RE: High cost of hunting
 

No one has to tell an Illinois resident about the ever increasing cost to hunt!!! As mentioned above, the prices you mention seem dirt cheap compared to anything here in West-Central IL ! :(

However, it's all supply and demand. Everything else in our lives continue to cost us more and more so it's certainly no surprise that our hunting is going in the same direction. It's certainly not a poor mans sport these days.

RE: High cost of hunting
 

You 2 Pebble Beach fellows must be doing real good as they say!!!![8D]:)


Spudrow from Missouri

RE: High cost of hunting
 

What does golf have to do with any of this?!

Golf?!

Sure I play golf but it is nothing compared to hunting.

If a guy is gonna hunt holes - I don't recommend a golf course!

RE: High cost of hunting
 

LOL. I guess they were just showing the increase in the cost of other sports too.

Spudrow from Missouri

RE: High cost of hunting
 

Uncle matt,
If you look at the relationship of hunting and golfhistorically, hunting and golf were the sports of Kings. Only the privaledged few were invited by the King to participate. So to all those peasents that bash our sport, bow you unworthy knaives. And yet another reason why here in North America we should feel very fortunate to enjoy this activity. But many are correct on this post stating that as long as there are the hunters that are willing to pay the big bucks for a hunt, prices right across the board will continue to rise. I knowthat 20 years ago there were farmers thatcouldn't get enough hunters to take care of the deer on their land (the privaledge to hunton 2 of the farms I hunt on is directly related to the elderly farmers angry at the deer eating their veg. gardens). Now with financialresposibilities mounting on the family farm, no wonder many of those same farmers that let many hunt for free are now charging for huntersharvesting on their land.

RE: High cost of hunting
 

Mohunter have you checked into the price of decent hunting land? It will be a big reality check in terms of whether or not hunting is expensive. My hunting was dirt cheap too, when i lived with my parents and lived a few hundred yards from a creek bottom where POSTED signs were rare. But, a lot has changed in 20 years.

Of course, if folks feel crowded out of deer hunting, there is less fuss in terms of small game hunting. At least you can hunt squirrels in september before the deer hunters expect you to vacate the woods for the next three months[:o]

RE: High cost of hunting
 

I guess ifyou don't count the cost of the property, yearly taxes, interest, and insurance? Hunting land is extremely expensive now. You should be aware of that since you live in a prime hunting area.


Spudrow from Mo

RE: High cost of hunting
 

HIGH COST OF HUNTING----- AIN'T THAT THE TRUTH!!!! I laugh when I hear Jackie Bushman say, take a kid hunting!! Because pretty soon, unless you make a 6 figure salary, you will not be able to afford to take your kid to the woods!!!!!!

I started hunting in Pittsfield, Illinois (Pike County) in 1984, where a neighbor of mine had a cousin who lived in Pittsfield. A group of friends, including the farmer got together and rebuilt an old abandoned farm house on the property. I'm talking about completely rehabing it, payed for a new roof, siding, plumbing, electrical, cabinetry, tv's, radio's and microwave. Everyone spliting up the cost equally and almost everyone donating one thing or another. We made it a home away from home, naming it the "Hilton". All the neighbors used to come by in the evening and have a drink and shoot the breeze. We used to be able to hunt anywhere!!! With the popularity of Pike becoming nation-wide, everyone started seeing $$$$$$$ signs!!!! I'm talking about families breaking apart and not talking to one another due to one half wanting money in order to hunt!!! It was sad, and I thought it would never happen to our group! But I was mistaken,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, the writing was on the wall! About 9 years ago, we started to see stuff come up missing, like toothpaste, soaps, and little stuff like toilet paper. But we all just thought 1 guy or another had misplaced it. Little did we know the farmer(we thought of as family) was charging people to hunt on the weeks we were not there. He would always call and ask the dates on which we would be hunting so he could get the "Hilton" ready for us! He was just calling to find out what dates he had to lease out the property. We started to see fewer and fewer deer each year, and blamed it on the hunting pressure surrounding the property, and thats when I bowed out, and left Pike County forever, it was a heart-felt good-bye, because I put alot of time and work into it, but something was wrong andI felt it... The next year my friend who kept hunting there, who told me I was a fool to leave after putting all that time and money into the place,found out why we were seeing less and less deer... See we were mostly tradesmen who made modest livings and worked on a schedule and adjusted it according to the firearm season each year, putting a week in for bowhunting. Well my friend had just switched careers and became an electrical salesman, so he could spend more time in the woods. Well at least he thought he could, becasue that year he wanted to bowhunt a lot more and thats when he found out he couldn't come down at all except for firearm season because the rest of the time had been leased out to some guys from Pennsylvania, Chicago and New York. That's when $hit hit he fan!!!!!! All the time, blood, sweat and money spent on that place was for someone else! I could have understood it if this particular farmer needed the money, but he is financially-set... He has a total of 160 acres that are hunted every day of the deer season.....

I think this philosophy is apphauling, because you are getting fewer and fewer people involved in hunting, because they cannot afford it. Hunting is going to be a thing of the past, like it has in England, where only the rich can afford to hunt, because you have to belong to a hunting club in order to hunt....... The NRA should be extremely concerned, because I got involved with firearms do to the hunting sports, and the fewer and fewer people who become involved in the hunting sports, become less involed in the 1st ammendment rights. Realistically if an individual stops hunting, what is the likelihood his children or grand children will pick it up! Odds are they won't.... It's a snowball effect, so next time "Jackie Bushman" or another celebrity says, take a kid hunting, ask them where? Because if you don't own your own land, pretty soon you won't be able to.... And if they say Public Land, then my response would be, "that's the perfect way to get them out of huntig". Sitting for hours and not seeing anything, but some other guy tromping through the woods scaring everything within ear-shot away, in not the way i want my kid to see hunting....

People are scratching their heads and wondering why their kids just sitting in front of the tv playing video games, that's because your gonna need money to take them hunting!!!!! The hunter stereotype of being a simple minded Redneck, is going to be a thing of the past.........


P.S. The time we spent at the Hilton during the "Firearm Season" we all payed 350.00 per man to pay for the utlities and help with the taxes. Any other time we came down we would pay $30 a day,per man,to help with utilities and up keep. So, we never really stayed their for nothing!!!!

Think about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!

RE: High cost of hunting
 

You need alittle more than 10 acres, especially if you are going to live there to. Plus, there has to be animals there to hunt in the first place. our farm is about 10 acres and theres noway that is enough land to hunt especially if your bowhunting.

RE: High cost of hunting
 

i think paying for the season is pretty fun :) but then again I have no bills haha.