Gear purchase discussion

[MedicoreHntr]

I'm curious how many folks buy new gear every year for hunts and then immediately sell post hunts?? If you do this do you get the new latest and greatest gear? Does it makes sense in the long run.?

I personally buy and stock it and slow upgrade over the years.

 

[Shraggs]

Slow calculating ocd long term upgrades.

 

[Jpsmith1]

Slow calculating ocd long term upgrades.

This. Taking advantage of the guys who NEED the newest, latest and greatest

 

[MedicoreHntr]

I agree, I'm all about the deals/secondhand!

 

[Timplant]

lots of used, always buying and selling and trading. I love tinkering and gear, too many hobbies, but it is what it is. when I find something that PERFECT I buy two (R700's I've built one in 6.5 and one in .223) or marsupial bino harness. When I find shirts or boots or socks that are perfect, I buy multiple.. 5-10 as I wear basically the same thing to work as I do on the weekends. If it works it works..

Lots of rich people selling brand new stuff for cheap plus my wifes GOVX gets used ALOT

 

[NRA4LIFE]

I don't buy any gear unless I need it. When I need it means when my old stuff wears out or breaks. Example: on my moose hunt in 2016, the rain was epic, record-setting, etc., and my old rain gear was not cutting it. Went to Spokane and bought new rain gear.

 

[kpk]

Once I build trust in something I don't part with it. It took several years of flipping stuff to get to that point, but I don't even look at new gear now. The only time I buy new stuff is when someone on here posts deals that I can't turn down.

 

[98XJRC]

I don't think I've ever bought a piece of hunting clothing that wasn't on sale or purchased through a forum. It's a hobby for me and even though it's something I thoroughly enjoy doing I'm not a position in my life that I have unlimited discretionary funds.

• Pack - K4 New
• Boots - Sale
• Clothing - All second Hand or on sale
• Bow - Used (All new accessories at this point)
• Hunting Saddle for whitetail - Used
• Climbing stick - mix of sale and used
• Tent - Discount code
• Sleeping bag - off forum NWT
• Sleeping Pad - New on sale from Camofire
• Bino Harness - Used
• Binos - Sale
• Rangefinder - Sale

 

[JohnJohnson]

I keep upgrading until I hit near the top and really trust it. So my binos are EL 10x50s not NL's but I don't have any desire to upgrade now since I've done a number of hunts with the ELs and love them. Same if a new RRS tripod came out. It wouldn't catch my attention much since my TFCT-34L w/ Anvil has proven itself capable of what I need over multiple hunts now.

The current dragon I'm chasing is riflescope image quality. My 2023 coues deer was an extremely difficult situation for my riflescope (Vortex LHT 4.5-22). It was 380 yards away on a shaded hillside with the sun coming in towards me from the 1 o'clock direction pretty low in the sky. Even with a sun shade it took 10-15 minutes to find the thing in my scope and I wasn't able to reacquire it after the shot. Luckily a follow-up shot was not needed. It definitely left me wanting to upgrade since I plan to hunt coues again in 2025.

To give myself a morsel of credit, the scope I upgraded with is used, not new. This is the first used scope I've bought and it saved me over $2,000 versus buying new.

 

[Hnthrdr]

I’m a tinkerer, so buying trying selling and bargin hunting constantly but I’ll find things that work and that I like and stick with them for a while optics I did the slow upgrade thing out of necessity. I’m at a place now where I can indulge in some frivolous spending if I want but try to limit that and do gear in - gear out type stuff to recoup some cost

 

[TaperPin]

Better than buying new, is buying barely used gear and selling after the season for the purchase price. I haven't had to do that for quite a while, but in my broke 20’s it could be the difference between a decent spotting scope or none at all, or a decent rifle scope or one that’s less reliable. Constantly buying and selling has a real time penalty, but young me had way more time on his hands.

Then it became a way of testing out new gear without having to loose money if it doesn’t work out - an expedition 4 season tent sounds good until you have to carry it once. A whisper lite stove isn’t for everyone, but until you’ve had to light the little cup of raw gas to warm it up, you never realize how fun it is. 3 section trekking poles were advertised as lighter and better, but if they are too short to use going down steep slopes they aren’t better. A Ruger #1 seemed perfectly suited to my style of hunting, but they are too finicky. A 30-378 made it through one hunting season - there’s not enough lead in my britches to accurately shoot it prone. lol

I’ve always said the easiest way to increase the accuracy in a factory rifle is to buy another used rifle just like it and keep the best of the two - rinse and repeat until one meets your accuracy goal.

Even if someone only shoots 500 rounds a year, it doesn’t take long before burning out barrels becomes an issue, and one summer of high volume varmint hunting and a barrel might be toast - I used to buy a used 243, replace the stock and trigger, use up at least half its barrel life, put back the original stock and trigger, and sell it.

Finally, I don’t mind buying used stuff anytime they come up at a good price - if it’s nicer than what I’m using, the old one gets sold. It’s fun to spank the young guys in the family with my $200 62 year old Remington - when a $150 Remington comes along I’ll switch to that.