Seriously,

I started working on my archery last year for this season. and between bows, sights, arrows, broadheads, and getting everything all tuned in perfectly, I am starting to think this bow stuff might be more costly than my rifles/ammo!!!

What are your thoughts?

Archery, for sure.

It depends on how much of an equipment fiend one happens to be, and where one goes to hunt. Bow hunting is cheap as hell for me, since I've virtually no interest in owning more than one bow, that one is now a decade old, and aside from a tune-up, new arrows, and broadheads as needed, no money is put into it. Bow hunting, as well as target practice, both may happen out of the dining room window. This tends to drastically lower one's travel costs.

Rifle hunting means picking out which rifle I'll be bringing to the hunting property located three hrs from my home. If the cost of venison per lbs. taken during WI gun deer season was tallied up, munching Kobe beef would probably be a cheaper alternative.

Most bowhunters I know have one bow, most rifle hunters I know have many rifles to choose from... I'd say rifle hunting unless your an archer who has to have the latest bow and thus changes set-ups every year.

For me, Archery.

I can accomplish rifle hunting with one rifle, one scope, and one box of shells a year after that.

-Jake

Archery easily, in my opinion.

I'd say archery by a good bit. Thanks to the fire, I just bought a Weatherby 30-06 from Wally World for $250. It has a plastic stock and is not exactly "beautiful" but its plenty good enough for anyone to kill anything in North America if you are sane and all you are interested in is killing a few animals each season.....not that any of us are! . Being a rifle nut is a whole other kettle of fish. I have a $150 Leupold VX-1 scope on the rifle that I also bought on sale last year just after Christmas. You ain't touching a decent archery rig and all the accessories you need for $450. You need a bow, sight, quiver, release aid, arm guard and arrows. The arrows are god-awful expensive and they get lost and damaged. You need points for the arrows. You are going to need a target because you have to practice a lot and the target is going to wear out.

Rifle guys should practice more than we do but for sake of argument plenty of people don't shoot more than a box of ammo a year if that and fill tags quite well. Its not a feat of marksmanship to kill an animal with a scoped rifle unless he is way out there.

I used to shoot a lot of archery when I was a kid. I'd be all over it if I lived in a state where the archery season was long and the gun season was a week. As it is, I can't get motivated with a 4 month gun season. You actually do use your muscles for pulling the bow and retrieving the arrows so maybe you save by not needing a gym membership!

I think a feat of marksmanship is relative to the weapon, for example 30 yds was most ethical archers max for a number of years. Now with a modern parallel limb bow, drop away, release, carbon, etc. 30 yds is almost a chip shot from what I hear.

Archery for me. It’s my first love so I’m ok with that but some of the prices are crazy. $1500 bows that are outdated in a year?? Imagine that with a rifle...

Craig

Archery. When it comes time, your guns if halfway decent will bring as much if not more than they were purchased for. Your bow and equipment will bring $10 at a garage sale...if they sell due to being "outdated".

I bought a basic Excalibur crossbow and forgot all of the nonsense. And that will bring nothing when I decide to sell it too.

My rifle, by far. (In initial costs, continued costs are less.) I have it, and parts do not need to be replaced often)
My go to bow has been the same bow for @39yrs. Continuing costs in arrows, heads, bowstrings, a bit higher than my ammo costs, I think.

Then move to Ohio. 3 months of bow session. 1-2 weeks of deer gun season.

for me archery gear is more expensive but amortized over the seasons archery is less expensive per hunt than rifle. However, archery gear depreciates much more substantially than rifle and finding a buyer for used bows is tougher than selling used guns.
my next bow is going to be a crossbow they come ready to hunt.

Good point. When you factor in depreciation, archery gear goes way up. You can usually sell a used firearm for what you paid or even more if you hang onto it for a while.

For Me it was archery by far until I sold My vertical bows (lost My arse) and bought a couple Excalibur crossbows, I spend very little on archery now but I still suffer from "Rifle loonyizm"....😁.......Hb

Archery easily.

A $1000 rifle will hold it's value for an indefinite period......but very long indeed


A bow goes and the equipment for it falls in value quickly.....year after year forever

Yeah your lucky if you can get 60% of what you paid for a top of the line bow a year after you buy it....It's really a joke how fast the value of archery equipment falls like a rock......Hb

THIS !!!!!!!

...plus every arrow shaft and head costs me about $13.00 on average, and a ground hog just bent another shaft. My rifle bullets are $1.50 per round.

Archery COULD be dirt cheap if we all approached it like we did in the beginning..with basic functional equipment. . I could easily buy a ready to hunt, decked out, used modern Mathews bow on ebay for peanuts. It would be light years better than any bow I had to start back in the 80's. . Same for some new in package, but older and less-cool broadheads. A dozen decent aluminum arrows per year instead of the newest fad arrows at $150. Throw in some Arrmy surplus camo and chances are you can kill just as much game as you would spending thousands.

If a guy shoots very often, rifles add up the ammo cost quickly. But so does archery, as arrows get bent or lost, though the cost per shot is still less than shooting a gun. If the hunter in question is one of the guys who has to be stylish and buy a bunch of cool guy camo, that adds up fast, whether for blending into trees for archery, or blending in with the Roksliders wearing Sitka Gear. Quite a few archery seasons are earlier in the year, and thus take less clothing in general, as opposed to a late season hunt where one is wrapped in several hundred dollars in insulation. But that stuff is all relative depending on what weapon a person chooses at the time, since generally a person can still use a bow during rifle season.

Concentrating on gear is just one side of the equation. A difference in cost may come from where you're hunting. A number of guided archery hunts can be had for cheaper than a similar rifle hunt. Additionally, if you are able to hunt with a bow in your back 40, versus taking a week to go to a camp three states away for a rifle hunt, the costs will be a lot different.

Essentially, the cost difference depends significantly on how, where, and when a person hunts, as well as how much money they want to throw into the gear hole.

Yep. After the initial outlay for the archery equipment, archery is far cheaper (at least for me). A dozen carbon arrows and resharpenable G5 heads can last me quite awhile - but I'm careful on targets and am almost always shooting down at deer so unless a deer snaps off an arrow after being vented, I can generally find it, and, it's almost always reusable.

Compare that with I don't know how many pounds of powder, several thousand bullets (in multiple chamberings of course), I'll take the archery bill every time.

My hunting and target rifle experiences started over 65 years ago. I shot matches every week all year long. {On Thursday nights we shoot 22's at 50' with M52 or my 40X target rifle!

Bows are ineffective. The primitive 'indians' lost everything.

Are you allowed to drive a car still?

Bow hunting is more $’s, but very minimally. Use a Parker Buck-Buster purchased eight years ago and have absolutely no desire to ‘upgrade’, it has served me very well. This year need three packs of both Steel Force 100 gr. broadheads and green Nokturnals and I’m ready to go.
Really don’t need anything for rifle hunting....

I have bow and rifle hunted for 50 years. Archery is definitely more expensive. Buy a gun and ammo while it’s on sale and you can rifle hunt for a lifetime with a minimal investment. Arrows, broad heads add up and you must practice much more with a bow. That said, no matter the cost, they are both worth it.

I would say for one of each it’s about the same.

Rifle hunting is cheaper by far. You don't HAVE to shoot thousands or even hundreds of rounds every year in practice to kill deer and one "deer rifle" will last a lifetime. I have a good friend who has been using the same Remington 760 .30-06 to kill deer every season since 1974. I have watched him do his pre season zero check several times and it consists of nothing more than setting up a gallon milk jug at 90 yards in his back yard {all the room he has} and firing 3 shots rested over the hood of his truck. If they all hit the jug, which they always have, he says "good enough" and goes hunting. The guy fills his tags every year without fail.

Boxer/Stick's "easy to see......" line belongs in this thread.

I would say it is pretty close as well, I think Archery is a little less money

My hunting budget went way down when I gave up the bow due to a bad shoulder.

There were the obvious things: arrows and broadheads. I was never all that hard on arrows. However, I never was able to re-use them after taking a deer. I'd figure on consuming a half-dozen arrows and a couple broadheads a year.

However, there were lots of ancillary things that bow hunting seemed to require that rifle did not. A lot of it had to do with the range of the deer. Once I could nail a deer at 50 or 80 yards from the same treestand as I used to at 20-40 yards with a bow, things like scent reduction, cover scents, calls, etc. became superfluous. Actually, I still take deer at close ranges, even with a rifle, so I guess all that stuff wasn't necessary after all.

I reload, so ammo costs me a fraction of factory loads. The same batch of 50 rounds of 30-06 have taken about a dozen deer and I'm only halfway through it.

Its prettyhard to urgue with success.

This is where differences lie. 50 rounds here would be an hour of shooting in the offseason from various positions and distances.

Most of the archers I know are chasing the latest technology and are buying a new high dollar bow every couple of years. My bow is 10 years old and worth maybe 25 percent of what i paid for it. My 10 year old rifles on the other hand are worth at least what I paid for them.

You don't need to use a .30-06 for practice all the time. I probably burn more rounds per year in practice than most here but 80% of it is .22LR and 15 of the remaining 20% is .223. If you're a good hunter, you'll consistently put yourself within your personal effective range under circumstances that allow you to succeed, no matter what that range may be. That's how the friend I spoke of in my previous post kills deer with such regularity. He rarely needs to shoot more than 50 yards and at that range he is deadly.

I do that too, but not with that rifle and those loads, and I count that as part of my shooting budget and not my hunting budget.

I've got one rifle, my Ruger Hawkeye in '06, that gets fired once before season. It's been hitting the bull on the first shot every year, and I figure it's easier to keep one known good rifle just for the whitetail.

Scott,

You are right.

My answer is; It's about the same, 'cause you need the same amount of corn, for either !

Rifles are far, far more effective, accurate and powerful than the WEAK bow and arrows.

Bows are fun for you and a joke to me. The primitive 'Indians' LOST everything.

My bow hunting cost me almost nothing. I have not put in a dollar in 4 yrs. I hunt 4 miles from my home. Gun season is 243 miles away one way , I loose time at work. I really dont spend much at all all deer season and most is for gas. I would say $300 dollars altogether. Of course my guns are old and my bow is 6 yrs old and still just fine.

They can both be as cheap or expensive as you want them to be. I have killed dozens of deer, turkey and a bear with my bow and have spent relatively little. Bought my current bow in 02 when my first bow was stolen. A dozen arrows will last me years. Replacing broadheads and arrows are my only archery expense.

In comparison, every time I squeeze the trigger its at least 2-3$ with rifle or muzzleloader. I have dropped a whole lot more cash on rifles and optics. Not a requirement but it is a fact.

Who cares???? Follow your passion! Life is short. HUNT HARD.

For me, rifle. Because I like to get new toys and different scopes and ever since I started reloading I’ve dumped God knows how much money into that. Ammo may be the deciding factor in price. Because I’d say I waste way more money with my bow. Losing arrows, breaking broadheads, restringing, wearing out targets, etc.

I'd say archery. The average joe buys a cheap rifle(often combo one with cheap scope) and box of shells. Sights in, then use the same box of shells for next four or five years.

Whereas, I always seem to see the archery guys constantly practicing.

When I tried to getting into archery three or four years back, I was very surprise at the initial expense even for complete start up bow package. The arrows and heads are very expensive and you lose or damage them through practice.

The main advantage I see for archery is generally am earlier and longer season than rifle hunting where I'm at.

AGREED
may I add this I have spent a lot of money bow and rifle hunting and target shooting too, lost a lady or two because of my hunting addiction and I would never change my way .I live to hunt ,fish and shoot and may our good lord give me another good 10 years ! good luck and have great safe success this fall ! Pete53

That's a pretty lose question, it depends on how you look at it and what kind of equipment you're using and how much you practice. I'd say overall Archery, it's the hunting ammo that drives the cost up. However, if you go to the range a lot, rifle shooting can cost more in ammo. Just my basic opinion with numbers pulled out of my ass.

Set up.
A half decent bow or crossbow with arrows, sights, quiver and broad heads $1200.00.
A half decent rifle package with a scope and a couple of boxes of shells $700.00.

Hunting ammo to shoot one deer.
1 Arrow & broad head $20.00.
1 Shell $1.50.

Practice ammo used for 40 rounds.
Arrows and field tips $0.00.
Shells $60.00.

You have to go apples to apples. The one gun hunter with a Walmart savage who uses a box a year is likely spending less than the one bow hunter. Archery is crazy expensive and depreciation is bad. I shoot a cheap Galaxy/samick recurve so I don't have a ton in my archery gear.

Bow hunting seems to require a wider range of specialty clothing - from warm September through cold December around here. Rifle hunting means I put a blaze vest over my work clothes.

Expense is what you make it.

I sold my Ruger #1 RSI for what I had in it.
Bought a beater 760 instead (wanted .35 rem).
W Leupold 4X have 700 total in it.

Archery I run about an old Blackwidow recurve I paid $400 for (bare bow).
All set up, have about 600 in it.

Have had the thousand dollar rifles/bows (bare rigs) and bought scopes and other.

Deer don't care how much you spend.

Killed quite a few w a Mossberg 500 I paid 125 bucks for.

archery hands down. bow costs about the same as really nice gun but at 20 bucks an arrow and all the other things that become necessary, it is getting ridiculous anymore. and if you go the economy route its really a big difference. hell you can get a perfectly adequate rifle for under 300 bucks and a box of shells for 15 and that will get you at least a dozen deer.

Im a rifle hunter.....between my spotting scope , tripod and binoculars Id bet I have more tied up then most archers

Archery. Not only are trendy bows expensive, they require periodic maintenance like cables and other parts that wear out if you shoot a lot (stick bows are excepted, of course). The bowhunters I know are always chasing the holy speed grail too, trading up to gain a bit. Lastly, when the bows break, it can be catastrophic. My cousin had one crack a limb, then its replacement did too. The second time, he got about half what he paid, and bought another brand.

When I decided to get a crossbow, I went recurve because I can do all the maintenance myself without buying a press. No regrets so far.

On the other hand, rifle lust has kept me on the verge of bankruptcy for decades, just like the "other kind".

This is easy for me, bow hunting is cheaper. I have bow hunted since I was 15 off and on. I like to buy a good bow and shoot it for 6-8 years before I upgrade. I also shoot my arrows multiple times, I can't do that with a rifle. For some reason, I like to collect rifles, so I am always buying new rifles, scopes, ammo, etc. With a bow, I stick with what I have for few years. I also shoot my bow a lot more than my guns, and I shoot quite often. With a bow, I can walk out in my backyard and sling some arrows, I can't do that with my rifle. I also prefer to archery hunt, but haven't since I moved to AK, that changes next year though.

I can't believe how much bows sell for now. What does each shot cost? $10 arrow, $10 lighted nock, $10 to $20 broadhead..... WOW!

If archery is "hands down" more expensive for a guy yet he also fancies himself a rifleman, then he's not shooting his rifle(s) enough.

Agree!

You can spin this so many ways. Guys talk about bow depreciation of bows. So the 3 to 5 year old bow that has depreciated terribly is a frustrating situation for the seller and an opportunity for the wise buyer IMHO. Historically I have liked to practice a lot with either bow or rifle. I do spend more time practicing with archery equipment than i do with rifle in recent years.

I like a quiet bow and I like a quiet rifle. Was about to spring for a silencer when I opted instead to get back into archery. Spent at least a grand less on tax stamp, silencer & threading barrels for rifles and instead purchased a less expensive Flag ship bow that was very trendy 2 years ago. The two year old bow is fast, quiet and dead in the hand. The new to me carbon riser bow ways very little and is warm to the touch in cold weather.

My preferred rifle sells for near $600.00 the prefered scope sells for nearly as much. Rounds go for a buck round give or take. Trip to the rifle range just got less expensive as we just got a new rifle range that extends out to 300 yards on the edge of town. Still may pick up a silencer yet

My preferred bow ran $570 to my door for a used bare bow, used a old sight and rest and dropped another $60.00 for a quiver. I spend near $12.00 per premium arrow and 6 to12 arrows will last me a season of active practice and hunting. I do not use lighted knocks and my premium broad heads run no more than $12.00 ea. Used 1 broad head this year to harvest 1 deer. Truth be told I could sharpen the broad head and re-use both the arrow and broached on another deer, should i wish to. Archery lends itself much more to recycling.

Don't hurt my feelings that I can practice on my property day or night. OK I BOUGHT A PREMIUM target as well that should be good for 20,000 practice rounds so as well.

For me, archery is Annually marginally less expensive. Yet I get many more hours of enjoyment per year with archery and no need for hearing protection & the cost and castle of tax stamps. I feel better about sharing the sport of archery with my 8 year old son and expect this to be decisively the case for the coming 3 years; perhaps more.

In my area we are only allowed 1 archery deer per season. Extend my area out to our full state and I could take up to 3 archery deer for sure. Rifle I could take 3 deer plus per year as well.

Enjoy every aspect of rifle and bow hunting to be sure. This includes tuning the bow and building arrows. Seeing up the rifle and reloading ammo. and tweaking in each for maximum performance.

I guess it depends on how you look at it.

If you shoot a compound and trade up every couple years, it'll get very expensive. If you're content with a serviceable bow that's several years old, cost can be kept way down. I built a truckload of selfbows for years and if you factor in the thousands of hours making them, time cutting wood, and hours spent in a stand per deer killed then that's very expensive as well, even if materials are "free". But I used to love it, and still do to a degree. In my case, it would have been cheaper to buy a top end custom recurve and use it for a couple decades.

If a fella is content with a couple of rifles, deer hunting isn't that expensive. Just depends on how looney he is. But, If I measured cost in hours spent hunting per deer killed, rifle hunting is cheaper IMO.

Doing both

Touché

Lol!

My bow hunting costs less than my rifle hunting as long as I don’t lose/break too many arrows/heads/strings/etc during the off season. I still use the same bow that was given to me 8 years ago. But it seems to me that archery equipment eventually wears out and requires you to buy a new bow, where as rifles and scopes- if you buy quality- will last multiple lifetimes. Archery also seems to require more gadgets most of which wear out or get lost more often like I mentioned.

Bow hunting. You have to hunt a lot more hours to score.

Rifles for sure mostly because I have a boatload. I do archery but with a 40+ year old Bear recurve. Have a 7 year old vine maple stick bow as a backup.

If you started with NO rifles or bows, and no hunting clothes. Archery by a lot. Mainly due to clothing costs of the very very long season (here in KY at least) as it will start with temps in the 90s in September and ends in January with very cold, windy weather. Rifle hunting for deer has essentially just one set of gear needed, the only continued cost is ammo. Plus it's harder to by a bow in general (first time), you pretty much need a shop to get it fitted to your DL etc., If rifle season lasted as long as bow season, likely no one would bow hunt (that's my personal thoughts)

Personally I have a very nice bow, and have zero interest in upgraded or getting another. I have several nice rifles, and every day I'm looking at other rifles. So for me, firearms is far more expensive

This is a pretty tough question. I have had as many as three bows at one time (only one currently), as I have a decent range in my basement, shoot often, and really enjoy it. I also have almost 300 acres of private land I can hunt out my back door here at the edge of the suburbs of a northern PA city that is loaded with critters. I only archery hunt this property for safety reasons. We have about 9 total weeks of archery season hunting opportunity here where I live in Pennsylvania. I have been really lucky to get to spend a fair amount of time archery hunting in northern Kansas (own a house there now) and really enjoy that area and the wildlife. I upgrade my archery set up every 5-8 years or so and mostly buy good quality used bows and components. I have been shooting Mathews bows for about 15 years now. I have found you can save a small fortune this way as my best friend and hunting partner upgrades most of his stuff each year. Treestands, climbing gear, and all of the gadgets and stuff you buy for archery hunting also add up, but can last a long time if you take stands down after use, maintain, and store them properly. So I get a lot of mileage and enjoyment out of my archery hunting and the equipment I use at somewhat reasonable cost.

I also love to rifle hunt, and have a safe full of nice stuff that mostly sits as our rifle season here in PA is limited to two weeks. I have been lucky to rifle hunt may other places and most recently enjoyed Nebraska's rifle season a couple weeks back.

I honestly am glad I have bought the rifles, scopes and gear I did many years ago as I am probably set for life to hunt anything. As mentioned in posts above, my only yearly cost is ammo and I occasionally buy, sell, or trade for a used rifle here or on other sites. This stuff holds its value pretty well also.

John

I just shot #4 deer this year with my crossbow. All four on the same arrow. Three of the four on the same broadhead that I resharpened each time. This last deer bent up the blades well enough that I replaced them at about $6. anot With arrows running $20 each, plus a lighted nock, plus a $15 broadhead it can get expensive quick. I have $600 into the crossbow and about $700 into the Zeiss Duralyt on top of it. My rifles and the scopes on them usually run a little more total, but shooting is a lot cheaper. Shooting 4 deer/year with either tends to make things even out well enough when the grocery bill is balanced against the cost of the gear. I used to put in an awful lot of range time but mostly that gets written off as entertainment.

Even shooting 4 deer per year I will not live long enough to use up all my broadheads, all my arrows and all my bullets and powder, so it doesn't matter to me which costs more or less.

At $10 a pound for bacon or walleye or decent meat, when almost all my protein comes from wild game or home made bacon, I eat much better and probably now spend a lot less doing so. I know that fresh and properly cared for fish are much better than what I can buy. I know that home made bacon is an order of magnitude better. I dislike store bought burger and more, and know for sure that I have bought less than five pounds of it in the last five years. My wife is of the same opinion so I guess it works out much better whatever I choose to kill my meat with.

My outlook has been substantialy different with archery season. I generally have a opportunity to fill my tag in the 1st or 2nd time in the archery stand. I do not care to finish the season before the Rut is in full swing unless I can take a really nice one. Even then I am dissapointed to finish up the season early. Just love being out there.

Archery, and it ain't even close.

Agreed........Hb

i hunted with a gun made in 1965 that i paid 300 bucks for a few years ago. given proper care, that gun will still be fully functional in 100 years. try that with a bow