Share your "Hunting Items I've overspent on with no advantage"

nphunter

WKR
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Location
Oregon
I was reading through the buy once cry once thread and it made me think of all of the awesome gear I've wasted money on that really has given me zero advantage over my older cheaper gear.

Here is the list for me;

Seek outside floorless shelter with lite outdoors stove. Haven't used it or needed any more than my regular $50 lightweight backpacking tent with seam sealer and silicon spray.

Custom 280AI, it's fun to hit steel at 1K but even though it's killed a dozen animals in the last 6 years none have been much over 200 and it isn't any more effective at those ranges than the hand me down 30-06 I got from my father.

Hoyt RX4 / Carbon Spyder, I spent as much on my last two bows as a custom rifle costs, they are awesome bows and I love shooting them but they are no more accurate than the $200, 8-year-old Strothers I bought for my son.

Custom high FOC $300/Doz arrows, I love to build myself new arrow each year, custom fletch, IW collars and inserts, fancy wraps and fletching, but, they don't kill any better than my factory fletch easton arrows I bought for years.

First lite / Sitka / Kuiu gear, I don't even know how many thousands I've got tied up in my clothing, I do love my light merino wool cloths but I hunt in archery season and I was perfectly comfortable wearing my old walmart max 1 vented camo that I wore for years before I got a decent job.

Yeti- I love my Yeti and actually received it as a gift a few years ago, I definitely feel like they are way too much for what you get, you can buy a lot of ice for that couple hundred dollar difference.

Benchmade - Man I love my Benchmade!! I'm getting ready to buy the newest hidden canyon for the kill kit. However, I still have the hunting knife my dad gave me when I was 12, an old-timer sharp finger that has broken down dozens of animals and still holds an edge almost as well. I still keep that old-timer in my truck and use it, I still love to bust out the Benchmade every chance I get.

I took my family on a trip to ID for a late archery hunt over Thanksgiving we stayed at a motel since it was super cold and I had the wife and kids. I packed everything in out of the vehicle each day and was sitting in the room estimating how much money in gear I had with me for that one hunt. Between my bow, arrow, broadheads, releases, base layers - cold weather gear, two pairs of boots, my pack and all of my optics and other gear in my pack I figured I had about 12K worth of gear with me, that didn't even count all my warm weather gear at home or my wife and kids bows and gear.

Hunting is my main hobby and I don't smoke or drink, all of my spare time is spent in the woods so I enjoy having nice things when I'm out there. Sometimes I step back and look at all the costs and feel like Fred Bear would probably roll over in his grave if he knew what a lot of hunters spend nowadays. I know some people have way more gear than me, I defiantly don't consider myself a gear nut by any means and most of my optics are Vortex which is why there not on the list above:)
 
I spent a lot on a used Weatherby Mark V DGR 300 Weatherby mag and put some more into it but it has less recoil than the Sako 30.06 it replaced and is very accurate so no regrets. Ill second that for my 12x15 swaro ELS. The clothes I agree with you. The merino wool is good stuff but other Sitka stuff may be questionable in the roi. I've got fishing gear going back to the 60s and 70's although I did treat myself to a Winston 5 wt to support TU. It replaces a lamiglass 5 wt I made for $100 in the early 90's. I also golf and ski so I got stuff coming out the wazoo. I'm known to knock back a bourbon or three and love cigars. You can't take the almighty simoleon with you when you go.

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I was reading through the buy once cry once thread and it made me think of all of the awesome gear I've wasted money on that really has given me zero advantage over my older cheaper gear.

Here is the list for me;

Seek outside floorless shelter with lite outdoors stove. Haven't used it or needed any more than my regular $50 lightweight backpacking tent with seam sealer and silicon spray.

Custom 280AI, it's fun to hit steel at 1K but even though it's killed a dozen animals in the last 6 years none have been much over 200 and it isn't any more effective at those ranges than the hand me down 30-06 I got from my father.

Hoyt RX4 / Carbon Spyder, I spent as much on my last two bows as a custom rifle costs, they are awesome bows and I love shooting them but they are no more accurate than the $200, 8-year-old Strothers I bought for my son.

Custom high FOC $300/Doz arrows, I love to build myself new arrow each year, custom fletch, IW collars and inserts, fancy wraps and fletching, but, they don't kill any better than my factory fletch easton arrows I bought for years.

First lite / Sitka / Kuiu gear, I don't even know how many thousands I've got tied up in my clothing, I do love my light merino wool cloths but I hunt in archery season and I was perfectly comfortable wearing my old walmart max 1 vented camo that I wore for years before I got a decent job.

Yeti- I love my Yeti and actually received it as a gift a few years ago, I definitely feel like they are way too much for what you get, you can buy a lot of ice for that couple hundred dollar difference.

Benchmade - Man I love my Benchmade!! I'm getting ready to buy the newest hidden canyon for the kill kit. However, I still have the hunting knife my dad gave me when I was 12, an old-timer sharp finger that has broken down dozens of animals and still holds an edge almost as well. I still keep that old-timer in my truck and use it, I still love to bust out the Benchmade every chance I get.

I took my family on a trip to ID for a late archery hunt over Thanksgiving we stayed at a motel since it was super cold and I had the wife and kids. I packed everything in out of the vehicle each day and was sitting in the room estimating how much money in gear I had with me for that one hunt. Between my bow, arrow, broadheads, releases, base layers - cold weather gear, two pairs of boots, my pack and all of my optics and other gear in my pack I figured I had about 12K worth of gear with me, that didn't even count all my warm weather gear at home or my wife and kids bows and gear.

Hunting is my main hobby and I don't smoke or drink, all of my spare time is spent in the woods so I enjoy having nice things when I'm out there. Sometimes I step back and look at all the costs and feel like Fred Bear would probably roll over in his grave if he knew what a lot of hunters spend nowadays. I know some people have way more gear than me, I defiantly don't consider myself a gear nut by any means and most of my optics are Vortex which is why there not on the list above:)

You’ve got some serious gear to limit yourself to benchmade knives. I can help you in that department.


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I can agree somewhat......I do enjoy nice things such as a custom rifle, just for the craftsmanship. My son's Browning X-bolt is just as deadly at a 1/4 of the cost. I am balancing out the clothing with what works/what doesn't. But the number one thing I can say or 'overspent with no advantage' is buying NEW and not secondhand.........20-50% off and still get the same performance......
 
Rain gear... I'm convinced that all the high end rain gear is the same crap with a different logo on it. Every piece of rain gear I have had eventually wets out. I haven't tried the high end Kryptek rain gear - apparently that gear is well above the best Goretex. Now I just use cheaper lightweight rain gear and know the limitations.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with what I have spent money on.
 
Hiking poles. Found no advantage using hiking poles vs my old ski poles and just use my old ski poles now when needed.


Bird hunting pack. Few years ago I had my cousin sew up a new bird hunting vest that had a place to put my Camelback and other stuff in. Turns out that was the best thing I've ever done. Costed about 15 lbs of meat but seriously haven't been happier while hunting.


Pants. Especially camo pants. I switched over to just wearing Costco hiking pants, old carharts, and old fire nomex and have saved a lot of money and have killed the same amount of animals.


Guns. I've felt a disadvantage with high end guns and optics as I felt the need to keep them pretty and adjusted hunting tactics. Now hunting Northern Idaho mostly, I use synthetic savages that i bought for around 400 with just the standard scopes they came with. I don't care if i scratch them up or trash them if it allows me to get into deeper places.

Bird hunting I used to think it was the norm to hunt with $1000 guns but quickly realized that I was foolish and bought a Remington model 31 20 gauge and a cheap 12 gauge. Saved a lot of money and I don't care much if I fall anymore.
 
Pretty much all of my gear.

The guy that lives down the road from me would probably be considered “poor” by most folks here on rokslide, his snow Machine must be from 1996, his boat is a smashed up 1980s lund with a 2 stroke Johnson and he has one rifle which is just a beat up old Ruger 300wm.

Each year that guy is adding another 60” moose rack to the pile and bringing back a pile of great caribou. The guy dosent even have camp, just this big blue jacket that might actually be a float coat. The guy also is successful at trapping wolves, lynxes and wolverines.
 
Range finder. Bought it for way too much at a gun show, played with it a few times, took it hunting a couple of times and never took it out of my pocket. I don't know why I thought I needed it. Even on open prairie hunts the longest shot I've ever taken in my life I paced off at 327 yards. If a guy can't judge a 300 yard shot he needs more time at the range. So now it sits in my gun safe. Batteries are probably dead by now. No idea. I haven't even touched it in at least two years.
 
I received an Ultralighter Kestrel Knife as a gift. It was the titanium with tungsten carbide. Supposedly to create a micro-serrated edge that would hold an edge.

I felt really bad that someone spent a good chunk of money on me for a knife that became frustratingly dull before I’d finish a deer.

After a few deer, and the required sharpening mid task, I just couldn’t use it anymore. No way I’d use it on an elk hunt. No weight savings if packing hones or stones plus increased time breaking down an animal.
 
Anything that is Sitka that is not clothes. Their clothes are top notch and I love every item I own....their gear (backpacks, gaiters, etc) have been subpar

Clothing companies should stick to clothing.
 
Rain gear... I'm convinced that all the high end rain gear is the same crap with a different logo on it. Every piece of rain gear I have had eventually wets out. I haven't tried the high end Kryptek rain gear - apparently that gear is well above the best Goretex. Now I just use cheaper lightweight rain gear and know the limitations.

Otherwise, I'm pretty happy with what I have spent money on.
Agreed. All my different rain gear is so disappointing.

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Bows! I’ve bought a few brand new bows and now shoot and older Elite Impulse. Made money on the new bows I had and it shoots equally well. Wish I would have spent all that money a high quality pack and good optics.


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I admit I like nice gear.

I like my PSE Carbon Stealth 35 EC, Precision Firearms 6.5 Grendel, planning a new 7mm RM custom rifle, carbon road bikes, carbon mountain bikes, Swaro binos, Zero Tolerance knife, Kuiu gear, etc.

Could I get by with cheaper stuff? Sure, but why would I?
 
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