Share your "Hunting Items I've overspent on with no advantage"

[Pilsner]

For me, this was the best money I ever spent. All 3 seasons. Fall tree stand, winter marsh, spring ground.

mail me yours!

Agreed!
I LOVE mine. Although I got it in the bargain cave back when that was a thing.
Had it for years now and it's an old (but heavy!) friend.

 

[Mk44]

LOL, I go through that thought every time I consider a new rifle, gear or cloths. But then I ask myself if I really need it? I often find myself going back to what I already have.
Over the years I've purchase various rifles in various calibers. Still have some of them. But where I hunt- in the thick woods of NE, my shots are limited. My long range rifle is mostly used on target shooting as it doesn't give me any advantage in the dense woods.
I'm not into the new fandangle stuff that comes out every year. I've checked them out in the stores. I'm sure some of the new cloths/ gear are wonderful. But my wool jacket, buck knife and lever action has yet to let me down. If I had an issue with my gear/ cloths, maybe I would look for something new. Otherwise I'm just burning money. I guess I'm just an old school hunter.

Many of us live in different parts of this country, we hunt on different terrain, different weather conditions (some colder than others.) We have different hunting styles. What works for one hunter may not work for another. Every one is different and have their own requirements or needs. Find what is right for you.

 

[z987k]

LOL, I go through that thought every time I consider a new rifle, gear or cloths. But then I got back to what I already have.
Many of us live in different parts of this country, we hunt in different terrain. we have different hunting styles. What works for one hunter may not work for another.
Where I hunt- in the thick woods of NE. My shots aren't very far. A long distance rifle serves me no purpose. I'm not into the new fandangle stuff that comes out every year. I've checked them out in the stores. I'm sure some of the new cloths/ gear is wonderful. But my wool jacket, buck knife and lever action has yet to let me down. If I had an issue with my gear/ cloths, maybe I would look for something new. Otherwise I'm just burning money. Actually, my wool hunting coat is a bit tight now, so I'm shopping for a new wool hunting coat. I guess I'm an old school hunter.
Every one is different and have their own requirements or needs. It's your money, spend it the way you like.

For some reason I've been wanting another rifle in a new caliber. But when I actually look at the balistic charts, there's not a thing that a new caliber is going to do that a rifle I already own can't in a hunting context. So I just can't justify the purchase.

 

[pattimusprime22]

I'm pretty sure I've caught the consumerism bug b/c I keep thinking I would be better served by getting a new, flashy, carbon fiber barrel rifle. Perhaps I could eek out another 1/2 min of accuracy over my current rifle, which is plenty light enough. Then I remember I go hunting with my bow and am willing to accept paper plate accuracy at 50-60 and wonder why I'm even wasting my time thinking about a new rifle. Doesn't keep me from doing it again after a few weeks >.<

 

[Rourke__]

Prime Black 3, along with the full price gadgets on it. Great now but the new Nexus is way more worth the money

 

[E in CO]

rebarreled a 7-08 22” tikka t3x SL to 6.5CM 24”. The 7-08 shot really good and the 6.5CM shoots great. Just didn’t need the improved performance because I hunt with other rifles. Had an itch and cash in hand...now the itch and cash are both gone And the 6.5CM sits in the safe just as well as the 7-08 did.

 

[Newtosavage]

Just about every rifle I've ever hunted with, if I'm being honest. I've yet to take a critter in the wild that I couldn't have taken with the old Winchester 30-30 I've owned for 35 years.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Years ago I had a Huntin Fool membership, total waste of money.

 

[MarlinMark]

I guess it's all about perspective, if you get top of the line hunting gear and spend 12k total, that's not too bad compared to a bass fisherman with a 70k boat with obsurd maintenance costs and 30k in lures, rods, and fish finders...

All to catch a bass! Boggles my mind.

 

[z987k]

All to catch a bass! Boggles my mind.

Couple years ago on a moose hunt, we were sitting in camp that night and added up what it cost to get to where we were and then the amount of money in gear to get the job done. It was about $600 in fuel(so already we'd be money ahead getting a side of beef.), and we had around 100k between the mode of transport, clothes, rifles, tent etc. 100k just to kill a moose!

I could probably eat prime+ beef every meal the rest of my life for less money.

Though to be honest I use most all that same gear all the time minus the rifle.

 

[Newtosavage]

All to catch a bass! Boggles my mind.

Nah man, it's all to wear that sponsor's shirt. It's not about the fish. LOL

 

[Cervid]

Hiking poles. Found no advantage using hiking poles vs my old ski poles and just use my old ski poles now when needed.


Bird hunting pack. Few years ago I had my cousin sew up a new bird hunting vest that had a place to put my Camelback and other stuff in. Turns out that was the best thing I've ever done. Costed about 15 lbs of meat but seriously haven't been happier while hunting.


Pants. Especially camo pants. I switched over to just wearing Costco hiking pants, old carharts, and old fire nomex and have saved a lot of money and have killed the same amount of animals.


Guns. I've felt a disadvantage with high end guns and optics as I felt the need to keep them pretty and adjusted hunting tactics. Now hunting Northern Idaho mostly, I use synthetic savages that i bought for around 400 with just the standard scopes they came with. I don't care if i scratch them up or trash them if it allows me to get into deeper places.

Bird hunting I used to think it was the norm to hunt with $1000 guns but quickly realized that I was foolish and bought a Remington model 31 20 gauge and a cheap 12 gauge. Saved a lot of money and I don't care much if I fall anymore.

I use cheap guns for bird hunting too. And they break or have malfunctions occasionally and it’s a pain and I am mad at them and myself for not getting something nicer. But then I realize that I am just hunting birds and in a good outing I am getting numerous shots anyways, so it’s not the end of the world if there is a light strike of the firing pin and it doesn’t go off... or the firing pin breaks altogether in an old not very nice side by side (advantage of having another barrel).

 

[Str8shooter]

After purchasing mostly chit gear from walmart or basspro for over 10 years, and most of it falling apart or not working that well (particularly boots, knives, packs and tents). About 7 years ago I started purchasing used high end gear. Sitka, Swaro, Crispi, Carbon Fiber bipods and tripods, kifaru packs, benchmade knives, seek outside shelters and WM down bags have all been relatively expensive purchases, even used. Not counting the swaro glass, kifaru pack and crispi boots (which find game, get me there and the animal out, all critical), the advantages of the rest of the gear has been relatively small compared to the big box store gear. All the other gear is more nice to have rather than need to have (discounting extreme cold weather situations, where again the advantage goes to quality). But I will say for sure that every year the relative advantage of nice gear eeks up a little bit. Quality gear simply doesnt break down as fast and so the marginal utility goes up every year I dont replace it. For example I once replaced 3 backpacks in 5 years due to terrible comfort and shredded or broken material, and Ive had my kifaru pack for 5 years and Im going to get a decade or more out of it for sure. As for gear that offered absolutely No advantage that cost 2x as much as other quality options, would have to be the warm season sitka ascent pant and jacket.

 

[zacattack]

All of it, but shit man, I’ll pay for comfort.

 

[Southforkguy]

Str8shooter I think you nailed it. When you honestly figure out money spent during its usable life span, the quality gear tends to retain its value. I absolutely know 100 percent that I could get a good resale value for the kuiu & seek outside gear that I have and use regularly for the past 5 years, its well worn and I have no doubt got my money worth out of those pieces. Truth is I wouldn't sell them, I love the tools that I purchase

As for those bass fisherman hahaha

 

[Boarmaster]

Years ago I bought two weatherby rifles In 300wby and 270wby accumark and a deluxe Respectively. They are nice rifles and very accurate but more rifle than I
need for Florida hogs and Alabama whitetails. Way more. I still have them in the safe but havent shot them in 8 years or so. I went back to my standard caliber rifles and acquired a few more rifles better suited to my taste and needs.

 

[Rickyreese]

Ar10 for Boar hunting, used it once and went back to my Bolt Action.

Sent from my SM-G892A using Tapatalk

 

[archp625]

I bought a spotting scope because all the cool guys had spotting scopes. I hauled it around the mountains for years before I realized it's not something I need to carry for the type of hunting I do.

I'll probably never care too much about antler scores, so glassing usually involved me looking at an elk through binos, then switching to the spotting scope and saying, "Yep, there's that same elk. But a little more magnified".

I’m getting close to that same outcome. I have one more hunt this spring before I make my decision on owning a spotting scope.

 

[Moserkr]

Ive wasted more money on junk food, beer, and chasing women in my younger years than I ever will spend on my nice hunting gear. Now Im restoring a boat - you want to feel like an idiot spending money, fix up an old boat. (Or be a bass fisherman apparently lol)

Im happy with my expensive hunting stuff, along with all my hand me downs. Keeps me comfy and safe since I dont shy away from hunting the worst weather, and a lot of times I enjoy doing it alone. The inreach is nice to keep in touch with my wife n kid while Im away.

7 years ago, my first backpacking kit was under $500 for boots clothes pack tent etc. It worked but wasnt comfy, and Id get cold or wet easily. Spent many hours not hunting by a fire staying warm or drying out. Im too old at 35 to be sleeping on dirt in wet blue jeans under a tarp like a homeless person. Hats off to the guy tougher or younger than me who does that.

 

[JeffRaines]

Its almost as if the amount of money you spend on gear is irrelevant to how successful you are at harvesting animals.

Over the past year I've pared down my gear as well. I realized that it don't matter how fancy the gear is, what matters is time in the field and experience. True, in some cases you need better gear - say backpack hunts where your time in the field can be directly affected by having shit tier gear... but even that's depending on the season. Late season it matters, August-early September it really doesn't - you could get away with a Walmart tent and sleeping bag/pad during those months and be just fine.

Camo is another hot button - dudes running around in full Kuiu/Sitka rifle hunting are loony. I get full camo for Turkey hunting, but other than that you can hunt and be just as successful with earthy colors... yes even archery. A lot of the earth colored clothing is just as good at much less cost... even more money to be saved when you get away from hunting brands.

With that said, I've overspent on most of the gear I use... and I think most of us are probably in that same boat. I'm sure if you sat the successful guys down and gave them a $400 cabelas special PSE combo, a $300 savage axis combo in 308, and cheap flat colored clothing to hunt in for the season I bet they would see zero difference in their success rates.