16ga.com ~ View topic

Member Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 110

I'd like to hear some opinions/thougts on cost and "class" of hunting.

The popularity of bird hunting has steadliy declined (notwithstanding groups like 16ga.com). There is also, now, a belief that the sport is expensive, uppity and highfalutin. 50 years back, a company president was as likely seen in the field as a poor farmer or a factory worker. I sure don't speak for the entire middle class, but I don't need to spend an enormous amount of money to enjoy the sport. My big expense has been my setters; most of my guns (16 ga.) were passed from my father and my Filson clothes were bought used on Ebay. I don't need $500 dog colloars, or hunting club memberships or shiny new Citoris.

Don't get me wrong, I love look at all the catalogs and dream of expensive gear. But as we encourage people to take up the sport, I sometimes hear comments that it's a rich man's sport and therefore not for everyone. I like to encourage based on enjoyment, tradition and family - not as a status symbol. Satisfaction of a day in the field comes from it's simplicity...

Thoughts?...

henrybelton,

You don't list where you're from.

I suppose bird hunting can get expensive if you live or hunt is a state like Texas where you need to pay a trespass fee to gain access. Whereas Pennsylvania provides and maintains almost 1 million acres of free access gamelands, bought and paid for by gunowners dollars. And most farmers will allow hunting their property if you make the effort to only ask permission.
Resident license combo for both big and small game is $20. So a day afield can be pretty cheap if need be.

Joined: 13 Dec 2006 Posts: 694 Location: MN

Don't know where you hunt-but I see plenty of folks from all walks of life out hunting. I do think that those that bird hunt and those that deer (or big game hunt) are from different camps. Its like the difference between the folks that fly fish and those that take a party boat for blues.

I think if you get off the coasts out to the heartland, the hunting sports are in pretty good shape and being enjoyed by a good cross section of people.
There is no doubt that hunting here in the east (I'm in NJ) has declined, especially duck hunting. Average age of hunters is going up everywhere around here.
That's why I like hanging out with you other geriatrics. Laughing

Member Joined: 27 Jun 2005 Posts: 1545 Location: Michigan

The biggest expense of bird hunting in Michigan, is the cost of gas, to get you from point A to point B. License is $15.00, sack lunch is cheaper than eating at home, I'd have a Setter even if I didn't hunt. And my kid is going to attend the local community college, because I hunt with a Parker. Wink

Living in Boston and hunting in New England is not without it's own issues - out of state license fees & stamps are just the start - add 2 tanks of gas, food, coffee, beer (yes, those are all separate budgets for me) and cost climb steadily. These are for the overnight trips. Day trips with Dad or others are just special days out so I almost don't care where what or how much.

as for equipment costs - I'm pretty well set but it took me a while to get my rig down - waders & coat cost me about the same each, hat is fine, gloves - I think I'll be dropping a few more than I usually do on a very high quality pair next year. Boots for upland and hiking are the same - the rest of the gear is double duty clothing - long johns and the like.

My largest costs annually are by far the license, stamps and travel expenses.

I don't mind, I pay them because I'd much rather hunt than not.

Sprocket, please don't forget the crappy preverve stuff we have to do(big cha ching) as the Ma stuff pretty much sucks. Access to private is tuff to get due to the gentrafication of the country side, plus very little wild birds. Public stocked land is hit and miss and often you take your life into your own hands going afield with the city boys (Sprocket your ok, guess the rubber chicken did it for you) Tuff to have a job and travel to Me or Nh to scout, not complaining just making a observation. And the preserve stuff is really a joke.(xcept for a little place in NY neat the Berkshiers I've been told about by someone) Unless you have a pup, or a old dog(or tjc's pitbulls) the dog is almost as bored as I am.

Member Joined: 20 Mar 2005 Posts: 1522 Location: NH

*Last edited by brdhnt on Mon Feb 28, 2011 5:42 am; edited 1 time in total*

Henry,

Interesting question.

I think most of us have a substantial investment in guns, gear and dogs. The actual cost of the hunting is another part of the equation.

I usually make several out-of-state trips each year. These are to destinations where I meet up with friends who are either local or from a far off place and this is where we can get together. My trips are usually from 4-10 days and when all costs are averaged, (license cost, room, meals, gas, etc.) I have found that they average about $200 per day. I may get a limit of birds, I may get a few birds and on more than one trip, I have had zero birds. Is the cost worth the return? Yes. I get to spend time outdoors with my dogs, my friends, my friends' dogs and also get to meet a lot of nice people along the way.

Interestingly, the people I know that have the most money don't like to do the type of hunting I like to do. They want birds in bag for the expenditure of their time and their money. Two friends of mine are a very successful lawyer and a world renowned surgeon. ALthough we have hunted together in the past, I don't hunt with either of them any more. They want to hunt on a preserve or outfitter where they can kill X number of birds in X amount of hours. Both of them rave about Outfitter/Preserve hunting in South Dakota and rave about how many birds they shoot. They keep telling me that for the cost of 2 of my out-of-state trips, I could go with them to South Dakota and shoot all the birds I want. They don't understand that working my dogs, being with friends and enjoying much more than the number of birds taken is more important than a pile of dead birds. To them, their time ($800 - $ 1,000 an hour) is more important than the 'experience' of the hunt.

Ido fear that people with this limited time and unlimited income will effect the future of our sport as more and more private land is leased for the enjoyment of the few.

My thoughts.

"Watching your pup make her first point and retrieve or introducing a friend to your sport - priceless."

TMB
________
CHRYSLER-PLYMOUTH SPECIFICATIONS

Member Joined: 14 Feb 2007 Posts: 110

Great discussion - even with the Prussian smart aleck. I'm being serious, here.

onefunzr2 - I'm actually in NY, but I don't think it's geographical.

There are tons of blaze orange and camo deer hunters from all walks of life in all 50 states. But as hunting, generally, has lost poularity, upland sport has become a niche. And (no offense) there is somtimes an esoteric snootiness. Much of my stuff would probably qualify as high end and I'm proud to own it. But, if I work with someone who has an old 870 and lab/shitzu cross, I tell him to get out there and try it.

I want the sport to grow even outside of the Berkshires.

Henry

Henry. I responded to you privately.

Joined: 15 Oct 2004 Posts: 787 Location: Indiana

Here in Northern Indiana there are niches and pockets of wild birds. A lot of country is farm country, with much of that being tilled pretty intensively. I happen to live in a part of the state that used to be called the Grand Kankakee Marsh. There are swamps, irrigation ditches and bogs.I know a number of farmers I'm friends with, and thanks to them and the various USDA /Gov't farm programs such as continuous filter strips, CRP and WRP, we do have wild pheasants here and a nominal number of wild quail. We have mallards and wood ducks on the ditches and I can surprise an occasional goose if I'm in the right place at the right time. Hunting around here is relatively low-cost.

Also, I can shoot a few woodchucks and a coyote or two if luck is with me. I consider myself very fortunate. But I still go west every year, because I love to hunt wild birds and be in comaratively "wild" country where they are.
It is expensive, and damn well worth it because it is extremely relaxing and I need to get away and walk my concerns out of my system once in awhile. I would rather hunt wild gamebirds--pheasants, sharptails, quail and waterfowl---than eat. As with anything else, it depends on what you want out of life.

Member Joined: 06 Nov 2006 Posts: 128 Location: NE

Judging by the number of hunting licenses sold in S. Dak, bird hunting is not loosing any popularity, but it is becoming more expensive. For the last couple of years there have been more nonresident than resident licenses sold there. Revdoc's "inspiring" post on hunting in SD gave an indication of how many pay to hunt operations have sprung up in the last 10-15 years. Not counting the commercial operations, a great deal of land is leased for exclusive hunting by people from out of the area. The public access ground is hammered relentlessly for the first month of the season, or until the weather turns crappy enough to keep all but the hardcore hunters inside. I know a couple of guys from SD that come down here to NE to hunt because they lost access to places they hunted for years.

It hasn't gotten that bad down here but it is getting there. The farmers down here just haven't quite figured out how much money they could make off hunters if they didn't try to put every single acre into production.

I grew up in north central Nebraska less than 40 miles from SD and spent a lot of time back and forth over the border, have driven damn near every road, trail and cowpath in that part of the country. You almost never saw any property that was posted, now you rarely see any that isn't. You could stop at any farmplace and get permission to hunt, now if you don't know them well already it is not likely. In the county where I live, it is down to where I have permission to hunt on 3 farms, 2 of which are in the family. Going out on the first two weekends of the season is almost an exercise in futility in northeast NE unless you have a family farm to hunt. You will see more out of state pickups and suv's than local. At the public access areas you will see groups entering a field as others are leaving (if they wait that long) as well as groups entering fields from different sides.

About the only reason I go out on opening weekend, let alone the first month of the season anymore is because of the tradition. Family and friends getting together, including an uncle from Illinois that has been coming out to hunt for 40 some years, and now 2 of my brother's boys come along. So far I've only given one of them a gun, but I will probably hand off a couple more over the next couple years, maybe one of them will be a 16 ga.

berg

If two of us hunt KS from here, it usually costs about $110 each which is splitting fuel and accommodations for two days/nights. The license is $75 for the season and KS has a great walk-in program. But the real cost would be care and feeding of the dogs. I have two pointers and a lab puppy. Very Happy

I give them all the shots myself and administer medical attention as much as possible. BTW, it costs me $105 for 10 chukars at the preserve and I usually shoot 12+ due to leftovers. When I was in Texas, a quail lease costs a minimum of $1000 per hunter plus the above costs.