Getting Harder to find younger hunters to commit?

[pmannat]

yup

I dont mind the long term investments ( Guns, Gear etc.) so much as the government money grabs every step of the way. I'm okay with safety measures, and conservation, but If I can pass all the dummy tests why should I have to pay to have it spoon fed to me. It's getting to be a bit much.

I love fishing, crappy tire rod and reel $20, $40ish bucks for a 3 yr card and 1 yr conservation license, 15min drive to port bruce on lake erie for perch. = good eatin!

[GW11]

How much is an iphone? Unlimited data and text plan? PS3? Xbox? A night or two every week at the bars with your buddies? Fast food? 50" TV? The list of things people think they need goes on and on. I'll never understand people's need to have all this expensive stuff to stay "connected" or to "keep up" with social media. If your business depends on it, that's justifiable, but for everyone else, didn't you quit talking to all those people (that you're now "keeping up" with) years ago for a reason? Social media is a time and money vampire. Go without some of that stuff and you'll have a hunting budget.

Personally, I need to go hunting every fall. Possibly at the cost of exploiting my wife and kids to raise the money and/or poaching and trespassing to get my fix (sarcasm). Seriously though, my wife is fine with me going away for a couple of weeks a year. I've been doing it since long before we got together. I pick up the slack throughout the rest of the year and use the rest of my holiday time for family.

When I was 16 I saved up until I could buy my first shotgun combo before I even bought a car. I'm closing in on 40 now and my wish list is still outdoor and hunting gear before phones, computers, gaming consoles TV's, etc. I get a real kick out of people complaining about the cost of hunting when they're sporting a phone worth as much as a shotgun and spending their free time on electronics worth more than any start-up fees. Do you really need any of it?

Again, if it's important enough to you, you'll go without some of the other stuff that you think you need.

[Oddmott]

iphones and data plans and xbox didn't even exist when i took my courses in the mid-90s. As a high school student at that time the only thing i was saving money for was college.

Yet the start-up hunting costs were still there and still somewhat prohibitive. I hunted in blue jeans and used blaze jackets, borrowing my father's rifles.

If you don't have family to help you get into it, as a young hunter the costs make it nearly impossible.

And for clarification, not a single person has said that hunting isn't "worth" it. Only that the costs are much higher than some choose to admit.

Claiming that hunting is no more expensive than other outdoor pursuits is misleading, almost outright false. Claiming that it can be as cheap or as expensive as you like, is also false because none of us would choose to spend $1000 on courses and paperwork.

[kdp89]

There's a difference between affording to hunt and affording to drive 10 hrs north for 2 weeks at camp in a pickup with atvs. I hunt regularly, just not at a camp. I don't think that means I have the wrong priorities.

[Jim Davis]

okay well lets talk base prices then..


For me now adays:

PAL course = $250
Hunt Course = $150
RCMP Background check = $65
outdoors card = $$
Tags = $$
turkey course DVD = $35
Turkey dummy test = $35+


oh wait! I don't even have a gun yet = $$$$$ , nor gear = $$$$$,

Okay know I spent all that, but I still haven't even hunted yet....

Worth every penny, maybe

Cheap as ~I~ make it.... No

RCMP background check $65? I certainly didn't have to pay
One-stop firearms/hunter ed was $220 not sure where you get $250 for PAL course alone?

My point is entry level hunting is not that expensive to start out with your small game licence. Sure there is an up front cost like just about anything you want to do but realistically lets not make it more than it is. For sure if you want to expand your hunting beyond that and want all the toys then costs go up. As a guest at the camp I belong to it's $200 a week for deer/moose includes room and food +transportation cost. Do the math on that and it's a pretty cheap week

[FishFrenzy]

The RCMP check is $60. I paid $300 for the onestop course all in (taxes and books included). It was $60 for me upgrade my fishing licence to hunting, along with a small games tag and my moose tag for the year.

So before I bought a gun and clothing, I paid $420. Is it expensive to start up - Yes! Is it something you need to do to get into the hunt? Yes!

Just like say, starting hockey there are start up costs. Once you buy the equipment, you have the basics required. You then need to pay your annual fess for ice, sticks, skate sharpening, gas... (in our case tags and gas money / accommodations) each year afterwards. Hunting is no different than most other sports that require an initial investment.

Hunting is a luxury whether you want to look at it that way or not. It's expensive to get started, and depending on the type of hunting you want to do it can be very expensive. Once you have your initial investment made, the costs year to year are up to you.

FishFrenzy

[thing]

I'd love the chance to join a moose camp, I've never found one taking new members though.

I'd love to do a moose hunt. Before I even get started the cost of a tag and the current state of the draw system is a great big turn off. With the added cost of gas and gear. It has priced itself right out of my range. It's cheaper to buy lower bowl leaf tickets.

This is the issue for my hunting buddies, I've been trying to convince them to go moose hunting but no one but me wants to drop $60 to enter a lottery that we (statistically) won't win for 3 years (I made the mistake of doing the math), $180 + 3 years time invested for a chance to be the one guy out of the group that gets to shoot a moose is a really ty deal.

[swampdonk]

I'd love the chance to join a moose camp, I've never found one taking new members though.



This is the issue for my hunting buddies, I've been trying to convince them to go moose hunting but no one but me wants to drop $60 to enter a lottery that we (statistically) won't win for 3 years (I made the mistake of doing the math), $180 + 3 years time invested for a chance to be the one guy out of the group that gets to shoot a moose is a really ty deal.

There seems to be several people on here who have not been able to get an invite to a moose camp. I was in the same boat. So I started my own group. Not that hard to do. Just takes someone to get the ball rolling. There seems to be enough interested people on this thread alone to get a group started.

As far as the tags go it can be done if you really want to hunt Moose. Last year we had 3 tags for 5 guys this year it was 2 for the 5 of us. Moose is probably the most expensive type of hunting and the most dependent on others but again if there is a will there is a way. Don't give up on the idea. For me this is the best, most challenging hunting Ontario has to offer right now. Of course there is always the easy way were you can drop $20,000 USD on a one week Moose hunt out West were everything is done for you but pull the trigger.

[GW11]

Yet the start-up hunting costs were still there and still somewhat prohibitive. I hunted in blue jeans and used blaze jackets, borrowing my father's rifles.

If you don't have family to help you get into it, as a young hunter the costs make it nearly impossible.

Sounds like we had a similar start. I agree that it is difficult to get into if you don't have a relative or at least a mentor to help you get started. I helped two friends get into hunting around 15 years ago that had no family or relatives that hunted. If I remember correctly, they both had inherited older guns from deceased grandparents so it made their initial costs a little lower by a couple of hundred dollars. Still, it can be done. Used shotgun combos are pretty cheap.

To address your response about the iphones and Xboxes, well, maybe it's best they weren't around when we were younger or our priorities might have been different. I think what's important to people these days has change quite a lot in the last 20 years.

There's a difference between affording to hunt and affording to drive 10 hrs north for 2 weeks at camp in a pickup with atvs. I hunt regularly, just not at a camp. I don't think that means I have the wrong priorities.

True enough. I believe the OP was talking about committing to a camp and some of the discussion turned to hunting in general. A moose camp that involves driving long distances can be an expensive yearly endeavor. But, as long as you're hunting you have your priorities straight....

[ken turmon]

I'd love the chance to join a moose camp, I've never found one taking new members though.



This is the issue for my hunting buddies, I've been trying to convince them to go moose hunting but no one but me wants to drop $60 to enter a lottery that we (statistically) won't win for 3 years (I made the mistake of doing the math), $180 + 3 years time invested for a chance to be the one guy out of the group that gets to shoot a moose is a really ty deal.

Statistics don't necessarily tell the whole story though. My group started moose hunting last yr. Between 4 guys we got two calf tags the first yr. This yr I snagged a bull tag.