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High end products you can't justify

Pretty much everything except my boots, clothes, and bow. Boots and clothes I consider essential and do notice quality/price correlation but I have a mishmash of brands. My bow is more of a rare splurge.

Planes, trains, and automobiles, and boats and bikes and side by sides, man I can't believe the stupid money people whizz away buying way beyond what it takes.

High end coolers are another I consistently laugh at. That being the people that show them off, not the coolers themselves. I get it, rotomolded holds ice a day or two longer, but come on skyler, it weighs 150 pounds empty and we all know you aren't leading expeditions into the bush. #overcompensating
 
1. High end "frat boy" hunting clothing. If you always match or camo coordinate.... come on. Are you hunting or trying to be a model for Bass Pro?
1.a Ozonics type contraptions.
2. High end arrows, micro diameter arrows etc.
3. Expensive trail cams
4. Super fancy release aides
5. Ultra expensive optics. I've always wanted a pair of Leica's or Swarovski's but there's no way I'm making a mortgage payment on them or greater. If I hunted out west I probably would buy a high end spotting scope.... maybe.
6. Buying the latest flagship compound bow every year. To me they are all way overpriced. Don't get me wrong I like my bows and sights (it is a weakness) but I still don't buy a new one every year.
7. Super expensive trad bows. The craftmanship and artwork is great but not practical.
8. Cheap replacement broadheads. Get durable heads and learn to sharpen them so you can reuse them over and over again.
 
For me it's high-end clothing (as others have already mentioned). Most of my hunting attire is military surplus.
 
For me it's high-end clothing (as others have already mentioned). Most of my hunting attire is military surplus.

See i use to say the same thing until I got "high end clothing". It wasn't the camo pattern, it was more the lifetime warranty along with i went all season without washing my clothes and they never smelled.
 
1. High end "frat boy" hunting clothing. If you always match or camo coordinate.... come on. Are you hunting or trying to be a model for Bass Pro?
1.a Ozonics type contraptions.
2. High end arrows, micro diameter arrows etc.
3. Expensive trail cams
4. Super fancy release aides
5. Ultra expensive optics. I've always wanted a pair of Leica's or Swarovski's but there's no way I'm making a mortgage payment on them or greater. If I hunted out west I probably would buy a high end spotting scope.... maybe.
6. Buying the latest flagship compound bow every year. To me they are all way overpriced. Don't get me wrong I like my bows and sights (it is a weakness) but I still don't buy a new one every year.
7. Super expensive trad bows. The craftmanship and artwork is great but not practical.
8. Cheap replacement broadheads. Get durable heads and learn to sharpen them so you can reuse them over and over again.


We may be related….
 
See i use to say the same thing until I got "high end clothing". It wasn't the camo pattern, it was more the lifetime warranty along with i went all season without washing my clothes and they never smelled.

I'm 55 and my first experience with high end clothing was about 3 seasons ago. I was wrong, it IS worth the money.
 
In hindsight I am ashamed of some of the ad hype that I have bought into and some of the stuff I have bought. I have “invested” far more money than I’d like to admit in hunting. However stuff that I just can’t talk myself into as of right now is:

1. An E-bike - That is a lot of money but the general concept is pretty cool and I can see the advantage.

2. A Hoyt - I’ve owned every other major manufacturer but Hoyts have always been the bow I just never bought. Nothing against them and I had times when I was looking at them. I’m sure they are sweet bows. Just never splurged and bought one.

3. Long range rifle - I live in Texas and can’t find 400+ yards anywhere I hunt. I’d still like to have one but, again, that’s a lot of money.

4. High end rain gear - over the years I’ve accumulated a high end camo set. I just can’t splurge for rain gear that cost so much when I only encounter rainy days four or five days of the year while I’m hunting.

5. Quality backpack - I’m sure they are sweet and when I draw an elk tag I’m gonna have to bite the bullet but right now I am strictly game winner (Academy) on my hunting packs.


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Not to get off the main topic of this thread but what about a fat tire mountain bike? I bought a used Felt 29 series last year for a steal and love that bike and I can pretty much ride it anywhere. I got a deal on my GT Karakoram that I had for 20+ years which was a great chromoly frame Mountain Bike with tapered tubes to keep it light and full Shimano LX componentry and it still held a decent value. I don't think I would splurge for an Ebike but what about a decent Fat Tire bike? Any of you used them and are they practical for hunting in the backcountry? To me, this may be a "happy medium" type investment but I don't know how well they go in mud and snow and hilly terrain which is what I have everywhere I hunt around my parts.
 
I've got a Victorinox boning knife. I have the KitchenAid attachment but it kind of sucks. I'd like a decent grinder but don't need a $300-400 one. I'd like to at least be able to do basic cuts and grind burger. The KitchenAid attachment was slow going and I didn't want to burn it up and piss my wife off ha.

agreed

Kitchenaid attachment works, but if I'm killing more than 1 deer a year and doing it myself, it's not worth it. It's slow, underpowered for what you really need it for, and if I burned up the mixer, I'd never hear the end of it.

We have a "family" grinder that my uncles, cousin, and grandpa went in on. It's a similar 1HP gander series and that thing is a beast, with 1 person feeding, 1 bagging, and 1 tying bags, you can have an average-sized whitetail done in 10 minutes.
 
You don't need to spend on a fancy knife at all.

Knives is another area I can't justify high dollar expenditures.
I genuinely prefer cheaper ones because softer steel takes an edge quicker. I'd rather hit a knife with a stone every time I use it and even touch it up as I work than have an overbuilt hunk of Asguardian steel forged in the heart of a dying star that takes an equally arcane artifact to sharpen.
….this post right here… and U don’t have to go crazy with the processing stuff either… a good knife, a grinder (or grinder attachment to a kitchen-aid mixer), and misc stuff like freezer paper and ground bags and you’re good!!!
Now a grinder is a thing I'm super-glad I finally ponied-up on. I used a kitchenaid attachment for almost a decade and the first time I used an honest-to-goodness LEM grinder it made me mad that I hadn't bought one 10 years prior. I also got gifted a foodsaver last year and while I was too cheap to buy it myself the first time I'd buy one tomorrow if the one I have got stolen or broke.

Aside from that, give me a cheap filet knife and butcher paper and I can whack and stack a dozen or more deer in a season. But the grinder has been a lifesaver.
 
I genuinely prefer cheaper ones because softer steel takes an edge quicker. I'd rather hit a knife with a stone every time I use it and even touch it up as I work than have an overbuilt hunk of Asguardian steel forged in the heart of a dying star that takes an equally arcane artifact to sharpen.

Now a grinder is a thing I'm super-glad I finally ponied-up on. I used a kitchenaid attachment for almost a decade and the first time I used an honest-to-goodness LEM grinder it made me mad that I hadn't bought one 10 years prior. I also got gifted a foodsaver last year and while I was too cheap to buy it myself the first time I'd buy one tomorrow if the one I have got stolen or broke.

Aside from that, give me a cheap filet knife and butcher paper and I can whack and stack a dozen or more deer in a season. But the grinder has been a lifesaver.

Sometimes you can work a deal out with a processor to run your cuts through their grinder. Hides and a couple bucks is sometimes all it takes. But I agree, it's worth an upgrade on the Kitchenaid if you do lots of ground.

Also, vacuum sealing is great if you don't run through meat quickly. If you process lots of dear, upgrading over a food saver isn't a bad idea. I have a food saver, but know from guys who do more deer that the motors burn out much faster than "commercial" machines, so an upgrade may in the long run result in a savings over multiple kitchen grade machines.
 
Those 3-5k electric bikes.

3K yes 5K no. It is easy to convert a standard bike into an ebike. I bought one 18 months ago. They are simply amazing, you don't know how amazing until you actually use one. Since I bought mine, two nephews and a nephew's father in law have gotten ebikes. Now....DO NOT I repeat DO NOT buy a bike from a "hunting" company. Those are way way over priced.
 
Ebikes are useless to me here in Alabammy. Every road here that I can drive an ebike on I can drive my truck. Even the mountain bike I bought used was a waste of money, really. It's sitting in the yard rusting away because down here the "no motorized vehicle access" trails are either so muddy or so overgrown with brush that a bike will function maybe a mile before you have to get off and scrape mud or pick brush out of the important bits. It got used a few times for duck hunting but that's about it. Super bummed because I bought a kayak trailer for it and got good at riding it. Made a 10ish mile practice ride towing the kayak and then chained the bike and paddled back to the house to go drive to pickup the bike. Super easy way to cover loads of miles in theory but in practice walking is easier and gets me to 90% of the same places.

Now a boat...that's been a better investment than the hickory creek, saddles, and the pacseat combined.
 
Ebikes are useless to me here in Alabammy. Every road here that I can drive an ebike on I can drive my truck. Even the mountain bike I bought used was a waste of money, really. It's sitting in the yard rusting away because down here the "no motorized vehicle access" trails are either so muddy or so overgrown with brush that a bike will function maybe a mile before you have to get off and scrape mud or pick brush out of the important bits. It got used a few times for duck hunting but that's about it. Super bummed because I bought a kayak trailer for it and got good at riding it. Made a 10ish mile practice ride towing the kayak and then chained the bike and paddled back to the house to go drive to pickup the bike. Super easy way to cover loads of miles in theory but in practice walking is easier and gets me to 90% of the same places.

Now a boat...that's been a better investment than the hickory creek, saddles, and the pacseat combined.
is an outboard motor still on your list of high end products you can't justify or have you come around on it?
 
Ebikes are useless to me here in Alabammy. Every road here that I can drive an ebike on I can drive my truck. Even the mountain bike I bought used was a waste of money, really. It's sitting in the yard rusting away because down here the "no motorized vehicle access" trails are either so muddy or so overgrown with brush that a bike will function maybe a mile before you have to get off and scrape mud or pick brush out of the important bits. It got used a few times for duck hunting but that's about it. Super bummed because I bought a kayak trailer for it and got good at riding it. Made a 10ish mile practice ride towing the kayak and then chained the bike and paddled back to the house to go drive to pickup the bike. Super easy way to cover loads of miles in theory but in practice walking is easier and gets me to 90% of the same places.

Now a boat...that's been a better investment than the hickory creek, saddles, and the pacseat combined.

I thought the same thing about a pedal bike being useless in mud, that an ebike would be too.

I can tell you that I spent a season driving through a sea of cockleburrs over my head, and the exact type of mud you're referring to. Here's what I learned. Don't let off the throttle (or pedal) when you hit the mud. Don't go faster than you can control the bike and your body weight when it starts slipping and sliding. Yes, every now and then you'll have to pick some vines and crap out of the bits.

But I totaled up all the time spent doing that, and added it to the time I spent going 10-20mph on the trail, and it still saved me hours and hours over walking and riding pedal bike.

My expectations were exceeded by a wide margin. But then again, I manage my expectations well. It is not a cure all or game changer. But it opens up a lot more time for hunting, sleeping, scouting, wifing, etc.

I can't tell you to spend that kind of money to just try it. But if you get someone nearby who's willing to let you take it for a spin, go visit your places you don't think it's useful. Of course, you'll find mud holes and trails that it sucks on. So did I. The difference is in the margins. You can ride the edges of trails and roads and mat down grass with the fat tires, or slip just a little off trail if needed and leave no trace sometimes.

I fully expected to buy one, use it a couple times, and sell it.


As a slight aside, walking along roadsides will help you identify way more sign than riding roads in your truck. The bike is not as good as walking as far as being able to see trails, tracks, rubs, etc. But it is far better than being in the truck. Again, a thing I didn't expect to be an advantage. But I have a property I hunt with a 6 mile loop trail. Walking it to identify crossings would take about 7-8 hours. I can complete the loop in about 30 minutes going as fast as I can. Or about an hour stopping to mark trails and what not. I add a day of scouting or hunting time on that property alone.
 
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