The Cost of Your Wild Game: Exposed!!!

Alright, so I’m not going to make any points with my game-chasing buddies, but I had to satisfy my curiosity on this topic. What if one were to consider purchasing a premium beef compared to, for example, shooting a deer for meat? Let’s compare the costs, shall we?

We’ve fully characterized the cost of beef, and it’s just what you pay for it at the store, or, preferably, from KD Farms =), but we’ve yet to characterize the cost of getting a deer.

Well, lets start from the beginning: a license. I think in Montana, it’s about $30 for a general deer license. But you also need conservation and something else too, so lets call it an even $45 for licensing per year.

Next, you need a gun. Let’s call the cheapest of the cheap and say you find a decent used gun, with a scope, for say $400. That gun will presumably last you for 40 years if you take care of it, so it depreciates at $10 per year until you have to replace it. Well, you gotta make sure that sucker is sighted in every year, so you use a few shells to make sure it’s still zeroed. Let’s call it $5 for a couple rounds, and $5 for a target or two and gas to get to wherever you’re shooting the target. The gun is $20/year.

You need clothing to hunt in the cold weather. Let’s say you run out and spend $300 (many spend well over a grand when you consider boots, pants, Underarmor, gloves, jacket, hats, backpack, compass, GPS, etc.) your first year, and you take really good care of that clothing, you avoid McDonald’s and work out enough to avoid ballooning into a new size, so the clothing lasts you 10 years. That’s $30/year in clothing.

Now, most of us have to drive somewhere to get said deer. Let’s say you have to drive 30 miles in your Chevy 1500 pickup. So 60 miles round trip. That Chevy might get 15mpg on a good day, so we’ve got 4 gallons of fuel, but with idling around, probably closer to six gallons. Six gallons of regular will cost you $18. Let’s say you have to go out three times to get one deer, so we’re at $54 for gas.

Our deer costs us $45 for licensing, $20 for the gun, $30 for the clothing, $54 for gas and we’re up to $149. Do you process your own game? I didn’t think so. A local butcher charges $115 per deer to process it, and $35 for skinning. You’re probably not very well set up for skinning, so our processing costs are $150.

Our deer now costs us $299.

The mature buck weighs 180 lb, and you’ll get about 70 lb of meat off it. But, you’re an average hunter and you don’t get a mature buck, you get a spike. So bag a 140 lb buck and you get around 50 lb of meat off it.

So, for your hunter who goes out three times for day trips and gets a decent buck with 50 lb of meat, you pay $6/lb for your venison.

If you had to take even one day off work to hunt, well, your cost of that meat skyrockets if you’re self employed and don’t get paid vacation!

Yes, I hear you, there’s great pleasure in the thrill of the hunt, but if you’re making your argument to your significant other that it’s “cheaper” than beef, you’re lying! Just be honest and say you like the smell of gunpowder and getting buck fever. ;-)

Be Blessed,

-Kenny