How many days do you spend hunting each year?

[Scout21]

I recently got to thinking about how many days each year I spend hunting. I'm thinking for deer hunting it's probably about a month in total. Small game is probably a week or so. I'll sometimes squeeze a couple days of bird hunting in there, as well. How many days each year do you hunt various game?

 

[Armored farmer]

This will be an interesting thread.!
I will pitch my $.02 in:
I will estimate the number of hunts i make in a year.
* 18 deer hunts with archery and firearms combined. Some all day, some only a few hours.
* 5 scouting/ coyote hunts.
* 8 mushroom hunts.
* 7 Turkey hunts.
* 4 duck hunts
* 2 Goose hunts
* 2 dove hunts
* 2 quail hunts
* 2 squirrel/ rabbit hunts.
* 1 pig hunt.
= a total of 51ish days afield, give or take.

It was much more when I had bird dogs.

 

[1976B.L.Johns.]

Our firearms season for deer is 16 days.
I try to hunt every day.

I do not hunt anything else except grouse, but nowadays I usually pass on them and let the kids and grand kids have a chance.
Some huntin' is accidental, not really hunting, being in the woods and having firearms with me and just taking an opportunity.

Maybe three weeks hunting...

 

[.308 Norma]

Deer (mule deer) season is only open for a couple of weeks around here, but my wife and I will have probably spent a total of 15 days hunting them because we're scouting the area(s) where we're going to be hunting right now even though those areas don't open up until the 10th of next month.
We spent about 7 days total "hunting" ground squirrels on our friend's ranch this past spring. However, that was more like "exterminating" than "hunting." We'd drive over there 2 or 3 mornings a week for almost a month, and we'd kill an average of about 30 ground squirrels every trip over. All total, we figured we killed about 500 ground squirrels this year, and we hardly put a dent in the overall population.
We hardly hunt pheasants and grouse anymore, or any other birds for that matter. Although, I will snip the head of a mountain grouse (Grey or Ruffed) with my rifle or handgun during deer season if I get the chance - it's legal to do that here.
I probably ought to get me another bird dog. I haven't had one in years, and bird hunting with a good bird dog is just more fun.

 

[JmacD]

Short answer; not enough I usually hunt 3-4 days of our rifle season. Then 5-7 of muzzleloader. Then 3-5 days of late antlerless. I haven’t hunted small game for a few years. And bow hunting is rather a fond memory….
Edit: the life of a single dad of a toddler… she is very into outside and shows lots of interest in hunting etc. and she likes to “eat da yummy deews”…so soon o shall make definite priorities to teach the next generation…​

 

[jmr40]

Squirrel season opens here in mid-August and runs through February. Archery deer season starts mid-September through mid-January. Rifle deer season runs in October through mid-January. There is about 2 weeks in early March with nothing to hunt, but turkey season starts mid-March through mid May.

There are only about 12 weeks out of the year when there is nothing open to hunt. And technically I could hunt non-game animals such as coyote and hogs then. But 10 of those 12 weeks are in June, July, and August when it is 90-100 degrees.

I've never kept up with the days. I usually wait until things cool off and start hunting something in September and am in the woods at least once/week until May. During rifle deer season or early in turkey season I might be in the woods 2-3 days a week. So, I'm going to guess 50+ days now that I've retired.

But to be honest, at this point in my life killing something just isn't a huge priority. I just enjoy spending time outdoors.

 

[FL-NC]

During deer season I try to get out 2 days a week, during archery and gun both. If I'm lucky, a couple days turkey in the spring.

 

[buck460XVR]

Much of it depends on when I have success. Some years I hunt all day, every day for a week for turkey. This spring it took me all of 3 hours to fill my tag. Same with deer season. Some years I'm picky and will hunt bow season for 20 days or more waiting for that one buck. Some years a dandy walks by me on day two and I have to rely on Pheasants to keep me busy till gun season. Gun season comes down to how many days the grandkids want to hunt.

 

[Electrod47]

Borrowed Armored Farmers template:
I used to fish a lot. Anymore its just to dang hot. Really miss traveling out West to Flyfish.
Used to Golf, gave away the clubs years ago.
Here's my hunting schedule:
Retired 10 years ago, this is what a 65 to 75 year old has managed so far: per year

*40 deer hunts with BP/Handgun/Rifle . Some all day, some only a few hours. I take no more than 2 per/year usually just one.
* 5 coyote calling sessions/hunts. usually manage to get 1 or 2 per/year Texas and Mississippi
* 6 Crow hunts. take maybe 2-3 if I'm lucky
* 2 Turkey hunts. take one per/year
* constant snake hunts wind up killing 6 to 12 per/year
* 2 Raccoon hunts one or two tops
* 2 dove hunts a couple limits of 10 per day
* 2 quail hunts maybe 4-6 if I'm lucky of Gambels Quail
* 2 squirrel/ rabbit hunts. 6 squirrels/2-3 rabbits tops
* 10 pig hunt. I shoot only boar maybe 6 total for the year. Got a 280lber 2 years ago
= a total of 70ish days afield, give or take. Most on my own MS property/plus a week in Texas/5-10 days in Arizona annually

 

[Double Naught Spy]

100-150 days I spend out in the field, primarily hunting hogs on 12+ properties, plus my own.

 

[JmacD]

Short answer; not enough I usually hunt 3-4 days of our rifle season. Then 5-7 of muzzleloader. Then 3-5 days of late antlerless. I haven’t hunted small game for a few years. And bow hunting is rather a fond memory….​

Do the days pursuing the elusive large rifle primer count? )

 

[Highland Lofts]

I fly back to Upstate New York from the Seattle area for two weeks of small game hunting and trapping, fly back to Seattle. Then fly back to Upstate New York for a month of deer hunting and trapping.

I spend every day hitting the woods. We lose a couple of days due to bad weather and family obligations.
Between for of us we will have twenty-two deer tags for New York State. I will be hunting deer in Pennsylvania this year and we have six Pennsylvania deer tags.
So we hunt hard and give deer away to family and friends.
I also bring back a 100 pounds of boned out, cut up & frozen venison for us to use and to give away to friends.

 

[EIB0879]

Since I hunt family land in another state I usually take around ten days to hunt. If I make it to retirement I plan to hunt more.

 

[Patocazador]

Including doves, ducks, turkeys and deer it amounts to about 71-75 days. We have a long season in Florida and it is even longer if you drive to open zones. I usually hunt 3 zones so it adds up.

 

[Arkansas Paul]

Every weekend.
I take a vacation day every Friday during deer season and hunt 3 day weekends. We have around a 5 week modern gun season, and a 9 day muzzleloader season.
There is also an after Christmas hunt that lasts a few days that I always get at least the first day or 2 in.

So probably 20-25 days during the season for deer.
I'll go hunting small game only a few days a year (3-5 days).

 

[N555]

My coyote season runs from about now till about March or April depending on the year.