Has western hunting become a wealthy man's sport?

[AXEL]

I have known some of BC's most famed sheep (and other species) hunters, they were old men when I was young and only bothered with me because of the family I come from. Very simply, I really doubt the tale of buckets and most carried canvas rucks and Trapper Nelson packboards.

I started backpacking with two canvas rucks which my GF brought to Vancouver and then Nelson, BC, from Milwaukee in 1893 and we still have these in (barely) usable condition. NO serious mountain man would use a bucket except to carry seedlings for reforestation back in the '60s and I know this from doing it at that time.

Jeans, yes, to a point, but, surplus battle dress was the usual choice of pants and a "Siwash" sweater or "mackinaw" were the outer wear choices. I knew men well who shot game in the Kootenays in the late 1890s, and learned some aspects of my former occupation from them.

A Trapper Nelson was my first new backpack and I used it for about four years, often with "misery slippers" in deep late season snow hunting Whitertails in the Lardeau, out of Billy Clark's home. Anyone, who knows the history of Kootenay hunting will know who he was.

 

[DEHusker]

My personal thought is that hunting is becoming a rich man's sport in general - forget about west vs east style. We can thank commercialization/glamorization and TV shows for it. Think about it. Sure, most of us can chase the "common" game every year...deer, small game, maybe wild hogs here and there, maybe elk if you live out west. However, nonresidents are paying through the nose for tags anymore....Colorado (my home state) gets >$600 for a bull tag, and that's OTC too. Crazy. Forget even talking about moose, sheep, goats, etc. Most of us will never get to hunt those things because tags are insanely hard to get (and getting harder every year) and paying for a guided/tag guaranteed hunt is obscenely expensive. Even drawing one of those coveted tags is going to set you back $1000's of dollars just for the tag. Then, if you want a good crack at the animal, you getter hire a guide to find and take you to the game. Get ready to pay out the nose for that too. Plus, anyone check taxidermy prices lately? Yikes...my plain jane antelope shoulder mount this year is a bargain at $675. I think it's a shame that most of us will never get to experience private land/permission hunts anymore because permission just doesn't exist anymore without $$$$ and a contract. Thank your local capitalistic economist for that one too...Hell, goose pits where I am from cost $5000/year for the lease....yes!!! $5000!!!!!!! All this in the face of new threats to turn our Federal Game lands over the the states because of lack of funding (millions of acres of public land) which will ASSUREDLY cause them to be sold to the highest bidder (ie Ted Turner) because the states can't fund them either. Get ready to pay even more to access the lands you want to hunt, IF you can even get access at all. Want a sheep auction hunt, or elk auction hunt? Hope you have deep pockets....$75,000 and over for a desert sheep auction. Who has that kind of cash? I'd love a sheep NA slam but I'll prob never draw a desert sheep tag, ever. Apache reservation guaranteed elk tag anyone? >$35,000+

I just moved from Germany where I lived for several years. I hunted over there, a lot. However, almost nobody hunts anymore because it is so expensive and the gear and licenses are outrageously expensive. They are experiencing a shortage of hunters and have game overpopulation problems in some areas due to lack of interest from hunters. This is America in a few decades. Nobody will be able to afford to hunt except the superwealthy...ie CEO's, etc. Picture the current yacht scene or high end golf scene and that will become hunting over here save for a few family farms and small plots of government land left for the throngs to overrun every year and chase out the few animals remaining. It's all based on greed and wealth....from the companies, to the government, to the states, to the landowners. All greed! And we keep paying the higher tag fees, higher lease fees, higher guide fees, higher gear costs....wow. When is it going to end?

How many people watch Eastmans' Hunting TV, Bonecollector, or Peterson's hunting? Yeah, me too. However, I get a little jealous when I see hunt after hunt on great land, with amazing gear, good guides, insane locations year after year. This is not realistic but we see it all the time. These shows/people have sponsorships and deep deep pockets. It's sickening and gives an unrealistic portrait of what we should expect. I'm disenchanted frequently....LOL!

 

[wyosteve]

Lots of interesting opinions expressed. A theme that seems to run through many posts is that somehow everyone should have a right or ability to hunt any game they would like regardless of their situation. Well guys, wake up and smell the roses. Not everyone can afford to drive a Mercedes or Bugatti or whatever, just like not everyone will get to hunt every animal they would like. That's just the way life is. Accept whatever your station is in life or take the necessary steps to change it, but don't complain just because someone else might easily be able to do something you can't. Just my .02 and not meant as a criticism of anyone specific.

 

[JCT]

Some years ago I had a very wealthy guy ( 7 bath, 4 story waterfront home) ask me how I afford to go on the hunts I've been on.
Seriously ! His property taxes alone would fund my yearly exploits and then some.
I don't have TV, all my vehicles are 15 plus years old, grow, raise or kill most all my own food, built my own house (very small 1200 sq ft)
I don't buy things I don't need and invest, in one form or another, every extra dime I make.
I'm self employed so my retirement is entirely up to me.
I lease a farm down the road for the soul reason of solitude.
Is hunting expensive? Heck yea it is! But I think it's all relative, priorities.
Hell a year of cable TV will buy just about any tag out there. A case of beer a week will buy the gas to just about anywhere from anywhere.
A year of vehicle payments on some over sized Duromax that most people don't need ( sure look good riding in, NOT) will go along way
towards other things. It simply boils down to what you want and how bad you want it.
Hope that makes sense.
Regards
JT

 

[metal3006]

Jt you nailed!
Hunting and the outdoors is what i enjoy doing. Its how i spend my free time and money. That means my other interest more often than not get put on the back burner and im fine with that. It all comes down to what you want more. Hunting definetly isnt getting cheaper and im sure it will get worse in the years to come but im always going to factor it into my budget because theres always other things i can do without.

 

[bowhunter15]

For me personally it's not so much the cost of the gear but the prices of the tags for Western hunting. I live in MN now, but when I lived one state over in WI, I could buy two buck tags and three doe tags for a total of $52. Additional doe tags were $2 a piece. TWO DOLLARS!! Much of the gear I've obtained I use year in and year out. My $200 tree stand has been used for 10 years, and I expect to easily get 10 more out of it for example. The main annual cost becomes gas for a 40 mile one way commute to scout and hunt. But out west, man... $600+ for an elk tag, $300+ for a deer tag, hundreds in gas for a 1000 mile one way commute. The gear is the least of my worries. I love it, which is why I have no problem forking out the cash, but it is pretty crazy to think about it.

That being said, my camera gear that I lug out on hunting trips is worth probably as much as my pack/bow/tent/stove/etc, so like others have said it's all about perspective.

 

[JCT]

There is a guy has a blog, American Grouch, some time ago he did an essay on hunting, it's costs, benefits and the trade offs ect..
He completely nails it and makes the argument incredibly well. His mention of a buthole sandwich in a different entry on his blog is how I found out about this site !
Crazy! Ha! He is on here. I hope he chimes in, even just recopy his original here if nothing else.
JT

 

[winter]

Lots of great discussion. When I started this thread I had no idea where it would go. I was focusing more on the gear side of things, but you guys nailed it with tag costs, etc. Next month I will apply for all the Colorado big game species. That'll be $1200 in just application fees and I'm a resident! They give most of it back when I don't draw, but they have my money for longer than a credit card cycle.

Another thing about gear. A lot of folks are saying how we really don't need some of the things I listed. I tried to come up with a list of quality products that are more affordable but still good quality gear. For example, my annual mule deer hunt at 12,500ft. Without good quality gear, it can become a survival situation really quick. However, like you guys are saying, some cheap stuff will suffice, but when the conditions get tough I want to hunt and not worry about surviving or shivering all night.

Good talk guys.

 

[American Grouch]

This is a reprint of an essay I wrote years ago. While the main thrust of this thread was western hunting the reality is many people see hunting in general as being priced out of common man reach, I disagree with that notion however, the worth of a thing can often be measured far beyond the monetary cost. Most recently the discussion wasn't so much about the cost to hunt (west or otherwise) but rather the cost of meat acquired through hunting vs the grocery store, the essay was more geared towards that discussion.



Is Hunting Worth it?


Often the debate has raged over the price of a pound of wild meat vs the cost of a pound of beef, but there is more to this than simple dollars per pound and that 'more to it' is hard to articulate.


Some ground rules so we're not over complicating it;


We'll assume that due to National Forests, State Land, family land etc that the average Nimrod (that's an endearing term not an insult) has access to ground to hunt without paying through the nose.


Not assuming a vehicle cost because you need one of these for work, and or to get to the grocery store. If you're public transportation enslaved you're not likely in the argument anyway.


The common argument goes like this;


Rifle =$XX
Ammo = $XX
License =$XX
Hunting Gear=$XX
Gas to get to hunting ground =$XX


VS


Gas to grocery store =$XX
Cost of meat =$XX


At first blush is appears a no brainer, grocer meat is the cheap!


Not so fast. If you're a hunter starting green and have no rifle, no ammo, no hunting gear (more on this in a minute) then yes, your first year out you're invested with little return expected.


Year two, you're not purchasing a gun, and if you purchased hunting gear with some actual forethought on durability and practicality you're not buying any more of that either. So gas and license, and ammo.


The common argument at this point turns to success rates and whether or not our Nimrod is successful. Depending on the state success rates, a 2006 survey conducted by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service found that only about 50 percent of the deer hunters across the country killed one or more deer in a season. The average deer hunters take an animal every other year. The average, yet I say what one man can do then so too can another. In the past 37 years I've put at least one deer in the freezer every year, more often than not it was two, in many cases three. I do work full time and most of those years saw deer taken on public not private or leased land.


Hunting Gear doesn't have to be mad expensive. When I was young I didn't know what 'hunting gear' even was. I wore jeans, a carhartt jacket, my grandfather's thuty-thuty and a pocket full of green tainted brass shells of god only knows what origin and age. In my other pocket was usually found an apple and a PBJ sandwich. The boots on my feet were the same ones I wore for work. Essentially my initial investment was the cost of the license and the calories spent walking. Even then I killed my deer every year.


Many years later I found out what 'hunting gear' was and was fooled for a few years by the 'gotta have this' well I outgrew that. Now I do buy 'hunting gear' typically high end clothing that is well made and I use it year round for I am not a seasonal hunter. I've learned that there is much more to learn about the woods and the animals I hunt in the off season as much as there is in the 'in season' and thus I wear these clothes the year round in the woods. You do not need to buy the whizbang to be a hunter.


So let's say by year three you're getting dialed in and can put a deer a year in the freezer. In my neck of the woods the average dressed weight is about 75 pounds, sometimes more, a doe a few years ago netted me 90 pounds of meat for example. I do my own butcher work so there was no cost here save in vacuum sealing bags.


So in year three you've connected and you've spent $$ on all of the aforementioned items, some of which are one time buys. The common thinker now divides the pounds of meat yielded by the total expenditure.


Now let's talk about the 'more to it' that no one ever seems to calculate.


What did you learn? Education costs money and time, that's a given. So, in the three years what did you learn and what was it worth? Learning the woods, was that valuable? Learning animal habits and ways, was that valuable? Is what you learned transferable to other endeavors? As an example, did you learn to read a map of an area, to determine where best to hunt? Did you plan a hunt based on that terrain? Did you come to understand weather patterns? What was all this education worth? Put a number to it and subtract it from your investment costs because you won't unlearn it, you get to keep it, forever.


What did you experience? Experiences cost money and time, this is also a fact. Was the experience over the three years enjoyable to you? Think hard about cost of experiences because they're hidden throughout our lives. What do you pay for them? What was your three years of hunting worth? Keep in mind that time spent in the woods hunting is time NOT spent shopping, spending money, or getting fat on the couch. In fact, you're in the field pumping lungs, walking off the chips and soda, driving your sense and getting healthier! What's that worth? Subtract that number from your investment.


What did you gain beyond education, experience, and physical meat? What's in the quality of meat? Three ounces of lean beef contain, 247 calories and 15 grams of total fat. Three ounces of venison contain 134 calories and only 3 grams of total fat. Venison has more protein: 26 grams to 23 grams in beef. Venison also has more vitamins and minerals per serving than beef does. It has advantages in iron, vitamin B6, niacin, and riboflavin. Do a google search for health benefits of wild game, do due diligence in your research. I think you'll find the meat quality is superior to anything you find wrapped in cellophane. What's that worth? Decide on a figure, subtract it from your investment.


Further, who made it a rule that this debate is only associated with venison? It is highly common for me to take other animals during hunting season as there are usually a slew of other critters in season during that time. Take grouse for example, every year I take a goodly amount, enough so that we've not bought chicken for meals in years. Add to this what I take through trapping, if you've not had coon you owe it to yourself to try. Properly cooked it's fine eating. These things add to to the total in 'pounds of meat' taken. What is this worth, the quality of the meat, the additional meat types? Subtract that from your investment.


As Horace Kephart said, 'There is no graduation day in the school of the woods', similarly with hunting, there is no end to the education, to the experience, to the enjoyment, to the health benefits. They are value adds for as long as you hunt.


Lastly and likely the single most difficult to determine a dollar figure for. What is the worth of being within the circle and cycle of life as a active participant rather than an observer? To 'make meat' by one's own wit and will, sinew and skill? It is an achievement and to do it consistently is a series of milestone sets that builds much more than a collection of horns on the wall. My hand did this thing that feeds me and mine the most healthy meat available. My hand put protein forth that went on to fuel the building of young minds and hearts, mental and spiritual nourishment, can you find that beneath the florescent lights wrapped in cellophane?


Do you remember your last trip to the grocery store to buy meat? Was it a rewarding memory set to last a lifetime? Will you tell the tale at the dinner table, of how you stalked the shopping cart? How you chased through the dangerous herds of starving wildebeest charging the free sample lady at the CostCo? Is it something that in your twilight years you will think back upon, a warmth in your chest of a younger man, the hair standing on your arms, recall the stinging November breeze on your cheeks as you brought rifle to bear. Will you recall the warm blood on your hands as you cleaned the animal? Will you remember the smell of the earth, of life, of death, all the cycles and that you were a part of it?


What is this worth?

 

[JCT]

Ask and ye shall receive, apparently, anyhow.
Thank you sir,very much !
JT

 

[DaveC]

A theme that seems to run through many posts is that somehow everyone should have a right or ability to hunt any game they would like regardless of their situation.

I would say opportunity, rather than right or ability. Hunting (or doing anything) far from home is necessarily going to be expensive. I can't see anyone asking for gas vouchers along with their tags. The excessive tag costs and needless guide mandates are, in the end, both needless and discriminatory. This isn't free market opportunity, it's stacking the deck against certain folks for no compelling reason. Yes tag fees fund game agencies in most places today, but that's a separate problem which needs at least partial fixing.

 

[DaveC]

I'd like to see:

-NR tags capped at 5x the resident cost
-25% of tags open (but not guaranteed) to non-residents, irregardless of circumstance
-no mandated guiding, ever
-trepass fees outlawed, charging for accommodation and guiding is fine, but no money should change hands purely for hunting access of private land, after all the public owns the animals
-anyone who landlocks public land must provide open and free access to said public land in a timely fashion (obviously relevant beyond hunting)
-no Governor's tags, raffles are ok

 

[1hoda]

That'll be $1200 in just application fees and I'm a resident!

Good talk guys.

X2 at our house with a teenage son also applying for the whole shebang! Gets your attention.

 

[5MilesBack]

However, like you guys are saying, some cheap stuff will suffice, but when the conditions get tough I want to hunt and not worry about surviving or shivering all night.

It's all perspective. I started hunting with my best friend when I was 15 and he was 16. Back then big game hunting min age was 15 in CO. And we started out hunting the later rifle seasons. Most all of our hunting was at 10,500 feet and up. There were years when it was well below zero and 3 feet of snow came down. I remember one year when our thermometer froze up at -15 and stayed there. Shooting a cow elk at 0730 and having it just about frozen solid by noon. Our gear was crap. My sleeping bag was an old Coleman (probably summer bag) good to about min 50 degrees. I started doubling them up, but they still weren't good. I froze my rear end off every year. It wasn't until I graduated college that I finally could afford some decent gear. My clothes were those horrible waffled cotton long johns, jeans, couple shirts, and a down coat. Surprising that neither of us died. Back then we had acronyms for how cold it was......C, DC, and DFC. Warm was never in the equation.

These days, the archery season is a summer vacation weather-wise, even when it gets bad. 2006 Flat Tops got 3 feet of snow the third week of Sept. It was still warmer than later seasons and melted off quickly.

Yes, I have much better gear today........for a good reason. When you deal with that kind of stuff you'll pay whatever it takes to change it. Same for packs......haul out 100lb loads in an inferior pack (or just 1/4's or 1/2's over your shoulder), and you'll pay whatever they want for a decent hauler. However, our gear limitations never kept us home, and we looked forward to going back all year long. Perspective.

 

[CrzyTrekker]

My dad hunted, but I really came into hunting as an adult with a climbing, backpacking and military (light infantry) background, so I was already well accustomed to suffering. An elite mountaineeer once said of mountain climbing that it's "the art of suffering." I've been fortunate and have a lot of high end gear, Kifaru packs and shelters, sat phone, spotting scope, gps, etc. So I don't suffer too much anymore, aside from long approach hikes and packing meat out of the backcountry.

But I can tell you that if I lost it all today, I would quickly get refitted for public land DIY backpack hunting for $500 or less. Boots, rifle, pack, etc. Just the absolute necessary basics. No problem. I'd just be a little more uncomfortable. As others have said, you can spend as much or little as you want.

 

[MattB]

I have known some of BC's most famed sheep (and other species) hunters, they were old men when I was young and only bothered with me because of the family I come from. Very simply, I really doubt the tale of buckets and most carried canvas rucks and Trapper Nelson packboards.

I started backpacking with two canvas rucks which my GF brought to Vancouver and then Nelson, BC, from Milwaukee in 1893 and we still have these in (barely) usable condition. NO serious mountain man would use a bucket except to carry seedlings for reforestation back in the '60s and I know this from doing it at that time.

Jeans, yes, to a point, but, surplus battle dress was the usual choice of pants and a "Siwash" sweater or "mackinaw" were the outer wear choices. I knew men well who shot game in the Kootenays in the late 1890s, and learned some aspects of my former occupation from them.

A Trapper Nelson was my first new backpack and I used it for about four years, often with "misery slippers" in deep late season snow hunting Whitertails in the Lardeau, out of Billy Clark's home. Anyone, who knows the history of Kootenay hunting will know who he was.

AXEL, I don't know if it true or not, but that isn't relevant. The salient point is that folks were successfully mountain hunting with gear that most wouldn't even consider in this day and age other than to fill out a museum exhibit. We do not NEED most of the gear "the industry" tells us we do, and folks who lament the death of hunting for the average man are basing that premise on a false assumption borne of nothing more than a weakness for resisting slick marketing. That isn't to say that the latest and greatest gear isn't better, just that it isn't necessary.

Personally, I think that in many areas eastern hunting may have become more of a rich man's sport than western hunting simply because of the high % of private ground in the east. In areas with a small amount of public land and where leasing has become common place, the average guy likely has less access than the average guy out west where we have the benefit of lots of public ground.

 

[DEHusker]

Lots of interesting opinions expressed. A theme that seems to run through many posts is that somehow everyone should have a right or ability to hunt any game they would like regardless of their situation. Well guys, wake up and smell the roses. Not everyone can afford to drive a Mercedes or Bugatti or whatever, just like not everyone will get to hunt every animal they would like. That's just the way life is. Accept whatever your station is in life or take the necessary steps to change it, but don't complain just because someone else might easily be able to do something you can't. Just my .02 and not meant as a criticism of anyone specific.

I would somewhat agree with you, Wyosteve. However, I can tell you right now that the battle rages to ensure "Our American Heritage rights to hunt" on "Public Land" that "we all own." If those are all true statements, then WE ALL SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT/OPPORTUNITY to hunt wild game on public lands. Yes, I agree, we all cannot go to Africa and chase Leopard and Cape Buffalo. These are extravagant trips that most will never be able to do unless some saving or winning lottery tickets are found. My big gripe is how we are taken to the woodshed on fees, costs, tag prices, short seasons, etc. My home state of Colorado has no fewer than 6 normal elk seasons...Archery, ML, 4 rifle seasons. There are also a variety of non-trad seasons such as private land seasons, etc. All except the archery elk season are 9 days or less. 1st and 4th rifle season are 5 days....5 DAYS!!!! That's the season you get...all the time scouting, planning, buying gear, etc. and that's all you get! That is a total rip off. Oh by the way, those just happen to be the draw-only seasons which should represent your best hunting opportunity with the fewest hunters to have to compete against....ironically. Hope you get your animal in that 5 day mega-window!! LOL!! Hope there is no freak blizzard to keep you in your tent for 5 days straight, or 5 days of torrential downpour! Really hope your family doesn't truly NEED the meat either. I know for a fact that Colorado manages their elk herd for "opportunity" which is a thinly veiled attempt to fleece as much money out of the general population as possible. OTC here...YEP! Get as many thousands of hunters in the woods as possible to get as much money as possible during the archery, 2nd and 3rd seasons when there is more orange in the mountains than a Broncos game on Sunday. Archery OTC is getting absurd too....hunters everywhere! Archery is becoming the tag to have in Colorado for elk since the season is so long...even though the elk are basically silent now even during the rut since the pressure during archery season is so horrendous, even in draw only units (almost all draw only units have WAY TOO MANY tags given out). CO recently passed laws to increase the allotment of tags to nonresidents. They'll tell you it is an effort to make CO more accessible which sounds noble. However, when you see that bull elk non-res tags are >$600, it becomes obvious why they are increasing allotment. Non-residents are now also able to call in to get leftover licenses on the same day as residents too...used to be a one day delay. Why? Equal access? Nope...more money if more non-residents are here...not just tag fees but money on supplies, gas, hotels, restaurants, etc. I know some states have more liberal timeframes for their seasons....and places like Wy are unique because you can go back in later seasons if you didn't fill your archery tag and try with rifle. Cool. We need more of that here in CO. However, has anyone out there tried to "decipher" the absolute quagmire of rules/regs in each state for seasons/dates/etc? Especially in Western States? It's no wonder poaching is up...it's a heck of a lot easier to try to poach and get away with it than to legally decipher each state's hunting regs, get a tag, pay the exorbitant fees, and then try to not get busted by the DOW for doing or not doing some esoteric thing like "leave evidence of sex attached to the animal" on an either sex tag! (It's true, in CO you MUST leave evidence of sex attached to the animal even if you have an either sex tag...absolutely ridiculous) LOL!!!!

Some I'm sure know that there have been wars fought over the fact that at times in history peasants were denied hunting rights to feed their families while royalty had huge off-limits hunting zones for their trophy pursuits. This is not America (yet) but think about it....sound familiar? Is that what we are becoming here? Pretty soon all we'll be able to hunt are the most common species, IF we can get a tag. Another beef I have is lack of "lottery type" application process. Preference points are great....for residents and easier to draw tags but I guarantee I'll never get a crack at any of the "premium" non-resident tags in other states that require Pref points, esp with point creep. I am lucky I live in Colorado because there is a good chance, no guarantee mind you, that I might get a sheep/moose/goat tag in 10-15 years depending on which units for which I apply. Most non-residents will wait 2x longer IF they get a tag at all. I like Alaska's system and Wyoming's system for residents...no pref points. EVERYONE gets a fair shot every year, even for the best tags in the best areas. Cool...at least that is fair.

BTW, has anyone added up all the money they've spent obtaining preference points, buying states' licenses, getting habitat stamps, ATV/OHV permits, application fees, etc. just to be in a tag lottery where the draw rate is probably <1%? Lunacy.

If this sounds like venting, it kinda is. I'm a bit embarrassed about the whole post since I love to hunt, I love America, and I love what we stand for here (or once stood for). I do, however, get very frustrated at the absolute lack of common sense in today's world, a lot of which applies to my beloved pastime of hunting as well. It is my passion, one for which I'll go to almost any length, spend crazy amounts of money, and burn all of my vacation in one fell swoop to pursue. I get sad when I compare my experiences as a kid to those I have today. It is such a "big business" now and there is so much pressure to "get your animal" nowadays because of the financial and time commitment that sometimes I must vent! Sorry....

 

[JCT]

DEHusker, you go man!
Riddle me this, why do I, a non-resident of whatever state, have to pay non-resident fees to hunt federally owned land?
We all payed for it. I would argue that the revenues from non-western state liscences ect paid more than the states that said land is in
to procure that land. Am I wrong? (question is for everyone not directed at husker in particular)
Anyhow, dam good rant. Carry on.
JT

 

[1hoda]

JCT, I think the answer to your question is the wildlife in any given state is owned by the people of the state. That state is responsible for the management of that wildlife and the associated expenses.

Plus, some good old capitalism at work - non resident hunters will pay more for some tags. Supply and demand.

 

[AXEL]

MattB, I totally agree, as I have posted, I started with whatever old clothes, a borrowed 1917 Lee-Enfield .303, NO optics and a cheap folding knife given me by a neighbour.

I happen to enjoy fine guns, lots of them and I grew up in real poverty, due to the effects of WWI and WWII upon my family; so, as hard work and my ability to find and deal in "carriage trade" guns and gear increased as I aged, I just bought what I wanted....as most would, IMO.


We can discuss the excess in gear, etc., that so many seem to buy, BUT, there are some posts here that go too far and seem to advocate using minimal gear and sketchy stuff; here in BC, that can get your azz in a sling, PDQ.

There, IS a "happy medium" and that is where we all should be, but, I have wanted a Kimber Montana or Mountain Ascent in, probably, .280Ackley, for about two years and.....wellllll.....

Today, I just said. "f**kit" and ordered the damned thing...what can I say, eh!?