Days in the field

[surewood]

I was looking at my vacation and started wondering how many days everyone spends bowhunting in a season. I save nearly all my vacacation for hunting and I have a job that I get off at three so I spend somewhere between 50 and 60 days in the woods. Yes, it does drive my wife crazy. I also have the luxury of being able to hunt close to my home.

[Rippinlip]

As far as a number of days I could not say, but I have a very understanding wife and she allows me to go as much as I like as long as we have our family time.

I also hunt alot of land around my home, probably within 20 miles. So a quick afternoon hunt or even when I am pushed to hunt the last 2 hours of sunset, I can make it an worthwhile hunt.

[Bowfin]

I've probably averaged about 30-40 days out in the field the last few years (I am mentally out there about 365 which is a concern for my wife!!). Not just bowhunting, I try to pack rifle, muzzleloader, grouse, duck, and snowshoe hare, etc. into those 30-40 days. Growing up in Minneapolis, I wanted to eventually settle down in a place where I could be hunting close to where I live - which is great when you have a family and many times just have a few hours here and there to get away.

[surewood]

Bowfin, I also grouse, waterfowl, pheasant, rabbit, and deer hunt also. I'm fortunate to get about 25 to 30 days of vacation which means ducks and geese in the morning and deer in the evening. Can't wait for this year as I'm taking three weeks off in October and one in November, the rest I'll figure out later. I'll have the first week in November off for bowhunting so I'll get a crack at bucks rutting before the rifle season. I'm also going to try bear this year, the wife really is'nt impressed with me though.

[Bowfin]

Wow Surewood, I'm jealous - 3 weeks in October - the best month of the year! I once took a "family" vacation in October for a week where I duck/grouse/and bow hunted in Central MN. I would wake up before dawn and either bow hunt or duck hunt - grab my shotgun for a little scouting in the afternoon and be on my bowstand or duck blind in the evening. It was one of those "dream vacations" - however the rest of the family didn't think so. I guess I can't be trusted with vacation planning.

I bear hunted for several years until about 4-5 years ago - baiting was taking too much of my family time with young kids and I decided to quit for a few years (been kind of rough on me). Bear baiting/hunting was getting too much for my wife also. I tried to explain to her that August, September, October, November, and December only comes once a year but that didn't help matters any! I have to watch myself and keep that balance between family and hunting. I have a 9 year old son who just started bird hunting with me last year. This year I will probably cut down on bow hunting to hunt with my son more.

[surewood]

Bowfin, I have a 15 month old at home I try to spend the evening with him as much as possible. After the seasons I spend alot of time with him, I sacrifice my fishing and some of my scouting and shed hunting in the off season. Thats my problem with bear hunting is the baiting it does take alot of time but I'll only bait a couple of spots within ten minutes of the house and if I don't get it done in a couple of weeks I'll have to call it quits. Must be the time of your life bringing your boy hunting. I've got my boy blowing the duck call already he stares at the waterfowl shows and quacks at the ducks. I joke to my wife about it being his first word. It's real nice to have so much time off in the fall, I've had alot of great memories.

[DonBo]

I'm self employed, and not very busy in the fall. (Maybe it's because I'm not there to answer the phone?) I usually get to hunt about 35 - 40 days each fall. Mostly deer, archery and rifle, fall turkey whenever I can, some upland game.

My cabin is in Wisconsin, most of my deer hunting is done there. I spend 9 - 10 days in the Black Hills each October for deer and turkey. I try to hunt Montana for antelope or Mule Deer as often as I can afford to.

My wife is pretty understanding as she loves the wild game dinners.

[Bowfin]

Surewood - good luck with the bear hunting. I have found that the first week of hunting is crucial. If you don't get your bear in the first week of hunting your odds go down and you might as well quit anyways.

It has been great bringing my boy hunting - common things I used to take for granted are new to him. This makes it more exciting for me also.

I also have a younger daughter which I hope to bring out hunting soon. Once in a while in the off season, I'll set up my ground blind in the living room and pop in a "Primos" or "Monster Bucks" video. The kids sit in the blind with dart guns and shoot the TV screen when they see deer. This might have been a bad thing to start however, because when one day my son looked at my antlers on the wall and commented, "Those aren't shooter bucks dad!" Oh well!!!

[harvey lee]

Slow year for me but on average I spend near 20-30 days afield. All of my archery hunting is out state so its hard to be hunting any more than that.

[Scoot]

I got to spend seven days on a mountain in Sep- that was great! Besides that, I didn't get out a whole lot this year-- maybe ten or twelve times. No complaints though, I had a wonderfully fun year.

[lawdog]

30 to 50 days???? You guys make me look like a saint, I might make my wife read this thread next time she mentions "how much" I've been hunting. I'm lucky to get out 15 times total for deer between the bow and guns. Maybe another 10-15 for birds but some of them are combined days and only about 5 are all day deals...

[Bowfin]

Lawdog, A lot of my field days are partial days also, I have a buddy who puts me to shame on how much he goes hunting. Tried telling my wife about him and that it could be worse. Didn't work for me - she said she married me and not him. Good luck to you though!

[surewood]

I get out as much as possible because you never know when it will be the day whick keeps me out there day after day.

[Scott M]

I'm with lawdog, I was lucky to get in a dozen times this fall. That will changes with me not having any more classes. I had to pick my battles on weekends with my wife, upland grouse and pheasant, deer, ducks, and geese all calling my name.

[Deitz Dittrich]

I guess I have never counted before... I would guess probably 25 times? Maybe a little less?

[archerystud]

BC and C (Before Child and Coaching) I would say 30-50 days.

Now being a dad and hockey coach has cut into that. I was probably about 10 this year but that had more to with me getting my buck right away for a change.

The good side is now I'm starting to take my kid out with me.

[Meat-Run]

By far this was the most I have sat in a deer stand in my life but I am fortunate to have an understanding wife. Plus I'm able to jump out behind the house for the last hour of day light which helps allot. Not many hours but many trips that are close to home helped me hone my skills and keep me infront of the deer patterns near my home range.

I figured something around 25-30 days in a stand and maybe close to 80-100 hours including rifle season. Hope to cut that in half and take a buck earlier in the season and not get to caught up moving stands every other week like in 2007.

mr

[bimbo]

i guess im the lucky one here. last season i just turend 16 and was able to drive instead of havnt someone drop me off. so i was out there just about everyday after school and on the weekends but ive only gone out 3 seasons and the first season i shot a doe on opener. then the next i shot a small 8 pt on oct.7 then last season was by far my best i feel im getting more and more experianced every year i love it! i shot a real nice 9 pt thats on my wall right now! but like i said im the lucky one 16 years old.

[bigbucks]

I've kept track for several years now & I'm between 25-35 archery sits pretty consistently, usually right about 30 including the night before gun season, then it just depends on how much late season hunting I do, usually not much. I would say full day hunts for archery almost never happen, I may allocate most of the day for hunting, but other than when we went to Ripley I can't say I've ever hunted all day. Most of my outings are from 1.5-3 hours on stand. I've found many field locations to not be very productive for more than that last half an hour the majority of the time. I'll spend 5-6 full days firearm hunting & a handful of short sits with the muzzleloader.