How much time do you have available to deer hunt this fall?

OkieKubota

OkieKubota

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Just wondering what you guys have available to you to hunt this fall?

I will start off...I have been working many years saving leave. We can carryover 240 hours to the next year but that is all. Anything above 240 hours is considered use or lose. I will have 386 hours by the end of the year so I must take off 130 hours just to get down to my use or lose carryover I can keep of 240. I have 96 hours scheduled off for deer hunting right now so I have 50 more hours I need to burn. I have days already that I will be off for hunting as they are Vacation days. I get Columbus Day (October 10th), Veterans Day (November 11th), Thanksgiving (November 24th), Christmas Day and since Christmas is on a Sunday this year I will be off Monday the 26th, and a day for New Years and since it is on Sunday this year I will be off Monday the 2nd. I have scheduled the first day of Youth Rifle season (October 14th), the entire week of Muzzleloader (40 hours), the first week of rifle (32 hours), and the 9th and 10th of November to coincide with Veterans Day for a 5 day in a row stint of Rut Bowhunting.

My plan for the additional 50 hours is to just watch the weather and hit those cold fronts throughout the fall for hunting days to take off. I also have the option of pulling from my 240 hours I have carried over. Our deer season runs from October 1st to January 15th.

I know I am very fortunate to be able to do this but I do sacrifice summer vacations for it and worked many years when the only times I could get to the woods during deer season was weekends. My wife takes off the same times I do as she is in a similar position through her employer.
 
Being self-employed has one benefit, if I want to go hunting I tell the boss to shove it where the sun don't shine!:D However, I know I best be working my tail off to make $ when I am not hunting during hunting season, cause if you dont work you dont get paid! I had a gov't job for 15 years that gave all those paid vacations and leave hrs so I am not knocking you for it. Some days I wish I had that safety net.
 
I am self employed also and can hunt when I want to. Last year I did not get get to hunt as much as I wanted to do to a heart problem I was diagnosed with in Sept. Now that I have all that lined out I am good to go now.
 
I am in the same boat self employed. Last few years work has kept me pinned down during the fall. This year I have these deer leases to deal with hunter's coming in and out all fall so we will see how it goes. Back years ago I pretty much hunted from the last week of Oct. through Nov. Hopefully between the 3 businesses that we have I am able to get out like I did in the past but doubtful. I don't get too crazy about it until the end of October. Early season I can leave work and make it to the woods for a couple hours every evening. I don't hunt mornings during early season, I feel it does more harm then good early season to be in the woods.
 
I have plenty of time available for vacation, but with young/active kids, much of it is already spoken for. That's ok because my kids are of higher priority than my deer. I will do my best to hunt more than the last couple of seasons though. I will probably try to concentrate most of my hunting between Christmas and the end of season(Feb. 10).
 
In the past 8 seasons I haven't taken as much vacation for hunting as I did previously. Reason was that my favorite place to hunt is between my home and the office. The property belongs to a good friend. My work schedule if very flexible allowing me to come in late or leave early as I see fit. It lets me hunt that spot as often as I like.

But back to the topic question. I have a new lease this season that is only 113 acres, but it is only 3 miles from our place on Lake Sinclair (Ga). With that said my sweetie, our Shih-tzu, and I will be spending lots of long weekends watching the water. While they man the lake house I will be looking for deer on the new lease. I will probably take a full week off in early November during either sex season.

I will also take time off to hunt with my 3 grandsons if their busy schedules give them time. They are 7, 11, and 12 so they are into every sort of sports imaginable these days.
 
Interesting thread Johnny. My routine will be about the same this fall as it has been for the past 5 seasons. Most weeks I will leave the office around noon on Friday and make the 2 hr drive to the farm. In stand around 4:00. Hunt morning and evening on Saturday and about half the time on Sunday morning before heading home. I'll take a week off during the rut in November and a couple of other days here and there. Take off most of the week of Thanksgiving and hunt. All in all, I'd consider myself a weekend warrior. Probably stay that way until I retire. Like a lot of you guys, I get just as much, if not more joy out of doing all the habitat stuff throughout the year. Brooks is close by the farm and will hunt much more than me. Probably most mornings during the rut before he gets started with his work. He's self employed and the fall and winter are his slowest months so he gets plenty of stand time. I expect Dustin and my grandson will be down much more this year. My grandson, Jaden, is in a 4 day school week this year. Some kind of new school system thing where they go to school Monday thru Thursday, so I expect they will be down most weekends. I've never taken more than a full week off to hunt. Can only imagine what that might be like sometime in the future. Till then, I'll continue to be mostly a weekend warrior.
 
Podad, I really like your avatar. As for my time, I don't hunt much until Nov. I let the locals do their pushing which makes my place better. Also self employed but I do take total of 3-4 wks scattered thru season if I'm not hunting out of state. Hunt mostly all day thru parts of the first 2 wks of Nov. Sore Shoulder and recurve is working good this year so may hunt a little more early on to take a deer with it for first time in couple years. I'm more anxious than a baby waiting on its bottle.
 
Turkey Creek said:
Being self-employed has one benefit, if I want to go hunting I tell the boss to shove it where the sun don't shine!:D However, I know I best be working my tail off to make $ when I am not hunting during hunting season, cause if you dont work you dont get paid! I had a gov't job for 15 years that gave all those paid vacations and leave hrs so I am not knocking you for it. Some days I wish I had that safety net.
Click to expand...

Oh this is the same with me. So true I am in the same boat!
 
I go to the farm for a long weekend in early to mid-October. I then go back from Oct 28 through Nov. 14. Then Thanksgiving weekend for 4 days, usually. Then one last chance, if I'm not burnt out or tagged out for a weekend early December.
 
I work a second job on my days off, in years past I have said I am going to stop working that second job to hunt but never have. This year it's happening.
 
I always say......"next year I am going to hit it HARD"......then, inevitably i hunt less than years previous!
So.....also, not enough!
 
I started a new job and lost quite a bit of vacation time in the process. I have exactly 0 PTO days to use for hunting this year.

A late October weekend cold front was good to me last year. Hoping for a few good weekends this year.
 
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