My job is project-specific. Right now....I have 3 I'm overseeing in Richmond, VA......4 hours from "home base". I put in 30 hours Tues and Wednesday, alone. I leave, today, to go to a Univ. of SC football game with a client....when i put on my business development hat for our company. It'll be a LOAD of fun.....but it's still "work".

When my season rolls in......I'll likely be in here a little bit early some days (5:00AM)...and leave alittle early (3:30)....or vice versa (dependig on the hunting conditions and what I can afford to do, here).

I've never taken a sick day to hunt......and I've never used a vacation day to hunt. I've banked holidays (I'll be working on Monday) and used them later.....but my vacation time belongs to my family.

Next year may be different. I have a trip to KS planned.....but I'll still be using carried-over vacation or holiday time.

I work for myself so I can set my hours. I will take off on Friday's to have a long weekend. Around rut time I'm gone until I get 1. I have some good employees tey love venison but don't hunt so they handle everything so I can fill their freezers. For the wife it has been a long road to get her off my back but know she is starting to hunt and starting to understand the time it takes to get a quality animal.

I have it worked out with my boss so that I can go into work around or before 6 am, and then I'm off by 2:30 or before on the days that I am going to hunt. It's generally a 30 minute drive from work to home, but I also get to hunt right behind my house, and my other spot is about 10 minutes from home. It's going to be alot nicer this year because I am going to be doing some onsite work at one of the factories that I am designing for, and that is only about 10 minutes from home!!! I can't wait for that!!
I also have a week of vacation left this year, and also 9 sick days that I can burn... I've only used 1 sick day before to go hunting, and I shot a deer about quarter to 7! Could have went in a half a day!!

I work out of my house and hunt behind my house so that offers a lot of flexibility.

I hunt most mornings before work from sunup until about 7:50. That way I am in the house, see my daughter before she gets to the school bus and am working by 8.

I hunt the evenings that I can get out and not interrupt the family time. I plan to take my 4 year old son on some ground blind hunts this fall.

My wife has finally realized how obsessed I am at this time. She knows that at any time, when I buck walks thru the yard, I can completely stop what I am doing and be dressed and out the door in minutes.

My boss is very understanding and knows how hard and long I work other times of the year. He also knows if my IM goes offline in Oct/Nov, that I'm out chasing whitetails. When I come back online, his first question is
'Well?'

i save all my vacation(3wks) for hunting season. One wk for muzzleloader(during the rut) season. The other two for general gun season. I have to build up another 4-5 days comp. time for family vacation in July, orI only get two weeks to hunt. I also work a compressed schedule so I
get off early Friday to hunt that afternoon. Did I mention I love to hunt??

You know being in the military I earn 30 days off per year! Sounds great right! But actually getting my leave approved, well, you might as well forget about it. I have like 60 days on the books. But oh no, I would have to find a replacement before I can actually get any of my earned time off!

well i work a job im gone 2 or 3 weeks at a time. like now off for 10 days but season dont open til i go back to work. so be working 3 weeks cause DSA has a big hunt planned in tx for a marine that lost his left arm right leg and were hunting with horton crossbows and keith warren and i can't wait going to be a blast

Hunting is not a legal excusefor missing school and football is after school till 6 so, i hunt weekends.


Im in High School of ur wondering.

I get 4 weeks of vacation a year. My wife gets 2 weeks. That gives me a little playing time during deer season. I always take a week off during the rut and a day here or there during the rest of the season. Works out pretty nice!

Darrall Dougherty

I've always managed to work jobs that allowed me to hunt almost everyday of the season even if it was just after work. Lots of times I was able to start early & finish early. Vacation mostly goes towards hunting, I'll take afew daysfor non hunting related stuff. Starting a new job I took a hit with vacation time and they would hear no parts of negotiating[:@]It's annoying but it won't stop me from doing what I want to do. If I run out of vacation I'll just take un paid leave.