Cutting costs this year?

B

brown dog

Member
What will you be doing (if anything) to cut costs for the upcoming season? With gas prices and everything else skyrocketing will it limit you this year? I think on my longer trips this year I might camp vs getting a motel...but we will see. I've got a tent with a stove that sets up pretty quickly. Curious to hear what others will be doing.
 
I’m mostly a day tripper but may drive 4 or 500 miles round trip. I think I’m going to try to hunt every other weekend close within an hour of home. And may stretch some of my longer drives into 2 or 3 dayers and weather permitting sleep under my softtopper
 
May not come home after each trip…may stay in MT/ND for 2-3 weeks in Sept…may not return home Sunday only to leave tue/wed am on my SD hunts…if I usually put 15k on each fall, that’s 1000 gallons, roughly…so my fuel bill went up $1,000? $1500? $2000? I’m not using 2020/2021 prices, they were a bit low…I’ll use $3.50 as my norm. Right now I’m $1 or $1.25 above that. I think it levels off or drops after Labor Day…but $5.50 gas means 2k more, and actually, I put 5k on my sienna van which does much better than 15 mpg. I do plan on driving 2 lane roads and doing 60…big difference over 75-80. I’ve got the time…adds an hour per trip, one way? No biggy. Most of my routes are 2 lane or 4 lane non-interstate. I can increase efficiency 15-20% I bet. I doubt extra fuel costs more than $1,000-1500….I drive alone 100% of the time. If I don’t return home, I increase lodging costs, but I’d still save some $. 👍👍.
 
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brown dog said:
What will you be doing (if anything) to cut costs for the upcoming season? With gas prices and everything else skyrocketing will it limit you this year? I think on my longer trips this year I might camp vs getting a motel...but we will see. I've got a tent with a stove that sets up pretty quickly. Curious to hear what others will be doing.
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I have been thinking the same. I might camp early in the year to save some money...depending on the weather. Instead of multiple shorter trips, I am thinking about staying longer and save some driving back and forth. If RV prices tank in the next few years, I might pick up a travel trailer so I can stay up in SD for a month or two with my dogs, instead of going back and forth and paying for hotels. Hotel prices and eating out adds up in a hurry. Wife has already approved. Maybe in the next year or so depending on prices and demand.
 
i usually do at least one SD 5 day trip and the same for Iowa. usually go home after SD and rest the dog for 4-5 days, cheaper to waste 3 days driving to my Iowa location, as opposed to driving back to Texas, then back to Iowa. No real good options other than that, unless i just stay iin SD for 10 days and do a 4-2-4. may get another dog next year, depends on economy, which would really help.
 
hunter94 said:
i usually do at least one SD 5 day trip and the same for Iowa. usually go home after SD and rest the dog for 4-5 days, cheaper to waste 3 days driving to my Iowa location, as opposed to driving back to Texas, then back to Iowa. No real good options other than that, unless i just stay iin SD for 10 days and do a 4-2-4. may get another dog next year, depends on economy, which would really help.
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I just got a second dog this year. I got a Vizsla pup in February to go with my 2.5 year old GSP. My V is now 6 months old. This will be his first year but he will get a lot of work this fall and give my GSP some rest.
 
I am going to do the same thing I do every year. Gas will not influence me in the least. You never know what season will be your last season, so I am going all out just like every year. I don't drink, smoke, gamble, or do anything else that is a waste of money so while gas is high, I could care less when it comes to hunting.
 
I plan to go to my house in Ks for a few days then to SD for a five day hunt, then back to Ks to bow hunt deer for a couple of weeks. If the bird numbers are not good in Ks i plan on returning to SD for a five day hunt. You never know when the season might be your last. Being of sound mine I. hope to spend every dime. I have spent 90 % of my money on bird dogs, horses, and shotguns. The rest of it I just wasted.
 
I hear the Montana and Dakota fuel prices will Top10.00 a gallon. Motels are going to be hundreds of dollars a night , and Rv prices continue to spiral up! Hear that Missouri has a lot of quail. ;)
 
dustin mudd said:
I hear the Montana and Dakota fuel prices will Top10.00 a gallon. Motels are going to be hundreds of dollars a night , and Rv prices continue to spiral up! Hear that Missouri has a lot of quail. ;)
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With$10 gas motel rooms will be $30 and RV’s will be cheap
I’m thinking you are pulling our legs……
 
Mr. Joe Biden is as sharp as a tack. With the smartest president in the history of our country in office I've got full confidence gas will be .99¢ come October, the transitory inflation will be gone like a wild goose in winter, ultra premium shotshells will be $5.99 a box, and when you walk into any piece of public ground, there'll be more birds than predicted by the SD dept. of tourism, and they'll blacken the sky. As long as I've gotten my 10th booster shot, my wife has promised me I can go bird hunting this fall.
 
Well I have already invested in a new pup, I still plan at least 2 trips to SD. The place I stay raised their rates $5 a night but i still have a great deal for the first trip. I have camped and for what they want a night in most state operated camp grounds I'm willing to pay the little extras for comfort for me and dogs. I've just been putting a little more of my paycheck into my hunting account. I will probably not travel as much for dinners when im out there, usually i hit each town tavern within a 30 mile radius of my rental. I know the fuel prices have impacted my guiding for fishing trips so far this summer and had a couple guys back out of their grouse trips. Hoping we do get some relief on fuel prices but time will tell. Bottom line new pups need bird contacts so i will be traveling.
 

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Instead of a short trip to Nebraska and a short trip to SD, I'm considering one longer trip to just one of those states. That will eliminate one out-of-state license and some money spent on fuel burned on dead head drives. It won't affect my plans for hunting Kansas this year.
 
I dont think I spend a TON on trips to begin with so there isnt a lot to cut out and still make the trips out west. Maybe packing more food and eating out a little less? It will be an interesting Fall to see how if any fewer hunters there are in the areas that traditionally get hit pretty hard. My guess is there is very little change. We hunters would mortgage one of kids to chase these stupid birds!!;)
 
I do mainly day trips here in SD but that can still involve driving 200 miles or more. I also have a couple of trips planned to Montana. I didn't hunt much last year because my dog got injured the 1st of November and that ended my season. Since I didn't spend a lot of money hunting last year I plan to make up for it this year. A year ago I got rid of my Ford Expedition and went to a GMC Acadia. Big difference in gas mileage. I'm like Benelli-Banger. Drive a lot of 2 lane roads and if I keep my speed at 65 and under I can get 28 mpg. Yeah, gas is going to cost more but at 76 I don't have a lot of years to hunt so I'm not concerned about the higher cost.
 
If I lived in the twin cities I’d hunt MN a lot, and hunt in Iowa, a one license state for NR. 90-120 miles from the western ‘burbs gets you to lots of decent MN spots…I drive by them en route to SD, sometimes I stop and hunt for 30 minutes…not unusual to have decent action. Leave house by 6 am, drive and scout, start hunting by 9, hunt back towards your orgin…home by 6-7 pm, no motel or bar bill…get up and do it again if so inclined.
 
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