Hunting in college

[last arrow]

Treat school as a 40 hour a week job.  do the work during the week and you will have weekends free (and better grades than most).

[Roadkill]

I went to UW-Madison on scholarship.  Picked Wisconsin because they had deer.  Kentucky had few in those days.  I moved out to the west edge of the city and hunted rabbits and pheasants after classes or work.  You are now officially an adult and managing your time and finances is part of that status-choose wisely for a balanced life.  Most really screwed up older adults made a bad decision or two in those early years

[JohnV]

Your primary concern should be getting a good education in a field where there are decent jobs available once you graduate.  When I was in college I found that I was studying most evenings and weekends, although I did get out for a few weekend hunts at a nearby public hunting area.  My hard work at school paid off by having a good career with a decent pay check.  I have been on hunting trips to Africa, Alaska, many western states, and many Canadian provinces hunting all sorts of animals that I only dreamed of hunting when I was in college.  The sacrifices I made in college were well-worth the end result.

[DarkTimber]

It's all about balance I guess.   I was able to hunt and still focus on my education. I still earned a degree in the field I was interested in  and landed a great job. Maybe my GPA was a couple tics lower, I can live with that.  

I missed a week of classes every September during college to go elk hunting.  It was difficult and took some planning, extra work and communication with my professors, but looking back they were some of the greatest hunts of my life.  I can also remember reading text books and studying on a deer stand on more than one occasion.  I'm not the type that could just hang up the bow for 4 years...if you don't think you are either you'll make it work.

[Jerry Gille]

I chose to attend a local college simply because I didn't want to miss a single hunting opportunity.  I hunted my butt off while in college.  I worked part time and went to school full time.  I always had a day or two when my first class would start a little later or days when my last class would be over in time to get me into the woods.  When you are young you can handle that lost sleep better!  I ran into class many times back then after spending an hour or two in a tree somewhere.  My senior seminar had one prof that would always ask me what I saw that morning.  If you want to do it, you'll figure it out.

And I agree with what has been said up top - you'll have more time to hunt in college than you will after you get a full time job and start having kids.  Although I always seemed to manage getting out plenty then too.....

[Yooper-traveler]

In the 8 plus years of college and the like, I was fortunate enough to hunt and fish some great places (like Iowa) and land.  I can remember studying in tree stands and on the ground.

I met my best friend in college and we have been hunting together 20-21 years now.  In fact our kids hunt together now lol.  Keep your nose in the books and head above water.  Have fun and enjoy the experience.

[oz]

I did not, If I had it to do over I would.

I was a 1000 miles from home and did not have the confidence to learn what I needed.  Now that I know more I messed up by not looking into it.

I had some time, mostly because I couldn't go home so weekends and holidays were spent on campus, should have been hunting.

out of state students can often buy resident licenses, Wish I had known that.

had I had resources such as this forum or others to find places to hunt, I would have loved it.  

Staying local at the community college, yes hunt.

transfer yes hunt.

My son is not the biggest hunter would rather fish, he took all his fly fishing gear, fly tying gear and I think he gets out once a week, but again coming home is not an option too far, so his weekends are all studying, working, and fishing.

oz

[YosemiteSam]

I hunted a few times but not much.  I moved away so I didn't know where to go and I couldn't afford to just keep buying tons of maps (no Google back then).  So I fly fished.  A lot.  Probably averaged once every 2-3 weeks for each of my 4 years.  Fishing didn't require me to get up early in the morning and I could often fish within a half-hour drive.  I pretty much gave up hunting for most of college, though.  I didn't pick it up again until just a few years ago (almost 20 years off).

Bowhunting got completely lost.  I was told I could shoot out in the soccer field but when I showed up with my compound bow on move-in day, the RDs flipped out & I sent it back home with my parents.  A hunting staff member at the college took pity on me later & offered to keep my guns for me.  That helped.  But he just kept them in his trunk.  I worked security so I knew about all the car theft & got them all back once I learned about that.  Later, a roommate & I hunted birds together so I just kept it all hidden under the bed & we just loaded up the cars late at night through the window so we wouldn't get caught.  Oh, the trouble we could have gotten into if the RDs found out...

All that to say that it's do-able.  It may or may not be easy.  Living on campus could be more difficult than if you're at home or in an apartment somewhere.  Out of state is another potential challenge if you're paying out-of-state license fees.  Finding shooting time is probably your biggest challenge.  Unless you have an archery range on or near campus, you may have to transition to firearms for a time.  

But you probably won't have any more free time ever in your life until retirement than you will in college.  It won't feel like it.  You'll feel overwhelmed by all the homework, job schedule, etc.  But once you start the career, marriage & kids, demands only increase.  Enjoy it while you can!

[Captain*Kirk]

Hunting in college is fairly easy, simply wait for the teachers to congregate around the water cooler

[Bowwild]

I'm a 1977 Purdue graduate. I earned two bachelor's degrees simultaneously in 4 years. I hunted nearly every weekend during the Indiana bow season. My hunting spot was in Brown County which was about 120 miles from Lafayette where Purdue is located.  I lived on Campus because home was 148 miles away in Richmond, IN. I generally traveled with a fellow student/ bowhunter to share gas. We camped.  We would hunt twice on Saturday and then after the Sunday AM hunt head back to school. I killed just two deer during those four years (deer weren't nearly as abundant in the mid-70's as now).

I was on a Hoosier academic scholarship which covered my tuition. I worked and saved every penny in the summer to pay my room and board. In the spring I worked about 10-15 hours/week washing dishes in the cafeteria to have some spending money.

Not to brag but to point out it an be done, I made Purdue's Dean's list 5 out of 8 semesters and ended up with GPA of 5.4 on 6.0 scale. I took 17-23 credit hours per semester.   I have to admit though, my grades were a bit lower in the fall than in the spring.

I have never understood why some suspend hunting for college.

[Kudu Kid]

I did bowhunt, but between working and studying, it wasn't easy.  

I held high priority about my studies, so it was very difficult to be on stand and not feel guilty about not studying. But that is my nature.

[FoCoBlackWidow]

You'll find time for it. After you get the hang of things, you'll also learn you can strategically plan your class schedule to get some mornings or evenings in. And skipping a house party or two on the weekends never hurt anyone. Good luck.

[KSCATTRAPR]

Even with moving to another town and working 2 jobs I still got to hunt quite a bit just because my schedule allowed me to. Getting to bow hunt new areas was also pretty fun and challenging. Home was only about an hour drive away so I also went back home to hunt on the weekends.

I did alot of trapping in the winter months on public ground 15 minutes from my house. My room mate and I would get up at 4:00am to go run traps and I would skin stuff at night when I got home from work. Fun Fun times! The extra money I took in from furs helped me get by at the time. It wasn't much, but at that time, every little bit helped! My advice is get out whenever you can, it will help re leave some stress brought on by college. Good luck!

[twitchstick]

Some of my best years were when I was in college. I was lucky enough that hunting was close to school. If I didn't have class I could easily hunt mornings or evenings. I have less time to hunt now!

[Trenton G.]

Its good to know that it's still possible to get in some hunting while in school. I'm hoping to maybe find some more students who enjoy hunting and who I can at least talk hunting with.
I'm not opposed to doing schoolwork in the woods. I've done it before. It's just hard to focus on sometimes.

[ronp]

Originally posted by ronp:
I stopped hunting during the 6 years I was in college.  It was hard, especially since my major was environmental and forest biology.  We were in the woods and on the lakes a lot during labs, so I missed hunting.  I was focused on my studies and just didn't make the time.

Oh, I was in my 30's when went to college, with a wife, house, new born baby and recovering from a fractured back.  And I had a 45 minute commute back and forth every day.  I still regret missing deer hunting with my dad those few years.

[KevinK]

I'd say make the time to do it if you can. College was the busiest time for me in my life. I had much less free time then than I did as a working adult. I didn't hunt at all during college and for several years after. I wish I would have. Even though I was busy back then I still managed to have time to meet and marry my future ex-wife. I should've spent that little free time I had in the woods.

[Msturm]

I hunted a lot in college.  and in grad school.   It can be done.

[Cyclic-Rivers]

I bow hunted a little, mostly on public land with no success. Mostly in college though, I grouse hunted.  I wasn't as big into bowhunting back then though and I worked a lot. If it was me now, I would probably bow hunt more than grouse hunt.

I will add, I went to the bars a lot.  Seems like I always had money for beer.  Looking back, nothing good  ever came from bar hopping. Not only did I miss many mornings I could have been hunting, but I cringe when I think about how much money I must have literally pissed away. I probably could have payed to go on many hunting trips.

[no]

shot a ton of deer during college