Observation over the years has forced me to conclude that a significant percentage of our fellow citizens really aren't that good at logical thinking. Its seems that many, especially in California, will vote themselves into starvation if the plan presented just contains those magic words, "climate change."
Is the economy/Ukraine impacting your hunting plans?
- Thread starter D.B. Cooper
- Start date
- Status
Observation over the years has forced me to conclude that a significant percentage of our fellow citizens really aren't that good at logical thinking. Its seems that many, especially in California, will vote themselves into starvation if the plan presented just contains those magic words, "climate change."
Due to our large population, forced subsistence hunting very rapidly depletes the available game and results in starvation.
daniel craig
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,815
Not really. I already hunt for the meat. It's most of the meat I eat during the year. It might change how seriously I take hunting though because not getting a deer can really be a downer.
As far as price is going up I don't necessarily think prices are going up as much as they are balancing out. The US has been pretty lucky compared to the rest of the world for many many years in terms of the pricing of gas and food and many other things. We've done everything we could to reduce the price of everyday products and we're seeing that perhaps that's not such a sustainable idea anymore.
I will probably not end up buying a new vehicle until electric vehicles become more popular. I've been looking at a Ford lightning for a long time because of the amount of driving I do I should be fine with a fully electric vehicle.
The only real impact I can see my hunting is until I get an electric vehicle limiting my hunting trips to just the closer areas that I have access to.
What is definitely going to change for me though cuz I'm going to start a garden to try to get more of my fruits and vegetables that way I'm going to do more canning and long-term preservation of such things. And I'm going to get together with some friends and see if we can race and chickens for eggs. I will probably change my eating habits this is what I eat less overall and what I do eat will be as much of the stuff that I've personally harvested or grown myself.
I will probably get back into fishing. I used to be real big into it years ago, but that was all catch and release.
If it ends up that my rifle and shotgun ammunition ends up being too expensive I've already got a bow and a pretty good setup. I can make my own arrows for my recurve.
One last point... I may end up giving away less of the meat I harvest during hunting seasons.
As far as price is going up I don't necessarily think prices are going up as much as they are balancing out. The US has been pretty lucky compared to the rest of the world for many many years in terms of the pricing of gas and food and many other things. We've done everything we could to reduce the price of everyday products and we're seeing that perhaps that's not such a sustainable idea anymore.
I will probably not end up buying a new vehicle until electric vehicles become more popular. I've been looking at a Ford lightning for a long time because of the amount of driving I do I should be fine with a fully electric vehicle.
The only real impact I can see my hunting is until I get an electric vehicle limiting my hunting trips to just the closer areas that I have access to.
What is definitely going to change for me though cuz I'm going to start a garden to try to get more of my fruits and vegetables that way I'm going to do more canning and long-term preservation of such things. And I'm going to get together with some friends and see if we can race and chickens for eggs. I will probably change my eating habits this is what I eat less overall and what I do eat will be as much of the stuff that I've personally harvested or grown myself.
I will probably get back into fishing. I used to be real big into it years ago, but that was all catch and release.
If it ends up that my rifle and shotgun ammunition ends up being too expensive I've already got a bow and a pretty good setup. I can make my own arrows for my recurve.
One last point... I may end up giving away less of the meat I harvest during hunting seasons.
Last edited:
OP
OP
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
So the economy will likely have a negative impact on your hunting plans by restricting your movement. Several folk have said that, and I find it interesting because it's the exact opposite of my take on the situation. I'm planning to hunt more, thinking that the money saved on meat will offset the increased travel cost, but I'm already accustomed to high fuel/energy prices as my state has some of the highest prices in the nation every year anyway. Additionally, I'm accustomed to hunting at least a 4, sometimes 8, hour drive from my home.
Check out a youtube channel called Gardener Scott. https://www.youtube.com/c/GardenerScott
Same here. My goal for this season is to catch enough fish to have fish at least once per week for the year. But that wouldn't be a factor if fish weren't so abundant here. (I wasn't going to dive into that or the gardening as it's not hunting related.)
I'm sure you're realize that it's a big switch from rifle to archery hunting. You're probably a better hunter than I, because I would never seriously consider archery as a mean of putting food on the table. I have a bow, and I like to shoot it, but archery hunting is a next-level skill set.
Captcurt
Member
I had been mulling over the thought of going to Colorado with friends this year. They go every year with mules and stay 2 weeks, packing into wilderness 5 or 6 miles. I talked to one of them yesterday and they probably won't go. They take 2 trucks with one being a 1 ton diesel pulling a trailer with 5 mules. Fuel is over $4 a gallon now and we still have 7 months to go. I guess I'll just stick to my whitetails 12 miles from home.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2003
- Messages
- 13,329
No offense to your friends but the decision to not hunt Colorado based on increasing fuel prices is more emotional than logical. Let’s say diesel fuel goes to $6 or even $8.00 a gallon. Even at those prices the cost of fuel is minuscule compared to the cost of owning and caring for and feeding a herd of mules, maintaining and operating a 1 ton truck, insurance, paying for out of state tags, etc. etc. Yes transportation costs are going to be higher but canceling the trip over them is not really legitimate if you average everything out and do the math. Fuel costs are simply not a deal breaker on a trip with so many other bigger expenses.
Chuck R.
Member
Agreed...that's probably the cheapest factor. I just dropped $807 last night for a MT Combo tag (mulie & whitetail) for this fall. Between that and the guide fees, gas getting there and back is the least of my worries.
I was actually surprised to see how high Frances wheat exports are. Bear in mind, this chart is just Africa, I still found it interesting.
another chart from today, same source:
Last edited:
daniel craig
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,815
even at current prices hunting isn't cheaper. With license fees, gear and processing (even if I do it myself) hunted meat is still more expensive than bought. As for hunting locations, if I didn't have my parents place to hunt I'd have to seriously consider saving money for a one week hunting trip that would require lodging and other expenditures I normally wouldn't have.
daniel craig
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,815
I already bow hunt and it is significantly harder, but there are things I could do to change the way I do it and make it "easier".
OP
OP
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
Interesting. I've often heard that hunting is more expensive/less cost effective than going to the grocery store. But every season I calculate up the per pound cost of my meat, and I always come out ahead, or, at worst, break even with, the grocery store. Admittedly, I only calculate travel, food, fuel, and license costs. I see my gear as "sunk costs" that can't be recovered, and, if I tried to somehow "prorate" out the cost of my side by side, I would never break even, but I use that also for property maintenance, gardening, fishing, and other activities, so that one would be a mathematical challenge.
Even if hunting put me a bit over cost compared to commercially raised beef, I'd still call it a win, because a.) the meat is significantly better quality/higher nutritional value (we all know this) and b.) most of the time for the past 18 months, there was a significant lack of selection of meats available at our grocery stores. (There always something to buy, but a lot of empty shelf space.) I think that is only going to get worse.
daniel craig
Member
- Joined
- Dec 23, 2009
- Messages
- 2,815
Living in farm country, 100 lbs of cow can be purchased for roughly 300-400 bucks. When I factor just the cost of license and processing on a deer I spend 200 for roughly 40lbs of meat. 100lbs of cow will last me all year without having to grocery shop for meat while 40lbs of deer ONLY lasts all year if I conserve through grocery shopping for beef pork and chicken.
OP
OP
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
We are separated by regional differences. An average caribou will work out to about 100lbs of meat, and I average $3-4/lb. Cheap ground beef at the store is $5-6/lb. Better cuts are, of course, higher. Our other protein source is fish we catch. About the only meat we buy is pork and chicken, and pork is about to be removed from the menu.
N555
Member
No change here at all.
Ridiculously high gas prices seem to part of the lefts plan to implement "climate change lockdowns".
I don't have natural gas service, as I burn wood for heat and our 2 main vehicles are an electric car and a hybrid.
I'm getting people asking "can pile into your wifes hybrid when we go hunting this year"?
Be doing a lot of walking then.
Ridiculously high gas prices seem to part of the lefts plan to implement "climate change lockdowns".
I don't have natural gas service, as I burn wood for heat and our 2 main vehicles are an electric car and a hybrid.
I'm getting people asking "can pile into your wifes hybrid when we go hunting this year"?
Be doing a lot of walking then.
I only hunt locally for the most part so it probably won't change any of my plans, but a lot of you guys seem to be ignoring the cumulative effect of high fuel prices. It's not the $6 diesel fuel you burn during your hunt that is the problem, its the $6 diesel you burn all year long that kills your budget. When diesel was $2.45 a gallon I spent about $4000 on fuel in a year. Doubling that is definitely going to have an effect on my budget for everything else, not to mention the price of everything else you buy going up accordingly.
- Joined
- Jan 28, 2003
- Messages
- 13,329
Correct! And the accompanying increase in goods and services and heavy inflation will have an effect on us all in everything we do. Elections have consequences.
.308 Norma
Member
Exactly. We also hunt locally. And because my wife and I are both long time retired (also "for the most part"), we don't worry about the price of fuel to drive back and forth to work. However, I doubt Social Security is going to double our monthly checks just because the price of fuel doubled the price of everything else we buy. And I know darned good and well my little monthly pension check isn't going to increase by one red cent - no matter how much the price of fuel drives up the price of a loaf of bread and/or our meds.
alsaqr
Member
The economy and the Russian attack on Ukraine (changed from Belarus) will have little or no effect on my hunting. Wife eats some beef and lots of fish. i very seldom eat any meat other than wild pork and venison. The sight of a beef steak reminds me of the Amarillo feedlots.
Last edited:
OP
OP
D.B. Cooper
Member
- Joined
- Oct 2, 2016
- Messages
- 4,396
The sight of a beef steak reminds me of the Amarillo feedlots.
That's why we hunt in the first place.
Chuck R.
Member
I am going to make one change.
Last season and the season before I passed up a bunch of does. Not happening this year. It's not that I really need the meat, but a friend of mine learned to make Landjeager sausage:
https://hemplers.com/what-is-landjaeger/
He dries in the fridge, then cold smokes it to add flavor. It is freaking awesome. My wife is Austrian and she swears it's original. This past year I donated one deer to our Landjeager sausage fest, it went quick. So nest season, more does and a bigger grinder.
Last season and the season before I passed up a bunch of does. Not happening this year. It's not that I really need the meat, but a friend of mine learned to make Landjeager sausage:
https://hemplers.com/what-is-landjaeger/
He dries in the fridge, then cold smokes it to add flavor. It is freaking awesome. My wife is Austrian and she swears it's original. This past year I donated one deer to our Landjeager sausage fest, it went quick. So nest season, more does and a bigger grinder.
- Status
