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Cost of hunting

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8shots View Drop Down
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    Posted: July/18/2007 at 08:18

What does it cost the locals to hunt in their own areas? Generally we read and dream about hunting in some foreign and exotic location, but after looking at the costs it remains just that; a dream. But remember, some guys exotic location is another's back yard. What does it cost him to hunt?

The

idea of this thread is to explore this a little further.

To get the ball rolling:

In South Africa (and remember this is our local set-up for local guys) we have a wide range of set-ups available. We have the upmarket hunting right down to the budget plan. If you are shrewd and plan properly some good hunting can be had for fair prices. To get ripped off by farmers is also easy. Typically farmers charge day fees and per animal. Day fees are typically $35 per day. Animals vary from farm to farm. A kudu can cost anything from $500 to $250. Generally speaking if a hunt is cheap, then one needs to be very carefull and references must be obtained. You can hunt for two days and hardly see game. On the more expensive farms game are normally well stocked.

I currently hunt on a farm that charges me $35 per day and $0.90 per pound for the carcass, weighed head off and gutted. A good kudu bull weighs about 330lbs so will cost me about $300. Spingbuck weigh about 44 lbs, so will cost about $44.

Any-one else care to show and tell???



Edited by 8shots
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dale Clifford Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/18/2007 at 11:33
big game hunting is really BIG BUSINESS for states here, and some like wyo are a major source of revenue. hunting ranches are usually texas and California, and in some areas of hunting a source of snickering. the large amts of land available for public hunting make some kind of bidding or draw essential. some hard-core will apply for permits in different states for everything, and then the draw determines the fall hunt. its possible to have $20,000 tied up in this process, and some desert sheep permits have bid out for 25,000 to 30,000. a normal deer tag in the west varies greatly on what, and how far the hunter wants to go. a doe antelope in wyo. is practically given away.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/18/2007 at 17:21

8shots,

Here in Texas where I live, most of the good hunting is on private land, not public land like National Forest.  Since Texas has comparatively little public land where hunting is allowed, if you want to get access to the best hunting, you either have to lease land (can be very expensive), book a guided hunt (extremely expensive), get permission to hunt on someone else's land (hard to get, unless you happen to have a VERY good friend who happens to own some prime hunting land), or hunt your own or family owned land.  You can buy an annual public hunting permit, which gives you access to many units throughout the state and the permit isn't very expensive, but the quality is relatively low and you're likely to compete with many other hunters.

 

I hunt on my own land and land owned by family members for free.  Besides fuel expenses driving to and from, it only costs me the price of a Texas resident hunting license -- less than $75, depending on which type of license and what tags/endorsements I opt for -- to hunt on my own land.  However, in addition to family land, I also lease 715 acres for deer, turkey, dove, and feral hog hunting, which costs me $800/year.  Leasing land is by far the most common approach Texas hunters take, since at least 80% of all hunting land in Texas is privately owned.  My lease costs are on the low end; some more affluent hunters may spend as much as $10,000/year per person for a good lease, sometimes more.  In the areas where I hunt, hunting leases generally go for about $10 - $20 per acre.  In other parts of the state, hunting access may cost triple that, and a high quality package deal may cost as much as $5,000 for a 3 day hunt.  It all depends on where and what you're hunting and how good the hunting is.

 

Every 2 - 3 years, I will also go to Colorado or Idaho (where a childhood friend currently lives) to elk hunt on National Forest land.  These "do-it-yourself" trips can be moderately expensive, though not as expensive as a guided hunt.  By the time I buy non-resident licenses, food, travel expenses, etc., such a trip can cost in the neighborhood of $2000 - $2500.

 

I also have a few secret places in Texas and New Mexico I hunt varmints on where the landowners let me hunt for free, so my expenses on those trips are for fuel, food, lodging, and ammunition (can be very expensive, as I generally take 3 - 4,000 rounds of handloaded ammo with me on those trips).

 

Interesting topic!



Edited by RifleDude
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote silver Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/18/2007 at 19:54

 

 

Salt block starts at about 5 bucks...

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pyro6999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/18/2007 at 19:57
i think an all season license in mn cost's me like 80 bucks and that allows me to take three deer one must be a buck and its good for archery fire arms and muzzleloader season's state wide.  as far as wyoming goes residents have to draw out to shoot an antelope which is so retarded because they outnumber the people in the state 2-1.

Edited by pyro6999
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 8shots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/19/2007 at 12:00

To embroider a little further on the South African situation: The cost above exclude fuel, food etc. A typical hunt in South Africa consists of guys taking leave from work on a Thursday, travel to the farm about 600km average, hunt Friday and Sat and return on a Sunday. A week-end like this, with say one kudu and two springbuck can cost about $600. Our state licences cost about $3, which you must have if the farm does not have game fencing. You still pay the farmer, as the game is considered his whilst on the farm.

Trophy hunting and the big five is another business. Mostly out of reach of Mr Salary Earner. Buffalo about $1500, Elephant and lion about $10 000 etc. Nyala is also very expensive.

The normal animals we hunt where the value of the venison is more or less justifiable are kudu, gemsbuck, springbuck, impala, wildebeest, blesbuck, hartebeest etc.

On some farms you can get lucky and shoot trophy or near trophy at reasonable prices in the common varieties I listed above.

We had a situation like you have in Texas, where the only hunting was on owned farms or friends etc. But thankfully the situation has been commercialised and the only friend the farmer now knows is the mighty $$$$$. So hunting opportunities are plentiful and a mere phonecall away.



Edited by 8shots
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/19/2007 at 14:11

Hi Rifle Dude when you say you lease the land, does that mean that only you have the right to hunt there? Or does the land owner lease the same land to other hunters, and how much game may you harvest in a season?

8 shots glad to see a fellow South African  on the site, I think you multiplyed your kilogram weights instead of dividing them. 68lbs is only 30kg and 10lbs is only 4.5kg. You’re right about the really cheap hunts though, got burned this year with one. Even though I know someone who has hunted on that farm and shot a 56 inch Kudu for R3500 ($500). We only went because we where looking for Eland, the price was R5500 ($785). The Land owner assured us there where plus minus a 100 Eland on a 1500 hectare farm, well I only seen a couple of warthogs a herd of impala and all 200 cattle that where recently placed on the farm. My friends that managed to see the Eland said that they where feeding at 90 mile an hour. My only guess is that the introduction of cattle has somehow disturbed the game and their natural habits, feeding and drinking. They weren’t there last year when the bloke I said hunted there.

Regards Chris   



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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/19/2007 at 17:13
Originally posted by Glock Glock wrote:

Hi Rifle Dude when you say you lease the land, does that mean that only you have the right to hunt there? Or does the land owner lease the same land to other hunters, and how much game may you harvest in a season?

 

Correct, I lease the property with 5 other friends of mine and we have exclusive rights to all hunting on the property.  Anyone who even steps onto the property is considered trespassing and will be prosecuted.  We are allowed to hunt any legal game during any season and come and go as we wish as if the land was ours.  The landowner allows us to build a permanent camp, where we have campers, electricity and running water.  During the offseason, I use the lease as just a place to go and relax, do some target shooting, ride my ATV, and prepare for the next season, as I have all the comforts of home at the camp.  We sign a contract with the landowner so it's understood by all what is and is not allowed.  In fact, our contract prohibits us from bringing guests not on the contract onto the property for any reason.  This is a typical scenario in Texas, but leases can differ depending on how the contract is structured.  For instance, some leases are day leases only, where you lease a property for a short specified period of time, such as a weekend, and others are year-round leases like ours.  Some leases allow you to shoot only specific animals and others, like ours, allow you to shoot any legal animal while in season.  Our contract covers one year and is renewed each year. 

 

Our limit is dictated by the game laws for the county the land is in, and in Texas, the limits vary from county to county.  In our case, we can each shoot 1 buck and 2 does (whitetail deer).  Feral hogs are not considered game animals and have no harvest restrictions, so we can kill as many as we want year-round, any time of day, using any method we choose.  We also have bag limits set by the state for turkey, doves, and waterfowl, but it changes periodically.  There is no bag limit for varmints, predator animals, and squirrels, but unlike varmints, there is a season on squirrels.



Edited by RifleDude
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 8shots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/20/2007 at 01:21

Glock, nice to meet with you. Thanks for spotting that mistake. I will edit the posts and fix it up. Readers may think we are hunting cardboard cut-outs!

 

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 8shots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/20/2007 at 01:35

Glock, I can also tell many similiar stories. Fortunately with age comes wisdom! I normally pass up on cheap hunts nowadays.

Some years ago I was very lucky, some "ignorant" farmer in the Queenstown area. He had buck on the farm, he did not even know what type they were, that was never hunted. So a friend and I were allowed to hunt on the farm. The buck turned out to be impala, with many being Rowland Ward trophies. I shot two over 26 inches. He also had black springbuck. We paid him R3.50 a kg and R50 dayfee! For the hunt and the type of game it was the bargain of the decade!!!

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pyro6999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/20/2007 at 16:39
that was the one thing about wyoming i loved tons of blm and forest service land that was open to all, in mn a huge % is private which can suck at times especially if a deer runs into someone elses land after you shot it.

Edited by pyro6999
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote 8shots Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/22/2007 at 08:06

We have a similiar law in South Africa about game crossing into the neighbours property. It is a strict no-no to shoot anything on the other side of the fence, even if the animal has been wounded on your side. You have to have the other land-owners permission. Most farms have this pretty well sorted about following wounded buck, but you get some real hard-assed dudes which just will not permit such a thing.

Needless to say, some hunters have unknowingly (and knowingly) crosssed a boundary fence, and if the owner happened to be a hard-assed dude some ugly scenes have developed. In some districts there are longstanding feuds that make the JR Ewing feud look like a soap -opera (oh but it is!) And yes I am old enough to remember JR and Bobby.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote pyro6999 Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/22/2007 at 09:35
i can remember dallas too just barely though that ought to make you feel old
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/23/2007 at 14:51

Thanks RifleDude, wish it was that easy here in South Africa. Sounds like a really neat setup to have, land owners here can be full of B.S sometimes. Unfortunately cheap hunts here are becoming fewer and fewer, mind you after my first and last experience with the really cheap Eland hunts. I'll go back to what I know.

 

Regards Chris

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/23/2007 at 19:18
But on the other hand, Glock and 8shots... I would love to have such a huge variety of big game animals to hunt.  We don't have anywhere near as many game animals as you do. 
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2007 at 12:33

RifleDude you can say that again, i've never hunted outside of South Africa. Yet i've never been on a hunt here where i've not learnt something new, or seem something new. Even if I do say so we have some of the best hunting in the world, most game farms offer at least 6 different types of game to hunt.

 

Regards Chris

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote RifleDude Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/25/2007 at 13:25
I hope to one day make a hunt in your part of the world sometime before I die.
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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Glock Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/27/2007 at 12:12

RifleDude I can assure you it would be one of the best experiences of your life, I've been hunting here for 13 years. And I've still got a long way to go, as far as the amount of species that I want to hunt.

 

Regards Chris

 


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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Dogger Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: July/27/2007 at 15:35

Where I hunt in Ontario there are very large tracts of Crown land available to hunt at no charge.  We lease a one acre plot on Crown land where our camp is located so have to pay $535 per year for the lease but can hunts thousands of acres  (you could hunt out of a tent for free).

 

Big game licence costs for residents are:  Moose - $43;  Black Bear - $36; Whitetail deer - $36.  You also need a small game hunting licence that is about $57 for a three year period.  Licence to hunt migratory game birds is $17.

 

Generally speaking your big game licence allows you 1 of the game animals per year, however in some areas where there is a high population of deer you can purchase additional licences.  Moose licence is for calf only, you enter a draw for a cow or bull tag.

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Post Options Post Options   Thanks (0) Thanks(0)   Quote Urimaginaryfrnd Quote  Post ReplyReply Direct Link To This Post Posted: August/06/2007 at 21:07

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/pdfs/07nrdeer.pdf  first a link for non residents wanting to Hunt Iowa.

 

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/huntinglicensefees.htm l  schedule of fees

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/priv_avail.html  more detail

 

http://www.iowadnr.com/wildlife/files/seasondates.html  season dates

 

I buy a hunting license $17.50 and the required Habitat Fee $8.50 and an either sex deer tag $27 for Bow, deer antlerless bow $27 addtional antlerless are $12. an either sex tag for one of the four choices of gun seasons (two are shotgun and two are muzzleloader) I also get a landowner tag for either sex deer $2. and landowner turkey $1. and a $12 january late antlerless - the only rifle season and only in the bottom two tiers of counties which is where I have two 40 acres each farms. Most of the hunting I do out in the wooded area - training area at Camp Dodge Army Natl Guard base three miles from home. There is a lot of state owned land available to hunt some of it very good hunting and many farmers will allow you permission to hunt just by asking but not all. The shotgun seasons are a little crazy because they push deer - half of a group of guys starts at one end of a wooded area and walks through it while the rest wait at the other end and shoot at the deer that run out. Bow season is much more sane, and the muzzle loader seasons are my favorite and I usualy hunt them from at ladder stand or a blind similar to how I hunted in  Texas growing up. The hunting here is some of the best I have experienced and I have lived in several states.  Im told that it is not too expensive to go up to Minnesota and hunt brown bears but I dont know much about that.  


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