The Cost of Hunting

Hunting is a broad subject. I went hunting for Elk once and easily spent $2,000 for one trip to the mountains. Most of the hunting around south Arkansas is centered around deer season. This statement will offend the passionate duck hunters but to most people duck hunting is a rich man’s sport. Regardless, for the sake of this discussion we will limit the discussion to deer hunting.

The cost of deer hunting varies depending on the hunter’s needs, wants, and desires. If you have a weapon, a place to hunt, and the will power to get up early the cost is not oppressive. A resident license costs $25 dollars and is good for a year which means they are good for one deer season. Once you harvest the deer, to have the deer processed will cost between $75 and $120 depending on the options you choose. The result of the hunting on the cheap not including the cost of the weapon will be around $250 to $300 including food and travel expense. The average deer will yield about 60 pounds of meat. So the cheap side of hunting will cost about $4.50 per pound. That should be just a little cheaper than a pound of ground beef.

A rifle can easily cost $500 dollars, so if you have not inherited an arsenal the cost of the weapon would significantly increase the cost of hunting. However, the weapon should last for years if taken care of, and most become family heirlooms and will be passed down for generations. If you depreciated the cost of the firearm over the lifetime of the weapon the cost becomes negligible.

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