Is Bow Hunting to Commercialized

[mobowhunter]

Has bow hunting become like the Bass Fishing industry was or is? Growing up as a kid my dad was involved in some of the first Bass Tournaments in the country. I can remember up thru high school there were only myself and one other guy in my school that fished. Bass boats went from $2500 for a new 1972 Ranger with a huge 85 hp Mercury motor, to Well over $10,000 in just a mater of a few years. I too took up bass fishing after I moved out on my own, worked my way up from a used 1973 Ranger to being sponsored by Blazer, Champion, and Ranger Boats. Thru this entire process I watched people I graduated with and went to school with take up the sport. And all the time Boats, rods, reels and lure prices went thru the roof. Why, because people bought them. They paid $35,000 for a boat and motor. $15 for a crank bait, $150 for a rod and $200 for a reel. It seems to me like the archery industry is following the same trend. I mean, come on, $800 for a bare bow! A rest that costs $200, sights $200, Arrows, $150 a dozen. Broadheads over $10 each. Why? Because we buy all of it. This doesn't even scratch the surface of the array of other gadgets and gizmo's, cloths, scents and lures out there. What are we becoming?

[jamaltwy]

broke damn broke!!!

[BT]

;D

I wrote this a year or two ago...and a year or two before that !

I know just what your saying!.
I really dont mind being Traditional at all
My bows stay at or go up in value and when they do go down...it ain't by much at all
I dont lose but a couple arrows a year...if that.
If I lose my release...then I am in the hospital getting it stitched back on ;D

Shooting off the shelf...no rest.
Replace my string when it's at the 1 year annivercery...for $12.
My string silencers need replacing every three or four years...maybe less than that.

Yup...know what your saying.

[nkybuck]

I feel your pain I fish a tournament trail and support a household of 3 bowhunters.

[mobowhunter]

I gave up fishing 10 years ago. I used to do it for a living. Fished tournaments, and guided on Table Rock Lake here in Missouri. That was when I took up bow hunting. I always want to bow hunt but fishing took up all of my time. The first bow I purchased was a Reflex made by Hoyt. I went to Bass Pro in Springfield and bought the entire package for $249.00. Of course even then you could have spent twice that on a bow. But for just getting started it worked out great. I killed several deer with that bow, and all the time I was upgrading my sights, my rest, a better release in hopes of trading bows and just swapping my up graded accessories to the new bow, which is what I did 3 years ago. My old bow I gave to my nephew who is still killing deer with it. But it just seems out of whack that a bow costs more that a rifle. And to me, the technologies hasn't changed that much from my very first bow. The speeds have increased, but that is about all I can see different form a 10 year old bow. But it's not just bows and arrows. Stands, scents, decoys, seed for food plots, calls, clothing, everything out there to do with deer hunting is expensive, and allot of it is more for the hunter than the deer. I have been wrong before, but a gadget that makes the sound of deer eating acorns! If I have a deer close enough to hear that thing it's getting an arrow slung at it. I saw some one selling deer turds in a plastic bag at one of the Wal-Marts the other day. What the heck are you going to do with that? Crazy. I was out of town for a meeting in Conway Ar. a couple of weeks ago, we went to Gander Mtn. to look around, found dirt packaged in bags. It said you were supposed to put the scent of your choice in the dirt and scatter it around your stand. DIRT for sale, why didn't I think of that. There must be a bunch of people that hunt where they don't have dirt? Where does it end? Dirt, wow.

[vixenmaster]

it won't end as long as money is laying around to spend. only time i get another CB is when i sell the one i have fer the coins on a new model. hoping to get a vortex by this spring

[madoktor1]

If people stopped spending and said enough is enough, a lot in this world would be cheaper. The thing is though, most of the time the prices are raised gradually and we don't even realize it until it's out of control. I refuse to spend more than necessary on equipment. My clothing is end of year clearance from Wal Mart, my bow was $85 shipped from AT, my sight was from AT also. I even got my Whisker biscuit on clearance for $20. My first doz. arrows were $40 on AT, cut to length with nocks and inserts installed and fletched. I plan on getting another shirt and pair of pants so I have enough for fresh clothes for a 3 day hunt, then I won't buy anything else until something wears out and needs to be replaced.

[BT]

Sept 24, 2009 9:58:34 GMT -5 mobowhunter said:

It said you were supposed to put the scent of your choice in the dirt and scatter it around your stand. DIRT for sale, why didn't I think of that. There must be a bunch of people that hunt where they don't have dirt? Where does it end? Dirt, wow.

;D

I love this stuff!

[SPIKER]

Too commercialized? Nah, never. ;D

[rattlesnake]

;D BT and I just had this discussion the other day! Me being a golfer, I see so many hunters are just like golfers in a lot of ways. Golfers will buy into just about any gimmik thinking it could save them a few strokes where as hunters will buy just as much CRAP thinking it will guarantee them a big buck. I like the one about the sound of a deer eating acorns...COME ON PEOPLE! P.T. Barnum said it best..."There's a SUCKER born every minute!" Now...the dirt thing....I wouldn't BUY the dirt, but I have taken dirt from scrapes behind my house and put it in scrapes on the farm that I hunt. It's worked quite well at getting the attention of the locals when there's the smell of somebody new in town.
I agree with the costs of new equipment being completely out of control though. I know someone said a bow now costs more than a rifle, and in that respect it doesn't bother me all that much because I carry my bow far more than my rifle, and I would much rather bow hunt anyway!