Your demise. Have you had discussions…

Morbid, but for me, a real question. Have you discussed with your family/friends what they should do with your fishing and hunting gear after your demise? I have a will, but my wife and daughter’s will not want any of it and they won’t know the values of any of it. Have any of you ever thought about this or giving someone close directions for dealing with this for your family? Is there a good way of managing this so my family doesnt get screwed trying to sell this stuff?
Hoping and praying for the best, so I’m not selling beforehand. Any ideas?

I have. My wife knows exactly what yo do and approx. Values. Used fishing stuff to sell will take a huge loss. Ecspecially when selling bulk. My hunting stuff is the big $$$. I already have buyers for some stuff and its all documented for her and my kids

Put someone in charge of it that knows what it’s worth. No need to over think it. Sweating over a few bucks isn’t really worth it.

To be honest, the fishing stuff is the farthest from my concerns. Home, vehicles, retirement, life insurance, burial is where your focus should be.

Biggest thing is just specifically call out who gets it in a will. Some families are better at dealing with this stuff than others, but have heard many horror stories of simple things like this dragging on for a long time and causing relationships to strain.

“I think I’ll take the fishing rods in Dad’s garage”

“That’s not fair, how much are they worth?”

“I don’t know, could probably get a couple hundred dollars for them if I sold them, but I’d like to keep them to remind me of him and I think he’d want it that way.”

“That’s not fair, we should split them up evenly.”

“Well I’m the only one of his children that fishes, so it makes sense that I should take them”

“You need to sell them and split the money evenly, or pay each of us out of your pocket to make up the cost.”

etc. etc.

As biggill said, sweating over a few bucks isn’t worth it, but never underestimate some people’s ability to ‘sweat’ over the smallest quantity of money.

Put together a will, or clearly state in your will which fishing/hunting buddy will be the executor of that gear.

My wife fishes with me a fair amount and knows I own firearms, but she wouldn’t have the slightest idea where to begin with selling/distributing the gear with regards to its value. I have NOT done anything to help the cause, but will in the future. Once our daughter arrives and it’s more than just myself and Mrs. Bucky, a lot will go into writing that makes things simple.

For now, I’ve just reminded my wife regularly to do whatever makes her happy if I were to go suddenly. Sell the trucks, the boat, gear, guns and whatever she sees fit and head for a sandy tropical beach with family and a leave from work. I don’t want her hanging onto stuff “just because” if it doesn’t bring her joy. I want her to do whatever brings her joy…or the least amount of pain.

If the FW finds out what I have into it, she’ll fall over dead.

Eelpoutguy wrote:

If the FW finds out what I have into it, she’ll fall over dead.

Unless she kills you first. It’ll be the reason you died in the first place.

This reminds me of the guy who told his wife if he dies to sell the boat because if she does remarry he does not want the SOB in his boat. To that she replies what makes you think I will marry another SOB.

biggill wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>eelpoutguy wrote:</div>
If the FW finds out what I have into it, she’ll fall over dead.

Unless she kills you first. It’ll be the reason you died in the first place.

I know so try and keep it on the down low please.

The best advice I received was take out enough life insurance to ensure your family’s well-being but not enough to ensure your wife lives in the style to which she wished to become accustomed.

@tangler

I’ll leave you my pee bucket so you don’t need to pull to shore every time.

Not trying to hijack, but my brothers and I are going through this right now. I lost my dad unexpectedly 5 months ago. He was an avid ice fisherman, but most of the things he had that we’ve taken have been of sentimental value. Everything else will get sold. The coolest thing we found was a log book. He kept a record of every day he ice fished the last 12 years, date, lake, and fish count….super cool to see the patterns!

I’m just worried the FW will die first! I mean I don’t know what all those knick-knacks sell for!!

I have a cousin set up to take care of this. With a few close friends that will jump into help if needed.

While your at it, don’t forget to talk about your will in general (they can be made easily online or copy one that your parents have/had and get it notarized) and your Living Will.

Since it’s our 39th anniversary today I was talking to the FW about when I wanted the cord pulled if I was ever on a machine. I was a bit troubled when she said “what make you think you will be plugged in?”

Brian Klawitter wrote:

I’m just worried the FW will die first! I mean I don’t know what all those knick-knacks sell for!!

Lol. I’m gonna have to consult an oil, 31 bags, and Tupperware experts if mine kicks off!

splitshot wrote:

Have any of you ever thought about this or giving someone close directions for dealing with this for your family? Is there a good way of managing this so my family doesnt get screwed trying to sell this stuff?

I wanted to address this idea that the family could “get screwed” when selling a deceased sportsmen’s items as it comes up several times.

The problem IME is that the value of these items is often vastly over-estimated by either the owner or the family. This happens most often, IME, with guns.

This “value” then gets bandied about for years and becomes family legend and the story grows about how if Grandpa’s deer rifle was “worth $5000” back in 1980, well, it’s REALLY worth big bucks NOW.

This sets up a lot of potential for conflict and bad feelings when the original owners dies. If the rifle goes to one family member, well, then he/she is seen to have made off with the family fortune and is a dirty crook.

Or if a dealer comes in and offers a realistic value, he’s a “crook” and trying to rip grandma off.

I was asked some years back by a widow to give her an idea of value for her deceased husband’s gun collection and I stepped into the exact situation as above. He had nice rifles mostly the 1970s and 80s, but nothing extraordinary. Common brands/models in middle of the road condition. I did not attempt to buy any of the guns from the widow. Well, my estimate really hit the fan because unbeknownst to me, the son-in-law considered himself a real expert and told everyone who would listen that I was a crook and I was trying to “lowball” grandma out of the guns. He then gave Grandma a vastly inflated idea of what he thought the guns were worth, based on what I do not know. They then went from gunshop to gunshop trying to sell the guns for these “values” and the anger and bitterness just deepened.

All of this stems from having no or unrealistic ideas of what items (especially guns) are REALLY worth. IMO it’s not that families often “get screwed”, it’s that some members feel that they did because of these inflated ideas they had of values that were based on nothing real.

Bottom line is to do yourself a favor and get professional valuations of your items so that your family has realistic expectations. Also, if you are passing items of high value on to some family members for sentimental reasons, be sure to make clear in your will WHY you are doing this.

Grouse

The “real” value of this stuff will be set by what anyone is willing to pay for it. Paper value is about as worthy as poor toilet paper.

Not sure what “paper value” means.

Appraisals are based on a range of what actual items in similar condition have sold for. They are very helpful because the help the seller have realistic expectations.

Grouse

My wife will be very well taken care of after my passing. If all my stuff gets sold for $.50 on the dollar but makes it easier on her to clean house, I’m not worried about it. My friends know how well I keep and maintain my stuff so my buddies might be the first ones to ask about buying the stuff anyway.

I have taken a different approach. I have started to go through my “stuff” and am keeping only the items I use or would like to pass on (these are very few…learned when my Dad passed that keeping quantity for sentiment is not a good way to go). I knew it was the case, but I have/had quite a bit of stuff that I simply don’t use anymore or to a lesser extent sadly, never did use.

I have also become a much more selective shopper. I’d also add that for the most part I don’t have very much that is high end. I use or used most of my stuff and it shows in wear.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Not sure what “paper value” means.

Appraisals are based on a range of what actual items in similar condition have sold for. They are very helpful because the help the seller have realistic expectations.

Grouse

In a lot of cases, appraised values are not realistic as finding someone that wants a particular item at all can be very difficult. As Tom stated, it will sell for what someone is willing to pay unless the seller is willing to sit on it for an extended period of time.

Brian Klawitter wrote:

Since it’s our 39th anniversary today

Congrats! Or condolences. Whichever is more appropriate

Bury me with my fishing poles and reels. Fill my coffin with as much fishing lures as possible. When I go, I’m going to fishing heaven…

slipperybob wrote:

Bury me with my fishing poles and reels. Fill my coffin with as much fishing lures as possible. When I go, I’m going to fishing heaven…

I hear that they have a lot better gear and tackle up there.

One more thing.

Make sure SEVERAL of your family members or trusted friends have the combination or copies of the keys to your gun safe.

IMO this is one item that it might be handy to email to people so the email is searchable so the have a chance at finding it should they need it.

Grouse

Not very difficult to determine the value of an item in Today’s world.