What do you do to buy the household rights to hunt every possible day of big game season?

[Sasquatchewan]

When things got serious with my GF, now wife, I made some things very clear with her; I'd been in the Army before I met her, I owned guns before I met her and finally hunted before I met her, and those were all things that would not change (well until I get my pension for the part about being in the Army). I get more time off than she does, which also allows me not to go into our time off together or as a family.

I also treat my wife like a normal human being. I do my part as a husband, father to our girls and provider to our family. I do my share of things around the house and go out of my way, as husbands should, to make her happy.

In return I get to hunt as much as I want and go on wild trips. Sure sometimes she complains or we have small arguments but if it weren't hunting season, we'd be arguing about something else...

 

[Nick87]

Yep. I remember the first Thanksgiving we were to spend with her family together. I had an elk tag. mtmuley

Showed up an hour and a half late to meet her parents for dinner for the first time. I dont remember it all that well. She still laughs about it because I told her " the birds were really flying tonight." (Last weekend of duck season). Also I took two weeks off when we got married 5 days for the wedding and honeymoon the rest was spent in Wyoming mule deer hunting. Once in a while you get lucky.

 

[Wildabeest]

I’m glad to hear that no one has gone so far as to go to chick flicks or watch Lifetime network. We still have our pride!

 

[MarvB]

Agreed...though an impromptu trip for the fishing opener did cost me a few evenings later with Tiger King

 

[huntin24/7]

I don’t really do anything except try to be reasonable. She knew my passion for hunting and fishing before we got married. I still get out very much. I don’t take as many trips out of the area and a lot of my day trips might be half a day instead of all day and then spend time with her and the kids. She enjoys it too, so I try to take her and the kids whenever it works to.

 

[Dsnow9]

I am a husband and father first as others have stated. My wife is awesome and encourages me to hunt a lot. She knows it’s good for my mind/mood! That being said the way I keep going besides all the household duties is I schedule in padding days for big game season. If I’m planning on hunting five I schedule 7 days with her. I have always found its better to get back early than call for more time when your in the field. That way if you hit a snag or shoot something the last night of the season your not putting yourself in the dog house.

I think she will come for antelope season next year though, only drew my wy buck tag this year and no additional does. Antelope is her and my daughters favorite big game meat and she was not happy I only had one tag this year. Tried to explain the process and she followed up with,“well then I guess I should get some tags for next year.”

 

[MThuntr]

I'm single I do what I want...house is a mess = go hunting; got laundry = go hunting; got drunk on a tuesday = not go hunting

 

[Irishman]

Now that I'm retired and around the house a lot, my wife is glad to see hunting season roll around, and have me gone so much. Of course, I'm pretty sure she was glad to see hunting season roll around when I was working.

 

[MTLabrador]

I'm single I do what I want...house is a mess = go hunting; got laundry = go hunting; got drunk on a tuesday = not go hunting

Same situation here. I just have to make sure I take my dog with me and he stays happy.

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Nothing. It was understood what my Fall's consist of before we were even married. mtmuley

This, and thankfully she enjoys it as well! The hunt I look forward to every year is just her and I
Matt

 

[hank4elk]

Not being a CPA nor real smart I did pretty much what you have done for 20 yrs. Rebuilt,remodeled,built new the whole deal. I got to go hunting in the fall. After she learned how good game meat was.
Worked out for me. I was a builder/furniture maker gone Park Ranger & got 4/tens for 3 day weekends & lots of vaca time....in fall for hunting & spring for trout. Leveraged it into a mountain vaca cabin that was dream situation for all parties involved.
Times change,we seperated,friends. I leveraged the retirement/vaca home into a ranch in NM. No trout. Elk.
Don't have the fancy home anymore.That's OK. The ex came out last year to visit a few days. Good time.
She said she figures the local gals are waiting to see how my home turns out....LOL.

 

[Addicting]

I complained about my job ALOT and was generally miserable. Years of her seeing that and her asking me to stay because of the benefits helped. Telling her all the dreams of things I wanted to do again but couldn’t. She told me to go and start doing them so I wouldn’t complain anymore. In turn, I learned how to cook game meat where it was the favorite part of every meal. I got her and the kids hooked on field to table thinking.

This year I have a elk tag, mule deer tag, and two antelope tags. She asked me to also shoot a local whitetail so she could get more homemade honey BBQ snack sticks.

Any woman who asks you to hunt more when you already have a lot planned is worth her weight in gold.

 

[JLDemo]

I complained about my job ALOT and was generally miserable. Years of her seeing that and her asking me to stay because of the benefits helped. Telling her all the dreams of things I wanted to do again but couldn’t. She told me to go and start doing them so I wouldn’t complain anymore. In turn, I learned how to cook game meat where it was the favorite part of every meal. I got her and the kids hooked on field to table thinking.

This year I have a elk tag, mule deer tag, and two antelope tags. She asked me to also shoot a local whitetail so she could get more homemade honey BBQ snack sticks.

Any woman who asks you to hunt more when you already have a lot planned is worth her weight in gold.

Now you need to sell Wyoming to her and your good to go!

 

[manitou1]

I made a one-time deal. It went like this.

Mrs. Fin, "I really don't want to bring this old furnishings to our new house. The house will be so new and so nice, it just seems foolish to fill it with a bunch of old beat up furnishings."

Fin, seeing an opportunity, "Well, what do you think it would cost for new furnishings?"

Mrs. Fin, knowing something is afoul, "Why would you ask? Tightwad accountants would use the moving boxes and consider them new."

Fin, trying to settle the dust he just kicked up, "Really, I wanna know, what would it cost?"

Mrs. Fin, falling for my bait, "Well, they say you should add 10% of the cost of your house as a budget for furnishings."

Fin, holding his chest while trying to leverage the moment, "(cough) 10%? You know how much 10% will be on this new house? I don't know if that will cover what you're trying to do."

Mrs. Fin, now clearly conflicted by her desires for new furnishings while instincts tell her I have ulterior motives, "I bet I could make this work for 7-8%."

Fin, seeing the moment of weakness uncharacteristic of Mrs. Fin, "I think you should budget 15% of the house cost."

Mrs. Fin, almost collapsing in surprise, "What's the deal? You are such a tightwad, you must be up to something. You gonna spring some bad news on me?"

Fin, trying his best to shoot straight, "Nope, no bad news. Just thought that since you let me hunt so much last year and I have all these points built up for future years, I can't be so selfish. I'm on board with you doing 15%. If I start cashing all these points, you might not see me for months at a time. Only seems fair to me."

Mrs. Fin pauses long, really long, "Just so we're clear here, you're offering me 15% of the cost of the house for new furnishings, and you get to hunt all you want? That hunting money will still come out of your hunting slush fund, right?"

Fin, seeing a once-in-a-marriage opportunity, "Yup. All out of my slush fund. And, if you want to take your sister to Vegas once a year, add that to the deal, just don't ask me to go."

Mrs. Fin, knowing I'm no fun to be with in Vegas and her sister is a riot, cannot resist, she sticks out her hand, "Deal!"

Fin, grabbing her hand and knowing this could go down as the best negotiation he ever made, grabs her extended hand, "Deal!"


And for nothing more than new furnishings in our house, in 2004, I negotiated a lifetime "hunting pass" and got out of the painful annual Vegas trip that was like getting a liver biopsy without anesthesia. I'd make that deal again, every day, and twice on Sunday.

It is deals like this that make me feel qualified, maybe falsely, to give so much marriage advice on my podcast.

Thanks for the laughs Randy. Great story!
I have used similar ploys in the past with success... albeit not at the monetary level of your commitment all at once! My sweetheart seems to require a "refreshing episode" on occasion, so I have to keep negotiations open with multiple offers and considerations.

 

[noharleyyet]

I made a one-time deal. It went like this.

Mrs. Fin, "I really don't want to bring this old furnishings to our new house. The house will be so new and so nice, it just seems foolish to fill it with a bunch of old beat up furnishings."

Fin, seeing an opportunity, "Well, what do you think it would cost for new furnishings?"

Mrs. Fin, knowing something is afoul, "Why would you ask? Tightwad accountants would use the moving boxes and consider them new."

Fin, trying to settle the dust he just kicked up, "Really, I wanna know, what would it cost?"

Mrs. Fin, falling for my bait, "Well, they say you should add 10% of the cost of your house as a budget for furnishings."

Fin, holding his chest while trying to leverage the moment, "(cough) 10%? You know how much 10% will be on this new house? I don't know if that will cover what you're trying to do."

Mrs. Fin, now clearly conflicted by her desires for new furnishings while instincts tell her I have ulterior motives, "I bet I could make this work for 7-8%."

Fin, seeing the moment of weakness uncharacteristic of Mrs. Fin, "I think you should budget 15% of the house cost."

Mrs. Fin, almost collapsing in surprise, "What's the deal? You are such a tightwad, you must be up to something. You gonna spring some bad news on me?"

Fin, trying his best to shoot straight, "Nope, no bad news. Just thought that since you let me hunt so much last year and I have all these points built up for future years, I can't be so selfish. I'm on board with you doing 15%. If I start cashing all these points, you might not see me for months at a time. Only seems fair to me."

Mrs. Fin pauses long, really long, "Just so we're clear here, you're offering me 15% of the cost of the house for new furnishings, and you get to hunt all you want? That hunting money will still come out of your hunting slush fund, right?"

Fin, seeing a once-in-a-marriage opportunity, "Yup. All out of my slush fund. And, if you want to take your sister to Vegas once a year, add that to the deal, just don't ask me to go."

Mrs. Fin, knowing I'm no fun to be with in Vegas and her sister is a riot, cannot resist, she sticks out her hand, "Deal!"

Fin, grabbing her hand and knowing this could go down as the best negotiation he ever made, grabs her extended hand, "Deal!"


And for nothing more than new furnishings in our house, in 2004, I negotiated a lifetime "hunting pass" and got out of the painful annual Vegas trip that was like getting a liver biopsy without anesthesia. I'd make that deal again, every day, and twice on Sunday.

It is deals like this that make me feel qualified, maybe falsely, to give so much marriage advice on my podcast.

 

[manitou1]

I’m glad to hear that no one has gone so far as to go to chick flicks or watch Lifetime network. We still have our pride!

Ugh... let me come out of the closet here. We do date night EVERY Friday night when I am not on a hunt. Annnnd... I get wrangled into an occasional Hallmark channel marathon day about once a quarter. I have found though that it does reduce testosterone levels to a point whereas hunting success follows the statistical trend.
All kidding aside, as I have "matured" hunting success has become more frequent with less effort. Experience and wisdom, I would like to think... but more than likely the Good Lord feeling sorry for me for all the cold, miserable days spent afield in days gone by.

 

[Desk Pop]

Once, after returning from a 16 day safari in Zimbabwe, I came home to a top of the line new refrigerator, dryer, washer and dishwasher...

I have to admit, the timing was good on her part. I was happy...she was happy...win win.

 

[Ben Lamb]

I give her the Jeremiah Johnson & walk around naked so she can remember how good she has it.

It's an issue of compromise. She gets to do her summer gal pal stuff all she wants, gets to go visit family whenever she wants, etc and I get to go hunt when I want. Usually the only thing stopping me is work.

 

[noharleyyet]

^^^^

 

[bowhuntmontana]

Those rights are not for sale in my house, and I am not looking to buy them. I don't want/need the full season. I am happy with the level of hunting that works for my family.