Has oil prices effected your hunting??

I live in Alaska and we feel the effects of low oil in a big way. Thousands of jobs lost, state don't have money to meet the budget, etc. I've spoken with clients of mine from New Zealand who also have seen massive cuts from the oil prices.
How has the low oil prices effected your hunt planning and spending?

Where I work and try to forget about oil prices....

Has not affected my hunting operation at all.

I'm a hunter, not a outfitter and low oil prices mean I get to go more.

Not trying to be a smart azz but im happy the oil prices have gone down. At this time i can actually fill my 3/4 ton truck and drive it it more. Also can put more money towards hunting and fishing. Will love the day we become energy independent.Dont want anybody to lose there job but i sure dont feel sorry for the oil companys.

Beautiful picture. Alaska is just like us down here in Texas, if you think you're not connected to oil...you're wrong.

I'm a hunter and in the business. Yes, it has affected me. I don't book package hunts during downturns. My salary isn't diminished but my bonuses certainly are. I'm not hurting like so many in the industry, but I tighten my belt during tough times. And I will tell you that $ for entertainment have seriously contracted throughout the industry. This will hurt the larger commercial hunting operations.

Yep and also spend more on equipment and hunts.

This year there has been tons of leases available compared to last year where a lease would get taken sight unseen.

Working in the oil field,I always feel the effects of low oil & gas prices. It has really sucked the last few years,but it looks like it's on the way back up for a while.

Low oil prices have sure made our drive down south much nicer!

I spend more on hi oil and I don't make any money on oil so ill take low oil every time. If oil was constantly high would competition drive down the price of the commodity and the wages paid in the field? It cant blow and go all the time.

The high prices a few years ago caused me to cut back on fishing trips. My go-to trip was to Broken Bow OK - a 3 hour drive. I would leave @ 3:30AM, arrive @ 6:30, fish until 3 and drive home. Long day but it was worth it. It didn't make sense to pay $80 in gas for 6 hours of fishing.

I'm liking the low prices now.

JR

bad health has effected my hunting...

I hate it for the guys that have lost their jobs. It puts more money in my pocket though to go hunting more and spend more on gear.

I work in O&G on the manufacturing side. My division is one of the few making money right now so it's been balls to the wall. I'll probably be working more this season so yes, it is affecting me.

Our gas & oil lease income is substantially less than anticipated despite some new wells that have been brought on line, and cut out all sorts of planned projects, forcing us us to re program our total overall retirement budgets...FWIW hunting and other extraneous activities are waaay down that bucket list of doables in the last couple years.
Ron

Our cabin at the lease was vacated by a wireline outfit. It's amazing all the stuff those guys just walked away from.

I love low gas prices. But our state not having enough for the budget has them talking more taxes. I'd rather pay more for gas than see a overall increase in my cost of living.

While I like lower fuel prices, the overall cost of my fuel relative to my other costs really hasn't been an issue.

I'm still booked with all the hunts I want at the prices I want. I do wish oil would go up to 70 or 80 and stay there so the people who need their energy jobs could have them back.

Texas needs stable oil at a slightly higher price.

Me too, I used to work for 2 oil companies

the biggest bunch of crooks I've ever seen in my professional career

not the little guys on the field, they were all at the C and Director level

when I left I made sure the CIO and his cronies were fired for a lot of sheet
they were doing

It hasn't driven down the cost of a deer lease. But a lot of belt tightening for sure.

Between what looks to be an oversupply of deer (some maybe caused by low oil prices and spending) it sure seems there are lots of breeder deer available to hunt and at lower prices.

It's affected my hunting as I don't see our pumper drive by during almost every sit.

No it has not affected me and I do like the lower fuel prices. I wonder if the money was good enough in the heyday for one to save some money.

Yes it has, I can get there and back on less than $50 worth of diesel.

Certainly it has...there's more leases available and at a little better prices. Then there's the cost of fuel as stated above.

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but energy independence doesn't mean energy will be free

Definitely has impacted my hunting.

I was a victim of downsizing. I landed a job with a vendor within a week, but about a 20% drop in overall compensation.

Until the industry picks up some more, the choices are funding retirement, or making the big hunting trips.

I like a sub $2 a gallon of gas. It allows me to drive more and make it on more hunts. I know the outfitters and guides will probably suffer as there will be less wine'n and dine'n of clients and customers. I haven't been on a deer lease in 8!years due to the cost, so I'm stuck to public land draw hunts and chasing ducks/dove and the occasional goose

Not me personally but know some deep pocket LOs down south one of which has had to sell his Lear jet and another that's had to sell his custom executive helo and they have cut back ranch operation expenses.
Bless their lil pea pickin hearts

So your going one some cool hunting trips?

Oil prices have affected me by only making my drive cheaper but my company pays for my gas. So, I guess I have no link to the oil prices after all.

That may be more of a function of the CWD scare and some breeders not attaining movement qualified status before the cut off. Lots of breeders with deer they can't move so hunts on their property is the only way to generate revenue. With the growing disdain for pen raised deer among hunters, I'm also hearing some historically low prices being offered for those "hunts".

I guess you could say it affects almost all of my hunting. I've cut out all my trips this year. No Kansas, no Palo Duro, no Alabama quail, no King Ranch nilgai or deer or the King Ranch cast and blast. Guess I won't be going on any high fence hunts in S Tx either. I'm down about 100k per year in salary and all the benefits. I'm just lucky I had enough put back to make it this long. I can shoot a deer or two here at the house. Maybe I'll live till the next boom.

Many years ago, an economist was interviewed on one of the TV networks about the costs of holiday travel. I think this might apply here. Gas prices were "high" back then (about what they are now)and the guy did a little analysis of why folks should not curtail their trip to grandma's for Thanksgiving and Christmas just because fuel prices were up. His argument was that few people are in a position where the meager difference in cost should actually impact their trips and if they are financially in that position, they should not travel NOT because of the price of fuel, but because of risk (and expensive) that would be incurred due to a roadside breakdown.

As he noted, prices had jumped 50 cents to $2.50 a gallon. Most people travel 400 miles or less round trip and drive cars that get roughly 20 mph. So the trip takes a total of 20 gallons and the increased cost to make the trip is only $10 despite a 25% increase in fuel prices. If that $10 is a factor that is keeping you from making it out to the lease to hunt, I would be willing to but you could alter your lifestyle some to make the hunting trip possible. Maybe you don't get fast food each way. Maybe you can hunt without (dare I say it) that case of beer you take each time. Maybe you take a guest and split the fuel, more than saving the $10 additional expense. There are viable workarounds to offset increased fuel expenses, though right now, prices are pretty good.

Of course, like the economist said, if you can't afford that cost to travel, then it is likely you cannot afford to travel in the first place, due to what the cost of a roadside breakdown is going to run you. If you can't afford the $10 in fuel, then you sure as heck can't afford a tow truck, repair cost, potential missed day(s) from work, etc.

Very logical. If a dollar a gallon is the difference between hunting or not, maybe you shouldn't be hunting in the first place. You're already stretched too thin.

Oil prices being down has only allowed me to hunt more often and locations outside my normal travel area. I can do a 6 hr trip twice a year on a friend's big ranch and 2 hr trips to my small place every free weekend I have and am able to pay for improvements I'm making on it. Hate that some people are suffering but I think most of us do at some point Lord knows I've had my share.

P.S. Now the wife and kids are involved with hunting and there is another expense that low oil prices help with.

When there was that Texas oil boom, people drove the price of exotics up (live sale) so my $200 axis doe hunts are long gone. Dunno if that counts but that's about it, more expensive paid hunts.

Where do you work? That's an awesome office!

I think it definitely curtails the customer related aspects of wining and dining. Doesn't Alaska have some pretty sweet oil related annual subsidies it dishes out to it's residents?

I'm a hunting guide. I work in the talkeetna mountains and Kodiak island!we get a PFD check every year. Sometimes it's only a couple hundred bucks, it has just been capped at a thousand.

It hasn't affected my hunting, but I only hunt at my owned land. It has not really affected our lives too much, we live on way less than we make, to be prepared for these times. Earning 60% less pay the last two years makes it painful to not see the savings growing like it used to. It has tightened up our budget, and if we want something new like a gun or something, I just go do a welding job, build fence, or do some mechanic work for some locals. I'm just damn happy to still be employed with benefits. I'm pretty relaxed at this point, and we have things tuned up at work pretty good, so I'm ready for the next surge of work, bring on the high dollar oil!

In my country the price of 95 octane gasoline is $ 5.1 per gallon, here is the most used 4x4 diesel cars, gasoline is more expensive and consume more. You are very lucky in prices, and I drool to see some of their cars, unthinkable here to support them.

Thanks to our environmentally savvy friends here. Unfortunately we do not have the option of the nice european high mpg diesel engine 4x4s or cheap diesel any longer. Our gas prices are much friendlier however.

Much of rural Alaska is over $7 a gallon for gas up here.

I work in the petrochemical industry and it has effected my hunting. Lower feed-stock prices has our business going gangbusters and I have a hard time scheduling vacation.

Petroleum industry hurt, slump in cattle prices hurt, LDP's on wheat and soon to be on corn really hurt worse.

I'm sitting in a booth at the Permian Basin oil show out here in Odessa and it's packed with people and vendors. You would not know that oil is down by the looks of things here.

Knowing some guys in the industry, it has affected larger corporate type leases and recreational or hunting land purchases. It hasn't bothered my yet. Hillary might change all that though.