Is big game hunting a cost effective way to supplement my diet?

I love meat and organic meat seems healthier to me.



Will becoming a hunter be cost effective in the long run?



Are the permits expensive?

Are you allowed to shoot enough to live on?



Thanks!Is big game hunting a cost effective way to supplement my diet?
It really depends on where you hunt, each state has different permit prices.



I grew up with freezers filled with deer and moose meat. One moose will last you all winter and then some! I believe it is definitely cost effective...not to mention HEALTHIER....
The food is better for you it has no government garbage in it like a market cowIs big game hunting a cost effective way to supplement my diet?
Depends if you harvest the animal yourself. It is very expensive to have somebody do it for you. Just depends.

Bag limits depend on the state you live in, and other costs may include the use of public land.



Hunting season is not open year round btw.Is big game hunting a cost effective way to supplement my diet?
It depends on where you live. I live in a state with very liberal limits on the amount of deer that can be harvested. I pay $60 a year for a license for fishing and hunting and that price included access to wildlife management areas for deer hunting. Check the regulations for the area you want to hunt. A decent rifle can be bought for a reasonable prices at pawnshops or off the used rack at a gunshop.
not for everyone....if it was there would be a lot of people doing it. for most people it is a net loss but a nice hobby.
unless you plan to do all the work yourself, cleaning the game and processing it to be ready for the table, i doubt it will seem cost effective. processing a deer for the table can run fifty to a hundred dollars or more per deer. buying the guns, ammunition, licenses and very possibly having to pay lease fees for a place to hunt can run into several thousand to begin with. game laws vary from state to state and county to county, so being able to shoot several deer might be a problem in some areas, which could mean a move to a more productive area or at least a trip for each hunt. also, seasons across most areas are only for a couple of months a year. most experienced hunters have done these things for years, and can spend as little as a hundred dollaors a year or less. to keep themselves in venison. but to start from scratch could be very expensive at the outset.

hunting and eating what you hunt is an american tradition to be used and enjoyed, but these days only a few people can cheaply supply all their needs for meat by hunting.
A hunting license isn't expensive. Like most pastimes, many of us let these things get a bit out of control My meat may cost $400 a pound, but I don't care. Where I live, I can shoot more deer than I can eat in a year, and do it with little difficulty, but that's also just me.
Wild Big game is very good for you, it is cost effective for me for i have 3 boys and raising them to eat "From the Land" not only cuts down on my grocery bill but it also teaches them how to survive. As far as permits, here in Indiana it is not unusual to be able to get 5 deer a season so that is plenty enough to fill the freezer, also as far as processing i do my own, which only costs me time now. Research a little and buy you a good set of knives to start with when processing and work your way up as time goes by, a little bit here and there adds up and before you know it you have all the equiptment that you will ever need. As far as havesting your own meat try to find an experienced hunter to hunt with and learn what you can from him/her. Here you have a choice of early archery then firearm season consisting of either shotgun, handgun, and muzzleloader, then you have muzzleloader season, followed by late archery so you can see there is plenty of oppurtunity to get your limit of deer here.
Cost effective?? Maybe.... I see these guys go into the woods with a $40000 4X4, a $1000 rifle, a $500 scope, that shoots $65 a box ammo, and get deeper into the woods with a $4000 quad runner and $450 in clothes on, etc, etc, etc...... Thats not cost effective... I just go off in the woods with my old boots, a 30/30 lever gun I have owned since 1980, a red checker jacket with a bright orange hat and thats it.... Everything was paid for years ago. The freezers full...... Shoot enough to live on? probably not but if your way out in the woods enough then I suppose it doesnt matter.... Permits are cheap... Legaly you may not be allowed to take enough game to make it worth the bother but I suppose if you hunt now and then and take several pounds of meat in your limits then its worth it.... even if the freezer is filled part time...
Yes, it can defenitley be cost effective.

My personal experience is this:

2 deer per year

Feeds a family of 2 plus many bbq.

Cost:

Tags about $35 for archery (Illinois).

Processing fee is about $100 per deer.

Benefits:

Meat for 1 year.

Time spent outside hunting.
The meat in most wild game is much healthier than the store-bought variety. There's less fat and very little cholesterol. Another great part of shooting your own food is that you can have a variety. Instead of going to the grocery store and having beef, pork, and chicken, you can go hunting for deer, elk, rabbits, squirrels, doves, ducks, geese, and possibly hogs and other indigenous animals.

Whether or not it's cost effective is a whole other question. If you already own a gun, have land you can hunt on for free, and do your own processing, it is. Your only real expense is a hunting license and ammo. But if you have to buy a gun, lease property to hunt on, and pay $100 to have a deer processed, the price per pound gets really high.

Check with your local fish %26amp; game department to see what the limits are on different types of game. You can pick up a handbook at most sporting goods stores and Wal-Mart that show the limits, and when the seasons are open.
Resident licenses don;t cost to much usually, big game like deer hunting is not something you can just go out and do. I know it takes the average first time hunter in Indiana 3 years to get their first deer. If you are talking about elk it is going to be even harder. You need at least good camo and scent control dpending on where you hunt. You will need a gun and ammunition allowed by your state and you may want a tree stand or ground blind to hunt out of. You have to learn how to field dress and butcher yourself.



I had venison sausage made for less than $1.25 a pound last year out of a doe and it was great. There is a great amount of money, time, and skill invested. If someone you know could take you hunting and show you some stuff you can learn quick.
To answer your question- it can be a cost effective way, but will usually not stay that way for long- you see, after awhile, you get caught up in it, and want to travel to places farther away and with different methods of hunting ( such as bow hunting) it soon becomes a type of hobby or recreation for you. But I usually kill 5-6 deer a year, and that is the meat we live on until the next hunting season , you get about about 50% of the weight of a deer after processing- an adult deer in my area will go about 130 lbs for a doe and about 160 for a buck- these weights will vary between each deer - but say the average is 145 lb's- after processing you get about 70 lbs of edible meat- at todays prices I figure the worth at say, $5 a lb.-that makes the worth of 70 lbs of deer at $350 - multiply that by 6 -( if I'm lucky enough to limit out) and that is $2100 worth of meat. So you can use this as a somewhat sort of a guide line to see if you can be cost efficient in your hunting quest. You also need to understand that this is the figures I give to my wife to justify something I may want to buy in the hunting area. The fact that deer meat is the most healthiest meat you can eat should be the major factor in your decision to hunt for meat- it is super lean and no chemicals added for the growth of the animal- Do you know that the European nations will not allow our meat to be exported into theri country? It has dangerous chemicals that is put into the feed for the animals (all of them) that promotes growth so their profit margin is bigger- The European nations say this product causes cancer. Good luck !