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What A Season Costs: 1999 vs. Today · Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors Podcast

0:01
Speaker 1: Hey, what's going on, everybody? Welcome back to another episode
0:04
Speaker 1: of Last Stop Waterfowl Outdoors podcast. I'm your host, Jacob Robury.
0:08
Speaker 1: And as always, we say it every week. I know
0:10
Speaker 1: we say it every time we get together, but we
0:13
Speaker 1: appreciate you guys. tuning in to this all new episode
0:16
Speaker 1: that we got for you today. And we're excited because, hey,
0:20
Speaker 1: as we sit here, we are just about, I'd say
0:23
Speaker 1: right now we're about 20 days out, if I'm not mistaken,
0:27
Speaker 1: from kicking off another duck season here, at least in Louisiana,
0:31
Speaker 1: us kicking off another duck season. We have, yes, a
0:34
Speaker 1: couple of youth veteran hunts that are going to be
0:37
Speaker 1: maybe right before the kickoff to the regular season. But
0:40
Speaker 1: I know you guys, who's counting? You know, who's counting?
0:43
Speaker 1: I know I'm counting. But who else is counting out there?
0:46
Speaker 1: Are y'all like me? You excited to get going? I
0:48
Speaker 1: think I know the answer to that. So I don't
0:50
Speaker 1: have to ask you guys. If you're like me, you're
0:55
Speaker 1: going to be anticipating it kicking off and I'm ready
0:58
Speaker 1: to get going, man. It is. It's been an interesting, long,
1:02
Speaker 1: hot summer. We've talked about that in previous episodes, and
1:05
Speaker 1: it's been a dry summer. I don't know about you guys,
1:08
Speaker 1: wherever you are, where you're listening to this episode, but
1:11
Speaker 1: for us, at least here in Louisiana, it has been
1:14
Speaker 1: a dry summer. We're in basically a drought, I guess
1:17
Speaker 1: you could say. It's been a while since we got
1:19
Speaker 1: some rainfall. I know a lot of people that I've
1:22
Speaker 1: been talking to, they're telling me about the water levels
1:25
Speaker 1: being real low. If if they have water at all.
1:29
Speaker 1: Some people are saying that, you know, there's duck holes,
1:31
Speaker 1: there's areas that they're usually hunting once the season kicks
1:35
Speaker 1: off that aren't holding very much water right now. So
1:37
Speaker 1: it's going to be an interesting start to the season,
1:39
Speaker 1: I think, this year, unless we get some major, you know,
1:43
Speaker 1: rain coming in in the next couple of weeks before
1:45
Speaker 1: we open things up. But nonetheless, I know I'm going
1:49
Speaker 1: to be there, you guys are going to be there,
1:52
Speaker 1: and we're going to get ready to kick things off.
1:54
Speaker 1: But in the meantime, all we can do, in the
1:57
Speaker 1: off season is talk about duck hunting. And that's exactly
2:01
Speaker 1: what we're going to do today on a, on this
2:03
Speaker 1: episode as well. And, uh, I wanted to do something that,
2:08
Speaker 1: you know, I have a conversation a lot of times
2:10
Speaker 1: nowadays with people. We talk about getting into hobbies and,
2:14
Speaker 1: Duck hunting is no different than anybody else who has
2:17
Speaker 1: other hobbies such as golf or whatever sport or camping
2:21
Speaker 1: or whatever it may be, whatever your hobby may be.
2:23
Speaker 1: We all kind of circle back to the same topic
2:26
Speaker 1: of discussion nowadays, which is. how expensive things are. And,
2:31
Speaker 1: you know, I hear people talk about, man, it just
2:33
Speaker 1: doesn't seem like, you know, back when I was duck hunting,
2:37
Speaker 1: that we had to spend nearly as much money as
2:40
Speaker 1: we are now to get into duck hunting. Or I'll
2:42
Speaker 1: even have people tell me, they'll say, you know, Jacob,
2:45
Speaker 1: I love to get into duck hunting, but man, it's
2:47
Speaker 1: expensive to get into duck hunting. And I say, yeah, yeah,
2:51
Speaker 1: it is. It is an expensive hobby to get into,
2:53
Speaker 1: especially if you're starting new and you haven't been doing
2:56
Speaker 1: it for a while. So you don't have that stash
2:59
Speaker 1: of equipment built up like those of us who have
3:02
Speaker 1: been doing it for a long time. And if you're
3:05
Speaker 1: looking to get into it, it can be overwhelming, just
3:08
Speaker 1: like really any hobby. And I always say that. I
3:10
Speaker 1: say any hobby can be overwhelming when you're starting to
3:13
Speaker 1: start fresh. But it got me thinking. And I said,
3:16
Speaker 1: you know what? I said, I want that now with technology,
3:20
Speaker 1: you could go back and you could pull up historical
3:22
Speaker 1: data on things and kind of, you know, get some
3:26
Speaker 1: actual figures that are out there. It's a little easier
3:29
Speaker 1: to find it now with some of these, you know,
3:31
Speaker 1: these AI agents that you got out there like ChatGPT
3:34
Speaker 1: and other places out there. And they're only evolving more
3:38
Speaker 1: and more. And although a lot of people don't like technology,
3:41
Speaker 1: we've talked about that Many times, not everybody's for technology.
3:45
Speaker 1: It does provide you with some insights to some useful information.
3:49
Speaker 1: And I said, you know what? With us talking about
3:51
Speaker 1: how expensive things are today, let's do an episode. And
3:56
Speaker 1: I wanted to compare what a duck season would cost nowadays,
4:00
Speaker 1: some of the figures that are out there, versus what
4:03
Speaker 1: a season maybe years ago would cost. So what I
4:08
Speaker 1: started doing is everybody always in the duck hunting community,
4:11
Speaker 1: a lot of people, if you've been doing this a
4:13
Speaker 1: long time, a lot of people reference 1999. And for me,
4:18
Speaker 1: when I look at 1999, that is a long time
4:21
Speaker 1: ago for me. I was just out of high school.
4:23
Speaker 1: I was in my college, beginning my college career. And 1999,
4:27
Speaker 1: the reason a lot of duck hunters mention 1999 is
4:31
Speaker 1: because it was an epic year when it came to
4:35
Speaker 1: the duck numbers, the population numbers back in that time.
4:38
Speaker 1: And A lot of people that were duck hunters remember 1999,
4:43
Speaker 1: remember that year because it was just a phenomenal duck
4:47
Speaker 1: season for a lot of people. So I said, you
4:50
Speaker 1: know what? Why not pull some figures of what a
4:54
Speaker 1: average duck season would have cost a duck hunter in 1999?
4:58
Speaker 1: versus today. And what I found was that that was
5:02
Speaker 1: eye-opening to me. And I'm going to go through this stuff.
5:05
Speaker 1: We're going to break it down category by category of
5:09
Speaker 1: what a season back in 1999 cost versus what it
5:14
Speaker 1: may cost you today. And, of course, this is average.
5:16
Speaker 1: You know, when we look at 1999 and I pulled
5:19
Speaker 1: statistics and I pulled figures of what these categories cost today,
5:25
Speaker 1: it's based off of a national average and it's actual
5:28
Speaker 1: statistics that are out there for you to be able
5:31
Speaker 1: to go and research. So I found it very eye-opening
5:34
Speaker 1: and I said, you know what? I think you guys
5:37
Speaker 1: would want to know because a lot of you who
5:39
Speaker 1: listened to the show may not have been around in 1999.
5:42
Speaker 1: You may have not been duck hunting in 1999. Hell,
5:45
Speaker 1: some of you may not have even been born in 1999.
5:48
Speaker 1: So I figured, hey, this would be interesting for us
5:53
Speaker 1: all to kind of have an idea of what a
5:56
Speaker 1: season back then cost versus what it is now. So
5:59
Speaker 1: we talked about 1999 being an epic year for Ducks.
6:03
Speaker 1: So when they released Duck numbers and they look back
6:06
Speaker 1: at 1999, they showed that there were 2.5 million Ducks
6:10
Speaker 1: on record. And a lot of people say, hell, that
6:14
Speaker 1: was one of the last years where things were kind
6:16
Speaker 1: of affordable, you know. So we're going to look at
6:19
Speaker 1: things like licenses. We're going to look at gas prices.
6:22
Speaker 1: We're going to look at average cost of leases when
6:25
Speaker 1: it came to duck leases. What a guide may have
6:28
Speaker 1: cost in 1999 versus what it costs nowadays. You know,
6:33
Speaker 1: boats and motors. We're going to talk about ATVs, UTVs,
6:36
Speaker 1: that type of stuff. So, you know, shales, camo, clothing, equipment,
6:40
Speaker 1: all that stuff. that we have nowadays as duck hunters
6:44
Speaker 1: that we spend our hard-earned money on. What did it
6:47
Speaker 1: cost back then as compared to nowadays in one of
6:52
Speaker 1: the years that is one of the greatest waterfowl hunting
6:55
Speaker 1: years on record when it came to flat-out numbers of ducks,
6:59
Speaker 1: the population being strong, and people having a really good
7:03
Speaker 1: duck season back then? So, Let's get into it. So
7:08
Speaker 1: when we look at hunting licenses, we all know we
7:10
Speaker 1: have to have hunting licenses, you know, and that's something
7:13
Speaker 1: that we have to have to be legal to be
7:15
Speaker 1: able to hunt ducks, right? That's something that if you're
7:18
Speaker 1: not a lifetime license holder, you have to go out
7:20
Speaker 1: every year and you have to have your licenses before
7:22
Speaker 1: you do anything else to be legal to hunt ducks.
7:25
Speaker 1: So in 1999, what did a hunting license cost? So
7:30
Speaker 1: a basic hunting license, when I looked into it in 1999,
7:33
Speaker 1: was $ 10. 50. Plus you had $ 5. 50 it cost you for
7:39
Speaker 1: a state duck stamp back then. And then you had
7:42
Speaker 1: a $ 15 federal stamp and the hip was still free
7:45
Speaker 1: at that time. So it costed for all those licenses together.
7:49
Speaker 1: If you were going to go out, you didn't have
7:51
Speaker 1: a lifetime license and you were going to buy your
7:53
Speaker 1: license to be legal in 1999, it cost you a
7:56
Speaker 1: total of about $ 31 for those licenses if you add
7:59
Speaker 1: it up. So what does it cost nowadays in 2026? Well, today,
8:05
Speaker 1: on average, $ 20 for that basic hunting license. You have
8:10
Speaker 1: $ 12 cost for a state duck stamp. And it is
8:14
Speaker 1: now $ 25 for a federal duck stamp. Or if you
8:20
Speaker 1: do an e-stamp, they charge you an extra $ 3. So
8:24
Speaker 1: it's $ 28 in that situation. So that would give you
8:27
Speaker 1: a total cost of $ 57 to $ 60, give or take,
8:31
Speaker 1: now versus in 1999. So inflation, a lot of people say, hey,
8:37
Speaker 1: inflation is... Yes, that is a real thing, obviously, when
8:40
Speaker 1: it comes to our hunting licenses. It almost, you know,
8:44
Speaker 1: more than doubled. It almost doubled. Let's say that. It
8:46
Speaker 1: almost doubled. That's safe to say. So, yeah, that's what
8:50
Speaker 1: 1999 you were spending about $ 31 versus today you're spending
8:55
Speaker 1: almost $ 60 when it comes to those licenses. So, yes,
8:58
Speaker 1: that definitely has gotten more expensive. The next thing, one
9:03
Speaker 1: of the most important things when it comes to us
9:05
Speaker 1: being waterfowl hunters is gas. What did gas cost? Because
9:10
Speaker 1: you always hear all these stories about gas was so
9:12
Speaker 1: much cheaper back then versus what it is now. We
9:15
Speaker 1: all need gas in the boats. We need gas in
9:17
Speaker 1: our vehicles. We need gas with the UTVs. running the
9:21
Speaker 1: generators at the camp, whatever it may be. But for
9:24
Speaker 1: transportation purposes, we're all spending money on gas throughout duck
9:28
Speaker 1: season as a waterfowl hunter, whether you're a private land
9:30
Speaker 1: guy or whether you're a public land guy. Some of
9:34
Speaker 1: us more than others. The average gallon per gas, guys,
9:37
Speaker 1: in 1999, the U.S. average was $ 1. 14. And some of
9:43
Speaker 1: you may say, holy crap, that is totally different than
9:47
Speaker 1: what it is today. Because right now, I'll just pull
9:50
Speaker 1: the numbers here in my state of Louisiana in 2026,
9:53
Speaker 1: the average fuel cost is $ 3. 85 a gallon right now.
9:59
Speaker 1: So those camp runs roughly tripled. Those hunting runs in
10:03
Speaker 1: the boat tripled. It's a lot more expensive. We all
10:08
Speaker 1: know that gas prices are high as hell nowadays. But 1999,
10:13
Speaker 1: how good would it be to have those $ 1. 14 gas
10:15
Speaker 1: prices back again? That would be awesome. I mean, how
10:18
Speaker 1: much money could you save in a duck season when
10:21
Speaker 1: you're looking at $ 1. 14 versus an average of $ 3. 85 a
10:25
Speaker 1: gallon nowadays? In some states, they're paying up to about
10:28
Speaker 1: $ 5 a gallon right now. Absolutely insane. So gas prices
10:32
Speaker 1: have almost tripled. Leases, that's another thing nowadays. So a
10:39
Speaker 1: lot of people talk about, hey, I'm tired of fighting
10:41
Speaker 1: public ground. I don't want to fight the crowds. I
10:44
Speaker 1: don't want to do this. Maybe looking and getting a lease. So,
10:48
Speaker 1: what's the lease cost on average nowadays? Well, I know...
10:52
Speaker 1: From what I'm pulling statistics-wise, across the U.S., the national
10:56
Speaker 1: average of a duck lease nowadays can run you anywhere
10:59
Speaker 1: from about $ 7, 000 to $ 10, 000 is what it shows. That's
11:03
Speaker 1: for a blind. And some guys say, well, hell, we
11:06
Speaker 1: go in two or three guys, we split that. Some
11:08
Speaker 1: guys say it's just me paying for it for me
11:11
Speaker 1: and my kids to be able to hunt. Guys, when
11:13
Speaker 1: you're looking at $ 7, 000 to $ 10, 000, and I know there's
11:16
Speaker 1: blinds out there that are more expensive than that. This
11:18
Speaker 1: is just on average, this statistic. $ 7, 000 to $ 10, 000 to
11:22
Speaker 1: be a duck hunter to get a blind on a
11:25
Speaker 1: lease is absolutely insane. But look, that's what it is.
11:29
Speaker 1: That's the facts of it. That's what these blinds could
11:32
Speaker 1: cost you nowadays if you want to get away from
11:35
Speaker 1: that public land grind. You don't want to fight the crowds.
11:38
Speaker 1: That's what you're looking at. So the demographics I pulled
11:42
Speaker 1: was in, say, the Jennings, the Gaydon area. That's what
11:45
Speaker 1: they were listing for. on average in 2026, $ 7, 000 to $ 10, 000.
11:50
Speaker 1: Now I know, like I said, some of them, they
11:53
Speaker 1: may be more, some could be a little less, but
11:55
Speaker 1: that's just the average in popular areas here in Louisiana.
11:59
Speaker 1: A four-man pit blonde, You know, it could get pretty expensive.
12:04
Speaker 1: Hopefully you got guys that you could go ahead and
12:06
Speaker 1: split it up with, you know. And then on top
12:08
Speaker 1: of that, sometimes there's club memberships as well. If you're
12:12
Speaker 1: a member of a true duck club, on average, that
12:15
Speaker 1: could run you in, you know, 2026 across the United States.
12:19
Speaker 1: They say in anywhere from 16 to 18,000 for a
12:23
Speaker 1: duck club membership membership. which I'm hoping that includes the
12:27
Speaker 1: blinds and everything that you need to be able to
12:29
Speaker 1: hunt with that membership. I'm not too much on duck
12:33
Speaker 1: clubs and all that. I don't know a ton of
12:35
Speaker 1: information about them, but it pulled it into the statistics
12:39
Speaker 1: when I pulled up this data and I said, hell,
12:41
Speaker 1: there is duck clubs that I know are out there.
12:44
Speaker 1: And they obviously it's very expensive to be a member
12:48
Speaker 1: of those duck clubs. So yeah, So it could be
12:51
Speaker 1: quite expensive in 2026. Now, in 1999, a good blind
12:57
Speaker 1: back in 99. What do y'all think that ran at
13:00
Speaker 1: that time? Well, what I'm showing here is $ 2, 000 to $ 3, 000, guys.
13:05
Speaker 1: That was very typical for a blind back in 1999,
13:10
Speaker 1: you know, and that was a blind that would fit
13:12
Speaker 1: three to four guys. And you could, like I said,
13:15
Speaker 1: a lot of people back then, they were splitting them up.
13:17
Speaker 1: They were splitting that cost. So if you split it
13:20
Speaker 1: up with your buddies, hey, it was still affordable, right?
13:24
Speaker 1: You could go out there, you could get you a
13:27
Speaker 1: private lease, you could get you a blind in a
13:29
Speaker 1: really good area such as the Gaydon area, Kaplan, Jennings, Louisiana,
13:34
Speaker 1: and you were spending somewhere total for three or four
13:38
Speaker 1: of you to split it up between $ 2, 000 and $ 3, 000. Manageable, right?
13:43
Speaker 1: It was common. It made sense. It was something that
13:45
Speaker 1: you could do, and you could get away from that
13:48
Speaker 1: public land grind. You could get away from all that pressure.
13:51
Speaker 1: You didn't have to mess with public land anymore, and
13:53
Speaker 1: you could do it at an affordable rate that the
13:56
Speaker 1: average working person could probably still swing, still afford. It
14:00
Speaker 1: made sense, and a lot of people were doing it
14:02
Speaker 1: back in 1999. So you look at now, once again, $ 7, 000
14:04
Speaker 1: to $ 10, 000 for a blonde. On average, back in 1999, $ 2, 000
14:12
Speaker 1: to $ 3, 000 was typical for a good area to have
14:17
Speaker 1: a private lease and a blonde. So makes you wonder,
14:21
Speaker 1: did it turn into a rich man's sport nowadays? You
14:24
Speaker 1: have to be pretty wealthy to be able to spend
14:25
Speaker 1: that unless you're dividing it up between people. And even then,
14:29
Speaker 1: it can still be pretty expensive when you're paying anywhere
14:32
Speaker 1: from $ 7, 000 to $ 10, 000 for a blonde. It can still
14:35
Speaker 1: be pretty expensive nowadays. So, yeah, leases have definitely gone up. 1999,
14:42
Speaker 1: would love to see those prices again, to be honest
14:44
Speaker 1: with y'all. You know, I think a lot of you
14:45
Speaker 1: that hear those numbers probably would agree with that. So
14:49
Speaker 1: that's definitely changed from 1999. Another thing, guides. What's a
14:53
Speaker 1: guide cost on average today here in the U.S. for
14:57
Speaker 1: duck season to go on a guided trip? And I'm
14:59
Speaker 1: talking just a normal guided trip. maybe a rice field hunt,
15:03
Speaker 1: something like that. Well, $ 275 to $ 350 a gun is
15:07
Speaker 1: the average price. If you do an all-inclusive type deal,
15:12
Speaker 1: the average price could run you anywhere from about $ 550
15:15
Speaker 1: to $ 675 a person. In 1999, guys, what a difference
15:19
Speaker 1: once again, $ 150 to $ 200 a gun, somewhere in that
15:24
Speaker 1: price range. So when you look at that, it's went up,
15:27
Speaker 1: maybe not as much as I thought it might have
15:29
Speaker 1: went up, but It still went up, right? And we're
15:32
Speaker 1: not surprised by that. I'm not surprised by that. But
15:35
Speaker 1: it's still interesting to know kind of what the average
15:37
Speaker 1: price was back then with all these categories just as
15:41
Speaker 1: compared to what it is today. When people say that, hey,
15:45
Speaker 1: things have gotten outrageous, it at least gives us an
15:47
Speaker 1: honest snapshot of what prices on average were back then. So, again,
15:53
Speaker 1: once again, $ 275 to $ 350 a gun to date. Uh,
15:58
Speaker 1: you do an all inclusive where you're going to get
16:00
Speaker 1: the meals, you're going to get to hunt on average
16:02
Speaker 1: five 50 to six 75. And that's not your premium resorts.
16:06
Speaker 1: That's just, you know, booking a guide, maybe somewhere in
16:09
Speaker 1: a rice field, maybe go spend a night, you know,
16:12
Speaker 1: at a lodge that they got. We're not talking about
16:14
Speaker 1: the most pristine duck club lodges in the United States. Uh,
16:19
Speaker 1: those costs even more, they run, you know, crazy prices
16:22
Speaker 1: on those type of hunts. Uh, Excuse me, but that's
16:26
Speaker 1: not what we're talking about in this situation. So guided hunt,
16:31
Speaker 1: is it still affordable for you guys? Or is it
16:33
Speaker 1: something that's still out of the budget as compared to,
16:37
Speaker 1: you know, what it may have been in 1999? Because
16:39
Speaker 1: you have afforded it back then. Is it too expensive now?
16:42
Speaker 1: What is your take on that? I'd love to know
16:45
Speaker 1: on that. So that wraps up your guides and what
16:49
Speaker 1: it costs to go on a guided hunt now versus then.
16:53
Speaker 1: What about boats and motors? We've done numerous content on
16:57
Speaker 1: boats and motors, guys. And we all know that the
17:00
Speaker 1: price of boats has skyrocketed in the U.S. It has
17:03
Speaker 1: gotten just outrageous. Y'all all know, if you follow me
17:07
Speaker 1: here on the platform, y'all know my history. I was
17:10
Speaker 1: in the boat business for a very, very long time.
17:12
Speaker 1: I sold fishing boats. I sold utility boats, hunting boats,
17:16
Speaker 1: all that type of stuff. Surface drives, mud motors. All
17:20
Speaker 1: that stuff I'm very familiar with. And I can tell
17:22
Speaker 1: you that I know for a fact, I was in
17:25
Speaker 1: it long enough to know that the prices on that
17:27
Speaker 1: stuff has gotten out of hand. It's got expensive. A
17:30
Speaker 1: lot of you aren't buying new boats like you used
17:33
Speaker 1: to because the prices have skyrocketed. But how does today's
17:37
Speaker 1: prices hold up to what it was back in 1999?
17:41
Speaker 1: So in 1999, first of all, we didn't have all
17:45
Speaker 1: the high-tech boats we got right now when it came
17:47
Speaker 1: to duck hunting. A lot of us, we were running
17:50
Speaker 1: John boats with 25 horsepower tiller handles on them. You know,
17:55
Speaker 1: back in that time frame, you might have started to
17:58
Speaker 1: see some of the long tails. Not many people had
18:01
Speaker 1: long tails even back then. And a surface drive was
18:05
Speaker 1: something that people didn't even imagine. Wasn't even something that
18:08
Speaker 1: people thought of at the time. There were no surface
18:10
Speaker 1: drives back in 1999. So most of us were running
18:14
Speaker 1: little John boats, little flat bottom boats, 14 foot, 15,
18:17
Speaker 1: 16 foot. Maybe a 25-horsepower outboard on it, Mercury, Johnson, Evinrude,
18:24
Speaker 1: something like that, Yamaha, whatever it was. Even four-strokes wasn't
18:28
Speaker 1: real common on the outboard side of things back in 1999.
18:32
Speaker 1: But back in 1999, you could pick up a little
18:35
Speaker 1: John boat with a 25-horsepower and a trailer, brand new now.
18:40
Speaker 1: for right around $ 4, 000 to $ 5, 500, guys. Now, that's not
18:44
Speaker 1: rigged out. Some of you guys that are buying dug
18:47
Speaker 1: boats or looking at buying dug boats now, look, I'll
18:50
Speaker 1: be honest with you. Back in 1999, we didn't have
18:53
Speaker 1: big light bars. We didn't have sound systems in those boats.
18:55
Speaker 1: We didn't have hydroturf. We didn't have all that stuff
18:58
Speaker 1: that we got in all our modern-day dug boats nowadays.
19:01
Speaker 1: So you look at that, and you say, God damn, Jacob,
19:03
Speaker 1: you can't even buy an outboard for that nowadays. And
19:06
Speaker 1: you're right. You can't. But back in 1999, I could
19:09
Speaker 1: buy a 14-foot John boat. I could buy a 25-horsepower
19:13
Speaker 1: tiller handle and a trailer and get me to the
19:16
Speaker 1: spot where I wanted to go duck hunt for right
19:19
Speaker 1: around $ 4, 000 to $ 5, 500. It was affordable, you know. And
19:23
Speaker 1: that was the average price of a little John boat setup.
19:26
Speaker 1: You might have even been able to get a 15-
19:28
Speaker 1: or 16-foot John boat for that same price range, you know.
19:32
Speaker 1: A fancy rig, if you had a fancy rig in 1999,
19:36
Speaker 1: you might have had a go-to-evil longtail back then. You know,
19:39
Speaker 1: like I said, service drives didn't exist. And if you
19:42
Speaker 1: had a go-to-evil longtail on a boat, you might have
19:44
Speaker 1: been spending a little bit more money, but they still
19:47
Speaker 1: weren't nearly the prices that they are today on them,
19:49
Speaker 1: you know? So today, a surface drive motor alone, just alone,
19:55
Speaker 1: say a gator tail 25, that's going to run you
19:57
Speaker 1: about $ 6, 500 to $ 7, 000, just the motor, you know? And
20:03
Speaker 1: then if you go to a 40 horsepower, like a
20:05
Speaker 1: lot of you guys are running nowadays, I'm running a
20:07
Speaker 1: 40 horsepower motor, You're going to spend just the motor $ 12, 000, $ 5, 000
20:12
Speaker 1: to $ 13, 000, maybe a little less. You might get a
20:14
Speaker 1: deal on one, get a little less. That's just the motor, though.
20:18
Speaker 1: A Mud Buddy Sport, you know, something like that, will
20:21
Speaker 1: set you back about $ 9, 500 to $ 10, 000, somewhere in that range,
20:25
Speaker 1: just the motor. So when you look at a full rig,
20:28
Speaker 1: say like a Havoc boat, which is popular nowadays, a
20:31
Speaker 1: lot of you guys are running Havoc boats. Then you
20:34
Speaker 1: go throw a Mud Buddy, 40 horsepower on there, You're
20:37
Speaker 1: going to spend $ 27, 000, $ 28, 000 on average is what the
20:42
Speaker 1: statistics are showing, the average cost nowadays. And that's probably
20:46
Speaker 1: somewhat not loaded out completely with some of the accessories
20:50
Speaker 1: that a lot of you guys want to put on
20:52
Speaker 1: them nowadays. I pulled up an Excel Viper. That's another
20:56
Speaker 1: popular duck hunting model. $ 21, 000 to $ 30, 000 rigged out right now,
20:59
Speaker 1: somewhere in that range. That's just mind-blowing when you look
21:06
Speaker 1: at the price of what a boat nowadays for a
21:08
Speaker 1: duck hunting, true duck hunting boat, like a lot of
21:11
Speaker 1: guys would say, was as compared to a boat in 1999,
21:15
Speaker 1: which was a basic John boat, 25 horsepower tiller and
21:19
Speaker 1: a trailer, and it got you to where you had
21:21
Speaker 1: to go, and you were only spending about $ 4, 000 to $ 5, 500
21:24
Speaker 1: for the whole package. You can't come close to that nowadays.
21:29
Speaker 1: Even if you went bare minimum, boat, motor, trailer, And
21:33
Speaker 1: you try to rig one out like we did in
21:36
Speaker 1: 1999 at that price point, there's no way you touch
21:38
Speaker 1: that price point on a brand new one. You can't
21:41
Speaker 1: get the outboard for that. You could buy a trailer
21:44
Speaker 1: for about $ 1, 500 to $ 2, 500 for a galvanized trailer. You know,
21:50
Speaker 1: something that's pretty basic, just something that's going to last you.
21:53
Speaker 1: You could put it in saltwater, go fish, I mean,
21:56
Speaker 1: go fish or hunt the saltwater marshes with it. Lord
22:00
Speaker 1: knows you put a painted trailer under that, it's going
22:02
Speaker 1: to rot out on you. So most guys want to
22:04
Speaker 1: run aluminum. They want to run galvanized trailers with their
22:07
Speaker 1: duck rigs. Hell, it might even cost you more than
22:10
Speaker 1: that for just the trailer, depending on how fancy you
22:12
Speaker 1: get and how big the trailer is for whatever boat
22:14
Speaker 1: you need. But when you look at those prices, guys,
22:18
Speaker 1: and what I tell a lot of people is, yes,
22:21
Speaker 1: it is the boat manufacturers. A lot of them have
22:24
Speaker 1: gotten really greedy on... what the prices are, especially post-COVID,
22:30
Speaker 1: because COVID, there was such a demand for the boats
22:34
Speaker 1: and motors, we sold them as fast as we could
22:37
Speaker 1: put them on the showroom floors. And these manufacturers got
22:40
Speaker 1: accustomed to these packages selling for this amount of money.
22:44
Speaker 1: And I think a lot of people, a lot of
22:46
Speaker 1: these manufacturers that run these big companies said, hey, we
22:49
Speaker 1: finally got this price. We're going to only move forward
22:52
Speaker 1: from there. And I think that is the downfall of
22:55
Speaker 1: the boat industry in the last couple of years since
22:57
Speaker 1: COVID and why now they're not selling the boats. And
23:00
Speaker 1: here they are scratching their heads saying, man, I can't
23:02
Speaker 1: understand why we're not selling the boats we've sold before. Well,
23:05
Speaker 1: it's because it's too expensive. That's why. It's common sense.
23:09
Speaker 1: But on the other side of that, us as the
23:11
Speaker 1: consumer has also played a part in raising those prices
23:16
Speaker 1: as well because we're not satisfied with just the John
23:19
Speaker 1: boats of 1999, a basic boat, a basic trailer, and
23:24
Speaker 1: a tiller handle outboard to get us out there to
23:27
Speaker 1: the duck holes. We want everything to the extreme. We
23:31
Speaker 1: want the biggest light bars. We want the sound systems.
23:34
Speaker 1: We want all the LED lights. We want them on
23:36
Speaker 1: the back of the hall, the front of the hall,
23:38
Speaker 1: the side of the hall, inside the hall. We want
23:40
Speaker 1: everything loaded out as max as we can get. We
23:44
Speaker 1: want mud motors. No, not good enough when they're stock motors.
23:48
Speaker 1: We want stage kits added to it because we want
23:50
Speaker 1: to go two to three to five miles an hour faster.
23:53
Speaker 1: We want to be the first one to that duck hole.
23:55
Speaker 1: So we're going to spend a couple of thousand dollars
23:57
Speaker 1: on a stage kit to put it on that mud motor.
23:59
Speaker 1: So that's what we want as the consumer, as a group.
24:04
Speaker 1: And therefore, the manufacturers stop selling basic packages because guess what?
24:09
Speaker 1: They sat on lots. Nobody wanted them anymore. Not enough
24:12
Speaker 1: people wanted them anymore. So they said, well, we're going
24:15
Speaker 1: to give you exactly what you want. You're going to
24:17
Speaker 1: pay for it. But we're going to give you what
24:19
Speaker 1: you want with all the features on these new modern
24:21
Speaker 1: day dug boots. And that's exactly what a lot of
24:25
Speaker 1: the manufacturers started doing. It's very seldom you'll go into
24:28
Speaker 1: a dealership nowadays or you'll go to a local Cabela's
24:31
Speaker 1: or Bass Pro, Max Prairie Wings, wherever it is where
24:34
Speaker 1: you see boats at, and you're going to see a
24:36
Speaker 1: bare bones package on that showroom floor. It's very rare.
24:39
Speaker 1: And it's not just the manufacturer's fault for that. It's
24:43
Speaker 1: us as the consumer because that's what the majority of
24:46
Speaker 1: us nowadays think we have to have to be a
24:48
Speaker 1: duck hunter, and that's what we want to see when
24:50
Speaker 1: we walk into a dealership. It's us as much as
24:54
Speaker 1: it is some of the manufacturers. So yeah, boats and motors,
24:57
Speaker 1: since 1999, you talk about a difference. That's probably one
25:01
Speaker 1: of the most shocking, or I'm not going to say
25:03
Speaker 1: most shocking, but the most eye-opening whenever you actually look
25:07
Speaker 1: at the figures of what dollars, where your dollar would
25:10
Speaker 1: have got you back in 99 versus where it's going
25:13
Speaker 1: to get you in 2026. It's not even close. And
25:16
Speaker 1: it's actually, it's pathetic. It's pathetic that we've come to that,
25:21
Speaker 1: you know, but that's where we are. Because we think
25:23
Speaker 1: we have to have that to be a duck hunter
25:25
Speaker 1: and to go kill ducks. And that's really just not
25:28
Speaker 1: the case at all. So we talk about boats and motors.
25:31
Speaker 1: What about ATVs, UTVs? We didn't have UTVs back in 1999.
25:34
Speaker 1: You didn't have side-by-sides. I don't remember side-by-sides in 1999.
25:39
Speaker 1: You might have had some work side-by-sides like Kawasaki mules,
25:42
Speaker 1: something like that. They were mainly used on job sites
25:45
Speaker 1: or for work purposes. But for the hunting industry, for
25:48
Speaker 1: duck hunting, that type of stuff, man, we had four-wheelers.
25:51
Speaker 1: That's what we were rolling with. We were rolling with
25:52
Speaker 1: Honda four-wheelers, four-tracks, ranchers, Yamaha Grizzlies, you know, that type
25:57
Speaker 1: of stuff. In 1999, a Honda four-tracks 300, which is
26:02
Speaker 1: one of the best-selling four-wheel drive four-wheelers. That's a tongue twister.
26:07
Speaker 1: I'm sorry, y'all. But one of the best-selling four-wheel or
26:10
Speaker 1: four-wheel drives of all time, the Honda 4-Trax, that bike
26:15
Speaker 1: back in 1999 was MSRP-ing for $ 43. 99 brand new. It
26:16
Speaker 1: was the camp standard. Everybody in hunt camp, whether you
26:23
Speaker 1: were a deer hunter, duck hunter, you used it on
26:26
Speaker 1: the form at home, you used it at home for,
26:29
Speaker 1: you know, fun or for light work duty. That's what
26:33
Speaker 1: everybody had. That was one of the most bulletproof bikes
26:35
Speaker 1: Honda ever built. And you can buy a brand new
26:38
Speaker 1: one back in 1999 for $ 43. 99 plus tax back in 99.
26:45
Speaker 1: And a lot of them are still running today. That's
26:47
Speaker 1: how good they were. They were the Toyota. the Toyota
26:50
Speaker 1: Tacomas of the four-wheeler world. Today, you look at 2026,
26:55
Speaker 1: if you buy an ATV, which a lot of guys
26:57
Speaker 1: don't buy ATVs no more, they'll go with a side-by-side.
27:00
Speaker 1: But an ATV, man, they have prices ranging anywhere from $ 7, 000
27:04
Speaker 1: to $ 16, 000 on some of these bikes. Now, the $ 16, 000,
27:09
Speaker 1: that's going to be upper end, and that's going to
27:11
Speaker 1: be your UTVs. That's where this price point's coming in at.
27:15
Speaker 1: But for a four-wheeler nowadays, $ 7, 000 for a bare minimum four-wheeler, basically.
27:22
Speaker 1: If you go bigger, you opt for some of the
27:24
Speaker 1: more fancier options on them, you're looking at more than that, guys.
27:28
Speaker 1: They'll run you all the way up to about $ 9, 000, $ 10, 000
27:30
Speaker 1: on some of them nowadays. It's crazy. You look at
27:34
Speaker 1: a Defender model, $ 13, 999. A Ranger, $ 1, 000. A Polaris Ranger 1000,
27:43
Speaker 1: average cost right now in 2026 is $ 16, 300 plus tax
27:48
Speaker 1: on them. Yes, there's deals to be had. You might
27:50
Speaker 1: have bought yours for cheaper than that. That's the average
27:53
Speaker 1: cost on them in 2026. So the camp rides went up.
27:58
Speaker 1: Not only did the boat rides go up, the gas
28:01
Speaker 1: prices went up for the boat ride, but also the
28:04
Speaker 1: rides around the camp on the four-wheelers. on the ATVs,
28:08
Speaker 1: on the side-by-sides, all that stuff went up big time.
28:13
Speaker 1: You're looking at $ 4, 400 for that Honda 4-Trax, $ 399, 999, and
28:20
Speaker 1: you might be spending $ 20, 000 on a side-by-side setup right
28:24
Speaker 1: now in 2026. It's crazy, guys. It gained doors on
28:29
Speaker 1: these side-by-sides nowadays. You had more doors than you had
28:32
Speaker 1: back in 1999. You got a windshield. They got ACs
28:36
Speaker 1: in them now. But good Lord, the cost went up.
28:40
Speaker 1: And do we really need that? That's a question you
28:43
Speaker 1: have to answer. So yeah, 1999 versus 2026, ATVs and UTVs,
28:50
Speaker 1: you talk about a massive difference depending on how fancy
28:53
Speaker 1: you want to get. What about shells, guys? Let's talk
28:57
Speaker 1: a little bit about ammunition. As waterfowl hunters, shells are
29:00
Speaker 1: a huge topic of discussion, right? A lot of you
29:04
Speaker 1: have feelings on shells. There's only certain brands you like.
29:08
Speaker 1: Some are better than others, in your opinion. And look,
29:12
Speaker 1: opinions are like assholes. Everybody got them. That old saying
29:15
Speaker 1: is so true when it comes to the waterfowl hunting
29:18
Speaker 1: community and their opinions. I have my opinions. You have
29:21
Speaker 1: your opinions. Who's right? Who's wrong? Some don't give a shit.
29:25
Speaker 1: Some do give a shit. But look, shales are something
29:29
Speaker 1: we got to have to be duck hunters, right? And
29:31
Speaker 1: we all know that the market nowadays is flooded with
29:35
Speaker 1: shales when it comes to waterfowl hunting. Look, in 1999,
29:38
Speaker 1: I was coming out of high school. we didn't have
29:41
Speaker 1: all the shell options we got now. Steel shot, nowadays,
29:46
Speaker 1: just an average box of steel shot, you're looking at
29:49
Speaker 1: anywhere from $ 18 to $ 24. Expert, Winchester expert, heavy steel,
29:56
Speaker 1: that's your basic stuff in 2026. Your premium blends of
30:03
Speaker 1: steel shot or maybe you have matrix shot, you know,
30:06
Speaker 1: where you have different size loads as far as, you know,
30:09
Speaker 1: being put together and blended, they'll run you $ 29 and
30:12
Speaker 1: $ 30 a box in a lot of cases. And Lord
30:16
Speaker 1: forbid you shoot bismuth or tungsten. Bismuth's so high right now,
30:20
Speaker 1: it's unbelievable. You're looking at $ 40 to $ 70 a box
30:25
Speaker 1: for bismuth and tungsten, somewhere in that range in 2026.
30:29
Speaker 1: Who in the world could shoot that? I'm sure some
30:32
Speaker 1: of you are saying I do. Jacob, I shoot it,
30:35
Speaker 1: and I promise you I don't have a crippling duck. Man, hey,
30:38
Speaker 1: I'll have to take your word for it because this
30:40
Speaker 1: old boy can't afford it. I'll be honest. I'm not
30:44
Speaker 1: buying that. Hey, look, I was shooting boss a couple
30:47
Speaker 1: of years ago when boss hit the market. I was
30:49
Speaker 1: buying boss, shooting it. I was spending a little bit
30:52
Speaker 1: more money, but it wasn't quite that much. It's gotten
30:56
Speaker 1: now to where it's become so expensive in 2026. Who
31:00
Speaker 1: in their right mind can afford that? And is it
31:04
Speaker 1: worth it? Is it really worth it? Some of you
31:07
Speaker 1: may say, yeah. And, hey, you do you in that situation.
31:11
Speaker 1: I ain't going to doubt you because I did see
31:14
Speaker 1: what Bismuth does to a bird versus steel shot. But, look,
31:19
Speaker 1: if we're being completely honest and not bullshitting each other,
31:23
Speaker 1: Steel loads today, guys, are much better than they were
31:26
Speaker 1: back in 1999. Those boxes of steel back in 1999,
31:31
Speaker 1: guess what the cost of it was back then on average?
31:34
Speaker 1: $ 8 to $ 10. The national average when I pulled the
31:39
Speaker 1: statistics showed $ 8 to $ 10, and that's what I remember.
31:43
Speaker 1: I remember going to Walmart, and you could buy a
31:46
Speaker 1: box of steel shot to go duck on some number
31:48
Speaker 1: four shot. for 10 bucks. I didn't spend more than
31:52
Speaker 1: 10 bucks. I didn't even think twice about buying shells. Now,
31:57
Speaker 1: you got to go with a budget when you go
31:59
Speaker 1: buy new shells and you got to know, make decisions
32:03
Speaker 1: because there's a ton of options out there. You got
32:05
Speaker 1: to know what you want to spend and what your
32:08
Speaker 1: budget is. So steel doubled in price or more than
32:16
Speaker 1: doubled in price since 1999. There was no such thing
32:20
Speaker 1: in 1999 of top shelf steel shot. You went to
32:25
Speaker 1: the store, you bought Winchester Expert. You went to the
32:29
Speaker 1: store in 1999, you bought Remington. I don't even know
32:32
Speaker 1: if it was nitro steel. I just remember nitro steel
32:35
Speaker 1: with Remington. I don't even know if that's what it was.
32:38
Speaker 1: It might have just been Remington steel shot at the
32:41
Speaker 1: time or federal steel shop. Steel wasn't outrageous like it
32:48
Speaker 1: is nowadays. So to recap, just so y'all see that
32:54
Speaker 1: again or hear this once again, regular steel shot in
32:58
Speaker 1: 26 will run you anywhere from $ 18 to $ 24 a box,
33:02
Speaker 1: depending on what brand you go with, what size shell
33:05
Speaker 1: you go with. To where back in 1999, most of
33:10
Speaker 1: us were shooting two and three quarter in 1999, by
33:12
Speaker 1: the way. Some people may ask that. Two and three quarter,
33:16
Speaker 1: but three inch was around from what I remember. But
33:19
Speaker 1: I remember shooting two and three quarter a lot. It
33:22
Speaker 1: was $ 8 to $ 10 a box in 1999. So yeah,
33:26
Speaker 1: you talk about it has went up. But once again,
33:30
Speaker 1: I'll make this same point I made when I talked
33:32
Speaker 1: about the boats a second ago. A lot of this
33:37
Speaker 1: is us as the consumer driving up these prices that significantly.
33:42
Speaker 1: Because we ain't, you know how many of you out here,
33:46
Speaker 1: and I'm not saying you, I'm just talking about us
33:48
Speaker 1: as duck hunters. You know how many people out here
33:51
Speaker 1: tell me Winchester Expert sucks? You can't kill ducks at
33:54
Speaker 1: Winchester Expert. You got to have Kent Fast Steel. You
33:59
Speaker 1: got to have Heavy Steel. You got to have whatever brand, Migrant.
34:02
Speaker 1: That's just a couple of names I'm throwing out there,
34:05
Speaker 1: not meaning nothing specific to those companies. But there's guys
34:09
Speaker 1: that'll tell you, don't go buy Monarch shells at Academy.
34:12
Speaker 1: You can't kill ducks with that. That's junk. Guys, be
34:18
Speaker 1: honest with y'all. There may be some out there I
34:21
Speaker 1: know that are more better materials than others, but you're
34:27
Speaker 1: going to kill ducks with all of them. Can't tell
34:29
Speaker 1: you how many ducks through the years I killed with
34:31
Speaker 1: Winchester Expert steel shot. And they got to say, well, Jacob,
34:36
Speaker 1: you ever broke one open? You ever cut one open?
34:38
Speaker 1: Looked at the pellets. I've had several guys try to
34:41
Speaker 1: argue that with me. Yeah, I've cut them open. I've
34:43
Speaker 1: actually looked at that because I was interested for myself. And, yeah,
34:47
Speaker 1: I know they're not perfectly round like you might get
34:49
Speaker 1: in some of the other brands. But is it freaking
34:53
Speaker 1: $ 10 to $ 12 more worth it? Hell no. Get out
34:59
Speaker 1: of here with it. Does it kill ducks, that non-perfectly
35:02
Speaker 1: round pellet? Absolutely. Whenever you got high-end premium loads like,
35:10
Speaker 1: you know, what was it, Black Cloud, when they came
35:12
Speaker 1: out with the flight stopper pattern, that wasn't a round bead.
35:15
Speaker 1: It was the most weird bead you ever seen in
35:18
Speaker 1: your life. Pellet inside that shot shell when Black Cloud
35:22
Speaker 1: came out. Nobody questioned it. You know why? Because it
35:26
Speaker 1: was premium. It was sold as a premium shell, and
35:29
Speaker 1: it was the next best thing. Now we got some
35:32
Speaker 1: guys saying, Winchester expert, I ain't shooting that shit. The
35:34
Speaker 1: pellets ain't round. I shoot black cloud or I shoot
35:39
Speaker 1: whatever else. Get out of here, guys. Get out of
35:42
Speaker 1: here with that. Look, you have your opinion. I have
35:46
Speaker 1: my opinion on it. That don't make you wrong. That
35:48
Speaker 1: don't make me right and vice versa. But I promise you,
35:53
Speaker 1: we don't have to have perfectly round pellets to be
35:56
Speaker 1: able to drop a bird and kill it. There ain't
35:59
Speaker 1: no way anybody's going to sit there and convince me
36:01
Speaker 1: of it when I've seen for generations art. Since steel
36:05
Speaker 1: shot came out, let me say that, which I hunted.
36:08
Speaker 1: I'm old enough to have hunted with lead shot with
36:10
Speaker 1: my daddy when I was young and then seen steel
36:14
Speaker 1: take over. There's no way somebody is going to convince
36:18
Speaker 1: me that you can't kill them with a Winchester expert
36:22
Speaker 1: because it's a cheaper brand and it ain't worth a shit.
36:25
Speaker 1: I don't go for it. So that's your shells. And
36:29
Speaker 1: that's a whole different topic for discussion. I know a
36:31
Speaker 1: lot of people get heated on that. Y'all can tell
36:34
Speaker 1: I'm kind of getting a little heated on that. I'm
36:36
Speaker 1: starting to preach a little bit. But I'm not trying
36:38
Speaker 1: to convince you to go buy a Winchester Expert because
36:42
Speaker 1: it's the best out there. But don't sit here on
36:44
Speaker 1: your throne and tell me that Winchester Expert's shit or
36:48
Speaker 1: Monarch's shit. I can't tell you how many birds I've
36:50
Speaker 1: shot with Monarch. I don't know if I've ever had
36:53
Speaker 1: a misfire with a Monarch shell in any shotgun that
36:57
Speaker 1: I've shot. That's an Academy brand, by the way, for
37:00
Speaker 1: those of you who don't have Academy Sports and Outdoors
37:02
Speaker 1: in your area. But yet I'll have guys tell me
37:05
Speaker 1: I'll do a Monarch shell review or mention Monarch, and
37:08
Speaker 1: they'll tell me it's the biggest piece of shit out
37:10
Speaker 1: there because it malfunctioned in their gun repeatedly. I don't
37:17
Speaker 1: believe it. I just don't believe it because I've shot
37:20
Speaker 1: it numerous times in my guns, different guns, and I've
37:24
Speaker 1: never had many issues out of it, if any. And
37:27
Speaker 1: I'm not saying it can't happen, but that's just my
37:30
Speaker 1: experience with it. Are there more premium materials that can
37:34
Speaker 1: be put into those shells? Yes, there is. Should it
37:38
Speaker 1: be $ 12 to $ 13, $ 10 a box more? Not necessarily.
37:42
Speaker 1: I think a lot of it's marketing, a lot of
37:44
Speaker 1: it's hype. And that's the truth. That's what I think.
37:48
Speaker 1: All right. So I'm off my shell soapbox. What about camo, guys? Oh,
37:55
Speaker 1: my God. Camo is another hot topic. When we look
37:59
Speaker 1: at camo in 1999 versus 2026, oh, my God, have
38:04
Speaker 1: we come a long way with camo. Back then, it
38:08
Speaker 1: was basic. It was plain. You went to Walmart and
38:12
Speaker 1: got your camo, spent a little bit of money. I
38:15
Speaker 1: went to the Army surplus store with my daddy, my grandfather,
38:19
Speaker 1: bought camo. That's what we duck hunted in. If we
38:22
Speaker 1: didn't have that, I was poor. I grew up in
38:25
Speaker 1: a poor family. If I didn't have that, which I'm
38:28
Speaker 1: not going to sit here and say I didn't have that.
38:30
Speaker 1: I had Walmart camo. But if you were very poor
38:36
Speaker 1: and you couldn't afford to go buy camo each season
38:38
Speaker 1: or you needed new camo, you might have wore some
38:40
Speaker 1: drab color, some brown colors, old brown jacket, Carhartt jacket,
38:45
Speaker 1: something back then. It wasn't even Carhartt branded. It was
38:49
Speaker 1: probably Walmart. And that was just fine. Versus 2026, we
38:56
Speaker 1: are bombarded with options. So what's the prices? So we
39:02
Speaker 1: all know, and I'm not picking on brands. That's not
39:05
Speaker 1: what this is, but I'm going to talk about Sitka.
39:09
Speaker 1: Sitka was founded in 2005. That's when it hit the market. 1999,
39:15
Speaker 1: there was no Sitka. There was no premium camo industry.
39:20
Speaker 1: A full outfit in 1999, a duck hunting outfit, which
39:24
Speaker 1: included a shirt, a pair of pants, and a hunting jacket.
39:31
Speaker 1: That's what this number's based off of. Well, and it
39:35
Speaker 1: had boots, actually. Now, I didn't say waders. It just
39:38
Speaker 1: said boots, pair of boots. $ 250 was the average cost
39:43
Speaker 1: of an outfit back then. Today, A hunting jacket may
39:51
Speaker 1: set you back $ 650 on a premium brand like Sitka
39:57
Speaker 1: or Shin or some of the other premium brands. Waiters
40:01
Speaker 1: in 2026, premium waiters, $ 999 to $ 1, 200 for some of
40:03
Speaker 1: the premium brands. gloves in 2026 from some of these
40:19
Speaker 1: premium brands. They could cost you up to about $ 310
40:24
Speaker 1: for a pair of gloves, guys. How insane are we?
40:29
Speaker 1: And I don't want to pick on nobody. As a
40:33
Speaker 1: matter of fact, I'm not going to hate on nobody.
40:35
Speaker 1: I don't want to hate on nobody. That's not what
40:36
Speaker 1: that's about. But $ 310 for a pair of gloves seems
40:41
Speaker 1: a little crazy for an old country boy like me
40:45
Speaker 1: that was raised In a blue collar family. And raised poor.
40:51
Speaker 1: Not wealthy by any means. So yeah. To me that's insane.
40:55
Speaker 1: To you it may not be insane. But $ 310. It
41:00
Speaker 1: could set you back. For a pair of gloves. So
41:06
Speaker 1: a whole outfit. In 1999. If you spent. Premium money.
41:13
Speaker 1: Would set you out. About $ 250. And that was a lot.
41:18
Speaker 1: I'll be honest, I think that number's hot for 1999.
41:22
Speaker 1: I remember going to Walmart. My parents wasn't spending for
41:24
Speaker 1: a whole outfit, hunting outfit, $ 250 for me. So I'm
41:28
Speaker 1: thinking that number included boots, maybe apparel waders, and maybe
41:33
Speaker 1: some other stuff. But it said a hunting outfit, and
41:37
Speaker 1: it listed shirt, pants, jacket, and boots. $ 250 was that
41:43
Speaker 1: national average. I don't remember it being that high. So
41:48
Speaker 1: I think that number was probably less than $ 19. 99. But
41:52
Speaker 1: look at what some of us are paying nowadays. A
41:56
Speaker 1: beanie that runs you $ 80. I love Sitka baseball-style caps.
42:05
Speaker 1: And people, when I wear them in some of my videos,
42:08
Speaker 1: I do my content. They're like, oh, here you are
42:10
Speaker 1: always talking about budget hunting. You don't have to have
42:12
Speaker 1: this and this. Wearing Sitka. Well, look, guys, that's the
42:16
Speaker 1: only pair of Sitka. That's the only item I have
42:18
Speaker 1: that is Sitka. And I'm not against Sitka by any means.
42:22
Speaker 1: But there's a lot of good stuff on the market
42:24
Speaker 1: when it comes to camo clothing nowadays that you can
42:26
Speaker 1: get at an affordable price, in my opinion, on it.
42:29
Speaker 1: You know? But I love the Sitka baseball caps. Because
42:34
Speaker 1: they have a short bill on them. And I love
42:36
Speaker 1: that for duck hunting when I have birds above me
42:38
Speaker 1: and I'm looking, trying to keep my head down and
42:40
Speaker 1: look up. And that's the main reason I buy that hat.
42:44
Speaker 1: I have two of them right now. And I want
42:46
Speaker 1: to get another one because my two I got are
42:48
Speaker 1: old now. They're getting old. But yeah, there's a purpose
42:52
Speaker 1: behind why I buy that hat. And I don't have
42:53
Speaker 1: to justify that to anybody. If I want a Sitka hat,
42:57
Speaker 1: I'm going to go buy a Sitka hat. If you
43:00
Speaker 1: want a pair of shin waders, go buy a pair
43:02
Speaker 1: of shin waders. Don't let nobody shame you into that.
43:06
Speaker 1: But it's also the other way around. When the boot's
43:08
Speaker 1: on the other foot, no pun intended, don't let somebody
43:12
Speaker 1: shame you for buying a pair of boots at Walmart
43:16
Speaker 1: or an academy because you want to go out there
43:20
Speaker 1: affordable within your means and go duck hunt and go
43:23
Speaker 1: kill ducks. Don't let them shame you because you don't
43:27
Speaker 1: have a premium brand on. and say that you're lesser
43:30
Speaker 1: of a duck hunter because of that. Somebody does that
43:35
Speaker 1: to you, they don't know what it's about anyway. Fuck them.
43:38
Speaker 1: Let them say what they got to say. But you
43:41
Speaker 1: don't have to have it to be considered a duck
43:43
Speaker 1: hunter in 2026. But yeah, 1999, you were able to
43:50
Speaker 1: buy that camo a lot cheaper than you buy it nowadays.
43:54
Speaker 1: Even Walmart camo nowadays costs you way more. Way more.
44:00
Speaker 1: Unless you catch it on clearance, end of the year,
44:02
Speaker 1: something like that, you know? A pair of neoprene waders
44:06
Speaker 1: in 1999, the national average was about $ 125 to $ 150
44:09
Speaker 1: for a pair of neoprene waders. And there wasn't brands
44:15
Speaker 1: like you see on Amazon, all these aftermarket brands. You
44:18
Speaker 1: had Hodgman and you had La Crosse. That was pretty
44:21
Speaker 1: much the brands back then. That was name brands. You
44:25
Speaker 1: might be able to find some aftermarket, off-brand, but that's
44:28
Speaker 1: the main brands I remember. So the floor didn't just
44:34
Speaker 1: move when we're talking about pricing. The ceiling left the atmosphere,
44:39
Speaker 1: in my opinion, when it comes to prices then versus
44:43
Speaker 1: now on Cambo. Absolutely crazy, man. What about dogs? A
44:54
Speaker 1: lot of you hunt with dogs. So I pulled up
44:56
Speaker 1: a few statistics on dogs, national average, stuff like that.
45:00
Speaker 1: What did a Labrador puppy cost on average back in 1999?
45:06
Speaker 1: They actually listed this. They had this. 1999, a puppy,
45:13
Speaker 1: lab puppy, just a one, nothing fancy, on average, $ 300
45:19
Speaker 1: to $ 500 is what it tells me. Today, a hunting Labrador,
45:26
Speaker 1: Could be anywhere from about $ 800 to $ 2, 500, depending on
45:30
Speaker 1: the quality of the dog. Hunting lines, like really prestigious
45:35
Speaker 1: hunting lines nowadays, they could be even more than that.
45:39
Speaker 1: It says $ 1, 500 to $ 2, 500. So yeah, you could get
45:44
Speaker 1: some pretty high dollar dogs. And they're going to be good.
45:49
Speaker 1: And they should be good paying those prices, right? Pro
45:53
Speaker 1: training back in 1999. So if you had your dog trained,
45:55
Speaker 1: what did it cost you on average? $ 300 to $ 400
45:59
Speaker 1: is what it ran price-wise. To where in 2026, you're
46:03
Speaker 1: looking at probably anywhere from $ 700 to $ 1, 000 to have
46:07
Speaker 1: it train your dog. And I know some people say
46:10
Speaker 1: they're higher than that. Some people will tell you a
46:12
Speaker 1: little less than that. But we're talking about premium training.
46:16
Speaker 1: And that's what these numbers are pulling from the national average.
46:22
Speaker 1: So yeah. pretty expensive and then not to mention the
46:29
Speaker 1: food dog food the shots the vet trips all that
46:34
Speaker 1: stuff it's doubled and tripled in price in 2026 versus
46:39
Speaker 1: what it was back then so in closing the cost
46:47
Speaker 1: per duck what is the cost per duck So it
46:53
Speaker 1: says 2.5 million ducks in 1999 is what they had
46:57
Speaker 1: on record. One of the record years when it comes
46:59
Speaker 1: to waterfowl hunting. A lot of people, like I mentioned,
47:02
Speaker 1: talk about 1999. They remember it because the stories and
47:07
Speaker 1: how great it was. Weather cooperated. Skies were filled with ducks.
47:15
Speaker 1: More ducks than we can hunt, probably. A lot of
47:19
Speaker 1: people have fond memories. It was just a great year
47:25
Speaker 1: for a lot of people. But that cost per duck,
47:30
Speaker 1: when we look at these numbers, has went up big time, guys.
47:36
Speaker 1: There's no way that we get ahead nowadays by being
47:40
Speaker 1: a duck owner. No way. It's just too expensive, right?
47:46
Speaker 1: And we've proven that in this episode. We've talked about
47:49
Speaker 1: all the different cost comparisons. So, yeah. It was a
47:53
Speaker 1: lot more affordable in 1999. It was a lot more
47:58
Speaker 1: accessible for a lot of people to be able to
48:01
Speaker 1: hunt ducks in 1999 as compared to 2026. Is it
48:07
Speaker 1: all just inflation because things have went up? I think
48:12
Speaker 1: we've proven that point. No, it's not just the manufacturer's fault.
48:18
Speaker 1: It's not just inflation. It's a lot of consumer requests, needs,
48:26
Speaker 1: quote unquote, wants, quote unquote, that have driven prices up
48:32
Speaker 1: as well. And we, whether we like it or not,
48:37
Speaker 1: we have to admit that. I think we all would
48:39
Speaker 1: admit that if we're being honest, you know. But yeah,
48:44
Speaker 1: times have definitely changed. And honestly, I had a lot
48:47
Speaker 1: of fun researching this. So I went down a rabbit
48:51
Speaker 1: hole and I dug even further into other areas that
48:54
Speaker 1: I didn't even mention on this episode that we didn't
48:57
Speaker 1: talk about. Because we could go on and on and
48:59
Speaker 1: on with everything that I saw and I found when
49:03
Speaker 1: I researched this. But boy, you talk about eye-opening. Even
49:07
Speaker 1: though we kind of know it, if we've been around
49:09
Speaker 1: long enough, we know it. We know it's more expensive.
49:12
Speaker 1: But boy, when you start delving into those numbers and
49:14
Speaker 1: you start breaking it down and you look at the statistics,
49:18
Speaker 1: of what the national average is. in these categories were,
49:21
Speaker 1: you talk about eye opening. Very interesting. Because it's interesting
49:27
Speaker 1: to me because I was around through that time period
49:30
Speaker 1: and I'm still around doing it nowadays. And a lot
49:33
Speaker 1: of you are the same way. And it's interesting even
49:36
Speaker 1: if you weren't around back then in 1999 because you've
49:39
Speaker 1: heard stories more than likely from your dad, your uncles,
49:43
Speaker 1: your grandpas about, boy, things were more affordable back then.
49:47
Speaker 1: Life was simpler. It was. But I don't know in
49:54
Speaker 1: 1999 if we looked at it any differently because we
49:58
Speaker 1: just did what was normal, right? We went with the flow.
50:04
Speaker 1: Our generation in 1999 that hunted that year wasn't any
50:07
Speaker 1: better or were smarter than the guys now in 2026 because, hey,
50:14
Speaker 1: we just kind of went with the flow. Whatever we
50:16
Speaker 1: had to do to go out there and duck hunt
50:18
Speaker 1: and go kill a couple of ducks and enjoy some
50:22
Speaker 1: time in the outdoors, we did it. We needed new shells.
50:24
Speaker 1: We went to the store. We bought it. We do
50:26
Speaker 1: the same thing now in 2026. We needed new camo.
50:30
Speaker 1: We went to the store and got us some new
50:31
Speaker 1: camo if we could afford it, if it was in
50:33
Speaker 1: the budget. Hell, I needed a John boat to get
50:36
Speaker 1: off a foot and open up more accessibility to be
50:39
Speaker 1: able to go out and duck hunt. I went by
50:40
Speaker 1: a boat, which I didn't buy a boat, but I
50:43
Speaker 1: was lucky enough. My grandfather had a John boat set
50:46
Speaker 1: up that I could duck hunt out of. And then
50:51
Speaker 1: my daddy had one. My point is, we didn't know
50:56
Speaker 1: no better. If it would have costed what it costs
51:01
Speaker 1: right now in 2026, we probably would have done it
51:04
Speaker 1: because that would have been the norm. That would have
51:06
Speaker 1: been what it was. So I don't, I don't, you know,
51:10
Speaker 1: I don't know. I just look at it. I was
51:12
Speaker 1: going to go anyway. And I did what I had
51:14
Speaker 1: to do to go. And I think a lot of
51:15
Speaker 1: you feel that way too. And a lot for me
51:19
Speaker 1: to hear now, a lot of people say, well, there's
51:20
Speaker 1: no ducks like there were nowadays and they want to
51:24
Speaker 1: fuss and they want to complain. A lot of people
51:25
Speaker 1: do look. Let's keep it real. A lot of people
51:28
Speaker 1: are complaining about stuff like that. My question to that lately,
51:33
Speaker 1: when people tell me that, when they want to fuss
51:35
Speaker 1: about naming people, why it's their fault or, you know,
51:38
Speaker 1: this and that. You hear all the debates of the
51:41
Speaker 1: flooded corn and the flyways and the migration and all
51:44
Speaker 1: this stuff. My question that I started asking people now is,
51:48
Speaker 1: I understand where you're coming from. But do you still
51:53
Speaker 1: duck on? And a lot of those people tell me, well, yeah,
51:58
Speaker 1: I still duck them. Okay, well, if it's so bad
52:02
Speaker 1: and it's so horrible, why do you still do it?
52:09
Speaker 1: Because I post a lot about being in the moment,
52:12
Speaker 1: especially as I'm getting older now, being in the moment,
52:15
Speaker 1: enjoying it, not just for the limits, but enjoying being
52:20
Speaker 1: blessed to go out there every hunt. I get the
52:22
Speaker 1: opportunity to go out there and hunt and enjoying it.
52:25
Speaker 1: And I get so much hate on that from people.
52:28
Speaker 1: They automatically want to come back with the ugly comments.
52:31
Speaker 1: And they say they want to blame flooded corn. They
52:34
Speaker 1: want to blame weather pattern changes. And they want to
52:36
Speaker 1: blame this state because they're shortstopping ducks. And they want
52:39
Speaker 1: to blame the heated ponds. Look, guys, I'm not trying
52:42
Speaker 1: to justify either side of it when it comes to that.
52:48
Speaker 1: I simply, I know, I know there's a lot of
52:50
Speaker 1: factors that contribute to why things are like they are nowadays.
52:54
Speaker 1: But the way I look at it is I'm a
52:57
Speaker 1: duck hunter. It's in my DNA. It's in my blood.
53:02
Speaker 1: It's always been in my family. And until I decide
53:12
Speaker 1: that I don't want to do it anymore, I'm going
53:15
Speaker 1: to be there every opportunity I got. And I'm going
53:18
Speaker 1: to be grateful for every opportunity that I got. And
53:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to make memories with my kids. I'm going
53:26
Speaker 1: to make memories with my duck hunting buddies. And we're
53:29
Speaker 1: going to tell lies and we're going to tell stories.
53:33
Speaker 1: And we're going to pick on each other. And all
53:36
Speaker 1: that stuff is what keeps me going back every time
53:41
Speaker 1: and keeps me going season to season. And why? When
53:45
Speaker 1: duck season closes, I'm immediately ready for that next duck
53:48
Speaker 1: hunting season. I may be tired. I may be worn out.
53:52
Speaker 1: but I miss it a few days after the season closes.
53:56
Speaker 1: And until that fire gets put out, which I hope
53:59
Speaker 1: it never does until I take my last breath on
54:03
Speaker 1: this earth, we can blame everybody we want to blame,
54:08
Speaker 1: but I'm going to still go. And I think a
54:11
Speaker 1: lot of you feel that way too. And I think
54:14
Speaker 1: a lot of you that I've asked that question to,
54:17
Speaker 1: if it's so bad, do you still duck hunt? And
54:20
Speaker 1: you tell me yes. You feel that way deep down
54:24
Speaker 1: inside too. Otherwise, you wouldn't do it because you're not insane.
54:30
Speaker 1: You're not short a few screws in the head. Although
54:34
Speaker 1: I tell people, duck hunters, we're all short a few
54:36
Speaker 1: screws in the head to do what we do and
54:38
Speaker 1: love it as much as we love it. But it's
54:43
Speaker 1: because you know deep down inside, we love it. And
54:46
Speaker 1: it's in us. It's built into us. So, That's just
54:53
Speaker 1: the way I see it. I'm a simple man when
54:56
Speaker 1: it comes to the way I look at that. I
54:58
Speaker 1: was raised simple, and I think a lot of you were,
55:03
Speaker 1: and still are today, some of you. You see it
55:06
Speaker 1: with common sense through the eyes of common sense, and
55:10
Speaker 1: that's the way I see it. But yeah, you look
55:15
Speaker 1: at 1999, that epic season in waterfowl hunting history versus 2026,
55:23
Speaker 1: When it comes to what we spend to be duck hunters,
55:26
Speaker 1: it's a lot more expensive, guys. Even if you're on
55:29
Speaker 1: a budget, it's a lot more expensive. And this was
55:31
Speaker 1: a lot of fun, like I said, to research and
55:34
Speaker 1: do this comparison. And I hope you guys enjoyed it.
55:39
Speaker 1: Y'all let me know your thoughts on this episode because
55:42
Speaker 1: I really want to hear your feedback on 1999 pricing
55:45
Speaker 1: versus 2026 pricing and where you think We stand as
55:56
Speaker 1: a duck hunting community and kind of, I just want
55:58
Speaker 1: to hear your feedback on it. What's your thoughts on
56:01
Speaker 1: some of these numbers? Cause boy, I tell you what,
56:03
Speaker 1: it was eyeopening for me. It was interesting. I hope
56:09
Speaker 1: y'all enjoyed the episode as always guys. I thank y'all
56:12
Speaker 1: so much for spending your time with me right here
56:17
Speaker 1: on Last Stop Waterfowl talking about duck hunting, something that
56:20
Speaker 1: we're so passionate about. We love so much just like
56:22
Speaker 1: you guys. I appreciate each and every one of you
56:26
Speaker 1: every week when you tune in. And if you enjoyed
56:28
Speaker 1: the episode, I would ask you to do me a favor, guys.
56:32
Speaker 1: Share it with your friends. Share it with your fellow
56:34
Speaker 1: duck hunting buddies. Leave us a review if you listen
56:38
Speaker 1: to us on Apple, Spotify, Amazon Music, or shoot us
56:43
Speaker 1: a message on social media, any of our platforms. Let
56:47
Speaker 1: us know that you listen to it and your thoughts
56:50
Speaker 1: on the episode. I would appreciate that. Always try to
56:52
Speaker 1: get back with you when you DM me. But I
56:58
Speaker 1: appreciate each and every one of y'all. And we're going
57:02
Speaker 1: to do it again soon. On the next episode, we'll
57:06
Speaker 1: be talking more duck hunting, guys, as we get more
57:09
Speaker 1: closer to the season and eventually get into the season
57:12
Speaker 1: here in just a couple of weeks. It's getting close.
57:15
Speaker 1: I'm excited. I know you guys are. And I appreciate
57:18
Speaker 1: y'all so much. Thank y'all for tuning in to this episode.
57:21
Speaker 1: And we'll see you all again soon. Y'all take care.