HuntingNet.com Forums - Hunting for a career?

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RE: Hunting for a career?

SMACK@me

Do they have softball seasons year around down there?

RE: Hunting for a career?

We started 2/5 that year;)....and every other. There were tournaments into Dec.

RE: Hunting for a career?

Holy....... I dont think I would ever ended up married unless she played softball living down there.;)

RE: Hunting for a career?

Ya we played tourneys every weekend from March through December.

RE: Hunting for a career?

Quote:

ORIGINAL: M.Hensler/PA

3. The potential for your dream job to turn your passion into just another "job" with all of the associated stresses, etc.

never turn your hobbies into a job, it does take the fun out of it cuz it is no longer a relaxing, its about gettin paid and supporting your fam... personally, i work in the IT industry, not because i love it, but because it affords me the ability to pay for my hobbies and put a roof over our heads... and the work is pretty easy on ya... if i had it to do over again i might choose a different sub-field of IT or maybe go into the trades... but i wouldn't want to hunt for a career, just like i wouldn't want to ride motorcycles as a career, or run a microbrewery for a career, or a mechanic for a career... i get enjoyment out of each of them and once they became work, i'd end up hating 'em to a degree... hunting, snowmobiling, motorcycling, cars, golf, etc are all relaxing escapes from the grind, when one of those becomes "the grind", well, you get what i'm sayin...

RE: Hunting for a career?

Quote:

ORIGINAL: M.Hensler/PA
I was bored the other day, and found myself surfing various hunting industry websites (mossy oak, HB, Drury Outdoors, Rutjunkies, etc) reading the Bios of the staff members. It got me thinking whether or not I would ever want to enter into a career in the industry of hunting. Granted, I know many pro staff aren't full time, but given the opportunity, how many of you would enter the industry if you could make a fulltime career out of it? Obviously, hunting is a passion for all of us here, so it would be somewhat safe to automatically assume doing this as a career would be the ultimate life, but there's other things that came to mind that made me question it:

1. A career which finds you on the road a large portion of the year.
2. One in which may lead you into mostly hunts done on paid "ranches" where they just plop you in a tree and wait for the 160 class to come along.
3. The potential for your dream job to turn your passion into just another "job" with all of the associated stresses, etc.

Now, a couple of things I feel I need to mention. I know I mentioned a few companies that are very prominent on here with pro staff members as part of our community here at Hunting.net (HB, rutjunkies). Now I know these and many other companies hunt primarily or completely in fair chase non-guided situations, so please don't think I'm anyway implying that ALL of the pros fall into the above observations, it's just my opinion from watching various TV shows that many "pros" careers wouldn't appeal to me.

Ok, so, now am I nuts? What's everyone else's opinion? Given the chance, would you hunt for a career?

I have been asked several times..."Why don't you do this for a living?". MY response like some of yours is that the fear of losing the passion that I have for hunting really bothers me. Sure I can place people in hot spots in the woods, track deer, stalk deer, turkey hunt, duckand goose hunt...but I do love my job. I still get a lot of time to hunt.I make great money, I'm home every night, good benefits, and sure I'm on the road everyday (I drive for Conway Freight), but from what I've seen on TV with these caged hunts and ranch hunts...thats not hunting to me. That gives us a bad name. The perks would be nice...new camo all the time, new bows, sights, arrows, broadheads etc...but I have that now. A pro-staff/contributor job would be fine by me, hell, I have that now here on hunting.net when I let those in my general area know whats going on in the woods around them. Just my opinion.

RE: Hunting for a career?

Do I do it for a living? No. Could I? Yes. I do it "part time" and the purpose is to allow myself more hunting opportunities that I would not be able to afford otherwise. I will not dive in full time simply because there is no security for my family, and I already have 16+ years in with the Fed Gov't. So...we do pick and choose what we want to do, when we want to do it. We also only take sponsorships from companies that number one are good people to work with, and number 2 products that we believe in.

The workload I have went thru over the last year is unreal. I have missed hunting and bowfishing days simply due to having to put work time into editing, or whatever. Does that workload lessen my enjoyment? No. The only change I feel I will have to make is to figure out how to delegate some work towards my partner, and our pro-staff. Again, though, when I am not under the pressure of feeding my family and paying the house payment with the hunting bowfishing, I am out there able to enjoy it fully. I cannot say whether or not full timing it would diminish the enjoyment. Certainly the travel would wear on me and the family - it already does that now.

RE: Hunting for a career?

I had a chance to sit down and talk to Toxey Haas last year. We were talking about this very thing and I was telling him how badly I wanted to pursue a career doing what they do. He looked straight at me and asked me point blank if I liked to hunt. I replied that I love to hunt. He said then the best advice I can give you is don't make it your job. Something to think about although I still think I would like to work in that field.