"...The National Sporting Goods Association forecasts that spending on hunting and firearms will rise $350 million this year, even as spending declines for nearly every other sport the group monitors.
For hunters, deer meat isn't free -- there's overhead, including a deer hunting license, ammunition, gas for the car -- but it's cheap.
"You've got your loin steaks and your hindquarter steaks," Weaver said, "and the rest ground up into sausage -- comes to about 70 cents a pound."
http://www.indystar.com/article/20091019/LOCAL/910190348/In+trying+times++hunters+go+after+deer+to+put+food+on+the+table
The writer does a good job of reminding the reader that hunting "gear" often times outstrips the savings in venison going on the table.
I also would think that if savings were really what were being sought, the Huntsmen would go out in groups and dilute the costs among several people, gas, lunch, even baits, those costs add up.
And such supplemental meat should also include smaller game animals such as Rabbits and Squirrels and Ducks (though Ducks tend to be a "rich man's game due to the high costs involved, not always but once the dogs and the blinds and the time are added in, as well as the custom perrazi's, it would take a lifetime of hunting to recoup the cash layouts.
Some Venison Sausage with Rich along with some homebrewed wine and homemade bread sounds like a great meal indeed.