Personally, I'm with the rest of you. I could care less what it costs. You can't put a price on a way of life. But just for kicks and giggles this is what I came up with. The first scenario is for a brand new hunter and the second would be for a seasoned hunter with all equipment.

Scenario 1 -

Long underwear, pants, shirt and blaze orange hat. - 100.00
socks and boots - 90.00
gloves - 15.00
Savage rifle/scope combo - 500.00
bullets - 20.00
license - 20.00
hunting knife - 40.00
weekend at camp - 60.00

Total- 845.00

so if you shoot a deer and get 70 lbs of meat out of it, it cost you $12.07 / lb.

scenario 2 (seasoned hunter)

License - 20.00
weekend at camp - 60.00
bullets (maybe) - 20.00

Total - 100.00

so if you shoot a deer and get 70 lbs of meat it would have cost you $1.43 per pound.


I amost forgot scenario 3- HUNTING ADDICT !!!

new state of the art gps navigation unit - 250.00
New weatherby .270 vanguard that won't fit in gun cabinet - 600.00
New rocky 1500 gram thinsulate mossy oak breakup hunting boots - 200.00
New bushnell range finder - 150.00
State of the art self heating battery operated long underwear - 50.00
Mossy oak breakup boot blankets (they have to match the boots of course)- 50.00
New swarovski pocket binoculars (just so you can tell everyone you own a pair) - 539.00
New grunt call, big buck grunt call, doe bleat, can call, rattling antlers and rattling bag - 85.00
Doe in heat, doe estrous, dominant buck urine and cover scent - 40.00
Flambeau colapsable life size doe decoy (Hey, you need something to look at all day)-120.00
and of course a matching micro fleece, scent elimination parka and pants set in mossy oak breakup to match the boot blankets you just bought - 450.00

Total - 2534.00

Therefor the total per pound for you if you got 70 lbs of meat would be $36.20 / lb


but chances are you were to busy making sure everything you were wearing matched while you got lost cause you couldn't figure out your gps but luckily you stayed warm because you just charged the batteries in you underwear. Only to ruin them while crapping your pants as you see a 800 lb grizzly charging you through your binoculars (but it is a really clear picture). Luckily you bought a new rifle but too bad it jammed so you decided to run but couldn't get too far because of your moon boots. So you turn around nocking the bear unconcious with your weatherby shattering it to a million pieces just as you 5 bottles of deer scent draw a 180 class 12 point directly into your shooting lane.