How do you balance your spare time? Family time vs. outdoor activities? What are your priorities?

[rezavoirdog]

How do you balance your spare time? Family time vs. outdoor activities? What are your priorities?

[teufelhunden]

My priority will always be my family. With work and school and sports it can get difficult. My children love to fish and so does my wife. My daughters hunt with me also but, my wife has yet to get into hunting. We spend alot of time on the water during the summer and my girls are always up for hunting. I do not want to miss school programs or sporting events because I will always have hunting and fishing, I will not always have my kids at home.

[Sharkfin]

I agree with teufelhunden. My family is aware that every Saturday and Sunday morning from October - January 1 is deer time but I'll skip a day if something comes up.

[Beekeeper]

My wife and I are empty nesters. We both love to hunt and fish and a majority of our spare time is devoted to such pursuits. We calendar our other activities and commitments around our time in the woods or on the streams. Work still is the priority during the week; however, we both have liberal amounts of leave and we do schedule both weeks and or days off for special trips and openers.

[Edward J. Palumbo]

Juggling time commitments will always be a problem, and I agree with Teufelhunden that family time is the higher priority. I've tried to include my family in my outdoor activities and, as a pattern, my son has been most responsive to my invitations to shoot, to camp, to scuba dive, to dirtbike. My daughter joined me at the range when she was a youngster but withdrew when she developed her peer group in middle school. She's 23 and on her own now, but she recently asked to join me at the pistol range, which delights me. My wife, in all candor, is busier than I and really isn't drawn to the same outdoor activities, though we camped regularly before the kids came along and a time or two after. I've gotten some time to address my own sports and hobbies. Whenever there has been a conflict in priorities, the family wins. My son is preparing to press on this summer, and I believe he has learned valuable lessons from the time we've spent together. There will be time to change time commitments and priorities, but I'm glad we've made the most of our time with our son and daughter while we could.

[idahooutdoors]

Family is always first to a certain extent, some shirt tailed relatives b-day party on a Saturday in hunting season, I am sorry, your parents should have planned your birth better. I am lucky because most of my family goes hunting and fishing, so they plan weddings etc.. around those seasons. Also I usually miss summer weddings, ruin a weekend in July to go sweat your butt off at a wedding, come on now, that's not going to happen.

[buckhunter]

I'm lucky to have 3 children that hunt and a wife that doesn't really mind if I'm away in the woods. I rarely go hunting without any of my kids. I bowhunt everyday of the season but for me it's just a matter of walking 1/2 mile back to the treestand.

[mutt]

my family thats why i take them with me

[2Poppa]

I'm in therapy from the last week of August,(scouting)
until,the last week of January.(Last day of deer season)
Everyone knows where they can find me, even though I do come out of the woods for the kids baketball games, and Christmas ... and Thanksgiving.

[rezavoirdog]

My 2 cents: Yeah, family is where it's at! I love to hunt gobblers in the Spring, but I'm not sure that I'll get much of a chance this April, my son's basketball passion has become an obsession. I'm glad to see all the responses! I can't wait until I'm retired (15 years, hopefully and God willing) and have even more time for the Great Outdoors!

[hjohn429]

We spend most of our family time outdoors.

[steve182]

Of course family is first. Since my kids aren't old enough to hunt and fish w' me, I feel guilty if i spend all my free time doin that. My wife likes that i hunt and fish, but occassionally she needs help w' the kids, even if she won't say so. We find a balance.

[rrmont]

I grew up outdoors, hunted and fished just about anywhere I wanted to, then I moved for my job. I moved about 8 hours away to a town where I knew no one, and they aren't very friendly. I couldn't find a place to hunt for about 8 years and then I did some work for the right people and I was in. I have hunted hard for the last 3 years and my wife never complains, she know that I will be home around dark thirty. And then we will have family time.

[willkillsdeer]

there the same thing! lol

[wallofsam]

I grew up in the city, my family would drive 50 miles out past Ann Arbor to be in the outdoors every other weekend(when I wasn't at a hockey tournament). My parents instilled this in me and now I try to involve my family in all my outdoor hobbies. Sometimes it works other times they just say "have fun".