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Cost of hunting

1K views 19 replies 14 participants last post by  AK_Stick 
#1 ·
Hi,
I've never hunted and have a question. If you live in say Chicago & would have to travel 3-4 hours to get to a hunting area, what would be the cost of killing & slaughtering a deer. Would it be significantly cheaper then buying meat at the store? Thanks
 
#2 · (Edited)
No

(Assuming that you have no hunting experience and the amount of time and effort you would need to actually get licenses, access to land, a vehicle that you can process and bring home the meat, not to mention whether you actually would be able to bag one...).

Assume 50 pounds of venison from an average size deer.
A non-resident Wisconsin gun deer license is $160....
So even before any other costs, you're looking at $3 per pound...
Of course if you're talking about a long term strategy, that's possibly different.
 
#4 · (Edited)
As JNC and peng both said above, by the time you get outfitted, travel, lease land to hunt on, and/or pay for a guide, the meat is going to cost you a lot more, typically a whole lot more(!), than you would spend on the same lbs. down at your local grocery. And, as they also alluded to...it's the outdoor experience, being in the field, the comaraderie, the trophies, the stories, and the thrill of the hunt itself that hunters pay for. There are leases down here in Texas that hunters will easily spend $5-10K per gun...or more on for our whitetail season. Or some go the 2-3 day guided hunt route and spend $$ thousands there.

Now, if you're lucky enough to be close to good public hunting, have your own place, or a family place, or maybe a friend who will let you hunt free...then those are obviously game changers.
 
#5 ·
Best not to think about the cost. One thing that helps a little is that a lot of the fees / costs of hunting goes directly to helping conserve and protect wildlife - in theory at least.

Not really different for most hobbies... hiking? when you "get into it", the good equipment costs a fortune. Camping? again, good tents and equipment are expensive - this is not even thinking about buying an actual camper. Skiing? Yikes.

Being out in the woods hunting is actually far more intense than I thought it would be. Worth every penny.
 
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#11 ·
behere, welcome to hunting. If you are a bit confused by some responses, it is due to the words you used. Due to backlash from anti-hunters, some terminology is not used, such as "slaughtering". Don't worry, though, keep learning about hunting and all will be fine.
 
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#12 ·
Thanks guys. Confirmed what I thought, Re the term slaughtering wasn't meant in a pejorative way, but descriptive. I know that if meat isn't handled correctly, it can lead to food poisoning & even death. I suppose I could have used the term butcher, but I'd be referring to the same thing.
 
#13 ·
lol, depending on who you are talking with, even "butchering" is wrong... the word used mostly these days is "process".

You will also see more and more the word "harvest" being used in place of "kill".
 
#15 ·
Go wild hog hunting in Texas, last weekend three of us got seven hogs that will end up as about 350 lbs. of processed meat, hams and breakfast sausage. I'd rather eat a wild hog than a deer any day.
 
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#16 ·
I have hunted off an on... about 30 years.

These days, I rely on friends.

Whitetails are amazing animals. Beautiful creatures.

I just cannot bring myself to kill any living animal (including hogs and coyotes).

I get a kick out of seeing them, turkeys, birds...

This thread reminded me that it's time to start hunting sheds.

Now... if I find half a booner shed this weekend.... ignore all the above comments :exercise:
 
#18 ·
I don't care what it costs, you can't put a price on sanity and that what I get when I'm walking through the woods, mountains, desert or tundra trying to find the animal that I'm hunting at that moment. I'm mostly a bow Hunter, but bow, rifle or muzzleloader I just want to be somewhere in the wild.
 
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