High end gear.........

[Slee]

I have been slowly upgrading my gear over the year but started to think if all this high priced, high end gear is worth it??

Most guys talk up the high end optics, clothing, rifles, ect.....

Why do I constantly see ziess, swaro binos/scopes for sale?? If this stuff is so good and will last a life time why get rid of it????

[KodiakHntr]

Hard times can hit anyone.....And high end gear is easier to trip than shit.

Are you willing to spend $1000 on a swaro spotting scope because a guy is in a bind? Are you willing to spend $200 on a bushnell spotting scope because the same guy is in the same bind?

[Deadshot]

In some cases it's worth every penny. In others cases it's hype.
Depends on how "extreme" you hunt.
I figure if I don't spend it, the wife will.:-D

[Devilbear]

I think that it depends on what you consider "high end" to be. This, differs from person to person and Zeiss, Leica and Swaro optics, while costly to buy, tend to last and give a level of value in performance that justifies the initial price, IMO.

If, you actually backpack hunt and I do not mean day hikes from your quad or F-3504x4, but, carrying your "life" on your back for 3-14 days in typical BC mountainous terrain, then, a "high end" pack, such as a Mystery Ranch or a custom McHale is, when properly fitted to you, a necessary tool and again, the longevity and functional utility of these makes the purchase price acceptable, IMO.

What, I find odd, is someone who will buy custom knives and never use them and then sell them, those who spend serious coin on clothing such as "Sitka Gear" that is trendy and, best of all, those I see, every season, driving their huge 4x4s, completely clad in fleece camo, lined with GT.... The Kootenay-Boundary is full of these guys, endlessly cruising the old logging and mining roads, "hunting"......

There are LOTS of cheap and useful items that work just fine for hunting, I wore surplus military wool pants for about 40 years, cost anywhere from $3.99 to $24.99 and only bought Filson's whipcords when my last ones were in rags and I could not find anymore that fit in Vancouver.

I wore the same boots that I worked in for many years and still would, use a 40+ yr. old compass that works fine and lots of other basic and inexpensive gear. However, your boots, pack, and optics, if you backpack hunt are where spending big bux is well worth it....the rest you can buy used, on sale or make do...as we all did when I started.

[Stone Sheep Steve]

Wives sometimes find out:icon_frow.

SSS

[pearljam]

I have been slowly upgrading my gear over the year but started to think if all this high priced, high end gear is worth it??

Most guys talk up the high end optics, clothing, rifles, ect.....

Why do I constantly see ziess, swaro binos/scopes for sale?? If this stuff is so good and will last a life time why get rid of it????

Because they suck guys in every other year with a new upgrade that makes their product even better :roll:

Like adding HD to a scope...... come on.... HD is fine for my TV but on a scope its a joke just to make you feel like you need to upgrade your stuff.

Top of the line optics, packs and boots can make a huge difference on a hunt. Worth the $$$$ in my opinion. But be happy with what you buy! wait an extra year to save money to get something your really going to be happy with.

The trick is to cancel your cabelas catalog, get your wife to add cabelas.com, basspro.com, wholesalesports.com to the large list of blocked porn sites so you wont know what the latest great binos are...

[Coming_out_heavy.]

Good optics are key in my opinion. Alot of other gear, high end isnt necessarily the best.

[Tenacious Billy]

Wives sometimes find out:icon_frow.

SSS

Hahahahaha!! I know about that all too well.

[stoneslinger]

Good optics are key in my opinion. Alot of other gear, high end isnt necessarily the best.

I beg to differ. High end rubber boots are very important. Nothing worse than a leaky gumboot or wader:-D

[.330 Dakota]

Pay as much or more for your scope than you did your rifle, thats my rule. I started hunting on my own when I was 15, bought my 1st rifle at 16 (Model 70-.300 Win Mag, with a $40.00 Bushnell on it that bloodied my eyebrow every shot, went to a gunshop and talked to a guy who knew about scopes and bought a Loopy that day, never bought another cheap scope. That gunshop guy no longer has the shop, but we have been good buds ever since.

[noneck180]

I am always trying out the latest greatest...sometimes I just get a good deal..and buy without thinking..:mrgreen:

[ryanb]

I think most people spend way too much money on high end gear. Just think, by buying some very decent $500 binos instead of $2500 binos, you now have $2000 in your pocket for an exotic fly-in hunt. Of course, if you can afford both, have at-er.

My $400 dollar rifle scope has never failed to preform even in the lowest light conditions, so what exactly is the point in buying a $1000 scope? Sure, if I was a millionaire I would have the utmost high end stuff, but I'm not so I just have very good gear, and have tons of cash in the bank for fueling the jet boat, fly-in hunts, and taking as much vacation time as possible.

[Goliath]

Wives sometimes find out:icon_frow.

SSS


Awesome! I've found only one good solution to this problem. Early in the season (but not too early), get her something she likes and/or tell her to go buy that coat/spa pass/earrings or whatever she's had her eye on. "After all, she only live once and she deserves the best."

It seriously helps to take the sticker shock out of finding a new gun in the cabinet. :wink:

[swampthing]

You can get by without the best. I am a hardcore gear junky but cant afford the "best" of much. I have a very good selection of mid grade gear. But, being a junky, I cant stop. Went to a wedding in Kamloops last weekend. After stopping at Valhalla Pure and Wholesale Sports, I left much poorer. But I couldnt have possibly hunted another day without that new weatherby ultralight and that montbell sleeping bag. I couldnt afford not to buy them.

[pearljam]

You can get by without the best. I am a hardcore gear junky but cant afford the "best" of much. I have a very good selection of mid grade gear. But, being a junky, I cant stop. Went to a wedding in Kamloops last weekend. After stopping at Valhalla Pure and Wholesale Sports, I left much poorer. But I couldnt have possibly hunted another day without that new weatherby ultralight and that montbell sleeping bag. I couldnt afford not to buy them.



Your 100% right. your not hunting unless your shooting a weatherby!!!! :mrgreen:

And my montbell spiral hugger has kept me alive many times. with out it i would have died. or at least thats what ive told the old lady.......

[Spy]

Hahahahaha!! I know about that all too well.

Yup X 3 on that one! My Better half just found out I bought another shotgun 8 months ago.:evil:Im in a world off shit,but its totally worth it I love my12 g Beretta Ultra light Delux.:wink::wink
I love all my guns.:-D

[thetackdriver]

Well i thought i would give the new "high end " sitka gear a try since i found some for a quarter the price they sell it here in town for. To be honest im about to go back to my trusty green wool pants and wool shirts that all my friends have been making fun of . I think the sitka pants attract water not repel it. They are fairly warm and light though. For the price id rather go with the cheaper old school wool hunting clothing and come out ahead with money too spare

[open-sights]

Remember that most people buy the best they can afford, some people buy out of thier comfort level and others, mostly the Dutch spend less than what they would like and swear constantly about thier gear. Regardless, buy what you can afford but dont buy junk, nobody can afford to buy everything twice.

[TSW]

Hahahahaha!! I know about that all too well.

Especially when your buddy accidentally spills the beans!!!

[BiG Boar]

Boots, binos, spotting scope are all very important to have great quality. But then there is having a reliable truck to get you in and out, a decent tent or nice 5th wheel, a smooth riding quad ready to pull moose around, a boat to go fishing. An accurate gun is important, with a good scope to be able to shoot in low light. Sakos, are nice. If you hunt in wet weather, gore tex is very handy. An outfitters tent, with a stove to dry out. A GPS with a color screen so you dont hike into a lake. All of them are great things to spend money on. Would you cringe to go back to some of the lesser quality stuff? Probably. Can you laugh at your buddy who bought the cheap binos and has crossed eyes?.........definitley.

[buck nash]

Wives sometimes find out:icon_frow.

SSS

"Why did the RCMP send you a letter? Is that from the gun registry?"

"Oh don't worry about that baby. It's just a survey or something."

[SHACK]

"top of the line" as said earlier, is completely relative to your financial situation. Dont get me wrong, we all know what "the best of the best" is, but the best for "your" situation may be a bit shy of that, nothing wrong there. Hell, I am by no means more than your average working fella, I do however do my best to purchase the absolute "best of the best". I can only afford it once, and I dont want shiet to fail because I "cheaped out"

[cmfic1]

I guess it all depends on the hunting you do, or have planned.

For alot of my hunts, between the cost of the hunt & time off of work, I have way to much money invested to take anything less then (what I deem) the best of gear.

I was a guide for several yrs when I was younger. You would not believe how quickly a very high dollar hunt can turn sour, when gear fails to make the grade. I've seen it from boots & sleeping bags, to rifles & optics, and everything in between.
The absolute best knowledge I've gleened through those yrs is what works & what dont.

Alot of times when you see "the best of the best" for sale, its either something to do with finances, or upgrading to the latest and greatest, than it is "because there is better"........whens the last time you heard of someone trading in a pair of Swaros, for a pair of Bushnells?

[goatdancer]

You should always buy high-end gear because you can look soooooo cool.

[mod7rem]

You have to consider what you are getting for the money. With optics for example, a $2000 swaro bino may be 50-60% more money than an $800-$1000 pair of minox or comparable bino, but the difference in quality is very small. I think the old saying "buy the most expensive optics and it will last you a lifetime" is a strong marketing gimmick. I dont know about you guys but things change and it is natural to want something new after a while. Not to mention how tough on gear backpack hunting is. The important thing is to buy GOOD gear that you can or cant afford and dont stress to much because there is always something more expensive that you could of bought. Research-buy-enjoy.JMHO

[swampthing]

Right on Peraljam. As for the sitka gear, I have a friend who bought pants and complained of their "wetness". I run them and find they are quite water resistant. Try spraying them with a waterproof spray.

[happyhunter]

I think good gear can be worth it. I rock a $30 pair of runners, but my hunting boots are over $300. Used to hunt in some marks work ware hiking boots. The toes would curl when climbing, although 'waterproof' I was soaked through 2 pairs of socks in the first hour of hiking. And in the snow? Wet and cold! I just went on a successful goat hunt and I know I wouldn't have been able to go through the stuff we did for as long as we did if I didn't have my asolo boots. Every step up the mountain and my foot was planted firm, loose rocks my foot would twist but never hurt an ankle, and they were dry all day. Worth every penny.

[muledeercrazy]

Most of the time i compromise i end up selling the gear for less than i paid for it and paying the extra bucks to get what i really wanted or needed. Buying the best gear you can afford is different than cheaping out when you could afford better, at least imo. And for what it is worth, I dont really find Sitka gear that expensive. Rivers West, Browning, Underarmor, Cabelas gore-tex, Rocky, etc are all comparativly priced or close.

[wlbc]

"Why did the RCMP send you a letter? Is that from the gun registry?"

"Oh don't worry about that baby. It's just a survey or something."


Oh, that's good, very gooood. :twisted:

[wlbc]

For me this is fairly situational.

Good boots, absolutely. Mine are over $300 and I don't consider that expensive. On our fly in a couple of weeks ago we were climbing mountains before dawn and packing elk down the rest of the day. I had no blisters and my feet were not any worse off than the rest of me - while others had blisters, etc.

Good rifle, you bet, while I won't say how much I've spent on my Winnie, I will say that the rifle and the glass on it have exceeded my expectations with respect to feel and accuracy.

Camo, hmmm. My lightweight stuff is inexpensive Cabela's bowhunter stuff, fairly cheap, quiet, comfortable, etc. I don't see a need for better.

Glass, for me there is a very noticeable difference in good glass, especially as conditions degrade. After looking through some of my scopes two of my hunting partners are saving up in order to upgrade their scopes.

To each their own, afterall the value of an item is only what someone is willing to pay for it.

[srupp]

with the exception of finances..the vast majority of hunters who spend a lot of time and effort hunting will eventually upgrade...no one can tell me a $500 pair of binos..any brand will compare with a set of Swaro HD...not gonna happen..
If you are going camping with the kids in the backyard by all means spend the $150 on the walleyworld nylon Barbie tent..you can always run inside...

Sheesh guys hay is $5 /bale..less ...:mrgreen:once its through the horse..

a quality top quality tent..ie Mountain hardware is worth every penny so is top notch quality anything...buy top gear buy once and enjoy the satisfaction of quality an that quality may just save your ass..or help you find that stone ram sleeping in the shale...

With 1 exception..my pack..all my gear is expensive, and top quality..I have slept dry and warm in some pretty hellish wind and rain and snow..I have spotted game that took others an extra 15 minutes to find..

buy the best you can afford...dont scrimp on optics ..its hunting not shooting..the vast majority of time is spent searching - looking..use all advantages...I have used Bushnell, all the way up to Swaro hd...Ill stick to the quality..you are free to choose what you want..

cheers
Steven

[cmfic1]

X2 srupp

Very well put

[quadrakid]

How about the guys that spend big moolah on gear and gadgets yet spend no time in the field? More animals are taken with the brain than the gear. Having said that,as i,ve gotten older i,ve been buying much more expensive gear.

[cmfic1]

How about the guys that spend big moolah on gear and gadgets yet spend no time in the field? More animals are taken with the brain than the gear. Having said that,as i,ve gotten older i,ve been buying much more expensive gear.

What does a guys time spent in the field vs. the amount of $$ he spends on stuff have to do with anything?
So does the fact that your buying more expensive things these days, lessen your time spent in the field?

There may be "more animals taken with the brain, than with the gear", now lets put the two together and there will likely be more yet.
I can just about gurantee, that there are TONS of animals taken yearly across the globe, that wouldnt have been taken with "sub-par" gear!

[quadrakid]

Hey everyone should buy the best gear they can afford. My point was that i get a kick out of GEAR GUYS. Being knowledgable and gaining experience leads to hunting success . You can spend as much as you want on gear but i don,t think it will be the deciding factor in your success.Theres plenty of guys driving around with thousands of dollars worth of the latest gizmos and gear that don,t get out of the truck all day.I call them GEAR GUYS :-D

[cmfic1]

I got 'chya now

[Devilbear]

Hey everyone should buy the best gear they can afford. My point was that i get a kick out of GEAR GUYS. Being knowledgable and gaining experience leads to hunting success . You can spend as much as you want on gear but i don,t think it will be the deciding factor in your success.Theres plenty of guys driving around with thousands of dollars worth of the latest gizmos and gear that don,t get out of the truck all day.I call them GEAR GUYS :-D

This makes me chuckle, as I have seen many guys, much younger than I am, wearing full fleece/camo/GT suits and driving new 3/4-1Ton 4x4s, constantly patrolling the various roads and even quadding barely negotiable cow and skid trails in the Kootenays. I remember one group, with about a dozen "hunters" and enough machinery to re-stage "D-Day" that I encountered close to my old residence, they had average rifles and mediocre optics, but, BOY, did they have "wheels"....and seemed very adverse to walking-hunting.

I am the opposite, I use the finest backpacking and optical gear and my guns and knives are mostly custom and fairly costly. I hate patrolling backroads and love to hike, slowly, all day while keeping a low profile and watching the wind. I park my very minimal vehicle before dawn each day and seldom move it until after dusk, when I return to my tent camp. But, since hunting is really about having fun, I figure that every person should use whatever their personal preference is and buy what they can afford.

Some guys just love fancy trucks and quads, others prefer horses and some backpacking, it's all good, hopefully fun and brings home some meat, if, you are both skilled and, best of all, lucky.

[bmx_slinger]

I agree with all who say that experience is more important than how much gear you have and how much you pay for it. However, I'm fairly new to the game and am basically starting from scratch. I am trying to get the high end gear, so that i don't have to buy it again in a year or two, but it adds up quick. Atleast I inhereted my gun. I use the "I can do without this for now" technique and as I gain more experience and get into the longer more intense hunts, I'm sure I'll end up with the gear that I need. That being said, anyone got a good pack they want to get rid of? Or anything else for that matter?

[Tarp Man]

I started slowly, and gradually built up my gear closet. I had to start with "mediocre" stuff as there are basic needs that need to be adressed when starting out. As soon as I could, I started saving up for the good stuff. Last year I shelled out big bucks on boots, after my Asolo's started showing their age at 6 years of pounding the hills. They paid dividends on my alpine deer hunt this past September. I could not have packed in and out with the security I did, wearing my old boots. Mind you this was a wear and tear issue, not a quality issue. My Scarpa Escapes did their job well and will continue to do so, I anticipate based on their wear and fit.

This year I bought new Swarovski's (upgrade from the Bushnell's). The difference was immediate, and worth the significant investment. For the first time, the deer count was even between my hunting buddy and I. Typically it is a 3:1 or 4:1 ratio. I usually have him check out lumps and stumps for me that may be deer, but I lacked the clarity to tell.

[Gateholio]

High end gear that you can carry on your person (optics, firearms, ammo, clothing, boots, backpack etc) is far less expensive than a new truck/at/jetboat but it's a better investment in your hunting experience than the motor toys.

I always laugh when I see a guy with a $50K truck with a new ATV and towing a jet boat balks at paying more than $250 on a rifle scope or $50 on a box of premium ammo.:mrgreen:

[GoatGuy]

High end gear that you can carry on your person (optics, firearms, ammo, clothing, boots, backpack etc) is far less expensive than a new truck/at/jetboat but it's a better investment in your hunting experience than the motor toys.

I always laugh when I see a guy with a $50K truck with a new ATV and towing a jet boat balks at paying more than $250 on a rifle scope or $50 on a box of premium ammo.:mrgreen:

That's cause the local gals in Toad River aren't impressed by a swaro hd, they're impressed by a black duramax.

[SKYLINE]

Guys can say what they want but there is a noticeable difference between mid-range and high-end binos. I own a pair of mid-range binos and used to think that they were "close enough" to the high-end until this year. This season, I was given the opportunity to hunt with high-end binos and there is a big difference! Buy what you can afford but don't try to convince yourself or others that there is no difference.
Also a high end rifle and scope isn't going to help the guy that doesn't ever practice! There are lots of inexpensive rifles available that could "out shoot" most shooters! Save some money on a rifle and spend it on a scope.