Why you should not take equity out or dump your 401 K to take super expensive hunts.

TheWhitetailNut

Lil-Rokslider
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Dec 5, 2020
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216
The price of sheep hunts are only going up - you have to be able to pay for them somehow.

My dad passed away a couple of years ago at age 65. He never even had the chance to retire and enjoy what he had been saving. Sheep hunting has always been something I've wanted to do, but never drew tags when I was much younger (currently 36). Hunting had really taken the back seat for the past 10 years due to medical training, so in a few states I basically accrued points as there was no way I'd be able to do a sheep hunt while in med school or residency. Now that I'm on the other side of training, my time and finances are much less limited and the desire to experience a sheep hunt is even stronger. I'm doing my best to be smart with the inheritance I received from my dad, but I did use a portion of it to book a dall hunt in the NWT for 2026.

Life's short. If sheep hunting is something you've always wanted to do, figure out the way to accomplish it.
A fathers job is to create an environment their kids can go further than themselves, sounds like your Dad won. Enjoy the hunt!
 
Joined
Jun 15, 2016
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2,853
The price of sheep hunts are only going up - you have to be able to pay for them somehow.

My dad passed away a couple of years ago at age 65. He never even had the chance to retire and enjoy what he had been saving. Sheep hunting has always been something I've wanted to do, but never drew tags when I was much younger (currently 36). Hunting had really taken the back seat for the past 10 years due to medical training, so in a few states I basically accrued points as there was no way I'd be able to do a sheep hunt while in med school or residency. Now that I'm on the other side of training, my time and finances are much less limited and the desire to experience a sheep hunt is even stronger. I'm doing my best to be smart with the inheritance I received from my dad, but I did use a portion of it to book a dall hunt in the NWT for 2026.

Life's short. If sheep hunting is something you've always wanted to do, figure out the way to accomplish it.
I hear you brother. My Dad passed at only 50 yrs old. I’m 46 this year. Good for you for making it happen! He will be with you!
 

waspocrew

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Apr 2, 2022
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MT
A fathers job is to create an environment their kids can go further than themselves, sounds like your Dad won. Enjoy the hunt!

I hear you brother. My Dad passed at only 50 yrs old. I’m 46 this year. Good for you for making it happen! He will be with you!

I appreciate the support and kind words, gents!
 

FAAFO

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Joined
May 24, 2024
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467
The price of sheep hunts are only going up - you have to be able to pay for them somehow.

My dad passed away a couple of years ago at age 65. He never even had the chance to retire and enjoy what he had been saving. Sheep hunting has always been something I've wanted to do, but never drew tags when I was much younger (currently 36). Hunting had really taken the back seat for the past 10 years due to medical training, so in a few states I basically accrued points as there was no way I'd be able to do a sheep hunt while in med school or residency. Now that I'm on the other side of training, my time and finances are much less limited and the desire to experience a sheep hunt is even stronger. I'm doing my best to be smart with the inheritance I received from my dad, but I did use a portion of it to book a dall hunt in the NWT for 2026.

Life's short. If sheep hunting is something you've always wanted to do, figure out the way to accomplish it.
Heck yeah good luck!
 
Joined
May 17, 2015
Messages
895
I want to sheep hunt so bad it hurts some days, however I cannot justify spending the kind of money or the time that it takes to hunt sheep when I have a wife and 3 boys all under the age of 10 at home. I understand the “YOLO” mentality but I also know that I enjoy hunting mule deer, or antelope, or elk, or spring bears, or ducks, or pheasants, or fox squirrels, or….You get the point. The number of hunts I will probably never get the chance to do that I really want to do in this life are innumerable. I think more people need to take time to find the joy and beauty in what is right in front of them and available to them. Sheep hunts seem to me like a very special thing, one day I’ll likely pull a tag in a draw or maybe get lucky and win a hunt in a raffle and when that day comes I will relish in all that it offers, until that day there are so many things I can do without mortgaging my family’s financial future. There have got to be some bluegill biting somewhere…..


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TXCO

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Aug 18, 2012
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I met a guy in camp one year who had a super slam. He would take out an equity loan on his farm like every other year to book hunts and then pay it off with the crops. Still seems crazy as he could have easily gotten wiped out and lost the farm. All I could think was just wait a couple years to get ahead of it in savings and cash flow it.

To each their own.


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Reno, NV
I've started a brokerage account exclusively for a big hunting expenditure down the road. Some in money market funds, some in low cost index funds. Whether it's a dall hunt or a duck club membership I want to be able to pay for it outside our operating funds. A little money every month goes a long way with compounding.

We have a three month old at home and I'm going to do the same for him (along with a 529 plan). Whether he wants to buy a home, a ranch, or go on a OIL hunt in his thirties he will have the ability to do it. Timing the market is great when you are lucky enough to do so, but time in the market is where exponential growth shines.

This is a great plan until the economy and all asset classes tumble after our $35,000,000,000,000+ of federal debt comes back to bite us in the ass.
 
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Rich M

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My parents did not plan for nursing home care. My mother needs it, and they own a $700,000 house in Wyoming. They refuse to get a trust going to set themselves up should one of them die and not be able to take care of the other one. I won't even pay for a coffin. If I am paying for it is is the cheapest option. Love my parents but their assets would cover all of this now.

Accept them as they are, mom will be dead soon and hopefully you are on good terms.

They are probably doing what they do to be able to leave the house to you kids. Folks do stupid stuff like that for their kids all the time.
 

2531usmc

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Apr 5, 2021
Messages
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I've started a brokerage account exclusively for a big hunting expenditure down the road. Some in money market funds, some in low cost index funds. Whether it's a dall hunt or a duck club membership I want to be able to pay for it outside our operating funds. A little money every month goes a long way with compounding.

We have a three month old at home and I'm going to do the same for him (along with a 529 plan). Whether he wants to buy a home, a ranch, or go on a OIL hunt in his thirties he will have the ability to do it. Timing the market is great when you are lucky enough to do so, but time in the market is where exponential growth shines.

This is a great plan until the economy and all asset classes tumble after our $35,000,000,000,000+ of federal debt comes back to bite us in the ass.
This is basically what I did to fund my big game hunts . I planned, budgeted, and saved so I can write a check for the hunt.

But I’m somewhat taken aback with people going on sheep hunts that obviously do not really have the financial resources to do so.

Maybe I’m just old, but I don’t understand why someone would risk their long term financial health for a two week hunt
 

30338

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Jun 2, 2013
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Well if it isn't sheep hunts it appears to be something else. Median net worth by age group in America is laughable.
 
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IMG_1979.jpeg

“Dream as if you will live forever. Live as if you’ll die today.” James Dean.

Sheep hunt in 345 days, 4 hours, and 23 minutes, but who is counting?

Cash, credit, payday loan, sweat, or blood? Don’t care - Life is too short! I am going. Happy hunting to all, TheGrayRider a/k/a Tom.
 

schmalzy

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Oct 1, 2014
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This is basically what I did to fund my big game hunts . I planned, budgeted, and saved so I can write a check for the hunt.

But I’m somewhat taken aback with people going on sheep hunts that obviously do not really have the financial resources to do so.

Maybe I’m just old, but I don’t understand why someone would risk their long term financial health for a two week hunt

I’m not picking on you but curious; do you have an example of someone on here going on a sheep hunt that obviously does not have the financial resources to do so?


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RdRdrFan

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I’m not picking on you but curious; do you have an example of someone on here going on a sheep hunt that obviously does not have the financial resources to do so?


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No, he doesn’t.

But that doesn’t stop many people from making assumptions and issuing blanket statements about decisions that others make when they really have zero clue about the financial wherewithal of the individual that they are criticizing.
 
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I’m not picking on you but curious; do you have an example of someone on here going on a sheep hunt that obviously does not have the financial resources to do so?


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In my mind it’s really simple. If you can “write a check” for said hunt and it make zero difference in your financial position or burden you with more debt, then you can afford it.

Otherwise, not so much.


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magtech

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Feb 15, 2018
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340
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Michigan
Yeah.... We didnt buy into the 401k investment BS. Just getting into our 40s and we own eveything outright. If we want something we just spend our savings and enjoy that money while were alive. Want a new truck. Just pay cash. Want a winter house, just save up a couple years and buy one. Want a dall sheep hunt save up this year and book it.... Why would I save my whole life hoping that maybe... just maybe the gov will allow me to use it someday.
 

wyosam

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Aug 5, 2019
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You guys are going about this all wrong. Most of you probably have two functional kidneys. What if I told you that you could permanently carry about 5 ounces less into sheep country, AND fund a hunt or two all in one black market operation?


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Drenalin

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You guys are going about this all wrong. Most of you probably have two functional kidneys. What if I told you that you could permanently carry about 5 ounces less into sheep country, AND fund a hunt or two all in one black market operation?


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How much are we talkin? I don't have a strong attachment to my kidneys (I'd obviously keep at least one).
 

wyosam

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How much are we talkin? I don't have a strong attachment to my kidneys (I'd obviously keep at least one).

I don’t know the current market, but I’d like to think that it has gone up at a similar rate to sheep hunts.


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