chucker,

Did we read the same book

There is certainly nothing wrong with buying the latest and greatest gear and camo. If hunting is your hobby, why not?

On the other hand, nothing impresses me more than when a hunter that doesn't buy the latest and greatestbow, arrows or other gadgets and gear,goes out year and takes big bucks year after year.

Look at Greg H., that guy doesn't fall into the habit of going out and buying all the new camo and gear, yet he consistently goes out and takes really nice bucks that would make any hunter proud.

Discounts. Period. I wouldn't have 90% of the gear I have if I hadn't worked my tail off to be finally in a position to get discounts. I am staff shooter/hunter for a few companies, and I work in a proshop so I buy everything at cost. Plus the shop owner lets us employees keep a running tab, pay what we can when we can and he just doesn't worry about it. HE may not, but I do. I keep my tab under $100 at all times....Period.

I also don't take a DIME out of the family bank account. I sell stuff I already have or I use birthday/Christmas moneys. I also do some side jobs in the summer. If something comes up, oh, like.....if I had to pick something.....We blow an intake gasket in the van or something, I use that money for that.....

My absolute passion in life is archery/bowhunting. I do whatever work is necessary to support that without putting my family in the poorhouse.And all of that is made possible by the grace of God. God provides me the means to pay for the stuff I "need." For that, I am very grateful.

Yup. Same thing here. I don't golf. I don't drink/go to bars. Don't spend my money on much else besides hunting stuff. It's a healthy habit and I thoroughly enjoy it.

Life is all about priorities.
One of my mainpriorities is bow hunting.

He who dies with the most toys wins!

While total respect goes out to GregH for his accomplishments, it's not the gear or camo that makes the hunter, I think we all could do what we do with or without most things we use or more importantly, updated. It's still fun to keep going and going and gong. Take my new bow, it shoots the same as my bow of 10 year ago, but it's not 10 years old. My truck of 10 years ago might take me to the woods just the same as my new Titan but I still bought a new truck.

I pretty good with the hunting gear. I have a lot of stuff over the years. It's the fishing crap I spend a lot on. For hunting, I'm good for about 600 a year if you total all the misc stuff during the season, license, arrows, tips, beer and ......
Don't go asking about my fishing bill. I always need a few more rods and reels.

Ditto for me. Besides fly fishing , bowhunting is my addiction.
My wife would rather see me in the woods, than in a bar. I share this passion w/ my wife and kids. We all shoot and it keeps us in touch w/ each other.

So True....LOL