Why dont you spend more time elk hunting?

[Lefty]

Just curious
I teach a small group of special needs students and I just find it hard to take days off during the school year, and using personal days in our district seems to be risky.
Sunday I generally have church obligations and I don't hunt Sundays.
The past couple years I have taken a day off to hunt. And my area is too far away for evening hunts,.. possible but not practical.

[Huntrgathr]

One word.

WIFE.

Apparently, 90 uninterrupted days of hunting is " Unrealistic" and " selfish" and I'm " obsessed". Women live in a fantasy world...

[ChukarNUT]

My Prenup states: "I get 45 days a year to hunt or you get returned for a new model"

[Wyo67]

The "other" one word:

WORK

[itsnlkthing]

One word.

WIFE.

Apparently, 90 uninterrupted days of hunting is " Unrealistic" and " selfish" and I'm " obsessed". Women live in a fantasy world...

The "other" one word:

WORK

+1 that w word

[G Posik]

This year it was work that got in the way. Normally work is part of the amount if days I hunt. Usually I spend A LOT of days hunting. This year not so much. I usually do about 16 days hunting with friends and about 45 with clients and 15 with vendors. This year was the friends hunts and 3 vendors. The work load this year was really bad. No more getting shorted. This was one of the raisins for taking this job.

Glenn

[Indian Summer]

Because there comes a time when I've either punched my tag or the season ends. My wife would never think of asking me to give up something I love that I can' only do for a small part of the year.

[bnsafe]

paying bills, but I usually hunt as much as I want. work hard when its not season.

[Swede]

I have pretty much the same situation Indian Summer has. Just not enough tags or too little season. Actually at the end of 35 days out, I am getting pretty tired. With 3-4 days at home I am ready to go again if I have not tagged out.

[husky390]

Work is my biggest problem. My wife gets my undivided attention for 10 months out of the year. She knows the only question to ask me just before elk season is if I'm hungry since that's about the only question I can answer as my mind is focused on being in the mountains. Now if I could just get some more vacation time.

[Bowhunter]

Being a nonresident of an elk state I would have to say distance. I take 3 weeks to hunt elk then when I return I hunt whitetail Oct 1st to Jan 10th. My wife says she is a bowhunters widow every fall.

[mtnmutt]

Work or lack of vacation days.

This year, I planned much better and had many more hunting days than previous years. For months in advanced, I prep my boss and coworkers for my long absence. It worked out great...no work phone calls or text messages.

[stringunner]

Lucky for me work isn't an issue...but my wife appreciates my help at home with our bit of property and 3 kids under the age of 4. I can't complain at all however, I hunt during the week and usually come home on the weekends to help with the chores and care for the kids. The first week I will go out for about 10 strait days, usually 2-3 days before the opener, then home for 2-3 then out for another 5-6, home for 2-3 then out for the remainder of the season.

[timberland]

My wife's reciprocity trips to Florida are too expensive!

[Jaquomo]

Most years I have an elk or two on the ground before the CO season ends. Otherwise I can only squeeze-out about 23-24 hunting days in September and still keep my job.

Honestly, even though I'm in very good shape for late 50's (60 in May) and do my fitness training daily in the mountains where I live, after about 20 days of hunting elk hard I'm getting pretty worn down.

Then I manage another 22-24 days in November-December to hunt muleys on the plains, if needed. As soon as I quit working this summer, I plan to continue on to hunt Coues deer in late Dec-January in AZ.

[ishy]

+1 huntrgathr. It's a wife thing. I erased what I wrote cause I think I promised not to badmouth my wife on here. So I'm leaving this with just it's a wife thing.

[pointysticks]

proximity.

you backyard elk hunters have it easy..okay.."easier".

me, i have to budget time and $$ for travel. 2 weeks in the woods is long enough..adding two days at either end with hotel and gas money..tips the balance. they seem to be big trips for me.

all this brings me to my wife..hahah..i'd miss her too much.

[Jaquomo]

I'm really lucky to have a wife who appreciates my dedication to my passion, has her own interests and is fairly independent, loves wild game meat and looking at big mounted critters hanging on the wall.

When my opportunity came for a comp'ed hunting trip to Australia, I thought about putting it off (which means never going) and instead using the vacation for a trip someplace with her, and she was like, "Are you insane??!! What are you talking about? You're an idiot! Go!!!"

[Csrbowhunter]

Being a nonresident of an elk state I would have to say distance. I take 3 weeks to hunt elk then when I return I hunt whitetail Oct 1st to Jan 10th. My wife says she is a bowhunters widow every fall.

I have the same problem as you living in Ohio. Plus my wife,she bought a sign that hangs in my house that says"we interrupt this marriage for hunting season"! Lol

[Ghost]

Im with bowhunter, distance, heck if I lived out west, Id spend all my time out there. But with WV and PA turkey and deer seasons, It makes it tough to justify more than 10 days to hunt out west. Hopefully Ill correct that problem in the near future, thinking of moving to MT and retiring while Im still young enough to climb the mountains.

[wewarev]

I'd have to say mine have been a combination of many things...distance to the elk woods, time, $, job...but this year should be different.

Knowing my desire for several years to take my son on a DIY elk bowhunt, my wife has told me several times in the last few months that the one thing she wants this year is for us to be able to go...Gotta love the girl.

[ABQ_Chica]

Like a lot of you, for me it's work that interferes with hunting. Fortunately, my husband is great about giving me time to shoot my bow, scout, and hunt. He's happy taking care of our daughter and holding down the fort while I'm gone. Thank goodness! My job however, is not so understanding...

[Washington Wapiti]

In the past I worked seasonally and/or term jobs. This not only enabled me to hunt different states (more so small game and turkey), but those jobs would typically end right before elk and deer season were getting ready to start. Then I would have anywhere from 2-6 months off. THOSE were the days in-terms of hunting time. I hunted damn near everyday of the early season and nearly as much of the late. I'd spend days and days out there, and if I was working some "filler-job;" on the weekends I would hit areas that were say 2-4 hours away, and during the weekdays I'd try to rush home from work and hit the last couple of hours before sundown in areas close to home. ALOT of hunting. This year I got my elk on the second day of the early season and spent 10 days deer hunting at the end of Septmeber. That was about it for 2013. As much as I love being out in the woods, which I consider my second home, it was a nice change not spending as much time kicking my a$$ this year, and spending more time with Sara and the kids. We all have our limits.

[goblue]

Because I'm a football coach.