Hunting Tips and Tricks to SAVE money and hunt more

[rsiwuda]

1. I recently discovered a 20lb bag of ice is $1.99 at Costco. Saves me alot of money.
2. Investing in meat processing equipment.
3. Buying a Dehydrator to save costs on food while hunting.

 

[Fridaythe13th]

Hunt in groups. Saves a ton of money ride sharing.

 

[Donk]

I never shoot an elk. Saves a lot of money on processing fees, celebratory whiskey and food saver bags. Plus I get way better gas mileage driving home in a cloud of shame, as opposed to being loaded down with elk meat.

 

[AZ_Hunter_2000]

1. Buy gear in the off season when it is on clearance.
2. Freeze your ice before you head out. Ice from the store melts quickly.
3. Make blocks of ice from used tea bottles (rectangular ones). Freeze them ahead of time. Keeps things colder longer.
4. Buy once, cry once on certain gear (ex: optics).
5. Learn to process your own game (if you are not friends with a butcher and/or game processor).
6. Keep an eye out for cancellation hunts.
7. Frequent the classifieds for quality used gear.
8. Take advantage of any vendor discounts (ex: military).
9. Prep food ahead of time if it makes sense. Gets expensive eating MH-type food.

 

[robtattoo]

El-cheapo camper shell for my truck has so far saved me about $1200 in hotel bills. Nothing fancier than 4 walls, a roof & some Windows, but it sure as hell saves over interstate motels (especially when the dirty bastards rip your card off & empty the bank account. That fun-fest has caught me twice now....)

Fitting a good quality tuner to my old 7.3
Instantly went from 16 to 25mpg interstate.

I'm also in the 'never kill an elk' camp.

 

[Sccritterkiller]

Gear is gear.. the good stuff ain't cheap for good reason...look other places...Take advantage of cc/hotel membership points...I have some over night trips for work a few times a year...got 3 free nights hotel on memebership points on my trip to WY this year earned from hotel stays I expensed...got plenty of air miles in the bank from applying for tags in multiply states unsuccessfully over the years...ways to save are only limited by your imagination...dont even get me started on gas discounts for 1800 mile drive...lol

 

[robtattoo]

Addendum:
I haven't paid cash money for jerky, backpacking meals, sausage or, frankly, any butchering for 9 years now. I've picked up bits & pieces of restaurant equipment & closed down butchers shops to be 100% set up for all my own processing. I've had butchering equipment donated as payment for processing a few deer for friends. Built a plywood walk in cooler in my basement 3 years ago with a window AC & portable dehumidifier. Big enough for 4 deer & nothing else! I've maybe sunk 2 grand total into 'Uncle Touchy's Meat Basement'
The most expensive single item was a Big grinder. I swear, you could feed a whole child through this thing!

 

[Mike Islander]

Lots of good advice here. We booked a late season WY Pronghorn hunt (Oct. 27-31) for two people this year. Total cost so far for hotel, plane, and nice Chevy Tahoe rental is $222. I have lots of hotel, airline, and rental car points.

However, buying a bunch of gear last minute has probably cost me $1000. I used it as an excuse to stock up for future hunts, but really at one of the worst times of the year. Mid Oct has been cheaper than late September at least.

 

[Fatcamp]

A vehicle we can sleep in.
Process our own game.
Make our own ice.
Reserve hotels when needed far in advance.
Make reasonable decisions on hunting purchases.

We can travel and hunt for the cost of tags and gas at this point. Took a couple years to get there.

 

[GunsAreFun]

1. Only buy things on sale or don’t buy them at all.
2. Buy used whenever possible
3. Don’t eat out at home or on the road as much as possible (make extra dinner for left overs for lunches)
4. Buy non-hunting gear (e.g. Eddie Bauer clothing)
5. Be realistic about what you really need. (E.g. if you aren’t going to take a shot over 300 yards, just about any bolt gun and scope combo under $750 will work. Don’t spend $2k on a Porsche when you need a Ford Taurus.
6. Buy a used trucks, and when searching for them, expand your search radius to a could hundred miles. For me, that’s the difference between shopping in a population of 100k people to 5 million+. Lot more availability.
7. Be frugal with other things in life: clothes, shoes, jewelry, cancel cable TV, furniture, etc etc.
8. Go camping for family vacations instead of renting hotels/condos.
9. Marry a girl that doesn’t get her hair and nails done every month or buy clothes every week.
10. Don’t have kids lol (I could pay for 2-3 guided elk hunts with one year’s daycare bill)
11. Ask for a raise at work. The squeaky wheel usually gets the grease.
12. Get a programmable thermostat and program the damn thing to not use as much energy when you’re not home or asleep
13. Do house/car repairs or improvements yourself or if the job is more complex then you are comfortable, find somebody that does side jobs. Saved $400 on a water heater this year and $300 on an AC fix.
14. Stop smoking and drink less.

I’m a thrifty SOB. At 30 years old, I’m probably in better financial shape than anyone I went to college with despite some expensive hobbies. That’s not because of how much money I make—probably average in that department. It’s because of how I spend it (or don’t spend it.)

 

[Trial153]

Stay home.

 

[SWOHTR]

Don’t buy points in multiple states. Figure one state out.

Buy something and use it up.

 

[Salmon River Solutions]

Step 1: Quit hunting
Step 2: Become a democrat
Step 3: Collect welfare and food stamps and complain about injustice.

 

[justin davis]

Stop looking on rokslide

 

[Nickofthewoods]

Or you could stick with all the old tricks. . .

-Raid the fast food joints for ketchup and mustard packets.
- Coast down hills in neutral.
- Make multiple rounds of the Costco sample stands.
- Shake vending machines and see what falls.
- Have a keg party and charge a door fee.
-Donate Plasma.

You'll be going Tahr hunting in New Zealand before you know it!

 

[snowtoy83]

Stop looking on rokslide

This

 

[justinspicher]

Reading these threads makes me grateful to live in a state with elk and being close to public land.

 

[cnelk]

Shop for items at the Dollar Store

Learn to sew

 

[jwatts]

When I travel for work I try to book through hotels.com. Every 10 nights you book through them you get 1 night (the average price of your 10 stays) for free. That usually covers at least one night on the road per trip, if not 2.

 

[16Bore]

Step 1: Quit hunting
Step 2: Become a democrat
Step 3: Collect welfare and food stamps and complain about injustice.

I saw the like button, but couldn’t find the “ignorant response” one.