The other day, I was talking to a taxidermist about his prices. He was thinking of raising his rates and his reasoning went something like this:
“When a guy pulls up driving a $40,000 to $50,000 pickup towing a fancy fifth-wheel trailer with some ATVs, I don’t feel bad about asking him for more money,” he said.
This statement got me thinking about how much technology and equipment for hunting and fishing has changed in the last 40 to 50 years.
When I started fishing and hunting in the 1960s, a revolution was beginning to take shape in fishing. Electronic fish finders were just then hitting the market, and the bass fishing craze that now has resulted in tournaments offering prizes totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars was in its infancy. Fishing was simpler then, and everything cost less.
Back then, to go fishing all you needed was a rod, a reel, hooks, lures and bait. If you watch a fishing show on television these days, they’re fishing from $60,000 boats loaded with fancy electronics and boasting more horsepower than my car. They’ll bring along tackle boxes stuffed with lures that all together cost what you could buy a car for 40 years ago.
Don’t get me wrong, maybe if I had won the lottery I’d be buying all that fancy stuff too, but then again maybe not.
The joys of fishing, at least to me, involve learning how to catch fish and enjoying the surroundings. Last weekend, I drove 30 minutes north to the Rio Grande, walked to a pool that I had all to myself and caught my limit of trout. I used a rod and reel that together cost less than $70 — I don’t think I’d have enjoyed the trip any more if my equipment had been more expensive.
Hunting has changed too. Hardly anyone hunted from tree stands when I was a teenager, and now its standard procedure when hunting whitetail deer. When you went bow hunting in the 60s, you used a recurve bow; now the more expensive compound bows are the standard bearers of the sport. Today there are also trail cameras and all kinds of fancy camouflage clothing.
Also, the modes of transportation the taxidermist mentioned are now standard for many hunters. Let’s face it, the carbon footprint of a hunting trip is very substantial these days.
There is a good side to this emphasis on expensive technology. With all this money being thrown around, it appears that overall the animals have benefitted. The amount of money that hunters spend pumps a lot of dollars into programs to improve habitat and increase the population of many species. Here in New Mexico, you can hunt bighorn sheep and, recently, Gould’s wild turkeys.
Fishermen have seen angling opportunities for many species expand since in the last few decades, too. The stocking of salmon in the Great Lakes began in the 1960s and has led to great fishing that pumps a lot of money into the economy. Striped bass were strictly a saltwater fish when I was a child, but it was found they could thrive in fresh water and they have been stocked all over the country. You can catch 50-pounders at Elephant Butte Lake right here in New Mexico.
The one timeless constant in all this is that primal feeling you get when you approach a stream or stalk quietly through the woods. It’s that feeling, and not how much money you spent or what brand of clothing you have, that makes the outdoors great.