$5000?! I don't think so. I'm going through it right now on a non-hunting product. It will cost $20K+ trust me. You can do a provisional patent for a couple hundred yourself to buy you time (1 year from date of filing) to work out details and file for the regular Nonprovisional patent. That's when the money begins to flow.

To do it without a patent attourney is crazy...but possible. You need someone who knows that system bacause it is very confusing and just about everything gets denied the patent on the initial submission for whatever reason.

I have an idea for a hunting accessory product right now and might try to patent but don't really have the money to do it. (No I'm not tellin yet) Probably will get a provisional on it before making it public to try to gauge demand.

A lot of times people have ideas and do nothin about it. Might be a huge hit or a flop. Only one way to find out.