How much do you all actually hunt?

bird35

FNG
Joined
Jun 29, 2020
Messages
69
I probably spend 20 to 25 days a year hunting. I definitely need to up those numbers though.
 

Daniel0307

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Apr 26, 2019
Messages
124
Doesn’t anyone on here have kids/grandkids/wife/job? How do you guys hunt 90+ days a year... I have a great job with 7wks vacation and still can’t hunt near as much as most on here... I mean I get it if your retired and kudos to all you who can hunt and keep a family but gosh no wonder I can’t ever draw a tag..
 

Will_m

WKR
Joined
Jul 7, 2015
Messages
996
Doesn’t anyone on here have kids/grandkids/wife/job? How do you guys hunt 90+ days a year... I have a great job with 7wks vacation and still can’t hunt near as much as most on here... I mean I get it if your retired and kudos to all you who can hunt and keep a family but gosh no wonder I can’t ever draw a tag..
What kind of job has seven weeks of vacation and are there any openings?
 

Watrdawg

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
Jul 30, 2019
Messages
268
Location
NC
I probably spend 30+ days hunting. Start with dove beginning of Sept. and deer hunt from then until the end of Dec. I'm in the woods every weekend almost. The hunt every weekend of turkey season.
 

Steve1662

FNG
Joined
Mar 29, 2021
Messages
54
Location
Georgia
In my county here in GA, our whitetail season goes from mid-Sept thru the end of January. Having places to hunt close to the house makes it super easy to hunt 30+ evening sits a year. And get to head out west for a 10 day trip every other year.
 

cciliske

FNG
Joined
Jan 10, 2018
Messages
41
Location
Texas
I think in all, I get about 15-20 days a years. Mostly whitetail and dove. Not enough time for much more.
 

brerud2

FNG
Joined
Mar 9, 2021
Messages
12
Location
Minnesota
You don't hunt too much and don't even bother comparing how much you hunt to others. Too many variables for a good measurement including financial well-being, where you live, how far you have to travel to hunt, how much are you home vs. away for work, how many kids, what age the kids are, how much you hunted before you got married or met your wife, the list goes on and on.

If you are happily married and want to stay happily married you will need to read your wife and understand how much you can get away with before it affects how happily married you are. If you aren't happily married - who cares? If you don't care if you stay happily married then just end it now and hunt as much as you want?

I am happily married and hope to stay that way so I have made some sacrifices over the years but still hunt a fair amount. Early marriage - no kids - I hunted more days in the fall than not - my wife coached volleyball in the fall so I practically had it all to myself. After kids I still hunted some but it got less and less each year. Now that my sons are teenagers I get to hunt a lot more than I expected to a few years ago but that is what they want to do and my wife supports us spending time together doing the things that make them happy. When they are out of the house - I have no clue how much hunting I will do - we'll see. I anticipate that I will still be hunting the things and times that I really want to. I spend way more time fishing than I do hunting though and don't expect that to decline at all when the kids move out. If anything it will probably increase. My wife knows that something is always "in season" between hunting and fishing.
 
Joined
Apr 28, 2021
Messages
29
Location
Sahuarita
What gets my wife is all the time spent hunting when I don't have a tag... between my brothers, nephew's and cousins I'm gone 15-25 days.
 

cured_ham

WKR
Joined
Feb 5, 2020
Messages
324
I probably had 40+ days last year, including days where I had a evening or morning only sit.

I had an 8 day elk hunt. 3 days of bear. 4 days of white tail twice.

I had 3 or 4 weekends of turkey.

I had from mid October to mid February of whitetail just about every weekend also. Covid sent everyone WFH and really let me get after it.
 

JSTR

FNG
Joined
Dec 12, 2020
Messages
16
Location
South Dakota
Just started this last year but have already been out 20+ times coyote huntin, couple times fishing now that the snow and ice are gone, and tried for wolf but only found tracks for a few hours. Plannin on grabbin a shotgun here soon for some bird hunting and might have to snag a .22 for some small game fun as well. it’s extremely easy to just drive around out here though, and my wife doesn’t mind because I always invite her to tag along

Side note- all of my hunting has just been going out, scouting and setting up for a couple hours and then once set up we’ll sit for a few more hours, no multi day hunts as of yet
 
Joined
Apr 5, 2021
Messages
483
Location
Washington
7 to 10 days a year away from home hunting mule deer/whitetails/elk

5 to 7 days hunting from home for blacktails (if I don’t fill my tag on a mulie/whitetail)

I fish away from home 10 to 15 days a year

I fish 20-30 days near home per year.
 

Geedubya

Lil-Rokslider
Joined
May 12, 2021
Messages
186
Location
Pearville, Tx
I've been "going afield" since I was a wee yonker!
I'll be 70 this year.
Been married to the same woman for 43 years this year.
I do go quite a bit.
I'm often asked, "Geedub, how do you get to go hunting so much, what does your wife say!"

I'll tell em' that I found the secret a number of years back.
When I leave town, I make sure she has at least three high balance credit cards, each with a low balance, a pile of cash, and a taxi service on retainer that will pick her up from her boy-friend's within 30 minutes of the time she calls.
Seems she never minds how much i hunt!
ya!
GWB
 

Trav138

FNG
Joined
Apr 19, 2019
Messages
4
Short answer-not enough. I would say I average 20 days per year


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

156821

FNG
Joined
Mar 1, 2020
Messages
91
Not enough. Work has always been the limiting factor. About 20 days a year. But to be honest my mind is lost in the sheep hills daily.
 

nphunter

WKR
Joined
Jul 27, 2016
Messages
1,945
Location
Oregon
Doesn’t anyone on here have kids/grandkids/wife/job? How do you guys hunt 90+ days a year... I have a great job with 7wks vacation and still can’t hunt near as much as most on here... I mean I get it if your retired and kudos to all you who can hunt and keep a family but gosh no wonder I can’t ever draw a tag..
Some of us live in the country. A lot of my life choices have been made around being close to the mountains and we currently live less than 2 miles from National Forest. I can easily hunt most weekends and evenings after work. My entire family has joined in on a lot of hunts over the years, this last thanksgiving we spent in Idaho at a motel while hunting late season mule deer with a bow. My wife and both boys hunt as well so I try to plan my hunting seasons around theirs so that I can focus on them during their seasons. This leads to more hunting days in the end but also more quality days out focusing on the family.
My wife loves to run and she trains year-round and we commit a lot of time to that as well, two years ago she qualified to go to NY and we flew down as a family to watch her run and support her.
I don't drink, don't smoke, don't go out with buddies and hang out, when I'm not hunting I'm doing honey do's or other family stuff, sports, running, camping, paddleboarding, pretty much whatever my wife wants me to do from Dec-August.

Here is a list of the tags we will have this fall,

My tags;
Archery Antelope, Aug 14- 20 (416 Miles from Home)
Traditional Archery Deer Aug 26-Sept 5 (307 Miles from home)
Archery Elk Sept 9-26th (Close to home)

Oldest Son
Archery Elk/Deer Aug 28-Sept 26, I will hunt with him any night I'm not on one of my hunts.
Whitetail Deer Nov. 20 - Dec. 12

Youngest Son
Deer Oct. 2 - 13 (near home)
Elk Aug 1 - Dec (any days we can make time)
Whitetail Deer Nov. 20 - Dec. 12

Wife
Deer Oct. 2 - 13
Elk Aug 1 - Dec (any days we can make time)

Those are all for sure tags, we also applied for multiple rifle elk tags between the 3 of them and all applied for Sheep and Goat tags as well as several other premium tags. So if we draw we will add those in as we can. We are also going to deer hunt in AZ this Dec. as a family, myself and my oldest son will both have tags.

Normally we have ID deer tags as well but with the huge hike in youth tag costs we decided to go somewhere with a more youth-friendly hunting program. New year I will also have WY archery elk tags as well.

I have 6 weeks of paid vacation and work 4/10's so I try to spread it out as far as I can. This year we are going to Maui as a family as well which will burn up a week of Vacation so I will have to work around that this fall when planning hunts.

Besides the fall we spend a lot of time turkey hunting in the spring, shed hunting, mushrooming, picking berries, scouting and running trail cameras. My boys have been hunting with me since they were to small to even walk.

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Last edited:
Joined
May 5, 2021
Messages
6
Sounds like you have a problem! But to your question I hunt a good 100 days a year. Turkey, deer, elk, pronghorn, waterfowl, and small game with the kids. I live in Colorado and a lot of my hunting is right in my backyard, so I try and break it up in a way that it doesn't feel like 100 days to my wife lol. So far so good.
 
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