Trad Gang
Main Boards => PowWow => Topic started by: PennDude on December 20, 2020, 10:10:58 AM
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The hidden cost of trad bows, my word. I'm not the type of guy who has a ramshackle archery shop in his basement, yet. I know some guys have just about every weight field point, weighted inserts, feathers, serving string, glue, an assortment of different arrows, etc laying around in their archery inventory. I'm not that guy. So, putting together some arrows that I'm happy with has been death to my bank account by one thousand paper cuts! It's really getting to be absurd. I do like to tinker around though, so it is fun. Maybe some overtime will pop up at work so my wife doesn't get too upset.
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And you haven't even started figuring in license costs and trip costs if you travel to hunt!
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You are right! Over time I have collected a mountain of left over odds and ends, and I am not an overly active tinkerer. My wife finally reached the point that she just told me not to mention how much my stuff costs. I still have to tread lightly when considering a new bow purchase, though.
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AXIS Traditional Carbon 500 8.9 gpi
Reflective caps
Bright fletch
X nocks
And a few Fire nocks
These come in a little over $20 each Broadhead finished ready to hunt.
The good news is these are excellent dependable making the shot and kill
These are extremely durable better than anything I’ve shot the past 45 years
I don’t lose arrows - ever
I like to have two dozen ready each August
And a few years ago I noticed needing to build fewer and sometimes none. These are saving me money at this point compared to all other options
So PennDude maybe this can help.
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Good post Cory. I purchased a new 35# Black Hunter bow and I'm not exactly a wiz with pairing arrows to a bow. So I chased my tail a little bit here and there. Ended up with an arrow that flew really good, but is 570 grains with 262 up front and dropped off too fast past 20. So now I am going to build a lighter arrow with less FOC.
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This reminds me of a Pat McManus story.
But don't forget the "Free Venison "
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As a practical matter, I think having a place to keep all the junk and make the arrows is more critical than the cost of the arrow making stuff. If you are in this for the long haul, having the stuff to make your own arrows is worth it, both in cost and in being able to make them to your own specs. Fortunately, the stuff to make arrows doesn't seem to become obsolete as quickly as some other things do. The Bitzenberger fletcher was first made in the 1920's or thereabouts, and is still arguably the best fletcher out there and hasn't changed substantially in years.
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I have always looked at it as, I could be spending it on worse things, yes it does add up over time. I have been building my own arrows for several years, it has allowed me to, as said above customize them to my bows. (notice I said bows, there in adds more cost :goldtooth:) Fortunately I have a very understanding wife, and both my daughters shoot traditional so that helps a bit, whenever they ask what I want for Christmas, I just tell them fletching, or paint for dipping and cresting, it's a win, win, I get stuff I need and can use, and they seem to always pick out paints, and fletch they like for their arrows. In the long run as long as you don't over do it and stay within you means, (it's hard sometimes) it is well worth it.
Jason
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I spend very little money on archery. I make as much as I can myself and trade with other archery guys for most of the rest. I did buy a bandsaw about 15 years ago but it has paid for itself over the years by saving me blood, sweat and tears. My Jojan Multifletch and Young feather burner were given to me by a friend that shoots a compound and is allergic to feathers. These things were given to him by an old trad archer that got too old to use them anymore. Probably first run for both items. Even though I do use commercial broadheads I also make my own trade points or trade for them or stone points. I don't flint knap. I make my quivers, arm guards, make most of my arrows from hardwood shoots or hill cane which I harvest from our 25acs and they all have self or reinforced self nocks I do myself. Most of what I spend on archery goes to USPS for trade shipping, a lot cheaper than the items needed. Over the years I did buy two custom bows, one made by Owen Jeffrey, a take down recurve(which I never take down) and a Treadway Longbow(my first trad kill with this one), both of which I paid $300 each new. All my other bows are either selfbows or all wood backed bows either made by me or I got in trade with other bowyers. I do have another glass bow I got here on TG from Trux Turning, a beautiful R/D with leopardwood riser.
So you don't have to spend a lot on archery. I don't hunt out of state much anymore so that saves me a lot although the club I was in in GA cost me $300 a year and back them when I hunted there and licenses were less than $300. I have had a lifetime license for SC since I moved from there in 1990.
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I'm one of those that probably is guilty of having too much "stuff".
However, in my defence, I live in a somewhat isolated northern community with absolutely nothing archery related available within 300 miles. I'm also the only bowhunter in the area.
And, contrary to what my daughter would say - I like to describe myself as a collector... not a hoarder, LOL!
Another good defensive statement I use is "when you do stuff, you need stuff", LOL!
But I see your point.
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I started out with buying all my stuff made up. At first buying a fletching jig was for making arrows l bought as a DYI kit from Kittridge Archery, about 1972. Then my wife wanted to shoot, more arrows to make. So I used Christmas presents, birthday presents, father day as a way to build up my hoard. Still do to some extent. I also look for sales, just picked up another doz Beemans from Big Jim as an example. I also make our quivers. I have made arm guards as well. Some items I tried to make but “challenged “ so I gave away or traded away the tools for something I could use. Weather you make it yourself or not buy the best stuff you can afford.
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The following is a transcript of an actual conversation between my wife and I one night while we were eating at a restaurant:
Wife: So, how much money do you spend on hunting every year?
Me: You know my deer lease is $1000/year!
Wife: No, I mean on everything, like lease fee, feed, bows, arrows, clothes, gas.........you know,everything!
Me: (I had to sit back a while as the sweat began to bead up on my forehead and think of a proper response).........Well, I’m not sure I know the answer to that question, and I’m positive you don’t want to know the answer!!!!!!
End of conversation! To this day, she has never since asked me about it. God, l love that woman!!!!!!!!
Bisch
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Way cheaper and cleaner than so many alternatives. Remind your wife that if she ever complains. Thank God you do what you do
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My wife spends way more on her annuall 2 week trip to Maui every year than I
Spend on a full year of archery...everything included and I do mean everything!!!
She pays For hers and I mine no question ask :bigsmyl:
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I was given the following advice by a fellow Bowhunter this past year as I was mentioning my guilt over what had left our bank account towards archery and hunting gear getting ready for bow season this year. When it comes to hunting, there is no budget. It’s hard to accept, but so much fun.
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Cost, or actually the lack thereof, is one of the things I love about traditional archery. Compared to something like firearms where just using one consumes expensive (and at times like these largely unavailable) ammo, I can shoot my bows in my own yard for virtually nothing after a fairly modest initial outlay. And unlike a lot of our compound shooting brothers, I feel no need for a brand new bow every year.
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I've tinkered a lot, especially with arrows, and recently I have gone back to aluminum from carbon. I know Easton has discontinued many spines, but as long as they keep making sizes that I can use, I will continue to always consider them.
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I'm a hoarder! Plain and simple. Probably have 400 arrows, 8 Bitzenbergers, choppers, feather burners, 8-10 quivers, Broadheads and points out the wazoo. Don't even want to say how many bows I have. And it keeps growing since I started building my own. What the hell. Could be spending my money on whiskey and whores! :goldtooth: Luckily The Old Lady is pretty understanding.
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The running gag in our club among us old farts is that when we die our wives are going to sell our stuff for what we told them we paid for it.
:bigsmyl:
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Kokopelli - I laughed out loud at that one... so true!
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The following is a transcript of an actual conversation between my wife and I one night while we were eating at a restaurant:
Wife: So, how much money do you spend on hunting every year?
Me: You know my deer lease is $1000/year!
Wife: No, I mean on everything, like lease fee, feed, bows, arrows, clothes, gas.........you know,everything!
Me: (I had to sit back a while as the sweat began to bead up on my forehead and think of a proper response).........Well, I’m not sure I know the answer to that question, and I’m positive you don’t want to know the answer!!!!!!
End of conversation! To this day, she has never since asked me about it. God, l love that woman!!!!!!!!
Bisch
My wife asked me that question not that long ago... and I also had to shift in my seat a little!! But, I don't spend money on other things, so she lets it go, too ;)
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Fitting to this thread, I shot an Easton Carbon Aftermath through the bow I'm buying new arrow for and they flew like absolute darts. So, I guess I'm going with the Aftermath's :knothead:
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After 50 plus years of shooting Archery my cost for a year is $13.80. That's the price of two Doe tags in Pa. I get them every year and usually throw them away. I have a life time license and more arrows, broadheads, bows, clothes etc, etc. than I'll use till I reach the happy hunting grounds.
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After 50 plus years of shooting Archery my cost for a year is $13.80. That's the price of two Doe tags in Pa. I get them every year and usually throw them away. I have a life time license and more arrows, broadheads, bows, clothes etc, etc. than I'll use till I reach the happy hunting grounds.
Careful now! You’re just a 40 minute drive for me, so I may just stop on over to “Will Telluteyrd’s” archery shop next time I need something. :biglaugh:
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It is just the cost of keeping yourself amused and entertained. Gambling, chasing women, and other ways of staying engaged in a pastime are expensive, too. Archery is pretty harmless compared to some other "hobbies."
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
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I’ve had everything I need for many years. I spend a little $ on building arrows I donate at our annual festival and auction. But I have a large supply of shafts, feathers, points built up. I bought my fletching jigs, spine tester, feather burner, etc long ago at a fraction of the cost they are now. I’ve got way more broadheads than I can ever use. I’m using a lot of natural turkey feathers off wild turkeys that cost nothing.
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Anybody who thinks traditional archery is expensive ................... strike up a conversation with a golfer. :o
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I've been shooting trad for six years now. I've arrived at an arrow recipe that works great for me, so now when I break a few shafts I can just order up my standard components. Along the way I accumulated quite the pile of odds and ends shafts, inserts, point weights and etc. As I get older, I become more minimalist, so that was really bugging me.
I boxed it all up and sent it to a guy who is just getting started in trad. He's gonna use it to figure out his arrow recipe, with the understanding that he's probably going to add to the pile and pass it on to a beginner some day.
I got rid of junk I'll never use, and saved him a couple hundred bucks.
I'm about to start shooting woodies, so I'll start the whole process over again....
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if you only have one hobby, count yourself fortunate, haha. I have a number of bows (not as many as some folks here), enough arrows to take siege of a small castle and all the tools needed to build more (for some reason I was able to justify buying 5 bitzenburgers at one time). Add the binoculars, wool, boots, etc... we aren't even close to the money I have spent on my woodworking hobby, haha.
We recently moved so my wife has a pretty good idea of my present inventory of all things. "How many _______ do you need?" whether arrows, saw blades, chisels, fieldpoints.....
At least I can make a solid side wage with building cabinets, right??
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As for me, I will pay a fabulous and unquestioned price for my vision of hunting paradise. I will pay that price, but I will not count the cost. Like many, I purge my problem with my poisons with a few extra shekels for traditional archery to help cleanse my soul and keep my system pure.
I suppose I'm more concerned with the high price I might pay if not shooting bows and using equipment worthy of me and the game I pursue.
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When someone raises their eyebrows over how much archery costs I use this analogy:
When you shoot an arrow you can go get it and shoot it again. You can't do that with a bullet.
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Four or five years ago I got a notice from PayPal that I was required to be verifies as I had exceeded the $10,000 transaction limit. All archery related. Of course that was both buying and selling. It's still cheaper than therapy.
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If you are into archery AND fly fishing ( and only want the best ) then it's no wonder you're kids have to pay their own way through college.
GOOD thing I have no kids! :goldtooth:
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What is more important is the hidden cost of not bowhunting and fishing: stress, boredom, stupid hobbies like video games, vacations at tourist places with expensive girlfriends :). . .
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Anybody who thinks traditional archery is expensive ................... strike up a conversation with a golfer. :o
You read my mind. Archery is inexpensive by comparison. Ask me how I know! :biglaugh:
Deno
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Ive spent over $1000 in fuel alone bowhunting this year,,and the year isnt even over, Georgia comin up!!! Ill do it again next year,,, im not a bar guy, or waste my hard earned money on bs, but i could have bought a more gas friendly truck,,lol
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My current issue is I’ve been shooting the same arrows for so long that the ones I have are no longer made. And I’m running out of em, So I’ve gotta spent money buying and experimenting with arrows until I find out the ones that shoot the best.
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Great posts.
$1,000 in ten years, close to that on arrow shafts, fletch, field points, and broadheads. Some of this is for making arrows for friends. I fletch by hand. Stone points are not allowed in Arizona. $200 on carbon shafts, early on, which I no longer shoot. I treat myself to douglas fir shafts, a dozen each year. Experimentation costs time and money, but I like confidence in a set up. That is has been my biggest cost, arrows and heads, getting to know what I like to shoot.
I also harvest shafts, and trade, and can attest that Pat B's hillcane makes a great, tough arrow. I make selfbows and sinew-backed bows, and have one old Redwing Hunter. Deer hide becomes quivers. Friend gave me a range finder for helping him hunt.
Compared to what my more tech-inclined friends spend, my roughly $220 a year for ten years is a pittance, with one friend sporting a new $2000 weapon system. I think of that fact when I periodically add up expenditures.
The natural world the hunter sees differs from the backpacker or canoeist. The necessarypatience carries over into my professional life; the tenacity needed to harvest and to learn to shoot well is why I love this activity. Priceless.
Happy Holidays to all, from Stickmark.
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I build a lot of my hunting stuff myself. Usually let a buddy buy materials for two bows, build them one for price of materials, then mine is free. Build a few quivers, knives, strings, and all I can. But then there is arrows, broadheads, etc..
I probably get by cheaper than many. I figure I probably only have around $500.00 per pound in Deer meat! :laughing: That’s only because I’m a good hunter! :biglaugh:
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I do not look at it as cost. I have always viewed it as investment. This is something that I can do year round, inside or outside (if you want to brave the weather). In all my time I have only had two bows that broke, but there have been many others, that have been in/out of stable, and no money lost. The only other investment I have made on bow is a wrap/string here and there. Arrows, I learned long time ago, never fall in love with your arrows, if you have one you do fall in love with, set a shaft aside for display, as the rest will be lost/broken. I decided to make my own, arrows, strings, bow as a deeper passion for the skill and a closer connection to the animals I harvest.
The investment, I have made in the money of traditional bowhunting if the greatest I have ever done. The time in the field, memories made with family and friends, the mental relaxation that comes from it. We have all hear of the "million dollar view", well I have had and hope will have more, of sitting/standing among nature, either on ground or stand, and seen more beautiful things, than most people will never get to see with their soul.
To me the hidden cost is a trillion dollars, minimum, because no amount of money can be placed on the above.
Just my opinion.
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simplified version; I have a couple friends who had nothing but one or two bows and that's it! you would only see them with that one bow year after year always the same arrows too, these guys never needed anything they'd use the same climbers and clothes year after year and never upgraded anything unless something was broke.. so their hunting licenses and extra doe tags, gas, food, camp costs and that's it!
I blew a lot of money I shouldn't have,, if I stayed with one bow and had maybe two as backups BUT NO I needed 10 dozen different arrows for each of the 10 recurves I always had , I needed 5 climbing stands, 4 expensive portable stands with ladders or steps that could never stay in trees or they'd get stolen, longbows I needed 25 and selfbows yeah I need 12 but those are special I'd still buy them if rare ones came along, I need 15 wool jackets, 40 packs of broadheads and 30 knives and the list goes on and on and on..
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I make my own self bows for me and mine only. I make my own arrows (shafts and all) for me and mine only. I buy feathers and points. Jawge
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I've had phases. Once I had used equipment and mismatched arrows. Then progressed through spending way too much time and money on shafts and new bows. Now my funds go towards property and improving property for deer. I currently have no desire to experiment with new bows and arrows. I just want one good set up that is the same every year. I shoot less. I need a bow with less draw weight. Damn there it is again. Needing another bow!
Tedd
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I make my own self bows for me and mine only. I make my own arrows (shafts and all) for me and mine only. I buy feathers and points. Jawge
I have to admit since I first met George he did just that,, I don't think I ever saw him with a custom bow or arrows. George I want to come up sometime when your making bows I want to make one more good one with reflexed limbs, Paul dropped off and never got to teach me.