# Got my deer for the season and it only cost me about $45 a pound LOL



## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 12/4/20 9:54 PM CST

After my third outing hunting a thicket on one of the guys property the other day , we saw a buck about 40 yards off and being a bit forward of my hunting partner, he gave me the shot and the buck dropped close to where I shot him. As we hiked up with the fold up kill dolly he had to take it back to where we had parked. after loading it, he said he would haul the buck as he handed me his rifle to carry back since I had my AR pistol in it's rigging.

On our walk back, we both laughed when I said although the firearm has given me a chance to stalk again, my days of stalking solo are long gone and he reminded me although most all of us have hunted solo sometime, we were always taught to hunt with a partner.

When we butchered and split the venison between us , I figured with firearm, rigging , ammo and hunting license costs combined, my share of the buck this year is 45 dollars a pound for this year as I now have plenty of venison for me and I was always taught not to take more than you can eat for the season.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

good deal , well you know if you take all your loss in this year next years deer will only be pennies a pound.

we call it a hobby so it doesn't need to be completely fiscal

I purchased my first shotgun for deer for 240 dollars and I shot about 25 deer with that gun over about 25 years , I also used a bunch of slugs to sight in and shoot deer more sighting in each year and practice. if we figured it out I guess I would have about 25 dollars a year into gun and slugs.

when the kids were young and I was shot on money regular I had lots of ideas for guns or things to make improvement it was heavy I did put 190 dollars into having it drilled and tapped and added a scope about 15 years in when I had to get glasses and the sights didn't seem to work as well any more.

just think how much less money you have invested than the guy who bought 40 acre to hunt and 10K on a side by side and purchased an elevated blind , planted feed plots with the tractor he needed just for making plots and mowing trails to his stands , 45 dollars a pound starts to look cheap.

we have to wear orange here , this year my son bought his own gun and I ended up spending a hundred on a new orange coat for him , we have zero deer this year other than the one road kill I picked up.

I couldn't go to my normal place to hunt


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## Rodeo's Bud (Apr 10, 2020)

Sounds like what my wife says about growing my garden this year.

Probably spent 250 bucks on drip irrigation, 400 on dirt, weeks building raised beds and setting it up. 100 bucks on seeds....

Only to get about 75 bucks in crops.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 12/6/20 5:39 PM CST

GCP,

The orange requirements here sure have changed since my first hunt in 1975. Then a hunt orange domed cap was enough, now you have to have 144 square inches visible from all sides unless more than 12 feet in a tree stand and then you have to be oranged up while traveling to and from the stand.

That was part of the added cost of my tact vest the range safety officer put my carry rigging on..He used an orange safety vest and put button on shoulder epaulets and front and back stripes on the black vest so I can remove them when using the vest as home defense rig use.

What you said about the hunting .223 round proved out. My shot went in behind the shoulder and stayed in the carcass of the buck and some blood on the entry and no blood trail to where it dropped. about 30 yards further.


Rodeo's Bud,

Your garden reference reminded me of when my father had us put in a 2 acre garden during the Carter recession with the intention of saving on grocery costs by us spending sweat equity to grow and can. After the growing season , he figured costs of seed, fertilizer, etc. and time and after that year instead of a large garden for home use, we only had a small kitchen garden using small amounts of amendments and he bought surplus local farm grown produce at the farmer's market to can and reduce the household food budget and keep the pantry stocked.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

since the late 70s or early 80s 50% of your upper body must be covered in blaze orangein WI

ground blinds on public land must have 144sq inches viewable from all sides now also 

having seen a lot of drivers walking at me more is better you can see a 100% blaze orange upper farther away than a minimal apron type safety vest by 10-30 yards possibly further if their body is obscured by a trees where you catch a glimpse of an arm if it is orange sooner.

I have a bunch of different orange , t shirts , sweat shirts , a parka , gloves , ball caps, knit caps 

if a hat s worn 50% must be orange

I have a game vest with the big pocket in the back that extends around the sides , good for putting your pheasant in while continuing the hunt it has pockets with snap down flaps in front and shell holders I found I wore this a lot this season often over my orange sweatshirt or even over my orange parka it gave me a good place to store things.

I found a zipper bag with a few compartments at the army navy and put my drag para-cord, cleaning gloves , spare knife , tums in a baggie , lighter , spare batteries for flash light and Radio with a loop of painters tape to hold them together , spare compass.

we used to have back tags when deer and bear hunting and it was a pain every time you switched layers you had to stick the pin through your outer layer.

since orange wasn't a requirement for bear you would see guys stick the pin through the belt loop of their jeans.

I get hot when hunting as I don't sit still well for long stretches so I go drive swamps and such with an orange T-shirt , vest , and layers I can shed what I need and keep it in the big game pocket 

our weather can easily be 20 in the morning and 55 mid day in southern WI it doesn't warm as much in northerner WI our snow doesn't typically stick around more than a few days in the south of the state till first week of December even though we may have snow in October. 

I tried a back pack but it just pulled badly at my shoulders made my shoulders hurt and was not easy to get my sandwich out take a couple bites zip it up and put it away.

it is also convenient to have my 2-3 sandwiches and 3-4 water bottles the little 1/2 liter disposable because as I drink the water I squeeze the air out of the bottle and put the lid back on tight and it doesn't slosh or crinkle about the only time of year I buy a case of those. most of the time I have Nalgene bottles or Nalgene canteens but I don't like the slosh and the bulk.

I think maybe I should design a vest for hunting to carry all this type of stuff really well but I am doing ok with what I have for now and not much cost in it.


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## GREENCOUNTYPETE (Jul 25, 2006)

it is hard to put a price on good home grown tomatoes .

if you figure farmers market prices to get the kind of ripeness and quality and flavor 2.50 a pound and mid-late summer I eating 2-3 pounds a day.

I mostly grow tomatoes and a few peppers I use primarily compost for fertilizer 

20 dollars in plants from the green house outside town about does me. I have used the same cages for 10+ years , bought some rebar for stakes this year I had a variety had vines 8 feet high and coming back down so many cherry tomatoes I couldn't pick them all let eh neighbors have some and still didn't get them all picked.

Zucchini a packet of seeds and you have more than you can use but the store gets 79 cents a pound for them

if you consider hoeing a row each morning exercise then it is good for you.

if you hate gardening or hunting neither will work

it has to be something you enjoy 

some people's hobby is drinking at the bar , every night after work talk about not a cheap hobby.


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## wil14 (Sep 13, 2020)

Are you limited to one tag or is it just due to gun season? In my state you can now hunt with a crossbow just like a bow from October to Jan. It makes it pretty easy if you have the time to harvest several deer.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 12/7/20 5:53 PM CST

wil14,
Not sure if your asking about here or in WI where GCP is but here we are bag limited to one deer per hunter per day durig rifle and shotgun seasons. Of course some take one early , pack it out home and sometimes go back and take a second later in the day.

My hunting partner and I left the field with one deer to share between us on our two hunts that we bagged because I have found how to return to easy traverse stalking using my crutch but can't efficiently bring a kill out of the field anymore so we have stalked and got our deer so far on the halves as he does the heavy lifting on our return hike and I caddy our unloaded hunting rifles.

As far as my only taking one deer per season. my father and grandfather always said to never take more than I would eat until next year because we had no white tail deer in this state to speak of from the late 1800s/early 1900s when they were buffalo wipe out style hunted to local extinction.

In the 1950s. the state game department introduced 50 breeding pair initally in refuge and protected private land to re-establish the population and restricted hunting as the state herds grew.

70 years later we have almost 2 million deer and some years open seasons to reduce the population to help keep them from starving due to local over population and those years I did exceed my one deer a year preference but instead of adding a lot to my year worth of venison, any I bagged, i shared with folks who didn't hunt or donated my fresh taken deer to the Sheriff's Children's Shelter and Orphan's Home or benefit fundraising cookouts to raise money for charitable causes or to raise funds for the Teen Hunter Safety Training Program.


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## wil14 (Sep 13, 2020)

Shrek said:


> Posted 12/7/20 5:53 PM CST
> 
> wil14,
> Not sure if your asking about here or in WI where GCP is but here we are bag limited to one deer per hunter per day durig rifle and shotgun seasons. Of course some take one early , pack it out home and sometimes go back and take a second later in the day.
> ...


Ah I see. Thanks for responding. I misread and had the impression you were unhappy with the amount of deer meat.


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## Fishindude (May 19, 2015)

Sounds like you paid the going rate for venison. 😁 
Glad you were successful.


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## Shrek (May 1, 2002)

Posted 12/12/20 4:56 PM CST

Fishingdude .
Going price per pound is the way I figure it too . It felt good stalk hunting again after 15 years out of the field and my fist season back, taking only one shot and getting my buck, I didn't lose a shirt tail square for our raffle off missed shot patch quilt the women who are our deer field widows make when they have enough patches from the club members missed shot shirt tail squares .


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## 101pigs (Sep 18, 2018)

Shrek said:


> Posted 12/4/20 9:54 PM CST
> 
> After my third outing hunting a thicket on one of the guys property the other day , we saw a buck about 40 yards off and being a bit forward of my hunting partner, he gave me the shot and the buck dropped close to where I shot him. As we hiked up with the fold up kill dolly he had to take it back to where we had parked. after loading it, he said he would haul the buck as he handed me his rifle to carry back since I had my AR pistol in it's rigging.
> 
> ...


Cost me the price of a box of 22 LR for my 22 automatic rifle. I can take any amount on my own property. Got a permit to take any deer that is eating my crops. I take 2 young ones each year. Less than 1 year old. They eat the food i throw out in the yard each evening.


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## JJ Grandits (Nov 10, 2002)

First off, I do catch and release fishing.
If all goes as planned my two weeks at the lakefront rental cottage, boat rental, bait, lures, gas, not to mention entertain my wife will run me about $3,500.
I consider that a great deal.
As an ex market gardener the advantage was that what ever we could not sell we ate.
And as a business all the expenses were tax deductible.
Got to love owning a business.
This years deer was taken with a Savage model 20F I won at a raffle ($25).
Put a simple Kronus scope on it with a rail and weaver rings ($125 total)
My son in law gave me ten boxes of 20ga. 3" magnum expander slugs ($0).
He is now my favorite son in law.
Had my buck processed ($85)
Probably the cheapest deer I ever took.
Will recoup the scope set up over the years.
My hunter orange is decades old and worth every penny of the original cost.
As a hunter training instructor I push orange like no tomorrow.
Deer see it as grey. Motion means more than anything.
Were people screw up is wearing anything blue.
Blue jeans glow like a neon light to a deer.
My longest shot at a deer was at 60 yds.
Most are taken within 20.
Orange up, pretend to be a rock.


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