How do we determine value? It can be a little hazy. Like the main article picture.
What are you valuing? What is the market? What is the market able to bear?
Each item you attach a value to has a ‘market,’ that it is a part of. A larger overall picture. Of which, depending on the specific market, can have a plethora of values attached to the individual products.
Think of the automobile market. All the makes, models, trim packages, incentives, Labor Day Sales and on and on and on…
Everything from a, running and driving $400.00 beater with a heater, (which are rare now-a-days) to the worlds super cars, with a Lamborghini Veneno Roadster coming in at 4.5 million, yep, dollars. 4.5 million for a work of art that can suck the windshield right out of that ’98 Corolla.
In life, in our flesh, we attach value… say points… so that we can keep score, compare, and judge ourselves against others. Not in a good way either.
But if you’ve been able to acquire one of those Lambos’… well played, good form, and Bravo’!
I owned the Corolla so lets start small.
In baseball a run equals 1 point. You can have a bases clearing grand slam and bring in four on one hit, but they are each counted singly.
In football a touchdown is worth 7 points, a field goal 3 points, a defensive safety 2 points, an offensive 2 point conversion 2 points, and an extra point kicked is 1 point.
In basketball a free throw is valued at 1 point, inside the three point line is valued at 2 points, and outside the 3 point line is valued at 3 points.
During the start up of these sports the value of the points were decided upon for the benefit of a good game, but with the very specific intent of deciding a winner and a loser. The winner being the team who accumulated the most of the valued points.
Why are grouse valued at 50 points?
Because when you have ten or twelve, boys and men, friends and family, at your sons, Up North birthday party… during grouse season… a little competition is a whole lotta fun!
The ‘market’ that grouse hunting falls into for the vast majority of participants is deemed a hobby, an outdoor pursuit, active leisure time. For a dedicated few it has become a lifelong passion, lifestyle, and a way to make a living.
Where then lies the value? What is the market? And how the heck do you keep score in the grouse woods?
“Consider the fact that the average grouse hunter kills about one out of three grouse that offer a reasonable shot. Misses are the rule, not the exception, in grouse hunting.”
~ Dennis Walrod/Grouse Hunters Guide
“Spend a day or two twisting ankles, scarring foreheads and knuckles, in some whippy tag alder thicket and you’ll be sure to find a grouse. Of course, actually shooting one is something else. Just being able to squeeze a trigger on every third flush is considered very good positioning”
~ John Husar/Chicago Tribune
“I have always counted the number of birds flushed and not the number of birds shot as my measure of success.”
~ Jamie Carlson/He writes the Hunting for Dinner series for SGT;
If you were a baseball player, and went 1 for 3 for your career batting .333… you’d be in the hall of fame. Top 30 to boot! Just a tick ahead of Stan ‘The Man’ Musial.
1. | Ty Cobb+ (24) | .3662 | L |
2. | Rogers Hornsby+ (23) | .3585 | R |
3. | Shoeless Joe Jackson (13) | .3558 | L |
4. | Lefty O’Doul (11) | .3493 | L |
5. | Ed Delahanty+ (16) | .3458 | R |
6. | Tris Speaker+ (22) | .3447 | L |
7. | Billy Hamilton+ (14) | .3444 | L |
Ted Williams+ (19) | .3444 | L | |
9. | Dan Brouthers+ (19) | .3424 | L |
10. | Babe Ruth+ (22) | .3421 | L |
11. | Dave Orr (8) | .3420 | R |
12. | Harry Heilmann+ (17) | .3416 | R |
13. | Pete Browning (13) | .3415 | R |
14. | Willie Keeler+ (19) | .3413 | L |
15. | Bill Terry+ (14) | .3412 | L |
16. | Lou Gehrig+ (17) | .3401 | L |
George Sisler+ (15) | .3401 | L | |
18. | Jesse Burkett+ (16) | .3382 | L |
Tony Gwynn+ (20) | .3382 | L | |
Nap Lajoie+ (21) | .3382 | R | |
21. | Jake Stenzel (9) | .3378 | R |
22. | Riggs Stephenson (14) | .3361 | R |
23. | Al Simmons+ (20) | .3342 | R |
24. | Cap Anson+ (27) | .3341 | R |
25. | John McGraw+ (17) | .3336 | L |
26. | Eddie Collins+ (25) | .3332 | L |
Paul Waner+ (20) | .3332 | L | |
28. | Mike Donlin (12) | .3326 | L |
29. | Sam Thompson+ (15) | .3314 | L |
30. | Stan Musial+ (22) | .3308 | L |
www.baseball-reference.com/leaders/batting_avg_career
So 1 out of 3 is one way the market of grouse hunting puts a value on an average season.
The car market average cost of a new car…$37,000 dollars,
“IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 1, 2019 /PRNewswire/ —Â The valuation analysts at Kelley Blue Book today reported the estimated average transaction price for a light vehicle in the United States was $37,169 in July 2019.”
~ www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/average-new-car-prices-up
In sports if you can score more points than the average bear, you are considered more valuable, maybe even MVP caliber. Unless you play for… da Bears.
In business being in the black is the score card, with each individual dollar adding up like runs in a baseball game. One by one.
In grouse hunting all the work and effort lead up to the flush. All of the excitement happens at the flush. The more flushes you have the more possible the opportunity to actual get a shot off, get the bird, and watch the dog work the whole time.
But as they say, therein lies the rub.
The possibility of getting a shot brings with it the possibility of actually taking a grouse. Ending it’s life.
No more work. No more effort. No more flushes… perfect, wild, unprepared or otherwise.
Makes a person think of value… gun value, dog value, value of a grouse as table fare (they are hard to beat), the value of chasing The King of the Northwoods, value of gasoline… and life.
I value the Ruffed Grouse as a game bird, as an adversary, as a teacher, and as one of Gods creations. He has endowed that little grey feathered grenade with every survival advantage you could think of. From a small size, can eat just about anything, loves a Wisconsin winter, perfect camouflage, to the startling thunder of its wings on takeoff, and once air born it can out maneuver an LM/B F22-Raptor, Goshawk, Horned Owl, and an 1100fps 12ga shot shell!
If it had a bigger brain it would be unkillable. I’m currently 0-fer… on the grouse.
Whatever project you are working on, whatever hobby, business, relationship, or new skill you are trying to learn… you can gauge it’s value on this one component…
how much TIME are you dedicating, investing, and sharing with it?
Leave a Reply