waterproofing (goretex or something like it)is holding up OK. Takes a bit to get my feet wet. Mostly I stay out of the water if I can.

I don't buy boots just for hunting. I buy boots that I can wear all day if I have to, and then, mostly do.

When I'm not wearing them, I am wearing my low-rent hikers from Mark's. 5 or 6 k's walking in a day is about my max. Not seeing a lot of wear and tear on the boots from the hunting.

So, yeah. I figure a nickel per trip for the boots is about right.

My car appreciates and depreciates with the level of the fuel tank. Flatlined otherwise. Always gonna be worth whatever the crusher pays.

My truck is near the bottom of the curve too, though not like my car.:D

Agree with the basic sentiment. If you start adding it all up, you are doing it wrong. It looks expensive, but what's a little peace and quiet in the woods really worth, anyways?
Priceless!


Cheers
Trev
 
Its depressing if you add it all up. I'm probably up to $50 in gas alone per grouse/rabbit because the areas I hunt aren't exactly loaded with them. Only 15 minutes away but the trips where you don't get anything sure add up.

Atleast I'm not as bad as my buddy. 7 years of hunting and one smallish doe to show for it. He is probably in the area of $100/lb of venison.

But its not about the money.
 
In Canada it's always about the money, a genuine nation of cheapskateRs!:D

Over on the EE they'd get on their hands & knees & open wide:adult: to save a $20.00 shipping fee.;)
 
It really depends on where and how you hunt.

For me, hunting is an expensive hobby. Then again, I choose to make it so. I choose to drive two hours to where I hunt in the mountains. I choose to constantly buy new guns, scopes, and other gear. I choose to drive the vehicle that I do, rather than something smaller, older, cheaper to run. I choose to buy a lot of tags when possible.

Those costs don't include the costs that are beyond your control, such as bad weather spoiling a hunt or simply getting skunked with a bad day in the field.

When you add up all of these costs, the price per pound in the freezer is abhorrent.

And worth it.
 
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