How Much of Your Income do You Spend on Hunting?

[Pelagic]

As a % of your income, how much do you spend on hunting or hunting related gear annually? Let's include everything - gas or flights for travel, outfitter costs, gear purchases, tags, etc.

Since our tax situations are all gonna be different let's base the % off of our gross annual income, before taxes. And I know each year can vary quite a bit depending on a big gear purchase 1 year, or a big outfitted trip 1 year, etc. but maybe just average all that over a longer window of time to get an idea on an annual budget.

This will also depend on what stage of your hunting life your are in. For example, I just started hunting about 3 years ago, so my number has been pretty high as I accumulate gear. Might be good to include that as well. I always thought it would be interesting to see if I am spending way more than I should or not on this pursuit, compared to others.

So for example, in the last few years, I've done a few shorter outfitted hunts, some DIY hunts, and being a new hunter, have been slowly building up on gear and I would say I am at 2-2.5% of my gross income is hunting related spend. I'm hoping his drops off considerably in a few years once I have more of the core gear I need.

 

[Btaylor]

If all financial responsibilities are met, it is unpossible to spend too much on hunting.

 

[ShortMountain91]

I'm probably around 6.5-7% this year but most years I'm probably more around 2.5-3%. I have plenty of gear but there's always that next rifle, bow, jacket, bino etc. It never ends and part of me enjoys that stuff.

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[Sccritterkiller]

You want what I actually spend or what I tell the wife I spend?....do want to include hunt leases/club fees as well?

 

[juan trueno]

Y’all either don’t hunt much or earn like crazy. I spend 12-15k a year on hunting / hunting related travel etc and by the same algorithm either I spend (Hunt) excessively or I’m a poor bastard.

 

[Dcoryn]

Id say mine is closer to 25-35% depending on the year

 

[ChrisAU]

Hunting is far and away my primary hobby. Is it really me spending it when the banks that back my credit cards are paying for the stuff? I mean I promise I'll pay them back, sometime.

 

[NDGuy]

Way too much for how often I can draw a tag. Now I have at least transitioned to just buying archery equipment and upland gear. No point upgrading my big game arsenal if I can't ever go lol

 

[ragz]

143%

 

[juan trueno]

I mean legitimately I consider most of life ie groceries for my kid, mortgage on my house just kind of like incidentals along the way. Essentially just additional expenses that crop up while I’m on my way to a trip. like I bought this item for that person in order to curry favor or maintain a relationship etc basically 100% of my income is diverted to hunting in one form or fashion. I buy a new stove and dishwasher and refrigerator some new cabinets and granite counters etc- in order to secure access to time in October etc. it is all going to hunting. When I’m completely honest. The money that looks like it’s not spent on hunting is spent making sure nothing interferes with hunting. When i look at how much expense the rest of life can generate it makes me really feel like I need to double down on my direct to hunting $$ and make sure to properly take advantage of all the hunting enabling dollars I e spent.

 

[Poser]

When I lived in TN, it was pretty high, like 15%. Now that I’m out West, it’s dropped dramatically. That being said, if you combined hunting costs with that of Mtn biking and snowboarding, ouch....

Quick math reveals roughly 35%, but it’s probably closer to 50%

 

[street]

I mean legitimately I consider most of life ie groceries for my kid, mortgage on my house just kind of like incidentals along the way. Essentially just additional expenses that crop up while I’m on my way to a trip. like I bought this item for that person in order to curry favor or maintain a relationship etc basically 100% of my income is diverted to hunting in one form or fashion. I buy a new stove and dishwasher and refrigerator some new cabinets and granite counters etc- in order to secure access to time in October etc. it is all going to hunting. When I’m completely honest. The money that looks like it’s not spent on hunting is spent making sure nothing interferes with hunting. When i look at how much expense the rest of life can generate it makes me really feel like I need to double down on my direct to hunting $$ and make sure to properly take advantage of all the hunting enabling dollars I e spent.

Juan and I have the same mentallity. Almost all of my money I spend on hobbies goes to hunting. If it's not hunting it's usually tools of some kind. I don't fish, I don't golf, I don't ski, I don't really do anything other than dedicate my time and money to the pursuit.

 

[hutty]

If you ask me not enough and if you ask my wife, too much!

 

[bozeman]

5% of $1M is ALOT of hunting...…...

 

[JohnnyB]

The amount I spend is one issue, but as many on this site that are self employed know, the amount I earn is also impacted by my constant focus shift between hunting and business. Totally worth it.

 

[TheBootBowhunting]

I don't even think I want to know what the answer is to this one.

 

[unclericco]

I bought so much gear last year and built 4 custom rifles that I’m not sure but it was a very high percentage. I’m going to say an average year that I’m spending about 20% of my income on hunting and gear. I was married 20 years to a terrible person who never hardly even let me go hunting though so I been making up for lost time haha! At this point I think I have every expensive piece of hunting gear I’ve ever wanted minus a float plane

 

[Clarence]

I don't even think I want to know what the answer is to this one.

Agreed, answering this question could be used as evidence and a admission to guilt

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[Brendan]

I was about to say under 5% until I remembered I upgraded to an ATX95 and 10x42 EL's this year... Oops.

 

[FLAK]

It's like Fight Club. You don't talk about Fight Club.