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

Usually I take about three weeks vacation spread out over the course of a season, with the last week being in the rut time frame, and on weekends. This year I have one week because of other obligations. I will admit that I don't hunt very hard at all. I go at my leisure.
 
I usually try to save 14 days worth of vacation for September thru November but this year it's not looking so good probably only have 7 after taking time off for bear hunting. I mostly do it in long weekends, my hunting buddies can't get off much during the week and for me it's as much hanging with the guys as shooting deer.
 
Going to get out as much as possible. My 13 year old son has caught the bug and is very excited about the upcoming season. Helping with food plots, setting up our stand sets, and running cameras. I may end up in the doghouse, but I'm going to confess we are out making memories!
 
About 20 days but promised my 2 boys I would go this year on the annual beach trip for the last week of October.
 
Let's see, bow seasons starts August 15th, gun September 1st. Can begin shooting does September 15th. Best months are October and November. Season ends January 1st. So, over the course of 4.5 months, I could go on weekends and get a ton of stand time. Only problem is it's still 85 degrees plus until September 25th-ish. Hard for me to sit when it's that warm, just doesn't feel like hunting.

Most of my efforts are in October and November, December is always a bust. The first two weeks in November, I take about 5 days off to hunt the rut which is the best time for my area. I've always said, daytime buck activity is best between November 10th thru 15th. For August and September, I concentrate on getting plots and stands ready. Neat thing is I can hunt the morning then get some work done.

Good luck this season, it'll be here before we know it!
 
I am lucky enough to have a wife that understands my love for hunting! We currently have a 4 year old boy and another boy due in 15 days(wow that is coming fast). Funny thing is when we found out we were pregnant... the first thing I said after the original excitement was "I still get to go deer hunting, right?". She just smiled and said of course!

I generally try to save 4 or 5 vacation days strictly for hunting. I also have the ability to leave the office early to get out for some afternoon hunts! I have 3 quality spots all within a 20 minute drive of our town. This makes it easy to get in the stand pretty often. Thanks again to my understanding wife, if the weather is half way descent on the weekend I usually head out to the stand. On average the last couple of years I bet I had 30 - 40 sits and probably 6 or 7 all day hunts.

I am going to try to hit it hard the next few years as I know life will begin to change as my boys get older. Instead of hunting hard for myself it will be more of enjoying the experience hunting with them no matter how the hunts go. Always a blast and a getaway to be in the stand....just hoping to pass that love down to my boys.
 
I have a grandson I hunt with now and he will be 11 this fall. We have hunted since he was 7. He has gotten 3 deer since we started because we have an early youth rifle season. I always take off to take him hunting every year on the first day which is a Friday because the rest of the weekend he is with his biological father during visitation..
 
Well....my wife will tell you "too much", my boss will tell you "too much" and I will tell you "not enough!"

I have roughly 10 vacation days to burn and 8 holiday days during our deer season this year, on top of the weekends. I can also hunt a few nights after work because I live on my hunting property....at least until daylight savings time kicks and I loose that hour :)mad: always when the hunting tends to be starting to show signs of picking up).

Now in general - my family knows.....come October....Daddy is BUSY! I have a wedding anniversary (our 20th this year - I got married before I was a deer hunter - if I knew then what I know now - it would have been September or January) and 2 kids birthdays in there along with the typical holiday requirements......but other than that you better schedule time with Daddy WELL IN ADVANCE if you need him in October, November or December.

My wife claims she becomes a "Whitetail Widow" - there are times she claims she only knows i'm alive because some of my things get moved!

Now I won't hunt early October - all I seem to accomplish is stinking the place up and educating the does....bad, bad, bad! Once we get closer to Halloween or a cold front comes in then I will hunt. Early November tends to be hit or miss - I will be in a tree but how much will depend on what I am seeing. General firearms season - I am a vampire! My family only sees me once it's dark outside! I will take off the entire general firearms season.....this is when the bucks seem to have bred their local does and they start expanding their search.....my property doesn't house many older resident bucks so this is "don't miss" time on my place. Normally by the close of firearms season I am done....I have my does in the freezer and I am down to hunting for my buck for the wall. I will hunt weekends into December and complain the entire time....I hate being cold....and yes essentially below freezing is cold (I'm a pansy and I know it). I will only hunt late in December with my crossbow and when the weather is nice. I will hunt the warmest part of the day and say heck with the rest of it....based on what I see of my deer traffic...they agree. Once I have a full freezer and am hunting for a buck on the wall - it becomes a matter of motivation for me.....and sometimes just getting up out of a warm bed to go out into the December cold just doesn't have much appeal to me to be honest.

I will also tell you that I try not to shoot a doe until later in the hunting season....I use does as buck bait until the window of opportunity starts to close and then I'll smack a few for the freezer.....deer is the primary red meat in my household and my place will support removing a few without setting the population into a tail spin. I also try to shoot larger does as that way I don't need to shoot as many. We actually take an inventory before deer season starts and I am essentially given a "meat quota".

So early and late in the hunting season - I'm an opportunist. I try to focus my efforts from Halloween thru mid December with an all out assault the last 2 full weeks of November. My activity level closely mirrors what tends to be the "rutting" activity curve you see published.
 
Retirement starts on September 1st so I guess I will have plenty of time. Having knee replacements in December, but October and November are looking pretty good to me!
 
Looks like most of us are going to have some time to put into hunting this fall. My wife is not a deer season widow because she enjoys hunting almost as much as I do but most of the rest of my family realize I am out of pocket after October 1...

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Have a few friends that hunt the same large property/lease and we have a good time in our non hunting times.
 
Johnny I'm pretty much right there with you. I can also only carry 240 but last year I had another 60 restored so I actually carried over 300 plus the time I accrued this year. Looks like I still need to burn 160 hours before January. Just hope I have somewhere to hunt when season rolls around...
 
I don't expect sympathy, but I really have TOO much. I retired from my day job over ten years ago, my daughter is in college, and my wife keeps herself over-busy during the week with volunteer work.
It's a challenge to not over-hunt my place. Past years I have spent some time on public land (PA has huge tracts of it). Last year I made a breakthrough with some of my surrounding neighbors and spent a couple days rifle hunting on a 200 and a 600 acre tract. This year I hope to expand to bow hunting there.
Now, I really just need more tags.
 
After 5 years of living overseas and getting limited hunting time in, I plan to hunt more this year than ever. I'm self-employed and have the ability to spend about as much time in the woods as I'd like.....kids and wife permitting. It's been a long time coming but this season is going to be awesome, regardless of the harvest. I'm so pumped to be able to spend lots of time in the stand again. I've got to be careful that I don't over hunt the properties or force it with the wrong conditions.
 
Being retired I am able to hunt most of the season. I like to wait on cold fronts. I also go out a lot with just a camera, pure relaxation!
 
When we bought our 80 acres the guys on our hunting lease figured we would get off the lease because we have the 80 and another 30 acres at "Home 10" we can hunt but when you have several weeks of leave overhunting our 80 and the other 30 would definitely happen. We only try to hunt our properties in perfect conditions and with a 1500 acre lease available we can keep our place fresh while having a quality hunt every time we go...
 
Retirement starts on September 1st so I guess I will have plenty of time. Having knee replacements in December, but October and November are looking pretty good to me!

Congrats Mike to you and the other retirees here. I'm still 13 years out from that stage but I'm only 41 and don't want to wish my life away just yet.

I can't complain at all. I started my 20th year with my employer at the end of June and as of now I get 36 days (288 hours) of leave time per calendar. Plus 18 days of sick leave. On my 22nd anniversary I will max out at 41 days (328 hours). It's all use or lose with a few exceptions. I work a 4 day schedule most weeks, Tuesday through Friday and I'm off Friday at 4 PM through Tuesday morning.

So basically I can hunt Sat, Sun & Mon every week and I usually will take a full week or two in November. Fortunately I married a very understanding & supportive woman and my daughters are 14 & 11 now and becoming more independent by the day. Like many of you I have to fight the urge to over hunt my farm although I don't really start hunting hard until Halloween. There is a 4,000 acre tract of public land about 10-15 minutes from my farm that I keep saying I need to go explore early season to keep me out of my woods.
 
This is pretty easy for me to answer. I work til noon the month of Oct, on vacation the month of Nov, and race to the property in Dec and in the stand by 2:30. It has been the same for the last 8 years. I don't hunt everyday but if the weather and the wind is right, and all of my other obligations are met, I am in the woods Oct and Dec. The month of Nov its pretty much dark to dark everyday with some turkey dinner thrown in.

Strut
 
Sounds like a lot of us have a lot of time available in the fall. Some of the guys on our deer lease and other friends of mine have young families and a lot of their vacation time and weekend time is taken up with their kids sports or trying to take a summer vacation every year...When I mention to them when I am going to be in the woods you can see that faraway look come into their eyes where you know they go to dream of being able to do the same :oops:
 
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