Overall, I'm one of the lucky ones. When I met my wife I didn't hunt any more. I had but that was years before. I already owned a few guns but they were not hunting weapons. I also carried a handgun and if a woman I dated had ever made an issue of it I would have shown her the exit.
About a year and a half ago my wife found "the perfect house". I don't agree it's perfect but it is very close. We are 30-40 minutes outside the city with lots of woods all around. The deer eat every plant we put in and we see them around the neighborhood every couple of weeks. I guess it was just a matter of time. about a month after we moved in I approached my wife out of the blue and said "would you mind me deer hunting?". She asked how much it was going t cost. I bought the most barebones crossbow I could find for just over a hundred dollars and took my first deer the 3rd day of the season.
Come Christmas I saw a 30-06 for a good deal at Kmart. Her only concern was that it not interfear with us getting the bills paid. I figured out how to make it happen and put that one in the gun case. (took a button with it this year)
This christmas I got a bonus and instead of buying a gun, I spent the money on our kids. One day while we were shopping I went to the gun counter in Galyans and they had a great deal on a shotgun. She said "Merry Christmas to you". I said no. it was a great deal but I had already decided how I was going to spend the extra money. I let the deal pass but said "when the tax money comes, I'll buy something." I bought a Marlin 30-30 this week on Gunbroker. She hasn't given me any problems about the guns but has said a few things about the time I spend hunting. Last year her mother suggested to her that since I had only killed 1 deer and had been hunting all season that I wasn't actually in the woods. We had a fight and I cut her mother's visit short. This year I adjusted a bit. I didn't hunt every weekend. I volunteered for weekend work during the year with the agreement of my supervisors that I would have some extra time off during hunting season. I was able to do a good bit of my hunting during the work week. It still bothered her a bit that I was gone so much, especially since we have 3 kids. She knows hunting is very important to me. She also knows that I want to pass it on to my boys. This Marlin that I just bought will be the first hunting rifle for our 8 year old when he goes deer hunting with me in a couple years. This may sound hokie, but I have actually said it to her. "One of the reasons I'm buying guns is so that they can aquire history while I'm young enough to hunt with my kids. Then I will hand these guns down to my kids and God willing, to a few grandchildren as well. This is one of the things that will give me a sense of completeness to my life. " If she argues with that, what the hell are we doing married?

David