I guess quality is in the eye of the beholder. It is incredibly easy to build a very nice sturdy crank up feeder. Blinds are what you put into them. Ours have metal roof, hardi sides and fold down glass windows. They serve their purpose. That's when the difference between cheap and quality becomes skewed with fancy and simple.

Instead of buying that second blind or second rifle, learn how to process your own meat and invest in some processing equipment. Processor fees add up quickly.

X2

I don't want to know how much it would have cost to have the 10 deer a year my brother and I shot growing up processed much less the hogs.

I would go West earlier in hunting adventures, talk to as many farmers/ranchers/other hunters as possible for opportunities; research abroad and save for those trips while hunting public land or with friends in the interim.

I agree with others that over time I've learned I would rather save and cry once on a good rifle, good bow... then save save save for own patch of dirt and enjoy improving it, flipping and/or increasing its size. Still don't have my own place (yet)

I'm fortunate to enjoy this addiction and as I age do enjoy the finer blinds, larger feeders and cameras but they are wants not needs. I grew up hunting the hardwoods and bottoms, learned different animal sign; walk/stalk and climbing up in tree limbs and loved every minute of it. Still prefer to hunt on a ladder stand or tripod but would not trade for my box blind on those cold, windy, rainy days as I hate siting in camp when I can be out hunting and watching nature.

Plus, you know you are getting your own meat back. Not so with many processors.

To me the most important part is the lease. I like a place with high deer numbers and a chance at a mature deer every year. Over several years of moving around the state I've found that in the San Angelo area. I spend as much as I can and drive about as far as I can tolerate.(5 hours) I have a trailer, blinds, feeders, cameras, and a ranger. I enjoy all aspects of a hunting lease but if the hunting is not good I'm out.

True on the work & money involved on your own land. I will add though even for just hunting it is a wise choice economically too. Piece of mind & not dealing with lease drama is invaluable. A clear mind & no stress leads to a better more productive life & health.

In chronological order.

1. Bought a little track of land when I had the funds before I got married and had kids

2.Left some trees in my food plot when I had it originally dozed.

3. Have a 300# feeder wish I would have gotten at least a 500 #er, Wil next time.

4. Bought a bigger and nicer trailer, have a 20'now and it is plenty comfortable for me and 1 other, more than that it gets crowded. A 24' next time

Ha, should have clarified. I'm not talking about buying a pre-made feeder, I'm talking the components I sprung for. All the feeders I use now were built by me. In the beginning I built them using crappy 6V motor-timers and cages. Wish I would have gone with quality 12V units, box-mounted solars, and Eliminator plates from the get go. And, I'd have gone with min 450lb ground fills builds on all.

As to blinds, if I could do it again I'd have done glass windows and aluminum weather-stripped doors from the get go. Or, gone straight to fiberglass. Live and learn.

This^. Sure at the end of the day you don't own the property, but that also means you aren't liable for it and any expenses that go along with it. For the cost of owning property I could have a few different leases. If/when you want something different you can get off at any time.

After you buy property you own it, its yours you can do as you wish (within reason) nobody can wait till you fix it how you like it then boot you and take the rewards. You can leave it to your children, you can sell it and enjoy the store of value and appreciation. You can use the land to make money in the mean time.

There are definitely sacrifices to landownership if your not made of money, but I intend to leave my kiddos with a piece of land when I go.

starting over from scratch but already had a gun ...

#1 ... a place to hunt would be my biggest priority, whether I was buying, leasing or public hunting.
1A. Public hunting isn't totally free but is probably the least expensive route, you just might have to travel more to different locations which wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing. I suspect you would be less familiar with the property or the location assigned, so this would not be my first choice unless that was all I could afford.

1B. purchasing my own land would be awesome but also may not be financially possible depending on your income or available play money. You could save until you could buy some land, but again, that might take years, if not decades to do. Sure you can start small and flip and/or buy more over time but short term gratification is highly unlikely totally depending on your financial standing.

1C. Leasing property to hunt, leases come in all varieties of price ranges depending on location and amenities. This is likely the easiest course of action mainly due to it is a fixed price annually but you might move between places over the years depending on what you are seeing or what your expectations truly are dealing with your hunting priorities. The prices remain for the most part relatively the same give or take over the years, you get accustom to habits and patterns of the game you are hunting, you build life long friendships (or enemies) over time with people you are in camp with. Likely why most people in Texas lease property to hunt.

all the other things listed (blinds, feeders, cameras, camper, 4WD vehicle, etc) are not totally necessary although they are all very nice to have. The first roughly 25 years of my hunting, a lease was about all I could afford. no one had feeders or cameras, blinds were a few boards nailed in a tree or a hollowed out brush pile or if you got fancy, maybe a couple old pieces of plywood making a V with a folding chair... I killed bunches of deer from that much simpler time of life, dirt poor but freezers were almost over flowing. Similarly, no one owned any form of 4wd other than an old IH Scout or recycled military jeep but those were few in our group. The road was good enough to get to camp in the worst conditions and we walked to our hunting areas or drove part of the way with 3-4 guys crammed into a standard cab pickup left in a central location, then walked the rest of the way. Likewise, we used old military surplus tents, military cots, cotton mattresses, wool blankets, make-shift pot belly stove out of 55 gallon drum ... it wasn't fancy, but it was cozy enough to survive along with the excitement of hunting.

a lot of what we think are truly necessities is more fluff and luxuries we often times take for granted...

One man's opinion, if you can find a way, buy land. I've been on several leases, and there always seems to be drama - even on the good ones. I also look at improvements to a lease being like remodeling a rent house. It is great while you are there, but eventually someone else is going to enjoy the fruits of your labors.

My property is not big, but it is large enough for me to hunt, and occasionally bring a friend along. And I don't have to ask permission or coordinate with anyone on my decisions on when, where, what, or the how of anything. And if I ever get too old, or too tired, I can sell for more than I paid. Yes, i pay taxes, but with AG valuation, not very much.

Again, I know it is not economically feasible for everyone, and it took us a long time to get to a point financially where it made sense, but the satisfaction of working on your own place is very rewarding. Bottom-line, we have always lived within our means, and that is paying dividends as we've gotten a BIT older.

Assuming I hAd a tight budget. The things I would want is one pair camo, good binoculars, trail camera. One of the most important things needed is time. Time to scout, time to hunt. There is a lot of thrill in still hunting.

Bought my place 20 years ago. But it was in the middle of our girls growing up, and family is first. So, we leased out the hunting for 10 years to pay the taxes, and leased out the grazing to help make the payments. Over time we have had the old ranch house redone and while it is only 2 bedrooms, and a bath it's turned out just fine for a 95 year old home. It took a lot to give up the hunting there all those years, but now it is well worth it. There were many seasons I couldn't wait for an invite to shoot a doe somewhere, and folks would fuss at me for having a place and not hunting it. Fast forward to now, and things are paid for, the smokehouse is finished, and the garden is going. I do have a old truck at the place I use to feed cows out of, and do my work, but still enjoy walking to the blind as much as possible. For me, I've never had camera, as I like to be surprised when hunting.

I wished I had asked more questions of the men who have since passed to gain more knowledge of their experiences in the woods and on the battlefields of Europe and the Pacific.

Dan,
Best answer ever! I want to change mine, and get in your line.

AND you know everything that was done to it....

We ALWAYS process our own meat....deer, hogs, fish...whatever...

Great answers from everyone. Guess that's what I'm after with this post - knowledge that I don't yet have. Doubt purchasing land will be in the cards anytime soon for me just because of money however I would love to leave that legacy for my kids one day. Keep it coming THF. I appreciate y'all taking the time to share your wisdom.

I tried, most didn't want to talk about it.

My baseball coach was a Vietnam vet. Used to talk a bit of hunting with him, he owned a few ranches.

Was pretty open about his time there. Told me about how he had to pick up the pieces of his friend and put it in a bag after he was hit with a rocket and I dropped it after that

I learned a lot about hounds from a man that was small in statue, but had survived more than his share of island battles in the Pacific. It was only years later when I had growed older that I realized why he seemed to fear nothing.

I was surrounded by men who had a wealth of hunting and outdoor knowledge that many today would call unnecessary. If I could only go back and ask them all those questions that come to mind now.

do it old style, and I mean old style

This happened to me with my buddy's dad sitting around a fire one night before a duck hunt.

He was tasked with parachuting into a hot zone in Vietnam. They found a tunnel system and crawled through it looking for the enemy. It was so dark that he didn't realize there was an opening where a guy was sleeping and he crawled over the guy's legs. It startled him so badly that he just grabbed the guy until he found his head and started stabbing away blindly. Cut his head completely off in his adrenaline rush. Explained that these guys they were fighting were often times no bigger than little boys. At that point in the story, I wasn't sure if he was still with us he was shaking so badly.

Last time I've ever asked a vet to share a war story they didn't volunteer.

Where i used to live this guy had a gun shop in his barn, I stopped in there one day to see his inventory. He had a colt 1911 .45 that he was trying to pitch to me.

I asked him how a .45 acp works and he told me about a time he was in a tunnel somewhere in the pacific and he turned a corner and there was a Jap ( my apologies to the Japanese ) that he surprised and had raised his arm. The guy told me he shot him in the rib cage and it blew his lungs out the opposite side of him. He had almost like a child like grin on his face when he was telling the story. Not something you would expect to hear from a little old man in his 80's.

My grandfather landed in Normandy the 2nd or 3rd day, his brothers went the first day. When I was a little kid I asked him how it was and the only thing he told me was he used to sit on dead bodies and eat cause that was the only place you could get outta the mud

He never talked about it after they to me or any of my family.

After he died we went thru his stuff and found all the photos he took of when they liberated the camps and all the mass graves and bodies. I can see why he never brought it up

he was a part of the GREATEST GENERATION