[Marlin336]

I was just wondering if anyone else ends up being broke over there hobbies such as me. This as in shooting, love my computers and making them go a lil faster than should be and killen em , and cars.... just wondering how you guys do it.... i work the whole summer for my uncle cleaning industrial air conditioning and air cleaning units and crawling in the ducts... dont ind the work considering im 15 and i make roughly 100 bucks a day and i work maybe 5 weeks a summer heavily then just bus boy work the rest... so lets hear it..

 

[badshot]

If our hobbies didnt break our banks they wouldnt be as fun. It gives us something to go to work for. You should try getting deep into tournament archery and traveling at the national level to tournaments with 500-700 shooters. Just my gear is several grand and I was buying new bows every year to keep up with the latest technology. A new top of the line compound bow will cost as much as a new Remington BDL if not more. The only break you get is in your bullets for a bow. When you shoot them you just walk to the target and pull them out and shoot them again. Then you get good enough you start slapping them together in the target and then wind up and shoot one into another one in the target. That is called a "robin hood". The first couple are cool and make good trophies for the bow rack or gun cabinet. Then after you do a few of them it starts getting expensive. A good target arrow fully made up and shootable can run you as much as $10-12 each. You go and stick 2 of those together and there goes $20-25 hanging on the wall. The summer of 1999 I was shooting target arrows that went for about $5 each (cheapskate). That was the cost of the shaft, point, nock and fletchings and I build the arrows myself. i shot 19 robin hoods that year at distances from 20 yards to 40 yards. that doesnt sound like a long way but with a bow 40 yards is a long way. I went thru 7 dozen arrow shafts that year at $60 a dozen. See the price is building in a hurry isnt it? Then when you start traveling just to the local shoots say up to 3-4 hours from home you have travel expenses, and motel rooms if you go very far and its a 2 day tournament. It keeps adding up. You keep getting better and winning or placing real well at the locals and people get to know you and know your going to come in with a good score. They start watching your gear and your expected to have the latest and greatest. Then you have those latest and greatest gadgets and doo-dads. Those cost money too. A good rest $70, a good set of pin sights $100, if your really getting into it you move to what is called the open class. This is where the big boys play. The sights your going to need for this are fully adjustable. You have the sight bar $150, the scope (yup a scope on a bow) $200, that scope needs a magnifier lens $150. Then you have those long stabilizers $100-300 depending on what you want. You just keep shooting better and you need more "stuff". You find out that there is a guy that makes custom grips to replace the factory grips on your bow. YUP gotsta have it. There goes another $100. by now your shooting some sort of release aid. Yups here goes the cash register again $30-300 depending on what you want. And you can never just have one. If you just had one it would break in the middle of a tournament and your way ahead of the best guys you know and your on track to win the shoot. So you have to have at least 3-4 of those releases. I think I have about 7 ranging from $75-200. and those arent the ones i hunt with. My old hunting release is $80 and I have 3 of those. You still with me? now your ready to start really traveling. This involves AIRFARE. Oh no!!!!!!!!!!!!! there goes at least $300 for a round trip ticket to Florida to shoot in a tournament they hold on the Gatornational Dragstrip grounds. Those National level shoots are 3 solid days. Fly out on Thursday late afternoon early evening and come home late sunday evening. Then you have 3 nights lodging and 3.5 days of a rental car. This can normally be split up with a small group of people. There was 5 of us that traveled together most of the time so those werent too bad $100 from each of us to cover lodging and a car (minivan). Then you have meals. Oh meals are a good one. I'm talking steak and lobster for every meal. Well ok at least steak for supper. There goes another $30 a steak dinner and $15 for breakfast and supper combined if you have time. Now you can see that its not just your hobbies that are breaking you. Mine kept me so poor I couldnt afford to pay attention. But it sure was fun.

By the way. I have some archery gear I can sell. :lol:

 

[Nekekami]

Heh, luckily for me, most of my ammo is free. However, computers, mountainbiking, martial arts and saving up for a proper digital SLR(I'm in love with the Nikon D70) is way too costly, especially since I'm still unemployed. Not to mention role-playing games and all the reading I do.

Mountainbiking, on a competitive level, can become quite expensive.. I used to compete between 1992 and 1996. When I finally decided to splash out on a custom bike... Yikes... The light-weight super-strong Cro-Moly frame from Orange set me back almost $600. The hydraulic Marzocchi suspension fork set me back another $300. Then there were the gear system(Shimano Deore XT) and brakes(Shimano Deore XT), pedals(Time), handlebar, rims(Mavic) and tires(Onze Porcupine front and Mavic Mudtrack rear), as well as the accessories such as a bike computer, good, durable light fixtures for night biking. The clothes is another chapter, as is the helmet. There's also the cost of locks, insurance(both for you and the bike), club and competition fees, food(especially from the extra energy, protein and fat intakes necessary to cope with the extreme excercises)

 

[mele]

Oh man, we are all pathetic!

Beyond rifles/ammo/shooting

Flying (private pilot, want to build my own plane), car restoration (http://www.ssmoparmuscle.com), computers, games, comics, music (piano), hiking/camping, fishin, hunting, golfing, blah blah blah there not only is NOT enough money, but not nearly enough time! So I have to pick and chose the hobbies to focus on. Time is further limited because of wife and four kids, but for the time I do have: because of my past and this site, shooting/sniping is my main priority, after that, its programming (snipersim)... then I'm about out of time and resources, but I slip in a little bit of flying to stay current.... not as much as I'd like though.

Then there are the hobbies i'd LIKE to do... but flat out can't at this time (car racing (GT Road Racing), Falconry, etc)

Now, if I were independently wealthy... that could be fun.

MEL

 

[badshot]

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I got rid of wife before she could produce kids so that has left me alot more time and money for hobbies. My GF now has more guns and toys than I do and she has land to hunt on. Yep, I done good.

 

[FLEA]

!

Boy oh boy have I had way too many expensive hobbies.

Music (guitar player)
Guns duh
Scuba (advanced certs, nitrox, wreck diver) course I have damaged my ear drums so bad that I ussually dont dive deeper the 60 feet now.
Martial Arts (tae kwon do)
Motorcycles (used to road race in club circuts) ***wanna know whats expensive....throwing away a $16,000.00 Ducati at 150 MPH****
Right now Im gonna go be trained as a CFI (certified flight instructer) on helicopters.....Time for a career change In case you havn't guessed I date but prentend to be a cheap skate. :lol:

 

[Nekekami]

FLEA:

Ouch. Motorcycles are expensive... The roadracing bike I want is the 1997 Triumph Daytona(Silver grey/Canary yellow). Unfortunately, it's _waaaaay_ out of my budget. But it drives like a dream.

 

[FLEA]

!

Nek:

Yes triumph make nice bikes but they are fun to race cause of lack of racing parts out there.

Here are a few pics of Duc (rest in peace....or peices) :lol:

 

[Marlin336]

thought i was expensive lol ok now i dont feel as wierd

 

[cody221]

hunting and shooting-guessing around 12 grand(trap shooting is veyr expensive)
atv's-around 12 grand also
running..least expensive hobby..but i buy $130 shoes every 3 months and new spikes for every season(track and cross)
and i think thats about it but i concetrate on eveyr one of them

 

[AcidMeister]

I have a DUCEATER we take people all the times on DUC's here in cali cause its lots of fun to watch a $3000 bike thats taped together with DUCtape (yes it really does fix everything) fly past a Ducati that cost over $15,000 not to mention the owners face when you're sitting on top of the mountain grinning at him.. as he comes flying by 5 minutes after you came to a stop

 

[Scatch Maroo]

I have a DUCEATER we take people all the times on DUC's here in cali cause its lots of fun to watch a $3000 bike thats taped together with DUCtape (yes it really does fix everything) fly past a Ducati that cost over $15,000 not to mention the owners face when you're sitting on top of the mountain grinning at him.. as he comes flying by 5 minutes after you came to a stop

Too bad you didn't spend that money you saved on a "Punctuation for Dummies" book. :lol:

All in good jest.

Scatch Maroo

 

[AcidMeister]

I dont bleieve in punctuation, it has been the biggest downfall on the modern English language.

 

[FLEA]

!

I have a DUCEATER we take people all the times on DUC's here in cali cause its lots of fun to watch a $3000 bike thats taped together with DUCtape (yes it really does fix everything) fly past a Ducati that cost over $15,000 not to mention the owners face when you're sitting on top of the mountain grinning at him.. as he comes flying by 5 minutes after you came to a stop

:lol: LOL Most the people who own Ducati's sadly can't ride them to save there life. I have raced alot of bikes Suzukis, yamaha's, honda's (rather eat a worm then ride a kawi) and nothing could hold the corner speed like a duc.....nothing. Just racing one sent me to the poor house in a fast way.

I won't ride on moutain roads because the people who do that think its a reflection of skill. Going all out on a mountain road just proves nothing....to me its like a shooting range with no rules, where everyone makes a circle and shoots at the targets in the middle of it. I'll be the first one to admit that I was one of those people until I got on the track. Thats where you can go all out with a high safty factor. I have seen way to many good people die on the mountains, not hot doggers either, just hit some gravel in the wrong place or had that other car of bike who couldn't hold thier line and put them out. Go to the track you will have more fun then you could ever imagine. Clean roads.....a guy with a flag ready to waive it if its not clean or something ugly is around the corner.....all traffic going one way....(hopefully) bike inspection so the guy in front of you doesn't have parts falling off......and a ambulance within 2 minutes....not to mention no fear of cops.

 

[K2]

You want to talk expensive hobbies! I live in Texas where there is virtually zero public land to hunt on. I have three sons that I still support until they all finish school (do I get to include the approximately $50K per year this schooling is costing me?), so my hunting expenses are quadrupled. I can hunt my own S. Texas land, but I also have a 1000 acre year-round lease in the Texas Hill Country (gotta hunt those exotics!!) at $4k per gun X 3 equals $12K per year. I also have to have weapons for each hunter, so there's another expense (shotguns, rifles, bows). We practice a LOT, so my ammo expenses are high, even with reloading. I also have been on hunts to Montana, New Mexico and Alaska over the last 5 years. Guides, tags, airfare, taxidermists $$$$$. I shoot competitively in Sporting Clays, Benchrest, Service Rifle and anything else I can make time for (travel, entry fees, ammo...). I raise and train horses (THAT'S real poverty!!!) and maintain a herd of about 20 animals. I also team rope competitively (it sucks when a rodeo and rifle match are scheduled for the same days) and have to travel to events. Ropes, tack, practice arena, practice steers, etc. all cost money. Heavy 4-horse trailer, Ford F-350 4wd crew-cab with V-10, wife and kids, tack....you do the math on my fuel costs. I am a private pilot with a Shrike Commander (twin engine 6-seat) and I log about 150-200 hours per year in this aircraft at around $150-200 per hour including fuel and maintenance costs. This does not include holdback for engine rebuild, ADs or annuals. I also have an old Piper PA18 Super Cub that I putt around in as flying jeep. Costs on this one aren't too bad, but annuals, ADs etc. still add up. I only have one muscle car, an old '65 Mustang that I bought new and had totally restored a few years ago. FUN CAR! Since I have my kids insured to drive this, insurance is a KILLER! I have dirt bikes, 4-wheelers and 2 hunting jeeps to maintain. I have a Harley Fat Boy and I'm building a chopper after watching too many episodes of Orange County Choppers with my boys. I sold the money-pit of a boat I had. Bottom line is, if anyone accuses you of spending too much on your hobbies, you can point to me and say, "At least I'm not HIM!!"

K2

 

[FLEA]

if anyone accuses you of spending too much on your hobbies, you can point to me and say, "At least I'm not HIM!!"

***Points at K2 with a sigh of relief***

 

[mele]

Yeah, at least I'm not him!!!!

Holy cows K2! You have me beat!! Oh, can I have your super cub? :wink:

MEL

 

[badshot]

K2,

I need a new deer lease. You need a new son?

Man I thought I spent alot.

 

[K2]

Mele:

Sorry, you cannot have my Cub!! I actually keep it here on my place and get to fly it on fairly spur-of-the-moment opportunities (Yes, I still do THOROUGH pre-flight, follow 8 hours bottle-to-throttle, etc.). I really LOVE that plane. It has several STOL mods and I have yet to fully explore that aspect of its performance envelope. I will tell you that it is a thrill to pop the brakes and be airborne in only a couple of plane lengths with just the slightest breeze to assist. Unlike my Shrike, everything happens at such a leisurely pace that its hard to get into any real trouble unless you're looking for it. I might consider giving you the Shrike if fuel prices keep going up! It's dammed comfortable, but MAN is it thirsty! Port engine's coming up on recommended TBO too!$$$

Badshot:

It depends. have you finished college yet, or will I have to put you through school too? Also, how do you feel about them Aggies?!

K2

 

[subThermal]

WHOOP! My brothers an Agg, Corps, now serving as an MP