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Has anyone ever weighed up their total venison meat harvest per animal, and compared it to the equivalent value of venison bought from a shop? Obviously I'm not taking into account harvest costs (firearms, gear, transport, butchery and further processing etc), just a rough direct comparison of total end product relative to the price you'd pay for the equivalent from a shop?
One of the magazines did an article on it years ago and it was valued at quite a bit, $600+???
Someone asked me that question recently and I didn’t know so had a look at the supermarket next time I was there. They had venison mince for about $20/kg, medallions and diced venison for about $45/kg and steak for about $65/kg.
The most recent deer I shot, a 7pter, I ended up with about 13kg of beautiful steak and roast cuts & about 25kg of trimmings which I’ll be taking to the butcher for sausages, salamis etc. Based on the above prices the equivalent quantity in venison would cost well over $1k all up.
Years ago cut up a good size venison at the local butchers.
We put every thing over the scale and printed the relevant stickers for beef.
Think it was close to $700.
We still don't buy any meat but do get small goods done as run out of time to do my own as I have done in the past.
Paddock to plate is good stuff!
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I think measuring it against the price of beef is a better comparison. How many of us buy venison at a supermarket when buying steak or mince. Not me.
Most famillies buy beef,lamb,pig and chicken,so you got take a average price of the lot.Venison is about $20kg for stir fry and minces,$40 for rump and silver side,roasts.$60kg for back steaks.So you gota compared with average familly meat buy and its not venison,thats for sure.I weighed and packed all i got last summer.If you got 20kgs of packed venison off one deer at beef average price,say $22/kg =$440.Take yr expences of a hunting trip out of that and whats left over keeps the house budget down.
when piece of venison steak ,cooked quickly in hot pan with garlic steak seasoning hits the tastebuds and hardly needs chewing....ITS PRICELESS.... but yes if you get 15kgs of meat off animal at $30 per kg......it sure is worth carrying it out...still cant get head around velvet stag being left intact that close to vechile....:dark mood::dark mood::pissed off::pissed off:
Never leave venison behind,no point in going hunting.
Ask my mate who just found the power off to 2 x chest freezers full of venison. It had cost him about $600 to get it processed at the homekill place! :oh noes:
Works out to be the most expensive and hardest earned piece of meat to touch your lips after cost of gear, transportation, and maintenance. BUT, if you were worried about that then hunting is not for you.
Most insurance will cover that cost.Quote:
Originally Posted by mopheadrob
Look at the meat prices in our local 4 square:omg:,cheaper to buy a box of ammo.;)
i usually leave it behind but its still running around :pissed off:Quote:
Originally Posted by Trout
Lols
If you add up how much you’ve spent on hunting gear and compare that with how much meat you get from hunting you should be running at around $2,000 per deer.
If it adds up to anything less than that you really should by some new gear, European binoculars certainly help to the the ratio up!!
Yep, that's what I was going to say.
Makes every mouthful taste better though
All very well but hey; youall need to take into account the cost of an alternative recreation and exercise and equivalant satisfaction if your not hunting. Then add to that the cost of retail meat and the loss of real good mates. No contest IMO. Hunting for food and recreation has great socio economic benifits. The "woke" fail to appreciate this.
Bit like fishing, price of boat, petrol, gear etc. Shop price is cheap. But no joy in going to the fish shop.
Some people spend $200 a day on pokey machines and more.Makes hunting a cheap sport.
I don't follow the logic here craigc. I know a lot of guys who'll go bush for an hour or two with a low tech .303 (or sks or bar in previous years) and maybe 5 rounds and come out with a deer. Equipment cost is close to zero for these guys.Quote:
Originally Posted by craigc
I don't buy venison, and looking at online prices I can't see myself starting anytime soon. Thanks for all the answers.
Surely it's clear CraigC's comments were tongue-in-cheek and the "likes" received were an acknowledgement of this?
That said I would put it out there that there will be a wide variation in terms of dollars spent on equipment and then also the resulting number of deer taken. The first few deer that I harvested would have been amongst these $2000 deer, and comparisons to shop prices at the time for pretty much any grade of meat would have been most unfavourable. Nowadays I think (hope) I've turned things around somewhat.
In answer to the original question; my figure is $5-600 — given that South-eastern Ruahine reds all seem to be tiny. The weights that PixieZ mentioned: 13kg+25kg of usable meat — these will be from a stag that comes from places other than where I usually hunt. The question might be; would I actually want to try (or be able) to haul 38kg of venison out of the Kumeti catchment? I suspect attempting that would rapidly bring my hunting days to a close.
That puts me in my place posting crap when I'm too tired to notice what's really being said! Sorry craigc, for some reason I took you far too literally.Quote:
Originally Posted by Puffin
One good points being made all round. Cost saving certainly isn’t why I hunt. I do remember about the time I bought my first rifle adding up for a few weeks how much money we were spending on meat & using that estimated we were spending about $1500 per year on meat (2 person household). Now we don’t buy meat at all, so the grocery bill isn’t too bad. Now I’ve just gotta get the garden sorted at our new place and get my vege going & will be able to further reduce the grocery bill a bit.
@Woody makes a great point too about flow on effects. I’m definitely stronger and fitter than I’d be if I didn’t hunt, so that’s gotta be good for my health. It also gives me time away from the city and stresses of work & whatnot, so it’s been great for my mental health. Good for a few relationships too- I’m sure my partner appreciates getting me out of the house sometimes. & have also made some great friends and contacts along the way. Plenty of those intangible benefits to it for sure.