What a waste of a shot and money. Going into debt to fund your "fun trips" is childish and immature. That $4000 could have gone to pay for things with a higher priority. I must say while I do spend quite a bit here and there, I don't spend my food money, car insurance/payment money, utility money, etc.
As for your buddy's trip, if it cost that much, I'd bet it was one of those "guided trips". Which in any case, he should have gotten something better than an exploded squirrel.
Out of curiosity, was he hunting for meat or for a nice lovely dead trophy head to hang on the wall? If it'd been the latter, I've seen some people around here pass up big doe after big doe waiting for that buck that never came. I just never saw the "beauty" in the heads on the wall. Sure they're nice, but I prefer something more useful. Most of those old bucks aren't worth eating anymore anyway, and to me, its a waste. All I can envision is the carcass of that old 16 pointer that ran around our neighborhood for years...crudely hidden under piled up brush with his head and feet removed by a chainsaw, and the body left to rot.
Now that 10 pointer that ran broadside into my car last fall, his head would have been on the wall in a heart beat, complete with my car's busted headlight. That would have been a $3600 buck, had he just died for me. But alas...he had to total the hood and right half of my car and run off looking for love in all the wrong places.
My brother-in-law has been elk hunting since the start of the season out in Montana and hasn't seen a one. They're just so much smarter than your average deer. But at the end of the day yesterday he, his father, and his brother came back with a mulie each. So all in all, it wasn't elk, but it was meat in the freezer.
Elk is really good compared to venison. It is almost indistinguishable from really lean beef, and makes a mean crock-pot bbq for sandwiches. Mmm. I picked up our doe from the processors on Friday, 45lbs worth, so not too shabby. And after she ate all of the flowers and vegetables, its so nice to "trump her" as I enjoy every single bite. :grin01:
:-offtopic
Ready for my Joejr impression?
That's one thing that drives me batty about Americans in general, lack of saving for a rainy day. We have an "emergency fund" that's hidden away that'll take care of almost 3 months worth of food and utilities should one of us get hurt and not be able to earn a paycheck.
credit cards and so forth are necessary evils
Argh! Credit cards are NOT necessary. People need to realize that. If you didn't spend what you didn't have, people wouldn't own a credit card or be in debt up to their eyeballs. I don't own a single one. I have a debit card, which is tied to money I have, so to me that doesn't count. If I don't have $5 to buy that trinket at the Dollar Store, I don't buy it on credit. I just do without until next week.
We have taken out loans from family for the down-payment on our home and all in all, they are wholly better than loans from a bank or using credit cards. They charge us the interest rate they would have earned had it been sitting in the bank, and that's all. So I guess it all depends on who your family is and how they are with money. Plus, when its time to reciprocate, I feel a lot better knowing I helped family for a worthwhile cause than some schmuck to shoot a $4000 squirrel. =P
