What do you do for work/profession?

[Balderdash]

Retired big city cop of 28 years. Mixed in with 18 years combined Army and NG Infantry. Used to enjoy it, most of the time. Current “retirement job” work at an elementary school for active shooter deterrence.

Currently I hunt once a year (4-5 days) in CA where I’m originally from. ( moved to Texas for family and cost of living for retirement) I hunt quite a bit here (30 plus days) but it’s not the same.

My old job used to allow me to have some week days off to hunt and fish. Also 10/12 hr shift work allowed for 3 or sometimes 4 days a week off, but I chose to work a lot of overtime. When I went back in the NG that ate up outdoor time also. I told myself I would make up for it when I retired, as I was staying in shape. That was a lie. Had major health problems upon retirement and it greatly affects my ability to hunt the mountains the way I used to. Chasing bad guys and dollars was great until it wasn’t. Get out and do what you love as much as you can now.

The cops by us (medium sized city) work a rotating 4 and 5 day on off schedule. They love it. 4 vacation days gets them 14 days off when they pick it right. They're definately busy when on duty, and its gotten worse, but pay and retirement is decent. Unlike years ago when it was difficult to get a police/fire/EMS job, their roster hasn't been full in years. Can't find people to hire.

 

[B_Reynolds_AK]

Home service company, specializing in high end residential window cleaning.
Pure water/water fed pole system.
12th season coming up. No employees, just my wife and I.

The relationships developed with clients are the largest source of satisfaction from this job. Admin is mostly automated and the physical work is satisfying, though not very challenging, like the commercial fishing I used to do.

Work season is Late April till early Nov. I take off appx. 4-5 weeks during hunting season. (Aug-Sept), before a final push of 6 weeks of work. More time spent hunting in Nov/Dec. as well.
Dec.-April is travel, backcountry snowboarding, surf etc.

My hunting is definitely not hindered by my job.

 

[Idaho4x4Bronco]

Shout out to the PD and first responders in here, didn't realize we had so many on the forum until I read through this thread. You folks are not lost among us and are very appreciated!

 

[UPThunderbolt]

Retired Wildlife Biologist: 15 years as a field bio, 3 years as a field supervisor, nearly 10 years as a Regional Manager. On every step of that ladder, I felt I had the best job in the State.

 

[Blacktail_]

Logistics 3pl, not bad but not what I want to do forever, good upside but being gone for 2 weeks at a time is a money killer

 

[SteveAndTheCrigBoys]

1. General Contractor (Commercial), in operations (Project Management). Coming up on 8 years in. Fun stat, worked on projects totaling ~2.16 Billion worth (our contract values) of work so far.

2. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. I consider shifting careers every year. Estimating, precon, owner's rep, work for a sub, etc. (If anyone in ID or MT is hiring...DM me...)

3. Two or three full weeks worth of PTO for hunting with plenty of weekends per year. Probably close to 30 days in the field between deer, elk, bear, predator, and turkey. Spend the other weekends shooting, fishing, and golfing.

4. I'd say it's in the middle compared to what other guys have said. We have "untracked" PTO, but that doesn't mean I can take 8 weeks off. Average 4-5 weeks off and a couple of those are for family. I book fall trips way in advance so it's hard for my project team/manager to say "no" to the time off.

 

[Matt5266]

LEO, Narcotics Detective, SWAT, firearms, less lethal, flash bang, and use of force instructor. Its a crazy ride , which i love most the time. Goes without saying its not all fun.

 

[MTForester]

I work in natural resources for a State Agency.

The job can be fun but time off can also be scarce. 3 weeks of PTO but very hard to be gone for a full week. But it allows me to live in an awesome place where I can maximize weekends.
Typically hunt 12 or so days a year. Try to scatter 3 day weekends throughout the year for backpacking, climbing, skiing, scouting, etc.

 

[Shivaess]

Software developer. Its been a good run for a long time but things are starting to get kind of dicey with AI of late. The tools are great but the job prospects are definitely starting to get a lot rockier.

 

[FarmerWI]

Dairy farmer, we seem to work a lot. As the dairy has grown, I feel like a computer farmer now. Spend all day on the phone or computer. I joke with the boss lady that it'll slow down soon. That being said, 99% of the time I love it. Everyday is different.
I'll have to look up what PTO means?(joking)
We spend 15-20 days on hunting/fishing trips. 10 days out west and 2 destination family ice fishing trips. This year, we are able to add an extra trip. My wife and I are going to Alaska for 15 days, starting in late July.
Short of planting and corn silage season, our schedules have the flexibility to sneak out for an AM sit or leave early for the afternoon. But none of this would be possible without our amazing team at the dairy.

 

[tkhuntsman]

Archery Tech. It's a good job and I enjoy it. I get out 2 days a week during all open seasons and to fish in the summer. A few days during the peak times I get out early or late around my schedule. I take 1 week off I. The spring and usually 2 in the fall. I spent 18 years as a professional hunting and fishing guide I spent more days outside hunting and fishing then but far less on my own endeavors.

 

[Saluki91]

A few questions for the group:

1. What’s your job or profession?
2. Do you enjoy it overall?
3. How much time are you realistically able to dedicate to hunting each year (days in the field)?
4. Does your job help or hurt your hunting opportunities?

1 - Elementary teacher (music, K-6)
2 - More and more each year
3 - Sufficient, but it never feels like enough.
4 - By in large, it helps. I have plenty of sick leave for occasional bouts of opening day flu (deer and turkey).

Better yet is my building's balanced calendar. We start in mid-July, and take three week breaks in October and March (before ending in late May/early June). The October break coincides with a lot of great hunting opportunities. My summers are shorter than most in my field, but they afford me plenty of time to help maintain trails, shooting lanes, etc. on club ground.

The only place I feel like my job hurts is waterfowl season. The birds move when they move - they don't always wait until a weekend. My buddies (all retired) had a banner season this year, while I only had one truly productive hunt. They were able to get in the blind at opportune times (and limited out more times than I can count). Me... not so much. Retirement is just around the corner!

 

[Mangata]

1 - Emergency Medicine doc.

2 - love it

3 - I work five 24 hour shifts / month, and work day on day off so a total of ten days dedicated to work each month. Pretty much three weeks free to hunt and/or fish each month. September, October, and November are dedicated to moose, black tail, and long range tuna respectively. Hunt the road system for black tail in August. Summer months are boating and fishing primarily.

4 - Job definitely helps my outdoor activities. I work on the Emerald Isle.

 

[Don Qui Puncher]

1. I have two full time gigs, I work overnight at an oil terminal, and I own and operate a commercial lobster boat.
2. I really enjoy both of them. The terminal job is great I have some of the best benefits in the area and a ton of freedom. I work 9:30 pm to 5:30 AM which usually puts me on the boat around 6:15 AM. On bad weather days during hunting season I’ll hunt every day, good days I go fishing.
3. From October through December pretty much any day I don’t fish because of weather I go hunting. Usually quick sits in the morning but probably 30-40 ish times a year. I try and keep Saturdays open during gun season to take the kids.
4. Both jobs allow me to hunt locally a lot. I get 4 weeks of vacation a year and 15 sick plus 3 personal and all the holidays. Most times I take time off it’s to go fishing or after 5 days of fishing in a row and working overnight I’m burned out and take a couple days off to crash out. During the summer I try and work 6 nights a week and fish Monday through Friday so I can have the weekends for beach/boat days with the family. In the fall/winter when the weather doesn’t cooperate for fishing I work a lot at the terminal. Pretty much work 70-80+ hours a week year round.

 

[BrentP]

1. What’s your job or profession? Residential real estate in AZ.
2. Do you enjoy it overall? Very enjoyable with the right workload; Too busy = too much time away from family and the outdoors, and stressfull. Not busy enough also equals stressful.
3. How much time are you realistically able to dedicate to hunting each year (days in the field)? Very easy to make day or overnight trips. Planning longer inflexible trips is difficult. If one had the right people to lean on when needed it would be much easier. If I was single with no kids, I could live in the woods with the tech we have today.
4. Does your job help or hurt your hunting opportunities? Certainly helps as I can hunt on weekdays to beat the crowds. Hurts sometimes when I have to alter or cancel plans to help a client.

Sometimes I have ideas about trying something else. I think I was born to work with my hands instead of a computer. It feels unnatural. But this could just be me thinking the grass is greener on the other side. I think I would have less time with family and the outdoors in just about any other profession.

 

[JustABritCrazy]

1. Will have 45 years as a forester in May. Worked the bulk at a state agency as an administrator. Retired 4 years ago and missed the problem solving involved in forest management so I started consulting. Having had 40 people working under me in the past I decided 1. No employees don’t need the drama anymore and 2. No jobs that have the potential to make my phone ring at 9 at night with an issue that needs solved or dealt with. Had enough fire and search and rescue calls to last for the rest of life. Now I mostly write management plans for private landowners and work with some carbon sequestration projects. Plus I still manage one or two trips a year as part of the federal militia for wildfire out west.

2. I’ve greatly enjoyed my career. For the most part I was never bored, had good people working for me, and interesting problems to try and solve. Hardwood silviculture is complex with many possible solutions and outcomes. Nothing can really be cookie cuttered given each stands unique conditions.

3. I can hunt or fish as much as I want. I charge by the plan so I work on them when I want to. Some weeks it’s 60 or 70 hours a week other weeks a couple of hours. This year I actually hunted every day of our rifle deer season for a least a couple of hours per day. First time in 50 years I’ve ever done that. Usually take 3 day weekends every fall if the weather cooperates. Main disappointment was trying to get some western elk hunts scheduled. Looking at needing around 4 years to get enough points to draw for the areas I was interested in. Between that and the costs decided to limit my western adventures to the off season for around a third of the cost. Bucket list is now a driven hunt in Europe.

4. Walking 10 to 15 miles a week in the woods helps keep me in shape. Plus I have access to around 2 dozen private properties for hunting if I want it, which I basically don’t. . Grew up hunting public land and live next to a State Forest. When I go to camp I have thousands of acres to roam without worrying about neighbors or boundary lines. Want a morning or evening hunt walk 50 yards from my house. 2. Don’t want to mix business with pleasure.

I’m not rich or own a decent chunk of land, but have no regrets. I’ve had a good run at a job I enjoyed as long I wasn’t dealing with politics, malfunctioning employees or idiot members of the public.

 

[RickDalton]

Hell yeah man. I got my Mech E degree before ending up as a MFGE, but all the most valuable things I learned were from machinists and t&d makers.

The gray beards know their stuff for sure.

 

[fngTony]

I wear several hats for an auto glass shop.
No, I don’t enjoy it overall. It’s just average when it comes to helping or hurting time for hunting. Doesn’t pay a fortune but doesn’t require an absurd amount of time (45 hours a week average). It had helped a little with meeting some people and working outside keeps the body from rusting.

 

[againes85]

1. Commercial Insurance agent, mainly in the industrial and construction areas.
2. I like it most days.
3. I dont hunt has much as i would like to, but 2 kids and sports schedules hold me back more than work.
4. With the tech these days I can work anywhere with a computer and wifi so it doesnt impede my hunting much!

 

[CaribooBC]

1. What’s your job or profession? Residential real estate in AZ.
2. Do you enjoy it overall? Very enjoyable with the right workload; Too busy = too much time away from family and the outdoors, and stressfull. Not busy enough also equals stressful.
3. How much time are you realistically able to dedicate to hunting each year (days in the field)? Very easy to make day or overnight trips. Planning longer inflexible trips is difficult. If one had the right people to lean on when needed it would be much easier. If I was single with no kids, I could live in the woods with the tech we have today.
4. Does your job help or hurt your hunting opportunities? Certainly helps as I can hunt on weekdays to beat the crowds. Hurts sometimes when I have to alter or cancel plans to help a client.

Sometimes I have ideas about trying something else. I think I was born to work with my hands instead of a computer. It feels unnatural. But this could just be me thinking the grass is greener on the other side. I think I would have less time with family and the outdoors in just about any other profession.

Another Realtor. Perfect. You need to move to a rural, semi wilderness area and specialize somewhat in recreational/wilderness properties. My bread and butter is residential but do quite a bit of recreational/wilderness listings.