I agree to some extent that a bow should not cost more than a good rifle. I do understand some of the cost increases. Anything that has a petroleum base (plastics and such) have had very high increases over the past year. The cost of tooling has also risen, strings and cables are different materials than before. Camo coverings are different than just spray painting and then you have to pay the use cost of Mossy Oak or Real Tree for the camo patterns. Many bows come with vibration damping and that is a bit more cost to the bow. So it guess it all adds up, somewhere there will be a back lash that people will not purchase bows as often as they did before, but then maybe we can trade inour present bow for a newer model, then in ten years the market will be flooded with used bows. Sounds a lot like the auto industry wouldn't you say.