Valentine

With the cost of equipment these days, do we still have multiple hunters in archery, gun, muzzleloading, and say trout fishing in the spring.
Retired, I'm trying to keep them all going. In some they are done with beginner and intermediate equipment. For trout, I still use less expensive fiberglas rods and not top line reels.

I learned to cut corners years ago. Thinking of going to some carbon arrows and I have an industrial saw all ready, a wooden board to tie the saw down for cutting, and a partial plan to use a aluminum fletcher to do the fletching of carbon arrows. Will spend more when I become a regular carbon arrow user.

Or are more going for one sport, say archery and spending money on the better lines. I'm still a "part timer" when it comes to archery, thou I have shot often for years.

archeryelk1

I try to do as much as I can. In the spring I turkey hunt (bow and shotgun, depending on mood), bear hunt (centerfire & muzzleloader), pick morel mushrooms, and shoot a lot while the weather isn't real hot. Summer I do quite a bit of camping, trout fishing with spinning rod and fly rod, dabble in bass fishing, cat fish some, and get in some shooting as well. Spring and summer I also work around the property trying to improve it for hunting. September I archery hunt elk, October & November is rifle hunting whitetail...centerfire and muzzleloader...and also steelhead fishing, usually bobber & jig from the bank. Winter I coyote & bobcat call, snowmobile, and of course more shooting. I recently joined a muzzleloader club and they have one shoot every month, I try to make it to as many of those as time permits.
Like you said it is very expensive starting out. The older I get the easier it becomes, as it is then just a matter of fuel for the most part. I try to take care of everything as best I can to keep from having to replace things.

rockport

I get spread pretty thin sometimes but it is what it is. Most of these things are a luxury not a necessity anyway.

I'd give up gadgets before I had to start giving up activities. I also try to stick with value holding gadgets.

Here is something I do a lot. I go to auctions and buy the things I want and other things that are worth more than I buy them for then I sell them on ebay and the stuff I bought to keep I often end up getting for free.

For example the last auction I went to I bought a $75 shooting stick that I wanted for $30 and a $180 Remington 870 barrel I didn't need for $85 totaling $115 then I sold the barrel on ebay for $150.

I made $35 and got me a fancy shooting stick.

At another sale last year which was a Archery shop going out of business sale they really didn't have anything left I needed but they had 6 packs of muzzy broad heads for $10......I bought all 30 packs of them and sold them all on ebay for $30 a pack making $600

This is how I produce a lot of my "play" money.

I always look for stuff like that when I'm shopping. If they don't have what I want for what I want to pay I just find another way to skin that cat.

Ive even bought things off websites brand new and did it. I wanted a new pack and was shocked at the prices. Midway USA has $120 tenzing packs on clearance half off....regular $120 on sale for $60. I bought 2 of them and sold one on ebay for $100 and kept the other one for $20

I was visiting some relatives in KY and found a brand new handi rifle combo 270/444 for $185 at a big gun store. I bought it and sold the 270 barrel on ebay for $160....now I have a .444 for $25

Anyway you get the point that is how I fund a lot of my toys without spending money earmarked for bills and family stuff.

Sheridan

Seems to me you keep fairly busy and should consider yourself very fortunate.

Green with envy....................I'm a work'in stiff.

alleyyooper

I have more time now that I am retired but still bow hunt with alum arrows as I bought a couple hundred blanks in the mid 1970's and a fletcher.

Still reload my own shot shells from the stock of lead I bought before retiring. No longer shoot trap, or clays. I also don't hunt grouse like I use to as there is none around this area and is a 3 hour drive to where I used to hunt them.

Still fire arm deer hunt, I did buy a slug gun and I bought slugs which I will reload once I get a few hulls to work with.
Still muzzle loader hunt, buy sabots in bulk 50ct. per bag from MMP and the bullets in bulk 100ct Speer gold dots.

Reload all my own rifle ammo except the 22lr and 22mag,

Hunt coyotes a lot and use the money from them to buy powder, primers and bullets and other stuff. Wanted/needed a sun shade for my swift, things are expensive for what they are. I just made my own.



Bought a nice St Croix Fly rod before I retired and a decent reel I fish a couple rives with it and am careful. tie my own flies using hair & feathers from birds, deer and squirrels I harvest and sell extra.

Custom build spinning and casting rods for people in the winter months.

Keep busy and hunt and fish more than I was able to when working.
Have a 19' starcraft for the great lakes, a 12' starcraft for small inland lakes and a 17'canoe for large rivers and a 15' for small rivers creeks and beaver ponds back in the woods.

Problem is being able to afford fuel to drive to some of the places I used to fish and hunt.

Al

Topgun 3006

Sounds like you need to quit your day job and go into the buying & reselling full time, as it would seem you sure have a knack for it, LOL!

rockport

I'm already starting a new adventure this year. Outfitting/managing hunting leases. But I will still be wheeling and dealing. I have done it full time when I hurt my back and had to have my spine fused that is how I made ends meet for awhile.

archeryelk1

Lol, I'm a working stiff too...I just spend as much of my free time in the outdoors as possible, it's simply how my family and I enjoy our weekends and vacation time. All of our vacations are planned around the above activities. Living in Idaho makes it very possible, as well as my location being within 45 minutes of all of the above with the exception of the elk hunting and fly fishing...well, GOOD fly fishing anyway. My elk spot is still only 2 hours away and some of the best fly fishing in the country on the NorthFork of the Clearwater river is 3 hours away. I feel very blessed to have been introduced and raised doing all of the above by my parents, grandparents, and aunts & uncles.

Nomercy448

Fall - calling coyotes, hunting whitetails, usually hunting turkey too, hunting over coonhounds, usually one trip to Tanecomo where we do a little trout fishing, and obligatory small game hunting like bunnies and squirrels
Winter - calling coyotes, hunting whitetails, hunting over coonhounds
Spring - calling coyotes, usually doing some turkey hunting, starting some bass fishing
Summer - bass fishing, catfishing, and bowfishing gar and carp, usually doing a bit of "fun" competition matches here and there, 3D archery, 3 gun, cowboy action, whatever fits the schedule.

I hunt with a shotgun, rifle, handgun, compound bow, and recurve bow - my rifles tend to be higher priced rigs, most of them custom built, or rebuilt. My handguns tend to be budget-friendly Ruger's with high-dollar quality work done and components added. My shotguns tend to be Benelli's except for a couple 870's hanging on, and my old JC Higgins pump, plus my .410's in various $75-150 flavors. My bowfishing bows are an old Oregon compound (30+yrs old) and a Barnett that my wife shoots that wasn't too expensive, but still more than it could have been. Our hunting bows are "near top of the line" hunting bows with hefty price tags on the bows and the components, and I almost exclusively throw high dollar arrow shafts, that I customize myself for length and fletching. I pan-fish with cane poles and bass-fish with Zebco 33's (some are ~20yrs old) on $10 rods, my wife bass fishes with $250-400 baitcasting rigs (she's the fisher in our family - I can't even cast the d@mn things). Our trout fishing spinning reels are at the "low end of decent". I throw cast nets that I tied myself.

Budget-friendly stuff is still out there, and nobody makes anyone buy anything new if they have something that works. Getting all worked up simply because someone has the money to go out and buy something newer and different from what you have doesn't make much sense.

I could list out about 10-20 other hobbies/past-times/odd-jobs/trades/crafts/responsibilities/etc that have occupied any of my free time on a regular basis in the last ~10yrs (more if I go back to college or high school), and I don't seem to have any trouble finding time nor funding to enjoy all of them. Not as much time or funding as I'd like for many of them, but if I want time for something, I make it.

And of course, I'm also a workin' stiff too...

uncle matt

Man I ain't got a dime to spare. No gadgets or fancy hunting clothes. I only got one hunting weapon - the original boom stick and I keep it well tuned. Old school I tell ya!