Careers and Hunting Time

[GatorGar247]

I work shift work with 7 days in a row off.. I can use 2 of my 5 weeks of vacation and have 21 days off for Elk season .. then I spred the rest out for white tail and family vacation .

 

[AZmark]

Working for yourself and not being an employee.

What this guy says but don't count on even that for 100% I'm semi-retired and now work for myself doing electrical maintenance/operations/engineering work contracting for a utilitys solar installations and work 2-3 days per week normally.....until something breaks down and is offline and they are loosing revenue on lost power production, then I'd better be there.

However I worked as an engineer and operations/maintenance manager for a utility for 30 yrs before retiring to my contract work and after climbing the ladder, getting seniority, and time off I could usually get any time off I needed.

 

[007hunter]

Open a ice cream shop in a tourist trap area near a ocean. You are busy from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Boom. Now you got off for elk in Colorado, white tails in Iowa, fishing in the keys and spring turkeys wherever you please.

 

[AZmark]

Open a ice cream shop in a tourist trap area near a ocean. You are busy from Memorial Day to Labor Day. Boom. Now you got off for elk in Colorado, white tails in Iowa, fishing in the keys and spring turkeys wherever you please.

Hey...not a bad idea as last summer the family spent a week in Pagosa Prings CO over July 4 holidays. I took my grandkids out to find a "Ice cream shop" and there wasnt one to be found...I thought that would be great business in the downtown area where people could walk to it easily. Go for it.

 

[.204smokechaser]

Definitely look at structure firefighting and even LEO positions.

If I quit my fire job with the forest service, I'd look to do structure or be in an LEO position in any western state other than WA, OR, and CA.

 

[cacklercrazy]

Have any of you out there cracked the code on a profession that pays well with the ability to hunt as much as you want come fall?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I will tell what not to do. Don't go into the dairy business.

 

[Mt Al]

I haven't been too successful at this, but it's getting better every year. Although the right job is key, there's also living simply/simpler so you don't have to make as much $$, creating a job with your employer that's more flexible (that's what I've been doing), delivering the goods all year so you're in good standing, if you're not going to be your own boss at least finding the right person or outfit to work for so they'll work with you to meet your goals.

I've got a ways to go, but it's getting better all the time. Good luck!

 

[Unclemoe]

Firefighter here, its amazing.

I get paid well and work 24 on 48 off, every 9th shift for me is a day off and i get a day off, plus 9-12 vacation days per year and we can do trades, i usually work alot of days for people in the summer and then they work for me in the fall, few years back i didnt work a single day in october or novemeber.

That all being said be use to always being tired and jaded towards people in general

 

[N2TRKYS]

I couldn’t be an accountant. Their busy time is during the most important season....turkey season.

 

[steadytowingandshot]

I'm a pipeline environmental inspector and I do well financially. I typically work March-October give or take a month or two on each end. Some years that's not the case and I might not get off at all, but that's generally the way it works out. It allows me to have off most if not all of hunting season. We generally work 6, 10's but often times it's a lot more than that and 7, 12s is pretty common as is working 24 hours a day for certain tasks or when a project is behind schedule. You can make a lot of money but you damn sure earn it. We sacrifice a lot by having to live in a camper and be away from home all the time. It's not for everyone and can put a lot of stain on wives and kids. There is no stability in pipelining, and that can be very stressful. I typically work project to project so the uncertainty of the next job is always something to contend with as well. Managing your money well is extremely important in this line of work because you might not work for 4-6 months. With recent unfavorable court decisions being handed out and the possibility of an unfriendly administration being elected, there have been some concerns through the industry about a bleak future, and that is being felt right now.

 

[switchback7]

I work on the operation side of a bank, not in the branch or anything. M-F, 0700-1500. 3 weeks of vacation and sick time accrues every 30 hours. Its an office setting but they got me working from home for the foreseeable future. Allows me to hunt after work and take days off when needed.

 

[Braaap]

Like others have said municipal firefighting is tough to beat if you can get a job and have the right mentality/skills for the job. Where I work it feels like the majority of the department hunts so we spend a lot of time talking about hunting at the station and helping each other out on hunts.

 

[MallardSX2]

I schedule 2 hunt/year. I put in my time in the spring and hardly take any time off the rest of the year. If I did, they would probably have a problem with it.

 

[Mtnboy]

It’s becoming increasingly standard amongst hip media companies and digital marketing agencies to offer unlimited PTO. You do need to get the time off approved, but if you’re rocking it at work, shouldn’t be a problem. That’s the whole idea.

This is how my company is.

 

[cuttiebrownbow]

I think government jobs lend themselves to being good jobs that allow you to take time off without much of a hassle.

Put some time in and you will have 3-4 weeks of leave a year that you can essentially use whenever you want.

You will get plenty of sick time as well so - not saying I ever did this - BUT if you are at work and day turns out to be perfect for an evening hunt or fish THEN it would be possible to get a migraine and need to go home. Who knows maybe that migraine is so bad you can't come into work the next day. Maybe that occurs on a Thursday-Friday. Maybe you only use two - three sick days year so nobody questions it because you still use less sick leave than anyone you work with.

Once again, I have never done this. Just saying it completely possible as the amount of sick leave in your bank totals in 3-4 months that someone could use that to their advantage and save their leave for hunting/fishing trips or family vacations.

 

[william schmaltz]

Second vote on the govt job. I’m an Environmental Project Manager for the state. Started with 4.5 weeks off a year plus 2 weeks holidays. I can grow up to 7 weeks off pretty quickly. I meet my deadlines so I have no problem getting an additional 2-3 weeks off unpaid if I want. If going the government route, you need to get a high level job through experience or a degree. Even with my PM level job, I still took a pretty big pay cut from the private sector. But I’m home every night with my family and they encourage time off instead of my private sector job that begged me to use vacation in January instead of peak hunting and fishing times - aka field work times.

I worked as a biologist at F&G for 5 years early on and was so broke I had to buy used tires for my POS vehicle - fly out hunting wasn’t even a consideration.

Rotating schedule can seem like a good deal but it’s not all rainbows. I worked a 7/7 schedule roughnecking. Everyone was divorced. A lot would start out there single, get married just fine because their spouse liked the $$$, then the dudes couldn’t take a 50% pay cut and restart a career once kids came and she would need him to walk away so it would end up in divorce. Also, how is your wife/future wife going to handle you working 7, hunting 7, then back to work 7. The same could be said for a shorter schedule where someone works 4, hunts 4, then works 4. I guess I’m just saying make sure you take into account your family/future family needs. A spouse’s attitude towards being away changes (understandably) QUICKLY once kids arrive. She may be cool with it at newlywed stage, but not once exhausted with one on the hip and one on the way. Will you be willing to potentially take a pay cut and career change to save your marriage in that case?

I almost forgot, it helps to marry a Dr. if working for the government!

 

[Poser]

This is how my company is.

I don’t have that exact policy, however, I will say that it’s pretty loose for being structured PTO. I was promised from the get go that requests for time off would never been denied and that every employee is encouraged to use all of their PTO annually. Seeing how I have the freedom to come and go from the office at will, have never been asked how many hours I’ve worked in a week, etc, I can’t complain.

Do you have any trouble getting the time off you want/need?

 

[brsnow]

Don’t get married or have kids;-) you might find their interest are worth less time hunting.

 

[Mturney]

I will tell what not to do. Don't go into the dairy business.

Any animal production sector. The cattle don't care that you want to hunt.

 

[JFK]

Firefighter is tough to beat for the schedule. I work 2 days on, 4 off, so 4 days off a week and you only have to burn two days pto to get 10 days off. Last few years I’ve taken 21 straight days off in the fall and honestly I could take twice that if I wanted to work some trades and use more time off.

As others have said though, it does come at a price. You are often pretty tired when you get off, and end up using the first day of your 4 days off just to recover and get rested up. In the summer here in Ca there is often a lot of mandatory overtime.....meaning you don’t get to go home. The job is very demanding physically with a lot of opportunities to get hurt. It’s definitely not a job for everyone and takes a certain kind of person.