Tax-Free Weekend

Louisiana is in the midst of something called the Louisiana Second Amendment Weekend Sales Tax Holiday, and I have a rifle on order. I ordered it two weeks ago and told the counterguy that I intended to pick it up this weekend.

I called him late last week and he told me that the rifle was backordered but that they expected it this week. I called him yesterday and he said that it wasn't in yet, but that hope springs eternal and he's hoping it's on the truck this morning. I'll check back with him later in the day.

Hunting is huge in Louisiana, a major economic engine:

Hunting is big business in Louisiana, with more than 250,000 estimated hunters spending hundreds of millions of dollars a year on the sport. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service reported that more than $200 million in hunting equipment was purchased in Louisiana in 2006. The FBI conducted gun checks on roughly 250,000 firearms purchased in Louisiana in 2008.

I know that I spend a fair chunk of my discretionary income on guns, ammo, hunting licenses. It's my hobby, although when I was younger my main hobby was hunting and now it's evolved more toward shooting. I still like hunting and go to the woods regularly, but nowadays the hunting aspect is more (for me) of a way to connect with my grandkids.

The hunting sports need new blood and there is a perspective that hunting is expensive. While everything costs money, I've always roughly equated hunting with golf. When you factor in the cost of clubs, green fees, cart rental, shoes and related accessories, the cost of the two games are roughly equivalent.

Still, there are ways to get into hunting that are fairly cost-effective. A .22 rifle costs about $100.00, a box of ammo costs about $10.00. If you don't want the rifle, a smallbore shotgun can be had off the used gun rack for $150.00. The basic hunting license costs $15.00. Public land is generally free to use and there is lots of it in Louisiana, but if you chose to use wildlife management areas, the basic ticket is another $15.00. (Don't get me started on requiring a permit to use public land... grrrr!).

You don't need camo. You don't need a 4-wheeler, you don't need lots of things that the stores want to sell you. Take a bargain shotgun, a pocket full of shells, and walk along a convenient creek-bank. Squirrel hunting is still a bargain.

Take a kid hunting this year. You'll have as much fun as he (or she) does.