I was wondering if high gas prices has effected anyones hunting.I have found myself changing my truck from A big block Bronco to Explorer and going on closer trips.I hope that its is going to balance out some how at $2 a gallon but we can only hope.If it goes to $5 a gallon I might have to move to my hunting spot for the season instead of driving back and forth so much.

quote:

If Gas goes to $5 a gollon will it effect your hunting?

Nope! I might camp instead of drive to and from.

lets see
300 miles a side at 15mpg REAL average..
40 gallons
either 2.50
$100
or 5.00
$200 bucks...

matters, and might take out one trip a year

I hunt out of a Hyundai Excel for the moment so gas isn't as much of an issue as for the trucks.

Not sure if I can handle an elk in it next year though.

Gas here is already about $4 "a gallon". Don't see to many people changing their travel plans drastically.

I think lots of folks are already being affected by prices the way they are right now. If they go higher, I believe it will impact a lot of folks. JMO.

Ranch is 335 miles west of where I live. About 5.5 hours. I will hunt if it goes to $7. Actually I wish it would go up. It was kinda nice at $3.50 without all the nuts on the roads. The highest I saw gas was $4.04. It had absolutely no impact on driving habits. Until driving habits change, people may gripe and complain but prices will continue to rise. Folks, oil is a daily depleating commodity.

It won't affect me. I drive until I get to the hunting area then park my truck at a good remote campsite or backpack/camp to a better hunting spot. Any way, it's cheaper than air fare to Africa.

It might affect road-hunters, though.

Namibiahunter

No.

$5.00 per gallon in Dillingham has absolutely affected everyones outdoor recreation here.

I certainly use my two stroke outboard motor less than in the past and most of my pilot/ snowmachine/ boating friends are all using their outdoor equipment less due to the high cost of fuel.

In Dillngham's case it's not just the high cost of gasoline, but the increase in utility, food, and heating fuel cost. Milk here is over $7.00 per gallon. So much for my tall White Russians.

Point is it has all added up to hit us in the pocket book so spending $100.00 on recreation fuel every weekend with the rest of the expenses that come with weekend hunting or fishing isn't to good an idea.

I have been seeing more Dillingham'ers buying four stroke outboards, smaller cars and trucks, and even a few four stroke snowmachines.

probably ask the guys I give hunts away to to drive. or just go fewer times but stay longer so same number of hunting days just lumped together.

Not this year and next year I plan on hunting more by horseback from a camp. Rising fuel prices may result in fewer weekend trips but won't keep me from my yearly adventures.

Where there's a will...

http://www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/sportslink/media/elk.jpg

quote:

In Dillngham's case it's not just the high cost of gasoline, but the increase in utility, food, and heating fuel cost. Milk here is over $7.00 per gallon. So much for my tall White Russians.

This is the point to many people are missing in this conversation, it is not just the idea of gas going up to $5.00, it is the fact that it will drag everything else up with it.

Lodging/meals/hunting supplies, everything is effected by the rising fuel costs. If gas went to $10.00 a gallon, but everything else remained at a normal price it would not be quite as bad.

Price of snacks/meals/drinks for the trip are all going up. I think it would affect people more than they realize. JMO.

shit in denmark we are allready at 8$ a gallon did not affect the hunting much though.

regards

peter

quote:

Originally posted by dgr416:
I was wondering if high gas prices has effected anyones hunting.

Diesel is back to about $3.50 a gallon here, I went to Wyoming anyhow. Fuel was probably the biggest cost of the hunt; the cost of the choosing benchrest primers and Nosler Partition bullets wasn't even close. I generally sleep out in the sage flats, go to town for Saturday night bath or to drop off animals at a meat-cutter's shop.

Reading the obituaries, there are lots of them dropping dead younger than I, and I will try not to miss any more hunting seasons regardless of fuel...

Those with little discretionary income are pinched much harder by these higher fuel costs. It is also more damaging to those who live in less settled areas. Many times the impact is two fold since lots of guys who live "in the middle of nowhere" have to drive much farther and also need/drive big trucks which get horrible mileage.

Anyone know of a way to bottle all the extreme hot air that comes out of the nations capital? If we can do that, we could convert the energy to steam and run a steam turbine. And use the turbine to power the hunting vehicle. This would be a big return on our taxes and would help to cut the flow of bribes to the politicos. Start thinkin.

Being on a fixed income I am looking at only getting about a $10 a month raise after the gov gets done taking thier increases in medicare but I will make my hunting trip if at all possible. I figure with just the $3 a gal gas it will cost me about $900 to tow my camper to Wyoming and back.

But then up in Deering, AK they were paying $7 a gal last year.

Rad

Yes, it will effect my hunting. That means the guy who owns the property i been sneakin onto wont come around so much. I would be able to relax a bit more.

I'll be taking the wife's car to Missouri instead of my F150. Thats the only difference for me.

At work (residential HVAC) have gone up to reflect higher costs.

I will be hunting even more. I drill oil wells for a living....

No.

the price of gas is already hurting the hunting business in general..Outfitter prices are on the rise, folks are staying close to home, The price of gas hurts everyone, that goes without saying, so does the realistate market and interest rates, Hunting isn't immune.

Ray is correct. In Florida, fuel prices, real estate values in free fall and real estate taxes are crushing the economy. Hunting as any segement of the economy that depends on discretionary spending, cannot be immune.

Jeff

Well, I have hunted this entire season, for deer within 2 to 5 miles of home and skipped Elk Season this year...

I am fortunate to have tons of local hunting access....

I hunted on 2000 acres the county owns less than a mile from my house.....

I was grumbling at first, but then read on line how many guys in Texas have to pay for "Hunting Leases"... and I have no idea what those run, but I am sure it is real spendy....

With 3 square miles right there, with deer in there.. I am counting my blessings really...

These fuel prices are a joke.. we can thank the Government for doing nothing, and allowing tons of mergers between big oil companies...

I really believe if the USA told all of these Arabic and foreign oil producing countries, we will pay ya $30.00 a barrel and thats it, take it or leave it... they would take it.. because how big of a percentage of the world market is the USA??????

but oil companies use the high prices, just to justify what in reality is creating higher profits... their cost goes up 25% and the pump prices go up 50%....

so the oil companies are making a lot more money, with oil prices at $80.00 a barrel than at $30.00 a barrel...they have NO DESIRE for cheaper oil...

and as long as the damn government gets the increasem in taxes, they are going to look the other way... yet they still return the taxes back to the oil companies for "exploration" and development of new oil reserves.....

why doesn't the Goverment enforce the Sherman Anti Trust Act?????? Because it is cheaper for them not too... and watch the public get screwed!!!!

Seafire,
The price of oil is 100% controlled by OPEC and the producers. The US is a net importer of oil. We import 60% of our consumption. China, India, UK, most of Europe, Japan and many others import more oil than they produce. When that occurs, you (we) are the mercy of the seller. The "oil companies" buy their oil at world market prices, refine it to gasoline and other items, then distribute it to you via the pump. Profits are what enable the various energy companies to drill the wells we have in this country as well as import oil from other places.

I do not recall anyone crying foul on Microsoft for having a monopoly on computer software or Intel on computer chips. There are several thousand oil companies in the US alone. There is no monopoly or US cartel that controls the prices or the supply.

The government taxes gasoline and makes money from royalties due to the consumption of oil. The tax benefits to the energy companies help allow us to drill for oil at a cost of $20 per barrel to find it, $20 per barrel to produce and $20 per barrel to refine and distribute it. Taxes and costs take a large chunk of the rest.
The oil from the Middle East costs $3 per barrel to drill, $2 per barrel produce and $2 per barrel to transport to the US refinery. The tax incentives help the US energy companies compete even though we truly cannot.

Overall, without the profits and without the tax incentives, we would import about 80% of our oil - which would make us even more vulnerable to OPEC shenanigans.

I suspect that I am wasting my breath defending energy companies, but it is a business that does contribute to the security of our country.

PS - our gasoline prices are the cheapest in the world among countries that are net oil importers.

I will just watch my money more and make sure I have what it takes to go hunting. Something else will have to be cut back.

95% of my hunting is out my back door so gas prices won't affect my hunting. The rest of my life is certainly being impacted by it though.

At $5.00 a gallon the only hunting I will be doing is at the grocery store and then not that often. The current gas price has stopped almost all of my driving 40+ miles to go target shoot or hunt. I currently only go to the hunting areas during deer season.

I have cut back on my target shooting but when I go I shoot as much as I can in a day.I also decided to take game that I would otherwise have waited on for a larger buck.Meat in the freezer is more important to me than horns on the wall.I use to trophy hunt and got too picky at shooting the biggest bucks only.I try to get the most game for the trip now.I wanted to drive to Montana to pronghorn hunt but I will wait another year to do so.Its cheaper to fly to alot of places Alaska included most of all.The price on everything going up from the increase on fuel will hurt hunting in the long and short run.

Just got a $.50/hr raise at work. That will offset the price of gas enough for me this month.

The price has been effecting me for about 6 years now. I used to hunt Deer from 10-1 thru 1-1 every year with small game thrown in until 4-1, as targets of opertunity. I was driving my Ram 2500 an extra 3000 miles a month to get to my hunting grounds all over the state of Michigan. My wife has now been afflicted with MS, and we are now a 1 income family, so that also adds to the $ factor. Mind you I am not complaining as she encourages my daughter and I to go out as much as possible, it's just not the same.
So yes, $ is a big factor!
Thanks, Doug

my solution to peak oil. BTW $5/gal is nothing...it will be $10/gal before you know it....

this year, i decided to go the frugal way and hunt deer economically. my plan was to scavenge old bikes and weld up a bike cargo trailer that would double up as a game cart. also, when gas is $5+ per gal (coming up in a couple years), i'll be able to ride my bike to the store and shop. the trailer can actually hold 300#. back to the story. try as i might, i couldn't piece together a decent trailer/cart, so i headed to the scrap pile and started welding. the only new parts are the wheels.

opening day of deer season: i drove 5 miles from my house to the "hunting" area. the area is walk in or bike in only. i pedaled approx 2 miles and got off my bike and started walking some coulées. i spotted 3 does and put the stalk on. at 100yds, i dropped the hammer on a 1oz rifled slug. the slug hit low. she then ran 25 yards further and stopped. i aimed approx 20" above her back and dropped the hammer. the slug hit her like the hammer of thor and she dropped dead. i then disconnected my cart from the bike, went to the doe, field dressed her and loaded her up. made my way back to my bike and hooked up the trailer to my bike and pedaled back to the truck.

maybe next year i'll use my bike for the entire hunt and ride back to town with deer in tow

exsanguinate:

I like your resourcefulness. Congrats on your nice doe.

Namibiahunter

They tell me Alberta can supply the entire world with oil, from our tar sands, for the next 300 years. Buy bigger vehicles and keep driving guys, so I can hunt more.
Grizz

quote:

my plan was to scavenge old bikes and weld up a bike cargo trailer

A kid carrier bike trailer works pretty well too. I found a really good one at a garage sale years ago, refitted it a bit with olive drab Cordura and painted it camo.

Good panniers and racks on the bike are worth the investment too, and a light scabbard from Uncle Mikes straps onto the front rack and rides well.

Saving gas wasn't the reason, getting into and out of areas with no motor vehicle access was.

Hell No!!!
I just smoke a few less cigars and drink a little less whiskey.
Hunting is the most important!!
Maybe buy a little less crap", and sell more stock from the "Blue Chippers" too!!