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Have you ever took a year off from hunting.

barlow96

barlow96

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2018
Messages
686
Location
Mississippi
Have any of you guys taking a year off from hunting to reset. I have a 4 year old and he likes to go when he can. But I know his fine will eventually expand to longer sits and more time in woods. Next season he will be 4.5. When I am hunting by myself, Normally I hunt at least 20-30 days worth of the season. This is burning vacation time from work to make hunts. Weather there out of state or draw hunts that last 2 to 5 day periods. Some stacked on top of each other. My wife has grown to hate hunting. Mainly due to the spending money and being away from home. I really love hunting. But trying to fix my wife. Will this move help or will this something she will think as a permanent thing that I just quit hunting all together.

Thoughts guys. I am thinking of just knocking my time in the woods to my favorite week of the year and that is it. So just 7 days of getting after it.
 
There’s a balance. My wife knew my passion when we married. I take two weeks for rut, and usually do a week long early season and a week long late season. But I don’t hunt much at home, I’ll go when it’s convenient for everyone. I also have a son that’s getting into it, I do youth hunts at home with him.

I always try to send my wife off for a week long girls trip yearly though too, if she’ll take it is up to her. Just to try and balance it. Then family trips in the summer and lots of family time in the off season.

Gotta just find what works for you. A couple of my hunting buddies just do 2 week rut trips and that’s it for their season. Find your balance. Good luck


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I stopped hunting for quite a number of years when we were having/had young kids. My wife always knew I would one day hunt hard again and appreciated me doing my part as a husband and father helping with the burden of taking care of four little kids. To tell the truth, I wouldn't do it any differently if I had to do it all over again. Appreciate and enjoy every moment with them while they're young because they grow up too fast.
 
Yes but because of deployments. Take this for what it’s worth “free advice”. When my kids were that age I hunted too much & my wife wasn’t the biggest fan of hunting either. What I learned was that it had very little to do with hunting but more to do with balance. Open communication about expectations will help a lot too. When your kids get a bit older your solo big buck time will be nonexistent……. You have to get creative with filling the freezer & keeping them interested. But once they get to high school & beyond you’ll have more hunting time than you know what to do with. My wife knows I’d like to turkey hunt 5-8days & deer hunt 20-30 days. But I try not to do burnout style trips leaving her a single mom for too long or it doesn’t fair well for the rest of the season. Grab a calendar markup some days & then hand it to her & give her some veto power & see how it goes…….
 
I only got out a handful of times last season. I work 12s so I have a couple of days off during the week. I try to go when my wife is at work. But I also try to make trips up to my brother's property when I can. It's a three hour drive each way so I try to stay 2-3 days at the minimum. Had a baby last July. Also started back to school last March. Add COVID stuff on top of that and it didn't leave much hunting time. It was a little easier without a baby. It's not fair to leave my wife at home alone with the baby for long periods of time. I need to work on getting access to a property close to home that I can just pop into for a couple of hours during the week. It's all about balance. Earn brownie points now and cash them in come deer season.
 
My job of fireman doesn’t help with home life either. I have been with the women for 18 years. She was good with my hunting until my son got put in mix. Between my two jobs and hunting she has not been very happy lately.
 
Like others have said, it’s a balancing act. Spend lots of family time together in the off season. Also, when my wife wanted to take a trip to the beach with her girlfriends in May, I was all for it, knowing I was going to be doing some out of state hunting in the fall. And my son was nowhere near patient or quiet enough to deer hunt at 4.5. Good luck with your situation, put your marriage before your hobbies and it will work out in the end.
 
I didn’t start to take hunting more seriously until 26? Every year the fire grows…. I’ll be 32 this year and I couldn’t imagine missing a season. Although, my knees might not mind! I work for myself and I take about a month off throughout October, November and December. I don’t have kids and I’m not sure I ever want any. My girlfriend gets sick of my crap, I’m sure of it haha. With that said, I did give her the for-warning when we started dating. Life is short, and it’s hard for me to compromise on things I’m passionate about.
 
Not much is more important than your marriage and children. There will always be deer. You son will never be young again. But maybe this is a conversation to have with your wife. Make sure she knows she is more important than hunting. If that means taking a year off do it. Back off the spending on hunting stuff for a while. Make sure you take a day off to spend it with her once and while.. let her know she is more important. Hopefully you guys can work out some time to Hunt. But don't ruin your marriage IMO. It's better for everyone.
 
Mississippi doesn't pay us well enough to make it off of our, "PRIMARY" job alone. We have to resort to having two or three jobs to live comfortably. We only work an average of ten days a month, but they're 24 hour shifts. Then you have to work your side jobs to compensate for the lack of funds we should be earning doing a job that most people won't or can't do. You throw in having to be at minimum manning, and not being able to take off. Then because of that you have to swap days with someone. Add hunting and kids to the mix and you're set for some unhappy women. I'm very blessed though, my wife is from the country and her family hunts, not as much as I do, but they hunt nonetheless. We shift change at 0800, so I can get an hour or so in the morning. I know that's not ideal, but I've been able to clean several deer from a pull up bar and clean several turkeys after radio and truck check. I own a lawn business, so I also get several midday hunts in after the grass quits growing.
 
Good replies here. I have been married for 12 coming up on 13 years in September. My wife also knows my passion for this and understand it. Now, with that being said I understand the give and take of it all. During the off season I don't scout as much as I want so I can devote my time to her and the kids. But in the past 3 years or so she enjoys coming out with me and hanging cameras/stands, working shooting lanes etc...its physical and she enjoys the challenge of it. It also helps her appreciate the amount of time and work it does take. I have tried to get her to go with me but she is cannot bring herself to kill anything. Long story short, when I am home, I am just that home. I commit all of my time to her and the family, it pays dividends come season.
 
SEVA_Bowhunter said:
Good replies here. I have been married for 12 coming up on 13 years in September. My wife also knows my passion for this and understand it. Now, with that being said I understand the give and take of it all. During the off season I don't scout as much as I want so I can devote my time to her and the kids. But in the past 3 years or so she enjoys coming out with me and hanging cameras/stands, working shooting lanes etc...its physical and she enjoys the challenge of it. It also helps her appreciate the amount of time and work it does take. I have tried to get her to go with me but she is cannot bring herself to kill anything. Long story short, when I am home, I am just that home. I commit all of my time to her and the family, it pays dividends come season.
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I don’t do anything in the off season. I only hunt public so there is not much to do on that front. I am home as much as I can be. My son is going through being a mamas boy phase ans it’s not helping with anything. He used to be glued to me. But he is now not so much.
 
MFD205 said:
Mississippi doesn't pay us well enough to make it off of our, "PRIMARY" job alone. We have to resort to having two or three jobs to live comfortably. We only work an average of ten days a month, but they're 24 hour shifts. Then you have to work your side jobs to compensate for the lack of funds we should be earning doing a job that most people won't or can't do. You throw in having to be at minimum manning, and not being able to take off. Then because of that you have to swap days with someone. Add hunting and kids to the mix and you're set for some unhappy women. I'm very blessed though, my wife is from the country and her family hunts, not as much as I do, but they hunt nonetheless. We shift change at 0800, so I can get an hour or so in the morning. I know that's not ideal, but I've been able to clean several deer from a pull up bar and clean several turkeys after radio and truck check. I own a lawn business, so I also get several midday hunts in after the grass quits growing.
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Yea I do brick work on my days off. I stay very busy with it. Been trying to make it slow down as much as possible ans be a somewhat normal side gig. But sometimes I am dealing with timelines and rain and it messes stuff up for sure.
 
barlow96 said:
I don’t do anything in the off season. I only hunt public so there is not much to do on that front. I am home as much as I can be. My son is going through being a mamas boy phase ans it’s not helping with anything. He used to be glued to me. But he is now not so much.
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I hear ya. It sounds like you are doing the right stuff. Maybe your boy being glued to mama now is wearing her out, and she needs a break herself. I have twin 12 year old daughters, and they are mine, all day....but being gone for 16 months out of the past 24 my wife is tired...so I will take them with me regardless if they want to go just so she can get the break. That may help you too?
 
Good luck. I feel your pain. I have no advice because I'm kinda in the same shoe you are. One thing I can say is once the kids get old enough to enjoy hunting (as my older ones are) it does get a little easier so just hang in there.
 
When my daughter was young I hunted public land close to home. That way I could slide out a couple of evenings right after work and get a couple of hours in the tree two or three evenings a week. I could also get up early on a Saturday morning and slide out for a morning sit and be back home before noon to spend the rest of the day with the family. We actively discussed the schedule at that time and came to a mutual agreement, not only on my hunting time but her free time as well. She knew hunting was my primary "hobby" and she's never tried to change that. In addition she's been very understanding and accommodating of my hunting time.

Once our daughter got older and didn't need full time supervision I was able to get an extra evening or so a week without too much trouble. The reality is that except for a couple of hours on a few weeknights I was home with the family in the evenings and that didn't bother the wife much. Honestly though, I don't do anything else that takes me away from the house and family for the rest of the year so I was only missing from a home a couple of hours a few days a week when I would have just been sitting in front of the tv anyway.

Now we're empty nesters and our daughter has a family of her own. My very understanding wife grants me all the hunting time I need. For that last ten years or so I've actually hunted remote from home long weekends through October and take the entire first two weeks of November off. My wife actually refers to it now as her vacation. I still take time to check in every day when I'm gone and make sure she knows I'm okay and that she isn't having any troubles. I can be home in a couple of hours if I need to be.

Edit: I did take one season a few years ago completely off from hunting. That was the year my mother was diagnosed with brain cancer and I needed to care for her. Family definitely does come first.
 
Learn from the old farts on here. They are literally telling you not to make the same mistakes they made or the lucky one is telling you they don't regret the choices they made. Once your kids are older, you are going to get more time then you realizes. You can not get that time back that you missed. Even if you don't think its a 'balance' because you do not get to hunt much anyway, or that you are already spending more time with them compared to hunting. You will regret not doing more or being there more especially when they are younger.

I still love that feeling remembering all the times my toddlers would jump into my arm all the times after they climb somewhere high and didn't want to climb down. No matter how much you yell for them to stop, they have all the confident knowing no matter what, you will always catch them. You'll never get those moments back once the world put some common sense into them.

I'm still a new hunter and I average 10 days of actual hunting a year maybe (upcoming season is only my 4th). Sometimes I do feel envious of the guys that get to spend weekends or whole trips. But I don't regret having to spend that time with my kids.

Oh, wife is in the picture somewhere.....haha j/k. She knows is the foundation of the family. She try to give me as much time as possible while not going crazy taking care of the kids.
 
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