OK here is the question: Would you rather save your vacation time to hunt Gobblers in the spring or deer in the fall? I have a guy at work that tells me I am crazy for wasting my vacation time (minus one week which I save for my wife & kids) on hunting birds rather than hunting deer. Are any of you guys like me or am I really an odd ball????
Turkeys. Deer aren't even a close second for my vacation time!
Crazy!! They're sitting in a tree waiting for something to happen in the cold while your out making it happen while the temps are better and the scenery is much better! I'm with you, I've been laid off before during turkey season and during deer season (rut) and don't get me wrong I enjoyed both different times, but I'd rather go chase turkeys! You got my vote, you seem pretty normal to me! :goofball:
TURKEY every time .
A non turkey hunter will never understand this but if its in your blood you cant help it.
I MUST CHASE THE GOBBLE !!!
:turkey2:
Both,Im fortunate to have the time off for 2 weeks in the rut and able to use vacation "hours" for turkey the whole month of turkey season or put in my eight hours when i get there.BIG THANKS to my bosses for working with me :happy0167:.But if I only had time enough for one or the other it would be for spring time with out a doubt!
I save a week for turkey season every year. The hard part is trying to decide which week of turkey season to take. Opening week or later in the season.
Deer for me. I can shoot several deer a year here in Michigan but only one turkey.
You're not crazy! I usually take a bunch of time off for deer hunting but turkey hunting is easier to take off for. Instead of taking half days or whole days like I do for deer, I take 2 hrs at a clip for turkey. That way i can hunt at least 3 days a week before work. So, I actually take more hours off for archery hunting but i get to hunt more days of turkey.
This year I only have one week to play with. It's gonna be what's left in may for me to chase gobblers. I usually take a week in May and a week in November.
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Your on a turkey forum! Lol ask the same question on a deer hunting forum and everyone is going to tell you deer hunting. Lol,
Easy.... Sick time for one, vacation for the other
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I don't deer hunt gave it up years ago so my time is saved for the birds.
1 week for Grouse...we go to the north woods every year...its an awesome time!! I sometimes also add another week or a few days for grouse hunting at the end of the season...which I usely hunt at least one day a week during the season Lord Willing.
2 weeks for turkey with a possible 1 that is going to be added for another out of state hunt I'm working on. I hunt VA then WV and I'm looking to add TN in the very near future with KY and SC to follow....with a big goal of FL in the next 4 yrs!
The Lord has blessed me with a job that gives me a good amount of annual leave...which allows me to give my family there time and time for me to support my addictions!!
God bless
Quote from: tomstopper on February 09, 2014, 07:58:08 AM
I have a guy at work that tells me I am crazy for wasting my vacation time (minus one week which I save for my wife & kids) on hunting birds rather than hunting deer. Are any of you guys like me or am I really an odd ball????
The real odd ball is a man that tells another how to you his vacation.
If he would rather sit in a tree in freezing weather to kill a smelly goat then more power to him. Once less person in the turkey woods when your on vacation that way.
Deer season for me, when I was working.Although most years it was tough cause time off was based on seniority.Turkey season wasn't too hard to get though.I am blessed to have a wife that enjoys deer hunting so we got to vacation together as well as hunt.
Quote from: guesswho on February 09, 2014, 09:41:44 AM
Quote from: tomstopper on February 09, 2014, 07:58:08 AM
I have a guy at work that tells me I am crazy for wasting my vacation time (minus one week which I save for my wife & kids) on hunting birds rather than hunting deer. Are any of you guys like me or am I really an odd ball????
The real odd ball is a man that tells another how to you his vacation.
If he would rather sit in a tree in freezing weather to kill a smelly goat then more power to him. Once less person in the turkey woods when your on vacation that way.
This. :z-winnersmiley:
I was just recently medically retired so this will by my first time having a whole season to my self and I will be doing it in South Georgia
Turkeys are my priority!
Turkey for me,although I do take time off for both.Im lucky as im on salary not per hour at my job,so I usually slide in later in the mornings during turkey season and dont have to use time off as often.I do however always take off Mon,Tue,and Wed Thanksgiving week,which is still deer season here in MO.I get to hunt 9 days while only using 3 vacation days.
I always use some of my time off to chase turkeys. Usually do it as 4 day weekends about twice a season. Then the random 3 day weekend for good measure.
I was just recently put on medical retirement and I have never had a whole turkey hunting season to my self until this year. I will be keeping these South Georgia birds on their toes.
I use roughly 56 hours of vacation during the month of November to chase whitetails.
I use roughly 40-56 hours to hunt waterfowl when we have the birds and conditions are optimal for killing the hell out of them.
And I use probably 80 hours of leave to hunt out of state during turkey season. Instate im able to hunt 3-4 days a week before work.
Kinda hard to tell where my priorities lie.
turkey...a lot shorter season than I get with deer here in KY. plus I get a week of vacation in October for Fall break (I am a teacher). unfortunately, our spring break is always the week BEFORE turkey season opens!
Deer but that's only because I still got to run my side business (seasonal) and can only hunt till 12. So I hunt till 10-11 everyday then go to work. Take last week of October off and all of November but if not for my business I would take end of March to middle of May and hunt 5+ states
I am very fortunate enough to have a career that allows me to work (4) 10 hour days per work (most of the year).
I take most vacation days during November for archery deer because I hunt on my land that is four hours from where I live....not convenient to run back and forth.
I take our season opener day off for turkey and then I hunt the three day weekends I have locally....my best turkey hunting grounds are 5 minutes to 30 minutes from my house.
Our season is long for turkey so I get lots of time to turkey hunt.
I think you have to let your gut feelings guide you on what is most important to you!
I would substitute elk for deer, I live in and near most of the elk & turkey hunting in the state and I'm fortunate enough to be able to set my own hours with my work and can spend many hours in the woods without using vacation. I spend my vacations Mearns quail hunting and with the wife.
Deer for me
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I take one week for turkey (I can still sneak out for an hour before work every day) and two weeks for deer (1 archery, 1 rifle).
I don't use any vacation time on either one but if I had to it would be turkey my problem is I only have one week a year if I had more I might take it during turkey.
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I find it hard to work during hunting season
I take the majority of my days off for the rut. I can usually sneak a couple hrs to hunt turkeys everday during the season. Hard to do that with deer because when the big boys are cruising and chasing you want to be out there long as possible. I can understand you guys in the south not caring too much about deer. If I hunted down there instead I wouldn't care much about them either lol. But these big Midwestern bucks get I your blood. Plus, even though turkey season is my favorite, it only last 3 weeks here. Deer is a year round thing from shed hunting in late winter to running camera and shooting your bow all summer to hunting the 4 month season. Hard for me to choose ome over the other If I ever had to.
Unfortunately I dont get any vacation pay. No work no pay for me. I still take at least a week for each.
Turkey is my favorite though. I have told bosses before that if they ever tell me I cant take either of my weeks that there going to be looking for a new forman for my spot.
Deer every time. Unless its spring time. I'm semi-retired and only work Mon,Tues and Wed. I email the boss and ask him to keep me off the schedule when I want time off. Last year during Nov and Dec I only worked Mon and Wed. Always take off first turkey season. Next year I might take all of November off. Then I'll hunt deer and fall turkey and ducks and geese..... Of course, I'll have to get the OK from THE BOSS. Not the one who signs the paycheck - the one I live with.
Vacation time for me goes towards elk. I can hunt both whitetail and turkey either before or after work so not much time gets used up.
Thanks guys. I will have to show him all of these responses. I didn't think I was alone on this subject... It's not crazy just an addiction that I don't want to even try and give up........ :turkey2:
Turkeys, hands down!! Fortunately for me, being a firefighter :firefighter:, I not only have my annual leave, but we can also do shift trades. So getting time off is usually not a problem for me. With that said, I'm taking a month and a half off from work to chase turkeys this spring!! :funnyturkey:
Well, having just recently retired, I don't have to make that decision any more. ;D But, when I did it would have been turkeys.
Quote from: Dirt nap on February 09, 2014, 12:30:45 PM
I find it hard to work during hunting season
^^^ This ^^^
Quote from: Dirt nap on February 09, 2014, 12:30:45 PM
I find it hard to work during hunting season
^^^ This ^^^
Turkey hunt hands down!
Turkey hunting
Fortunately, I have a pretty good set up at work with no set vacation time and can work a flexible schedule (Sales - As long as handle my business and numbers are good). I typically hunt most mornings before work here at home, and if I feel it's going to be a slow morning then I'll start work earlier. I'll take about 10 - 12 days off work for out of state trips. I am very, very fortunate to have the this flexibility and put in extra time before and after season to make it possible.
I deer hunt on weekends and a few mornings or evenings around work, but don't really take complete days off to deer hunt. I would like to, but just feel like I want to save that time for turkey hunting.
Turkey
I took off the first week of Tennessee season and and the first week of North Carolina season.
This is no contest for me I will spend 3 weeks hunting turkeys this spring and on week vacation hunting deer in fall I do spread my days out for long weekends
I take vacation and comp time for both turkey and elk. When I lived in the Midwest I took it for both deer and turkey. When I worked a 12 hr swing I could take 40 hrs and have two weeks off.
I ddon'tworry too much about what some other knucklehead thinks about how I use my time or spend my money. You should see the looks I get in MT for driving 1000+ miles to shoot turkeys.
Im lucky to get 4 weeks of vac a year so here is what I do. During deer season I will take say Mon and tues after opening, then maybe a Fri and Mon, so I get long weekends to hunt, during turkey season I may take a Mon, and Fri. My boss knows I wont be around much in November. I take a lot more days during deer season than turkey, but I plan to take at least 2 days for turkey this year.
I usually take the first week of turkey season off which gives me 10 straight days to hunt the way it works out. Deer season I'm usually off for three weeks. Two weeks for archery rut so I can actually hunt and the first week of rifle season so I can go to camp with family.
I take a couple weeks to bowhunt during the rut, and a week to a week and an half for turkeys. In general, spring is a busier time for us at work.
A little more for Deer. I take 6-8 days for a mid-west hunt each year.
The rest of my time off is about equal for both. I'm lucky, my best turkey spot is less than 10 minutes from work. So I can hunt for a couple of hours most any morning and still make to work.
Turkey, mainly because we can't hunt them after noon so that limits to weekends only without vacation. I can hunt deer every day for almost 2 and a half months. Weekends only for 1 month of turkey season isn't enough.