It's that time of year and with the opening of Gun season having just arrived we like most families are struggling with the balance of family life and Deer season!

My husband is a very passionate deer hunter having loved the whitetail deer ever since he was just a boy! My own two boys have also grown a love for these furry creatures and someday hope to hunt along side their father in the woods! With two little ones who are constantly going on top of all of lifes other demands making it out in the woods to hunt as often as my husband would like doesn't always happen. Then their are the times where it happens more than the kids and I would like!

This balance of time has cause many of arguments in our marriage! Me wanting my husband to come to play with the kids while I get some things done and make dinner. Him wanting to go out in the woods till dark after a long day at work! So, how do we make it through the season? Well I'll be the first to tell you we are no where near having this perfected but we try to come up with a schedule that we both agree on before the season even starts on. It's not a strict schedule it has flexibility in it because as a deer hunter they have to be flexible with the weather and many other factors. So what we did was since my husband works 7-4pm Mon. to Fri. only allowing him to hunt in the evenings during the week, we came up with a schedule that allowed him to pick 2-3 nights out of the week depending on that weeks events that he could go out! As for the weekend we compromised on one morning and one night! Now I'm sure this will change as the boys get older and life gets either less demanding or more demanding but for now, for this year anyhow, this schedule worked.

The point to making it through the season as a happy family! Is coming to an agreed amount of hunting time before the season, this includes all trips away from home, so that no surprise are sprung on your spouse last minute. This way the kids and spouse get to see you and you get to still spend time out in the woods. Someday as the kids get older that time out in the woods will more than likely become more. Something that I always try to remind my husband when he is so desperatly wanting to be out in the woods hunting but other matters are more pressing, is "the kids are only this small once." Hunting is something you can do for a long time our kids are only so small for so long!