how times have changed

[jbeck]

I was at Bass Pro last night picking up some arrow, now I remember the first compound bow I got cost me $150.00 I was 14 so that was 30 years ago. It was a Jennings Lightning, no forks at that time. Now for the scary part, I looked at a dozen arrows last night and they were $149.99 WTH I never thought I'd see the day. I guess they have forward of weight center, blazer vanes, Gps tracking system, and have a web site satalite link if you loose one NASA can zero in on it from space, if you put some rage broadheads on the end your up to $25.00 a shot. Of course this is without the $6 lighted nocks, this sport is getting crazy, that is not counting the cost of the bows and other accesaries needed to take down a 150 lb deer. I'm not mad, or upset, it's just one of those things that smacked me in the brain last night as I was having my adult beverage and watching my kid play on a $200.00 Wii. have a great day all

:bang:

[arrow32]

LOL! You can't buy anything for them without a 100 bucks.

[aldridgem1]

Thats very true. The sport is taking off very fast and so are the prices of everything that goes along with it.

[shockwave]

One word "inflation"

[ultratec1]

Think thats bad, I shoot Easton X-10's for field and target, they run right at $380 a dz WITHOUT VANES or POINTS!!!!

I think that I'm crazy until I go to a trap shoot and see the $3,000-4000 guns these guys use.

[buckee]

Yeah, my first bow was second hand. A really nice PSE Polaris. It was a great bow for it's time, but nothing compared to the bows of today. Shot lots of deer with it though, so no complaints there ..LOL

It definitely has gotten expensive. It seems like the more folks that get into bow hunting, the higher the prices go. It's called supply and demand, and it's capitalized on big-time these days.

Arrows are really getting pricey, and every time I lose one it's like watching $25 (or more) go flying out of sight.:bang:

[jbeck]

people always called me nuts for spending $48.00 a dozen for Pro V golf balls, but I would get 4 rounds out of them. Just funny how thing change,

[earnhardts12000]

ya i remember my 1st bow bear whitetail my uncle bought at sale for $25 now my hoyt cost me well over $1000

[Doc]

Bowhunting has become the cheapest recreation that I have ever taken part in. It is almost free. How can that be? Simple ...... I have taken control of all of my bowhunting expenses and froze out all new purchases.

I did my time trying to keep up with the latest and greatest and fastest and smoothest and whatever marketing buzzwords that they could throw at me. I looked on my wall downstairs and including recurves, I counted 11 bows. I went into my shop and there is a bundle of arrows that I can't put both hands around (a lifetime's accumulation from outfitting all those bows). And then I remembered that each one of those bows hanging on the wall have taken deer (except for the two tournament models). Some of those bows have taken more deer than my new one. All of the deer taken with the older bows were just as dead as the ones taken with the newer bows, and also just as dead as any deer I would take with a $1000 bow purchased today. This also pointed out the fact that I can't buy a deer with expensive equipment. It kind of put it all in perspective for me. I'm not into bowhunting to try to buy my way into a deer kill. There is nothing in my basement that will not kill a deer. I may have to occasionally buy some vanes, or replace or re-make an occasional bow string, or I might have to pick up a tube of fletch-tite now and again, but all those expenses taken together still make bowhunting the cheapest pastime I could ever have. I decide how expensive (or cheap) it will be. I have control of the cost not some sharp madison Avenue huckster in the magazines or on TV. If bowhunting is expensive, it's because we make it that way. I don't play their game anymore.

Doc

[m gardner]

My first compound cost $110.00. It was the first one by Dr. Allen. In todays money that probably equates to ten times that much. I don't buy $1000.00 bows though. I usually wait until they are put on clearance or ebay and get older tested technology for half price. New stuff scares me, even if the manufacturer is good for warranty work I'm stuck with a lemon they will repair for eternity. As for arrows it's the same deal. The Redhead Carbon Maxx 4000's (made by CX) were $120.00 a dozen. Got them for $53.00 because they clearanced them when they changed fletching. Used one of them to kill 3 bucks and a tree so far this year so I guess they are rugged enough. I love quality equipment and shoot so much I need it to be quality but I never pay much for it. Shop around, it pays off.

[Stinger-Hunter]

I paid $125 for a used PSE Nova and it lasted me 7 years. That is a month of beer for some people or one night on the town.

Gasoline and tags are the only expense I have now. My trip to South Dakota was free, cause I sold a few things. It paid for the flight, tags and gasoline.

I don't buy any of the things they sell on hunting shows anymore. I learned my lesson. Scent free soap has gotten me busted by more deer than a smelly sock. I haven't gotten busted by a deer (for scent) since I stopped using it.

The climbers: I use other peoples' or I build my own with nails, a hammer and a chainsaw. total cost $1.00. This is because I have already purchased numerous stands and many of them are far from the quality of the advertisement. The stands I use, I've purchased years ago. Others have been stolen outright.

11 years of hunting, scouting, purchasing equipment and clothing has helped me limit further spending. I have learned that it is better to spend your time scouting than roaming the aisles of sporting good stores.

Edited October 15, 2010 by Stinger-Hunter

[TexasDeerHunter]

Think I paid $100 for my first Jennings compound. What's crazy is that today you can drop $1000 on a new bow and it will be on the verge of obsolete next year and will depreciate about as fast as a new car.

[huntnfish]

Bow hunting got alot cheaper for me when I decided I did not need the newest, fastest bow every year. I have found a bow and set-up I like and want be buying anything new this year unless something is lost or broken.

[GWSmith]

Times surely have changed...

There was a time when a fiberglass stick bow and a bale of hay with a cardboard deer target on it was everything a young boy wanted.

The Bow and all of it's accessories have changed over the years.

What is important to me now is that the equipement that I own be of a good enough quality so that I can practice enough with it and become proficient. I have decided any equipement that can not hold up to practice with it as inferior, a possible safety hazard, and ultimately a waste of money. I understand that as time moves on prices change so theres a level of acceptance I need to have if I decide to replace any equipement. I still ask myself if any purchases meet my personal criteria for minimum standards, are there cost efficient benefits, to any supposed or proposed product advancements.

I dont feel the need to have equipement that is hot off the production line nor am I stuck in the past using that first fiberglass bow. I make a concious decision to keep my mind open to possible advancements. While remaining realistic as to the possible benefits any new purchases could bring their tempered with the reality that what I have can and has killed deer before. I dont believe that Bow hunting equipement is a status symbol of any kind but simply a tool to accomplish a goal....I hunt for myself and the food it provides my family and neighbors.

I often laugh at advertisements especially when a company says: "This is the most accurate Bow, Arrows, or whatever"....LOL...what makes it accurate??? I'd rather see proof that the product is consistent. Accuracy has more to do with what a person does after the pick it up and start using it. I know the word..."Consistent" does not get people fired up to go spend they're money. Some people change equipement because of physical disabilities. Some advancements have made draw cycles very smooth and I must admit that is the reason for a change in my last Bow purchase.

I "upgraded" to equipement that is by todays standards a few years old but the benefits it gives me allows me to continue shooting and hunting.

I wont hang on to any tradition at the sacrifice of the sport I love...especially when the solution is as simple as spending a modest amount of money to change equipement.

Having said all of that...

"Dude...Have you seen the Riser mounted Laser Rangefinders that are out now"...ROTFLMBO:D

[buckee]

Times surely have changed...

There was a time when a fiberglass stick bow and a bale of hay with a cardboard deer target on it was everything a young boy wanted.

The Bow and all of it's accessories have changed over the years.

What is important to me now is that the equipement that I own be of a good enough quality so that I can practice enough with it and become proficient. I have decided any equipement that can not hold up to practice with it as inferior, a possible safety hazard, and ultimately a waste of money. I understand that as time moves on prices change so theres a level of acceptance I need to have if I decide to replace any equipement. I still ask myself if any purchases meet my personal criteria for minimum standards, are there cost efficient benefits, to any supposed or proposed product advancements.

I dont feel the need to have equipement that is hot off the production line nor am I stuck in the past using that first fiberglass bow. I make a concious decision to keep my mind open to possible advancements. While remaining realistic as to the possible benefits any new purchases could bring their tempered with the reality that what I have can and has killed deer before. I dont believe that Bow hunting equipement is a status symbol of any kind but simply a tool to accomplish a goal....I hunt for myself and the food it provides my family and neighbors.

I often laugh at advertisements especially when a company says: "This is the most accurate Bow, Arrows, or whatever"....LOL...what makes it accurate??? I'd rather see proof that the product is consistent. Accuracy has more to do with what a person does after the pick it up and start using it. I know the word..."Consistent" does not get people fired up to go spend they're money. Some people change equipement because of physical disabilities. Some advancements have made draw cycles very smooth and I must admit that is the reason for a change in my last Bow purchase.

I "upgraded" to equipement that is by todays standards a few years old but the benefits it gives me allows me to continue shooting and hunting.

I wont hang on to any tradition at the sacrifice of the sport I love...especially when the solution is as simple as spending a modest amount of money to change equipement.

Having said all of that...

"Dude...Have you seen the Riser mounted Laser Rangefinders that are out now"...ROTFLMBO:D

Well, ya had me convinced and convicted ..LOL

[ruttinbuc]

I was as guilty as the rest in succumbing to the hype. That stopped for me some time ago. The commercialization of deer hunting has really taken away from the sport in my eyes. I get Bowhunting World and read the same strategy articles with different authors, but the same old plugs for product. Funny how you see that Brand X is in the story on one page and the next has a full page advertisement of, you guessed it, Brand X.

In reality it all has to do with taking dollars than killing deer. The only thing I might buy are new boots or gloves when I need them. Of course if something breaks down I'll fix or replace if need be. I am finding that the camo from long ago is just as effective as the myriad of patterns out there today. Deer hunting is still deer hunting, regardless. Amazing how many will never fully understand that wading through it all.

[Doc]

When I look at some of these high-priced bows on the market today, I am hard-pressed to see anything that would justify spending $1000 or anything near that amount. There was a time when I could sit there and talk myself into the fact that I needed that bow in order to bring down a deer. Some how I was always able to ignore the bows already hanging on the wall and the fact that each of them had a proven record and already had taken a pile of deer. Well, today I understand just what it really takes to take home a deer, and the price-tag and age of the bow has absolutely nothing to do with it. I've saved a ton of money since making that revelation.

However, these days, consumer purchases are what is required to get this economy going again, so I suppose that it is real good that my cheap-skate ideas are not catching on.

Doc

[jbeck]

When I look at some of these high-priced bows on the market today, I am hard-pressed to see anything that would justify spending $1000 or anything near that amount. There was a time when I could sit there and talk myself into the fact that I needed that bow in order to bring down a deer. Some how I was always able to ignore the bows already hanging on the wall and the fact that each of them had a proven record and already had taken a pile of deer. Well, today I understand just what it really takes to take home a deer, and the price-tag and age of the bow has absolutely nothing to do with it. I've saved a ton of money since making that revelation.

However, these days, consumer purchases are what is required to get this economy going again, so I suppose that it is real good that my cheap-skate ideas are not catching on.

Doc

I know buddy, I'm still shooting a Q-2 that I bought 12 or so years ago. Man does that thing shoot. I'm pretty thrifty when it comes to hunting purchases, heck I have 13,000 acres of family ground to hunt in Montana and have only been out 4 times in the last 15 years. the hunt is free, but with tags transportation and food it still ends up costing close to $ 1,500.00 and that's just to much to shell out every year for a deer.