Practical deer hunter
- stash59
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Re: Practical deer hunter
When my elk hunting mentor in Montana owned his bowshop. I was buying a new bow almost every year! Along with the newest camo. Although I was usually replacing what had worn out. Chasing elk is tough on clothes!
When I got married I figured the cash would be better used else where. I still killed game with the old bow and camo, or, just neutral earth toned colored clothes. Yeah I probably would have killed a few more animals if I had bought/used a range finder. But when I look back killing another handful of critters wouldn't have made it any funner. Maybe more memorable. But not any funner!
I know it's easy to get caught up chasing a few more feet per second for a bow/arrow set up. Or shaving a few ounces off of all the other gear one carries.
Humans keep striving to make life "easier". Thus all of the technological advances through out history. Today it seems as a race, humans are trying to make easier, easier!
That being said. There are new products that make hunting more comfortable. Less strenuous. Which can lead to confidence. And spend more quality time at kill spots. I just don't feel replacing old with all new gear every year or two is a necessity! And wish new hunters were less bombarded with all of the, "you gotta have all this gear to kill" mentality. The hunting industry presents these days!
Down through history tons of meat was obtained with a few sticks, a string, some feathers and some sharp rocks!!!!!!!
When I got married I figured the cash would be better used else where. I still killed game with the old bow and camo, or, just neutral earth toned colored clothes. Yeah I probably would have killed a few more animals if I had bought/used a range finder. But when I look back killing another handful of critters wouldn't have made it any funner. Maybe more memorable. But not any funner!
I know it's easy to get caught up chasing a few more feet per second for a bow/arrow set up. Or shaving a few ounces off of all the other gear one carries.
Humans keep striving to make life "easier". Thus all of the technological advances through out history. Today it seems as a race, humans are trying to make easier, easier!
That being said. There are new products that make hunting more comfortable. Less strenuous. Which can lead to confidence. And spend more quality time at kill spots. I just don't feel replacing old with all new gear every year or two is a necessity! And wish new hunters were less bombarded with all of the, "you gotta have all this gear to kill" mentality. The hunting industry presents these days!
Down through history tons of meat was obtained with a few sticks, a string, some feathers and some sharp rocks!!!!!!!
Happiness is a large gutpile!!!!!!!
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Re: Practical deer hunter
In still trying to figure everything out yet, but this is how I see it, You do need some gear in situations, but I think alot of guys have a mind set, like "i got to get that $1500 bow so im hardcore", or " I'm going all out this year I'm buying 1200000$ in hunting clothes", to make them selves feel like there in the game, but from what I see it comes with scouting and doing the work to kill something not a piece of fancy expensive equipment, like I said you do need reliable stuff, but does it always have to be expensive to be relaible?
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I shoot a bow that I bought new in 04. I keep resisting the urge to buy a new one. I’m glad I have cuz it still kills
- Hawthorne
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Re: Practical deer hunter
My bow is 8 years old. I thought about getting a new compound but I think I’m gonna stick with my bowtech invasion. I’ll spend good money for the best boots, and baselayers every year if I have too.
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Re: Practical deer hunter
Still shoot the switchback I bought new in high school.
Still wear dad's old woolrich field pants when late season pheasant season arrives. Don't think they make anything better today.
Find I tend to pay once cry once with about everything I own.
Still wear dad's old woolrich field pants when late season pheasant season arrives. Don't think they make anything better today.
Find I tend to pay once cry once with about everything I own.
- wolverinebuckman
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I'm cheap, and generally broke (5 kids at home), so spending money on hunting is way down on the list. I generally budget a hundred bucks a year for hunting, with tags eating up $51 of that. Getting in to saddle hunting last year blew my budget for the year, but I still went as cheap and DIY as I could. Ended up climbing and hanging for around $150 (DIY fleece saddle, r/c harness, primal v steps, ropes and biners)
Christmas and birthday usually bring some bonus cash or gift cards, so that's when I try to add to my gear.
My bow is a hand me down from a buddy. My clothes are clearance rack or goodwill.
Christmas and birthday usually bring some bonus cash or gift cards, so that's when I try to add to my gear.
My bow is a hand me down from a buddy. My clothes are clearance rack or goodwill.
Bummer of a birthmark, Hal.
- ghoasthunter
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Re: Practical deer hunter
gear is grown as you grow as a hunter there is no reason too deck yourself out right off the bat. purchase things as you need them it will make you really appreciate everything you have over time. dont buy the newest gear give it a year or two for companies too work out the bugs or worse yet something better comes out and your stuck with what you thought was the best.
THE MOST IMPORTANT TOOL A HUNTER HAS IS BETWEEN HIS SHOULDERS
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Re: Practical deer hunter
It is on a rare occasion that a revolutionary product enters the "hunting"market. Most are refinements and improvements on existing items. I treat most of those items like I do the colorful, cheap plastic widgets that line the shelves at the mart. I walk right past it on the way to the milk cooler. I have lived all but 4 yrs of my life in the same impoverished area of rural Missouri. Unapologetic-ally, the struggle is real. It has been my choice. There is a price to be paid for everthing, including the sacrifices we choose to make in life. Such as living where we want to. So I've never had much excess money laying around to burn on things I don't really need. I have always tried to get the most bang for my buck and spend it on things I feel are important. Keeping up with the Joneses is of no interest to me. Status symbols go unobserved. I shoot a 2007 Hoyt Vectrix. I shot my Browning Mirage for 15 yrs. I shoot Beman ICS Hunters. My unmatched camo is only replaced as it wears out. Most of it is sewn and patched. The latest call, scent or other gadgetry doesn't interest me in the least. Unless there is some kind of revolutionary (i.e. Dan's stand and sticks) development in the industry that gives me a lot of advantage over price, I decline. Truthfully, IMHO, there have only been a handful of true improvements made to hunting in the 40 yrs I've been doing it. Range finders, GPS, cast aluminum treestands (now Dans water-jet cut), portable climbing sticks, some major bow improvements ever 10 yrs or so, carbon arrows, lighter-warmer clothing, Google Earth/OnX maps, fiber optic sights, are some that come to mind. I don't knock anybody for the items they choose to buy for everwhat endeavor they pursue. I wish ever one the best of luck with it all. I just choose not to play. Bottom line. The same stuff I started hunting with, would still serve me well to this day, under most conditions. There can be no price placed upon the things I seek in this life. Thankfully, those things are priceless.
- G-Patt
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Re: Practical deer hunter
Great post! I think about this every time I think of buying more gear. In the end, we're trying to poke a hole through a deer. The most deadliest weapon in the woods is our brain. If I can find a way to get close, I can poke holes. How is a $600 range finder or the newest $1,700 Bow going to put me where I need to poke holes? You owe it to yourself to buy reliable gear for when the time comes, but I find the more expensive or newest thing on the market compared to what I already have is not going to marginally improve my game.
On my deathbed, I will receive total consciousness. So I have that going for me, which is nice!
- elk yinzer
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I can relate to both perspectives. I really value the old stuff that works. Nothings cool until you wear the new off. But I have made some upgrades over the years that have made me far more comfortable, directly making me a better hunter. Some of them pretty pricey too.
There are cases where you get what you pay for and some cases where things are luxury priced or marketed hype. It takes a lot of research and knowledge of the market to parse out the difference sometimes.
Clothes have come a really long way in the past couple decades. I have no nostalgia for some of the old junk I started out with. Absolutely no desire to go back to wearing uncomfortable cheap boots and garbage cotton clothes. There is no doubt comfort improvements keep me out there longer and more often, making me a better hunter.
I am definitely plateauing with my new gear purchases though. I am 30 so I've had some time with disposable income to make upgrades over the stuff I had growing up. It's getting to the point where I am pretty well equipped and I'm not going to buy new crap just for the sake of buying it.
At the same time there are guys just get their rocks off buying the latest and greatest and some are deceived thinking gadgetry will make them better hunters. New flagship bows every year, shiny new this and that. Not for me but who am I to judge or care what they do.
There are cases where you get what you pay for and some cases where things are luxury priced or marketed hype. It takes a lot of research and knowledge of the market to parse out the difference sometimes.
Clothes have come a really long way in the past couple decades. I have no nostalgia for some of the old junk I started out with. Absolutely no desire to go back to wearing uncomfortable cheap boots and garbage cotton clothes. There is no doubt comfort improvements keep me out there longer and more often, making me a better hunter.
I am definitely plateauing with my new gear purchases though. I am 30 so I've had some time with disposable income to make upgrades over the stuff I had growing up. It's getting to the point where I am pretty well equipped and I'm not going to buy new crap just for the sake of buying it.
At the same time there are guys just get their rocks off buying the latest and greatest and some are deceived thinking gadgetry will make them better hunters. New flagship bows every year, shiny new this and that. Not for me but who am I to judge or care what they do.
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I like to think of myself as a "free market capitalist". So if you produce a product that people want to buy, I say go for it. What I dislike about the path the hunting industry has taken, is that all the "new" gear makes hunting seem financially exclusive. The hunting community needs more influential folks to demonstrate that is not the case. Gear and gadgets are upgrades, but what you really need is very simple to be successful. I enjoyed hunting and fishing in my youth, and then as i got a little older, I started buy this & that, and the internal pressure success started to mount. When I dropped the scent control regime and the gadgets and realized I was the largest factor in my successes or failures, I really started to enjoy hunting infinitely more.
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I've gathered all the gear I have over the past 40+ years. Some years I bought stuff, others I didn't.
I have some game pics - a herd of does running by the trail cam, 2 minutes later here comes a goofy guy with stand on back, rifle, shooting stick, seat pad, fanny pack, and who knows what else - Done spooked the deer out and didn't even know it.
I have some game pics - a herd of does running by the trail cam, 2 minutes later here comes a goofy guy with stand on back, rifle, shooting stick, seat pad, fanny pack, and who knows what else - Done spooked the deer out and didn't even know it.
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Re: Practical deer hunter
This is why I love this forum. It seems like every outdoor activity now has been completely commercialized. When you start looking into things, industries make it seem as though you can't go outside to fish, hunt, mountain bike, hike, camp, without spending hundreds to thousands of dollars. I do appreciate some of the gizmos that come out with new technology, yet I hate when it drives the whole industry toward pushing more and more.
Appreciate the grittiness and low-cost approach that many of you guys have, which helps remind me that I don't need everything to have success as a hunter.
Appreciate the grittiness and low-cost approach that many of you guys have, which helps remind me that I don't need everything to have success as a hunter.
- milkweed-militia
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Re: Practical deer hunter
Don't get me wrong, I do love going to Bass Pro Shops. But since getting onto beast tactics, I find my trips are far less fascinating.
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Re: Practical deer hunter
I limit myself to one hunting related purchase a year. that might be a new rest might be arrows.. The list is long but theres nothing on it that I need to hunt. My clothes havent changed since I stopped growing 15 years ago and the last two years I havent bought anything. I would love a new range finder but the old one I have works so thats what I use.
I upgraded my bow about six years ago when I got back into hunting because my old bow needed a new string and I liked the paralell limb design of the newer ones. I passed off my old one to a friend trying out bowhunting for the first time. The sport seemed pretty daunting to him because of the supposed cost to switch over from a gun. Its admittedly not cheap but the industry's pushing gear would have stopped him if it didnt set him straight on what he actually needed.
I'm pretty sure there's a saddle in my future though. Seems like it could be a game changer as I adjust my hunting style to beast mode!
I upgraded my bow about six years ago when I got back into hunting because my old bow needed a new string and I liked the paralell limb design of the newer ones. I passed off my old one to a friend trying out bowhunting for the first time. The sport seemed pretty daunting to him because of the supposed cost to switch over from a gun. Its admittedly not cheap but the industry's pushing gear would have stopped him if it didnt set him straight on what he actually needed.
I'm pretty sure there's a saddle in my future though. Seems like it could be a game changer as I adjust my hunting style to beast mode!
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