Too many hunting interests?

Jmnhunter

Active member
Joined
Jul 21, 2017
Messages
322
Location
Baxter, MN
Anyone else like me, in that they enjoy so many different hunting and fishing interests?
I love to bowhunt/rilfe hunt deer, ducks, pheasants, grouse and turkey hunt.

With fishing, I love to panfish, bass, walleye, etc but this is during the summer so it does not interfere with hunting at all, until the fall, when the bite is supposed to be great, but to be honest I may try once in the fall if its too warm to hunt.
The problem starts when in about October, deer hunting starts to ramp up, duck migration getting better and then pheasant opener mid ocotober.
then when ice fishing starts, early December usually, but I love to pheasant hunt late season with the pup, archery hunt if I dont have any venison in the freezer by Dec.

Add in a family with a dog (soon to be another dog next year) and balancing all of these gets tough. Although, my oldest kid is getting to the age where he can start to join, although we did do our first turkey hunt this spring which he liked hearing the turkeys although we didnt see any and our first bowhunt this past weekend and he could only last 30-45 minutes.

I have thought about dropping duck hunting and or bow hunting, but I just cant seem to do it, especially now that my kids are getting older, I figure I would introduce them too all of it to see what they like. I have a friend that seems to be doing the opposite, he sold his duck gear, their dog just died so no more pheasant hunting. He said hes going to wait to see what his son wants to do when hes older.

I'm starting to figure out the balancing, as I'll focus on archery until early october then I'll hit duck opener with the pup, then wait until pheasant opener, then back to bowhunting then rifle season, then I really get into the pheasants. realistically, I only hunt ducks on opener then maybe 2 more times.
 
My wife says "You can't do everything" even though I try. My archery elk season here in MT/ID will probably only be a handful of days due to a myriad of issues. I'm off to WY for a couple of antelope and then to NM for oryx, and TX for aoudad. Sometime in there ducks will start and rifle in MT and ID. First world hunter issues to be sure, but I am learning I can't do it all.
 
I try to do a little bit of everything each year...then I regret not spending more time pursuing several species by the time the year is over. Turkey, archery WT, and out-of-state trips get the most time, and I’ll make a point to spend at least one day a season on squirrel, cottontail, dove, pheasant, ducks, geese, panfish, bass, catfish, sheds, and morels. Then there’s a week for gun deer, plus kiddo asks me to take her fishing and boating so of course we do that too. I’m not particularly good at one thing, probably because I’m spread so thin, but I like the variety too. I imagine retirement as an endless outdoor bonanza...maybe unrealistic, I guess I’ll find out someday
 
Sytes oh no no her again :)

Without a doubt being a minority has its disadvantages, but hunting and fishing is not one of them.

We can and do, to some extent, hunt, fish and trap year around. Surprising the virus has created an even larger demand for us to do so, in an effort to feed ourselves and others .

Jmnhunter: you and your wife might want to do a DNA test, maybe one of you have Indian heritage ;)

Seriously, I do realize your discussing time, not opportunity and that is always a problem. I gave up or at least have at this time, whale, walrus, goat and I doubt if time will allow us to hunt sheep this year. As for weapons I have given up the bow completely. I refuse to give up my dogs to make more time for hunting , maybe my husband, but not my dogs.
 
I suffer from this badly. I try to balance time with my wife and kids along with deer, antelope, archery elk, pheasant, waterfowl, coyote calling, and ice fishing between September-December along with working lots of OT in September. I’ve eased up on calling yotes quite a bit, but all the others I’m still passionate about. It would be very hard for me to pick just one of two of those.
 
I feel as though I capitalize on as much hunting and fishing as I’m able to at this time with a young family. I look forward to all of it each and every year but by mid to late January when PA deer season is over I’m more than ready for a nice breather before spring gobbler fires up. I don’t hunt or fish nearly as often as I did 10 years ago but I definitely appreciate the days outdoors a lot more than before. I cut out PA bear hunting for a few seasons to make time for other things. Something just had to go haha
 
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