Cant deal with my lack of hunting time!

[Gehrke145]

I planned my career around hunting.  I work 3 days a week and have over a month of vacation.  Also can bid opposite work weeks and get another 2 weeks if I need.  Took the month of Sept off for elk, 2 weeks for muledeer this Nov, 2 week long trips to WI to visit family and dive, a week for Javies, a week for tx exotics and load down my 401 and 457 every month.  When I hit 50 I'm done!

[Cecil]

I had three weeks scheduled off for hunting but the company lost the contract. I was lucky to find anouther job. I work day shift 12hrs for 5 days and 8hrs on saturday so not much time to hunt. but if I make it a year I will get a week off I know when I will take it off.

[Pat B.]

gehrke145, what do you do for a living ?

[wapiti792]

Jon, I am with ya brother. I do have a job I can "make" the time and go hunt but I own my own business. When I am not there the business makes zero money. Good for hunting bad for bills! I have become the 1 hour hunt man in the evenings after work and when the time changes I will be a morning hunter for an hour. I have a friend who gets the whole month of November off to hunt...sometimes I wanna tell him to stick it  

[Gehrke145]

Pat B I'm a Police Officer, can't see myself doing anything else anymore.  Love the job. Should of added my time rolls over every year, as long as I don't get over 300 some hours.

[ishoot4thrills]

Hey dude, my love for hunting is second to no one else' love for hunting. I lived for it when I was a young boy and it continued up until I had kids. Had three of them and wouldn't trade having kids for anything in the world. But, my time in the woods dwindled greatly until they got older to where we didn't have to watch their every move. I still don't get to hunt near as much as I did when I was growing up, but I appreciate every minute I spend out there, now more than ever.

I would love to kill a huge buck every year. But the fact is, if I resort to "trophy" hunting only, I will probably never, or seldom ever, kill anything at all. I just don't have the time, nor the money, that it takes to be that kind of hunter. So, I still get a thrill out of any size deer I kill with the bow, no matter how big or small.

Now that the kids are getting older I find that I am now spending more time with them fishing and hunting as a family. So, between working and home chores, I still don't have a lot of time just to myself for bowhunting. But, that's okay. I've got my priorities right and I still hope to someday have the time to go hunting when I want and stay as long as I want. But until then, I'm just gonna keep appreciating the few minutes I do get to be in the woods.

[jax]

Nothing wrong with wanting to hunt more. I am divorced and my daughter is grown. I work three days a week and hunt the rest. Life is what you make it.

[adkmountainken]

i am sitting here this morning as i just hit TWO weeks vaction. waiting on contractors this morning, waiting on news of my wifes health problem and nursing my New back to health! ARRRGGGHHHHH.

[toddster]

jon, know the feeling.  this year I had a total knee replacement, and it is really killing me.  I cann't use a stand this year and only been out twice so far.  My only concetion is that I can be strong enough for november and be off all month for once.

[Paul/KS]

I work as a boiler plant operator at a hospital so it's "Any day, any shift, as needed..."

Plus I have a busy 10 year old daughter so getting out to hunt is hard to schedule, and getting harder...  :(

[Jeff Strubberg]

Everyone pays their dues, like it or not.  If you can work more hunting into your schedule, go for it.  You obviously have the desire.

HOWEVER!  Unless you are ready to live in a tent and eat field mice I suggest you think past hunting a bit.  Things like a mortgage, kids and retirement at some point in the future have to figure in your plans.

Moderation in ALL things.

[Mint]

Jon, I know exactly how you feel. I work in NYC so I leave home at 6:30am and don't get home to 7pm. My hunting spot is an hour and half away so it is weekends only or days off. Right now I would love to be hunting weekends but i have to wait at least two more weeks ( 4 weeks in total ) since i gave my wife a kidney and i am not allowed to shoot. So keep dreaming about hunting more but be happy with what you have.

[longbow fanatic 1]

Originally posted by Mudd:
I'm sorry if you feel that some came down on you a little hard. (maybe so)

But truthfully you are blessed if you take a little time and think it through.

We all have so much to be thankful for. There isn't anything that's as bad as it could be.

Keep your chin up, go hunt as often as you can and thank God that you can enjoy what He has made for us!

God bless,Mudd

Well said, Mudd! My thoughts exactly.

[gregg dudley]

Wow x whatever we are on now!  Sorry you aren't hunting as much as you would like to Jon.  Get after them when you can.  I'm in the same boat this year.

Yea, you could have it worse, but that doesn't mean you can't wish it was better.  Work hard and keep looking and an opportunity will come your way.

[LimBender]

Sorry, with 3 little kids and my hunting grounds almost 3 hours away I can't feel too much sympathy, but understand the venting.  I'm lucky if I get to camp and everything is actually in my truck!  I'm thinking I picked a bad time to try to get more serious.  :D    A much closer place is dry as a desert with no water source, but I'm going to do some scouting and maybe sneak in a hunt tomorrow afternoon.

[yekrut]

i am with ya there i wish i could hunt every day , but job comes first , but I hunt on every day off I get , thats 2 times a week plus if I want to go out in the eveings. I can. But still have to make it to work!

[Problem Child]

I was on second shift at work for 15 years and loved it for deer hunting.I was in bed by 12:30 and up by 5:00 to go hunting.
Some days I would go back and take a nap and somedays I wouldn't.I hunt public land and pretty much had the WMA to myself.

[Terry Green]

Originally posted by Steve in Canton:
Get a life,  

That's not the way we talk to one another at TradGang
                           

[Ray Johnson]

I have to say that I'm blessed with a very good job that pays well and gives me alot of time to hunt.I work 12hr shifts at a tire manufacturing co. but we work a 2-2-3 schedule.I work 2 then am off 2,work 3,off 2,work 2,then off 3.This also gives me alot of time to spend at home with my family.I like to hunt but there are also other obligations like God/church,family,etc...

[Jedimaster]

I can understand and appreciate the "want to" you feel Jon.  I can also say, from one that's been there, jobs become careers, relationships become partnerships and eventually ... witnessing your children doing all the things you "used to do" becomes more important than all the above.  

It's tough now and may get a little tougher but life has it's rewards.  The trick is not missing them - any of them.  Get the most out of what you've got and keep an eye open for a new opportunities (at work and to hunt).  Things are seldom as permanent as they seem.

I used to think of it as "giving up" what I wanted but "trading" is more truthful.  I may not have many opportunities to bowhunt, especially for trophies, but I GET alot of very special, very cool moments in the field that are different yet just as rewarding.

What I just said will apply to 90% of people ... but there are those who have one consumate goal and nothing can stand in the way.  Some have posted here, and I truly respect that.  If hunting is an all consuming desire then pursue it by any means.  Just be prepared when that one priority consumes the other good things that are in the way.  Go into it understanding that.  Personally, I just don't like the odds of putting one passion (excluding God) above all others because you miss some great stuff and ultimately when that one thing is gone, you have nothing left.