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Are more people hunting with the rise in food costs?

Gotta spend $20 in gas just to get to my closest hunt area this year.
 
One $43 Resident cow/calf tag, 10 gallons of fuel (about $20 last year), 1 90 grain accubond from my first hunting rifle purchased in 1978.

21407.jpeg


Have taken nothing to a butcher, ever.

Will do this again in less than a month.
 
One $43 Resident cow/calf tag, 10 gallons of fuel (about $20 last year), 1 90 grain accubond from my first hunting rifle purchased in 1978.

21407.jpeg


Have taken nothing to a butcher, ever.

Will do this again in less than a month.
Ugh, I dream of August/September rifle cow elk in antelope country...
 
I can walk out my front or back door and shoot a whitetail from Aug 15- Jan1. Those deer are very economical. Lots of good public land within an hours drive as well. Driving 30 hours one way to hunt antelope, mule deer or elk, not so much. Filling the freezer is a bonus, not the reason I hunt.
 
One $43 Resident cow/calf tag, 10 gallons of fuel (about $20 last year), 1 90 grain accubond from my first hunting rifle purchased in 1978.

21407.jpeg


Have taken nothing to a butcher, ever.

Will do this again in less than a month.
Hunting your own property?
 
Supplementing you food supply with wild game and fish can save you money if done a certain way.

Quick math tells me that the way I do it is not that certain way.

Here in Louisiana 100 bucks gets a resident 6 deer tags, 2 turkey tags, all fishing and fishing gear licenses, small game, state waterfowl, and access to millions of acres of public ground. If I was to hunt public ground close to home, fish close to home, keep new gear expenditures to the bare minimum, and not factor in my time because it is exactly what I want to be doing anyway, yea that could be some cheap high quality protein. Especially if you factor in all the wild pork running around.

Sidenote, I usually hold back one or two lambs for personal use every year, this year I held back 4. I also bought more chicks than I normally would to make sure I could put the ones with a less robust egg laying build in the freezer. I have not been thrilled with the quality of meat in the stores the last several years. All that homegrown grass fed protein will be going in the freezer as soon as the weather breaks and these two week old chicks get big enough. I ain’t buying any meat besides lunch meat and the odd porterhouse if I can help it.
 
Eating red meat cheaply is not difficult for a WY resident. I hunted elk a grand total of two days last year and killed two elk on public land, and I don’t consider myself a good elk hunter. Just have to get out of the truck and hike. Cost me 24 gallons of gas and $5 in ammunition.
 
Nothing economic for me. Not much of any deer hunting where I live so I have a 9 hr drive to my lease in Alabama. The first 4 years I only spent about 12 days hunting there Per year , So I just stayed at a hotel 15 minutes from the gate. Last year I spent about 35 days up there so if I am going to continue to do that or more I will need to buy a camper trailer to stay at camp. Between lease fees , fuel and lodging deer hunting is an expensive hobby. I kill about 4-5 deer a year. Fortunately I have a good career and can work while being up at the lease. Plenty of fishing around here as well as hog hunting but not many deer hunting opportunities.
 
Its about geography. When I was living in South Carolina I had permission to hunt a nice farm with fields and woodlands. I drove 4 miles to this farm. I had a $100 in my ruger tanger 3006 and $100 in the scope on it And I used rem green box ammo. My family owned the local Ford dealership so I didn't even have to buy my own pickup and gas. That was some cheap venison in them days. Things are different now.
 
I usually try to get a buck and sometimes a doe here in Texas. This year my wife wants at least three.
 
Second round of doe tags is this weekend in PA.
The area i usually hunt added 2,000 doe tags this year.
And for the first time in 10 years, i didn't get a doe tag for there. They sold out on first round.

As another option they have DMAP tags (Deer Management Access Program). This where public & private land owners have too many deer and allow taking of a certain number of does from that property.

Looking at DMAP availability, seems only a couple of places have any DMAP tags left & they are at least double the distance to travel.

How are things in the other states?
Gas could be 10 a gallon and hunters are going to hunt . The commercialized part of hunting is having a huge impact .
 
A hunter who has tight finances might stay home from a hunting trip. He will probably go the first year things get tight but the second year of financial pressures will effect him.
 
With tighter budgets this year due to loosing my job and been on the hunt for a new one we have used a huge chunk of savings. I did get 5 extra doe tags for the home area that is about 6 hr drive. So, i’l have a total of 7 doe tags and a buck tag to fill. Figured if I can knock down some north east montana muley’s I can come home with a bit over 500lbs of meat and maybe a decent rack again.

Now if my kids would enjoy vension more….
 
My wife asked me the question the year I drew my moose tag, "How much money does hunting cost vs. What you get." That year I shot a small bull elk, bull moose, and a deer. After EVERYTHING was said and done.... 78 cents per pound. Yes, i accounted for tags, gas, gear, etc. I've spent years getting there. Bought guns, bows, meat grinders, camo, ammo, and still came out way ahead. I think the reason being when the freezer gets low I don't care what it is as long as it's legal.

Thankfully game managers until recently saw the value in cow, young buck, pronghorn harvest hunts. There's a handful of us still hunting FOR MEAT first and then trophy after. When I need meat, I dissappear for a while and don't come out until I've got it.

With rising food costs yes definitely people are hunting more.
 
If I stopped buying new guns and gear I could make it break even against buying beef, but not by much. I am a resident, do all my own processing, do not hunt too far from home.
 
Probably will shoot an extra doe this year. Gotta pay off someone else's 10,000.00 student loan I guess.
 
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