The cost of not going Elk hunting this year?

[Marble]

I'm still planning on going this year, but if I didn't I'd be 3-5 K ahead. Next year wouldn't cost be that much more.

I'm the same. I'm not worried about it. I have no control over it and I cant do anything about.

If $1000 was the deciding factor, I would find somewhere.

 

[Wassid82]

The cost of not hunting elk every year would be the cost of losing my sanity and soul!

 

[Justdecent]

A $150 dollar tag increase is pennies in the bucket when I spend all year preparing for and the one thing I look forward to all year. Yeah it sucks I will have to pay more, but I’m not going to sit around and cry about it. I’m going hunting and going to enjoy it.

 

[ShakeDown]

I did 10 years in the purgatory of Florida with very limited time in the elk woods. I’ll be damned if I ever miss another season.

 

[sneaky]

The Idaho tag increases are a bummer IMO. One of the most expensive nonrefundable of any state with no points etc.

Wyoming doesn't give refunds either, and if you do the special draw you're over $1200 into an elk tag over there, plus what you spent on points

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[TX_Diver]

I think the cost increases are going to continue regardless of COVID-19 or not. People seem to keep applying (I know I will). At some point I'll need to adjust other purchases to cover those cost increases but I'm definitely still getting in the draws.

This year was my first year again as NR in NM. That application hurt!!!

 

[Usi05]

A $150 dollar tag increase is pennies in the bucket when I spend all year preparing for and the one thing I look forward to all year. Yeah it sucks I will have to pay more, but I’m not going to sit around and cry about it. I’m going hunting and going to enjoy it.

Exactly. Elk tag and flight are already paid for. If you look at the cost way in advance it’s easy to spread out and not even notice.

I’ve been dreaming about it everyday since I left Idaho last fall!


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[bmf0713]

Price increases on anything sucks. Im not going to complain about it too much though. I didn't get into elk hunting to save money! To me its kinda like bitching about $9 beer at a baseball game. Not going to sporting events to save money and guess what?....I'm buying that $9 beer too!

 

[Roughwater]

Price increases on anything sucks. Im not going to complain about it too much though. I didn't get into elk hunting to save money! To me its kinda like bitching about $9 beer at a baseball game. Not going to sporting events to save money and guess what?....I'm buying that $9 beer too!

I'm kinda cheap but if I paid to go to a ball game and got thirsty and a bottle of water was 5 bucks, I might spend 9 on a beer too. It's all relative. If I pay 900 to hunt an Elk in Montana then buying the 50 dollar preference point and the 25 dollar bonus point seem like chump change so I buy them. I figure too why pay all that money then risk not getting the tag over a 50 dollar preference point?

 

[Dapper]

I love to bowhunt, its what I live for. Was a time early in my life when the boys were young where I couldn't really afford to make any western trips. Now everything is paid for, the boys are through college, I'm retired and can afford to hunt out west every year until my old body breaks down. I don't know at what point I would say that it isn't worth it any more, especially since my oldest son loves to bowhunt, is my hunting partner and definitely can afford to take the increases in tag costs. Since he's gotten out of college, its the thing we do, go on hunting trips. Its an addiction.

 

[Swampcruiser]

To me, at 50 time is running out and Time is worth more than money. I wont miss any hunting!

 

[Swampcruiser]

I love to bowhunt, its what I live for. Was a time early in my life when the boys were young where I couldn't really afford to make any western trips. Now everything is paid for, the boys are through college, I'm retired and can afford to hunt out west every year until my old body breaks down. I don't know at what point I would say that it isn't worth it any more, especially since my oldest son loves to bowhunt, is my hunting partner and definitely can afford to take the increases in tag costs. Since he's gotten out of college, its the thing we do, go on hunting trips. Its an addiction.

This!

 

[Roughwater]

There is a lot of us who paid our dues when we were younger and family and financial needs had to come first. I'm at 70 and have a decent retirement but I still have the house payment and a couple vehicle payments so western Elk hunts make things tight. But I don't even know what this year will bring let alone next year so If I'm doing it at all I gotta do it now. I'm an American Legion member and most of us are over 60 at our local. Many are not in good health. Our bodies want to slow down after we retire but the only problem with that is that we often put on weight since as we long ago quit exercising so without work our good health decelerates quickly. But I've found that our bodies even at an older age respond well to exercise and hard work. But like I said before it makes the exercise much easier if we have a good reason to exercise like a pending Elk hunt. If feels real encouraging too when you complete that first mile of jogging or whatever your initial goal was and realize you can probably do this. I've been trying to encourage my kids to stay fit and my daughters somewhat do so I'm trying to get us all fit enough to run a hilly 5 mile race in our old home town in our home state on the 4th of July. I don't know that it will happen or if I will be able to run that far but I think their is a good chance I can if my knee will hold up. But running really isn't necessary to hunt in the mountains, most of my work outs are just long quick walks, some with a pack and some without. I alternate between walking, jogging and walking with a pack. Since I took up bowhunting again I had to start doing upper body workouts just so I could pull a compound bow. 3 months ago I could barely pull 50 lbs but now I'm pulling 58 and hope to work up to at least 60 Lbs. I could get a Doctor sign off and use a crossbow but I feel it's good for me to have to build up my arms again and thankfully it seems to be taking hold. My original goal was to just be able to pull 55# but that only took less than 2 months to achieve and my PSE 35" Evoke SE goes up to 65Lbs so my new goal like I said is 60#'s.
I've again rambled more than I meant to, just saying that you guys that are 60 and willing to work out probably have more years to hunt than you realize if you are willing to do the work.

 

[tdhanses]

Your post is misleading, Idaho is not raising non-res elk tags to $900. Elk tags in 2021 will be $650, a license $185, and if you archery hunt an archery permit is $81. So everything to hunt, tag, license and permit is $835 for rifle or $916 for archery. The tag alone is not $900.

It’s not really misleading because isn’t all of that required if you only archery hunt elk, so yes the tag isn’t $900 but really it is $900 to hunt elk in ID next year.

 

[GregB]

It’s not really misleading because isn’t all of that required if you only archery hunt elk, so yes the tag isn’t $900 but really it is $900 to hunt elk in ID next year.

It is because he said the cost of the tag, not the cost to hunt elk. So someone looks at that and thinks it's $900 for the tag and then cost of the license etc.

 

[williaada]

The cost for hunting and fishing has gone up every year since I could fish and hunt. My point is those of us who really love hunting and fishing will find a way. The people who suffer are those looking to start hunting or fishing, and are limited by entry cost to start.

 

[Roughwater]

The cost for hunting and fishing has gone up every year since I could fish and hunt. My point is those of us who really love hunting and fishing will find a way. The people who suffer are those looking to start hunting or fishing, and are limited by entry cost to start.

That is sadly true. But even more true if you have to cross a state border line to hunt. The only break you get is when you get old a lot of states vastly reduce the cost for you to hunt. It don't apply to out of state but in state it's great. In NC they offer a Senior license that if I recall is only 5 dollars and is a lifetime license. Only charge is for a bear tag or migratory game bird hunting, that's assuming you have a printer you can go online to print out your deer/turkey tags every year. Otherwise you pay a couple bucks if you have to go to walmart or someplace to print them out. So if one lives long enough and your health is still good, maybe one day you can hunt and fish in your home state at least for cheap.

 

[elkguide]

I spent 10 years guiding elk hunters in the wilderness of Wyoming, (Thoroughfare area). Being from the East I always needed a couple of days to acclimate to the altitude difference even after working construction, riding bicycles all summer and regularly hiking with a loaded pack. I had some amazing hunters to hunt with. Some hunters weren't able to go to some of the places that I hoped to take them. The saddest thing that I saw while guiding, was the hunter that had been a hard working person and had waited and saved for many years for their first big game/elk hunt and after finally getting there, realizing that they just didn't have the physical or mental stamina to go where the elk were.
As I am getting closer to that age, I have been taking every opportunity to hunt everywhere that I can every year. I actually made it to New Zealand to hunt my dream Red Stag a couple of years ago. Now will I go to Idaho again next year with a license increase? You had better believe that as long as I am healthy enough to climb those hills, I'm going to be there. Do I spend to much on my passion/addiction of hunting? Well after going over my books with my accountant a couple of weeks ago.... I'm probably going to be able to retire when I hit 74. The only way that I could change that would be to quit taking 2 months off to hunt every fall so I guess/hope that I'm going to be physically able to work till I'm 80 because who knows but what I might start taking 3 months off to hunt in the next few years!

 

[jmcd22]

I love to bowhunt, its what I live for. Was a time early in my life when the boys were young where I couldn't really afford to make any western trips. Now everything is paid for, the boys are through college, I'm retired and can afford to hunt out west every year until my old body breaks down. I don't know at what point I would say that it isn't worth it any more, especially since my oldest son loves to bowhunt, is my hunting partner and definitely can afford to take the increases in tag costs. Since he's gotten out of college, its the thing we do, go on hunting trips. Its an addiction.

I always enjoy seeing father-son hunting partners. My dad is my hunting partner and I do everything possible to be able to foot the bill for tags to go with him. It is far more worth it to me to spend my money with him than anything else! Definitely an addiction!

As for the topic of the thread, the cost for me to not go this year would be $0. I can't put a monetary value on a year's hunting experiences with my dad. I don't know how many more seasons I'll get with him so each one that I get is priceless...that's where the loss is for me.

 

[Roughwater]

Elkguide,
There are some perks to retiring that aren't immediately apparent. You make less money so you pay less in taxes. Most have Social Security which usually isn't a lot but it covers most of your health care and then some. You can often still work without affecting your SS benefits. Of course by then if your home and vehicle are paid for you won't have a lot of overhead, still plenty enough but your SS might cover much of it.

As to altitude I noticed it more last year affecting me than previously. I stopped at a rest stop at about 10.5 K elevation and had to walk up just a slight incline to the rest room and I could definitely feel the elevation effect and I was carrying no weight. That's one reason I haven't gone to Colorado in a while. I do plan to work out a little harder than last year but I don't know if that will help when it comes to Elevation. The last few hunts I've only hunted up to 10K feet once and it was several days in so it didn't feel too bad.

Elk guide said: " The saddest thing that I saw while guiding, was the hunter that had been a hard working person and had waited and saved for many years for their first big game/elk hunt and after finally getting there, realizing that they just didn't have the physical or mental stamina to go where the elk were. "

If the physical stamina is not there it's probably not all that helpful if the mental stamina is. Ya just can't think your way up a mountain. It could even cause a heart attack. I could give you example after example of hard working men I know that after retiring just let themselves go to the point where it's hard for them to get out of a chair or off the couch let along climb up a mountain at altitude. But even someone in that condition can better themselves a lot by just walking a couple miles a day and watching their diet a bit. That along won't get them into good Elk hunting shape but it's a good start.