I had arthroscopic surgery on my meniscus last year. I had a partial tear and was told it would be a quick recovery. When the dr got in there the tear was worse than he thought and he took a pretty big portion of the meniscus out on the inside of my knee. The recovery was a lot slower than he expected, partially because it was worse than expected and partially because I developed a baker's cyst right before the surgery that kept wanting to come back.
I was walking on my knee with no crutches in just a day or two but it was a couple months until I was back to walking on uneven ground, jogging, etc. I would estimate that my knee was back to very close to 100% in 3 or 4 months.
I missed a spring of scouting but, wouldn't hesitate to have the surgery again. I had no problems hunting, hiking, and climbing trees this season.