rybohunter

Of all the things considered hobby, recreation, etc that you do, what % of that time, moneyand effort gets alloted to bowhunting?

This is after job & family time are accounted for.

Is it a struggle to balance out all your intrests?

GregH

I am an "empty nester" and I am single. Vacation time off from work is the only thing that limits my hunting and I can and do spend 6 weeks hunting every year.

It wasn't always like this.

GMMAT

Not really. I don't do much of anything else. I'm either hunting......looking for a place to hunt......practicing........or (some, past-tense....and MORE in the near future) trying to enhance the habitat.

rybohunter

For me its a continual juggling act, and some things I enjoy, have taken a back seat as bowhunting consumes more of my time. But I plan on balancing that back out over time.

racewayking

I have worked around the time issues by doing more morning hunting. Last year I went out 53 times if I remember correctly and close to 40 were morning hunts that ended between 9-12. I changes my hours at work to 11-8 which allowed me to hunt till 9 on work days and be able to get home and ready for work. By getting home around 8:15 at night I still had time for the wife. On weekends I hunted some mornings, some full days and some afternoons based on weather and family obligations. My wife really doesn't complain.
I spent next to nothing hunting last year, maybe a couple hundred on clothes in the summer closeout sales and around $70-80 for tags, liscense etc. This year I am looking at a new bow which will add to expenses and I might hunt up in Northern Wisconsin and in Iowa with friends which will add up with out of state tags. I am also looking at buying a few new hanging stands and tree pegs if we get a new property to hunt so that will be another $200-300 depending on how many stands.
My general rule has always been that I use long term incentive money and short term incentive payouts for hunting. We get cash awards through work that can be offered in gift certificates to numerous companies, Cabelas and Bass Pro are on the list. I also get a payout every year based on the last three years of company performance which goes to hunting and personal stuff. I consider the work payout to be my little slush fund, my wife also has the same thing since she works for the same company so she keeps hers and it works out great by not dipping into out general household budget.

HuntingBry

With a wife, kid, house, career, etc. it is a constant juggling act. For a few years hunting had to take a back seat because I bought a house, had a kid, and started work on my master's degree all within a 1 year time span. I didn't get to go out too much during that time. Now I have more time available, but still have to allot time to the family, house work, and everything else. I take flak from the wife sometimes about how much time I spend on hunting, but I think that would occur regardless of if I was taking more or less time so I just deal with it. I always tell her that I could always be at the bar or the strip club instead of hunting.

Schultzy

I don't do near the bow hunting I use to do. My job and the current diesel prices don't allow me to do the out of state hunts like I use to. I still do my bear and deer hunting in Minnesota but going out to Wisconsin or North Dakota for whitetails has taken a back seat for now. I haven't Elk hunted in Montana for the same reasons, Montana use to be an every year thing.

MN/Kyle

The only thing that holds me back from hunting, is school. I'm almost done with my first year of college, and first semester really cut down on the hunting time. Next year will be a little easier because I'm kind of in the "swing of things". School is only about an hour from home, so that is nice.

80% is of my time is hunting related.

shed33

with a wife and two sons, not half as much time as I used to spend hunting alone... I still hunt a lot but with family and my boys now..

For me, I have the greatest amount of time for scouting... Summers off. Lots of time after work .. 2:30 pm is the end of my day..

The best thing I have going for me is that my home is nestled amongst the critters.. I chose to commute to and from work to raise my boys in an outdoor enviroment and to get to hunt out my back door. Then again, many of my good hunting spots are several miles away and I have noticed I dont frequent them as much as I used too before costly fuel prices and having a family.. No regrets though.. I can not complain..

rybohunter

I think something got lost in translation


Of the hunting/outdoor/shooting/recreational time/money that you do put in, how much is spent bow hunting?

If your only recreation is bowhunting, its 100% whether you bowhunt 1 hour, or 4 months straight.

Now if you also fish, run coon dogs, hunt ducks, gun hunt, kayak, ski, golf whatever….those are the activities I want to compare to your bowhunting time.

For me I love to fish. That probably gets as much time/money as bowhunting.
Things I like, but which end up on the back burner are
Small game hunting
Predator hunting
Shooting/reloading
Ground hog hunting
Trapping
Fishing during the fall
My biggest conflict lies between trout fishing & turkey hunting.