Buying vs. Hunting for meat which is better?

what are some benefits on hunting and buying respectively? Economically speaking??





Cost per pound,effects on the environment, etc


please help THANK YOU








Buying vs. Hunting for meat which is better?
Hunting ----You gain memories that have been passed down for generations. Not everyone can do it. You get natural meat. Not someones farm animal. You save someone form going to the hospital from hitting a deer on the highway.








buying ----you make some rancher Rich. you cost someone medical bills (from the wreck caused from the un managed deer.Buying vs. Hunting for meat which is better?
It's kind of like apples vs oranges. You cant buy venison in stores without it being USDA inspected and it wouldn'tt be cheap in any event. So hunting would be about the only way to get all the cuts of venison.





However, getting it down to dollars per pound, I would have to figure that a typical hunting season cost me about 500 dollars for food, gas, beer etc. and other items for the cabin. Then the prorated cost of the gun and ammo. I black powder hunt but it is still fairly expensive per shot ( about 60 cents) cost of the rifle over the last four years adds another 45 dollars. I almost always get one deer,rarely two. I do the butchering for most of the camp and many give me extra meat. I will say as an average, I take about 100 pounds of meat a season.





The cost of this 100 pounds for a season( Nov 3 days and Dec. , 4 days)is about $5.50 a pound. If you bought the best beef at 100 pounds packaged in assortedd cuts, it would probably cost closer to 8-9 bucks a pound. So yes, at least for me, hunting is cheaper than buying. The meat is also a better quality with no hormones, weird feed in the meat or preservatives. AND less fat.
Ok, I just know I am going to get flamed on this post and get a lot of thumbs down for playing devil's advocate here, but here goes...





The cost of a hunting license in my state is about $35. If I want to hunt in ajoining states, the cost for a non-resident license is about $120.





A decemt deer rifle with scope will cost you about $1,200 these days. (Remington 700 BDL 30-06 at $800, Leupold VX-III scope at $400, scope base and rings, plus a sling, plus the ammo.) Of course, you can amortorize this cost over 12 years, so maybe it is just $100 a year. Add to this...hunting boots, pants, blaze orange parka, knife, long underwear, etc., in the clothing line.





So you shoot a deer. Great. Gut it, drag it, then decide what to do with it. Deer often carry deer ticks. Deer ticks carry Lyme Disease. So, just by handling the deer, there is a risk. Some deer are infected with rabies. If you have small cuts on your hands or lesions on your skin, be careful. In some states, deer also have CWD (chronic wasting disease). It is very similar to Mad Cow Disease, but scientists SAY that it can not make the jump to humans. But, state game officials do caution hunters to take extra precautions in how they butcher deer.





Ok, so then comes the question. Do you butcher it yourself? That can take several hours, is hard work, and you run all of the risks that I just mentioned above. Or, do you pay a deer processor $100 to do the dirty work?





Believe me, I have eaten my share of deer meat, cooked in a variety of ways. The very best was deer that was slow cooked over an open fire on a spit. Deer burgers are also delicioius, but you usually have to add some well cooked bacon to the ground deer meat to boost the flavor. One thing though, deer meat reheated is like eating shoe leather. Deer meat rarely tastes good when reheated.



I prefer hunting, it hasn't been pumped full of growth hormones and it's something you did all by yourself. Nature fed the animal and you can serve nature on the table with your family this evening. You never know what's been in meat you buy from the store. Of course it's going to take your time but when you've got a day off why not spend it hunting, you'll have fun and you might walk away with something great to eat.
I started off with a 500 gallon freezer and have graduated to a walk in freezer and some type of wild meat every day for dinner. It isn't cheap to get into but neither is farming. Once you have what you need then its very economical if your good at what you do and dont waste your time. You cant go into the hunting store and buy all the gimmicks and junk that you dont need. No pee in a bottle, no stopping in the store to buy snacks and drinks on the way to the hunt. I pride myself on being able to bring clean meat to the table for less money than I can go buy it.





In order to live this way you must utilize all types of game including fish. Most game species limits wont last you all year if you eat them night after night. I can stock pile the most meat out of small game with daily bag limits rather than large game with seasonal bag limits. When its squirrel season I am out there daily taking my limit.. adds up fast. During mid-late summer I am out pulling 50 dinner plate size bluegill off the beds daily.. thats 100 fillets a day going directly into my freezer for maybe $8 a trip if I dont buy things I dont need. $8 will buy you a tiny tray of crappy tasting catfish in the supermarket.. store bought fish tastes nothing like wild game fish. I bought my boat in 89 for $3,000 and I make all repairs myself. That boat has more than paid for itself by being filled with fish and waterfowl time and time again.





I do like beef but I dont buy beef from the store. I buy a cow directly from the local ranchers and have them pen it up and feed it grain for 30 days to get rid of the harsh taste of a grass diet and then I butcher it myself. I dont do this because I fear store bought meat is contaminated.. I do it because its MUCH cheaper this way. Contrary to popular belief your unlikely to find hormones or anti-biotics in store bought beef. Using such things is counter productive.. in order to be a productive cattle farmer you let the cows turn worthless grass into beef. Meds are used if the animal falls ill but this delays sale to feedlots and nothing a feedlot hates more than having medicated cattle that they cannot sell in a 30 day period because they must continue to feed them valuable grain!
cost per pound, how much gas you going to spend getting to your hunting spot? that's mainly the biggest part of spending money when it comes to hunting. environment? deer are part of the environment they are needed to keep the woods healthy, and you dont need to truck food to them, clear fields for them etc





the meat is way better for you then farm raised live stock.


no added crap, they eat healthy so when you eat them, you eat healthy...





deer live wild, far more wild then you and i and far far more wild then cow/chickens etc, deer do what they want when they want. deer are not packed in with 100's of others in a tiny area, then one day they get shot, and in a few sec's or min's they are dead...very little suffering, you cant say the same for cows..





i used deer as a example because thats mostly what people hunt around here.
Cost depends on how you hunt and what you hunt. Hunting deer will yield much cheaper meat than upland game birds. You need to add in gas money and accomodations, this could be very expensive or close to nothing.





Game animals that eat natural food put out a lot less greenhouse gases than farmed animals eating corn and stuff.
Hunting is nearly free. You have your initial costs--gun and tag, but after that things are cheap. It is good for the environment to hunt, government agencies track how many animals are around and open the hunt up to more hunters when there are too many of a particular animal. Go Hunters!
I am not completely sure about money wise but i guess if you are prepared it only really costs for the tag and ammo and of course your time. But if you hunt for you meat you will have a greater respect for it and not waste it like some people do with meat that they buy from a store.






Its not what you pay for something that matters, its what you get for what you pay.*~~ Greater benefits to Hunting.*
Hunting:


If you have a gun, knife, bullets for the gun, you can do it.





Shopping:


Weakling with money
When you consider the total costs, hunting is far more expensive


per pound of meat.


It's called a sport for a reason.
Hunting for your meat is a lot more honest than paying someone else (the butcher) to do your killing for for you.
ok well how about 95 dollars for 400lb of elk meat ?





75 dollars for 120lb of mule deer meat?





these animals must be thinned they have no predators but us