Before I begin my argument, I would like to tell you a little about myself and my hunting career. Although I have not been hunting very long compared to many, roughly 13 years, my experience in those years allowed me to acquire a great deal of knowledge about the hunting life. Since I was a little boy, I have been involved in the outdoors with my father, another avid outdoorsman and hunter. My earliest memories go back to beating the bush for my dad after kindergarten in hopes to limit out on rabbits. I also grew up in the D&S archery pro-shop (for all of you living near my area, Donnie Hoffman is the one of most knowledgeable archery mechanics I have ever met. Take your problems to him, he will fix it). I have been luckier than most, hunting in a highly deer populated area in Chester, Berks and Montgomery Counties in Pennsylvania. Throughout my years, I have been lucky enough to harvest more deer, upland game and waterfowl than most hunters will see in a lifetime. From the age of 16, I have professionally guided hundreds of upland hunts with my German Shorthaired Pointers. Recently, I have taken over my father’s deer management association comprised of 25 properties and 16 members, where in the past 20 years we have taken over a thousand deer. I have also had the great opportunity to spend two weeks in South Africa, where I harvested six animals; three with a bow, three with a rifle.
Throughout my lifetime, I have always tried to have the best gear. I have always shopped around websites and Wal-Marts and K-Marts to find the best deals. However, in the past eight or so years, product affordability diminished. I remember the day I had to give up competitively shooting sporting clays because shot prices doubled over a two week span in 2006. It was no longer affordable for a 19 year old with a pizza shop job to continue; even with the help of winnings and his blue-collar parents.
Being a well-rounded hunter, meaning being a hunter that actively participates in more than one genre of hunting and is passionate about all of them, is slowly becoming next to impossible to manage for blue-collar people. May I add that the overwhelming majority of all hunters are blue collar workers? They are the people that are spending the little bit of hard earned money they have on hunting equipment.
I love hearing advertisements from the major hunting gear manufacturers, telling us that they are all about the hunter: the blue-collar folks. Then we see the archery companies like Matthews and Hoyt (the top two advertisement spenders in all of archery) selling their bows for $1000-$1200! It was only in 2004 you could buy the top of the line Hoyt or Matthews for around $600-$700. Personally, I am a Bear Archery devotee and in 2004, Bear’s top of the line bow was the Buckmasters’ G2 (the bow I still shoot to this day) selling for no more than $499. My father bought me it for Christmas in 2000 and in 11 years, I have killed roughly 100 deer with it and it shoots as accurately as any other bow out there.
The main problem with prices in today’s hunting world is us, the hunter. We allow Octane to sell their quivers for over $100, because we buy them. And why? Is it because they have that red shiny piece accenting all their products? And a hunting tip here; reflective, shiny objects scare away animals! They are absolutely no better than the Jack Pine quiver by Bohning that I use. (It can be found online for around $15-$20). They hold arrows; that is it! Most hunters take the quiver off and hang it somewhere on the tree when they are hunting anyway. Arrows can be sold in some places for well over $200 per dozen. I shoot the Carbon Express Predator II, $60 per dozen. I will put that arrow up against any other arrow anyone else shoots. In early archery, trick shooters shot objects as small as dimes with carved wooden arrows. I know people who wear camouflage costing upwards of $800! Hasn’t every hunter seen the pictures of Fred Bear and his Grizzly? He was wearing a green collared shirt and a solid green hat. He shot that bear from 20 feet away. So why wouldn’t cheap camo work nowadays? We could go on and on about the prices of different types of merchandise and the ridiculous hike in prices over the past few years, however, we need to get to the point.
We are taking the affordability out of our own game here, meanwhile, helping the “big business” take over all of the little guys. I was taught growing up that we are supposed to keep the small businesses going. It is them that make products more affordable. Isn’t it in America, that we blue-collar men give our money to quality products from small businesses? Where did we allow ourselves to shift from buying the product endorsed by our peers, to spending tons of unnecessary money to say we have something better than another archer? As archers, we should all have common values and help fellow archers in need because we are all in this for the same reason: to be successful. Where, over the years, have we begun feeling that we need to “out-do” others’ success? We are allowing other companies to come into the industry and tell us that their product, although it is twice as expensive as all of the others, is better than everyone else’s: and we believe it.
So now we need a solution. If we continue to spend the “big money” on high dollar products, we allow those manufacturers to drive up prices. This allows the smaller companies to raise their prices as well. Meaning, over time, the affordable companies’ products were will become less and less affordable. As a group of men in the United States that share the same values and ethics and share more than just the tradition of hunting being middle class working men, together we must step up to stop big business from ruining our passion by making it unaffordable.
My father taught me the right way to hunt, with respect for our game and the others who share my passion for the hunt. In this time of need, we must work together now to stop what may become yet another hobby for the rich. Holless Wilbur Allen, Earl Hoyt, Fred Bear and Ben Pearson would be laughing at us while we continue to take advantage of yet another American tradition with profiteering.
As a post-script note, in no way am I saying that I am a better hunter or that my equipment is better than any other archer’s, however, it works just as well for half the price. If you truly feel that you are getting a better product with the expensive merchandise, then continue to purchase it. But when you hand your money to the cashier remember that you are only making it harder for your fellow archers to continue to afford the passion that we all share.
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