Hello all, I am a elk hunter in CO. I hunt every year 10 to 15 days in sept. This year we are expecting our first child little boy yaaaaa! The due date is sept 10th so I cannot go for the opener but I am hoping to get out for 3-4 days after baby is here. Is this realistic to leave a mom and a week and a half baby at home while I hunt? I would like to think so and my wife is ok with it as long as she and baby are healthy. What do you think? Advice please.
Is this your first child? My archery season opened last year 5 days after my daughter was born and I still hunted on opening day. The differences are this was our 4th child and I was only gone during the day, not off hours away. If it was our first child I probably would not have gone though. Being a parent for the first time can be stressful and take its toll on both of you guys.
Staying home this year would be the best decision in my opinion. If everyting is going perfectly and you are able to just go during the day without staying out, maybe.
This is just my opinion, but I think it would be poor form to leave your wife and new baby to go elk hunting. I would push those hunting dates back a couple weeks at least. Again, that is just me. Jim Davis 3G Tactical www.3gtactical.com
You get one shot at your first child. Take some time and enjoy the experience. There are many hunting seasons ahead of you, Lord willing. I'd push it back a little too. If you're close to your hunting grounds, you may take an evening here or there....
She might say she is ok with it, but trust me she isn't. And with all of the hormones and whatever else goes with it. You would be sorry you did it and might end up paying for it for a long time. Skip this one and go later or earn some points by being there the first few weeks.
I'm with the consensus. I cancelled an October trip to MN last year because my wife gave birth to our second. My daughter was born in July and I still pushed the trip off. They grow up so fast in that first year. Plus once you get that little boy in your arms, you won't even think about leaving. Congrats and good luck.
My rule of thumb with our kids was to wait until they are sleeping through the night before gallivanting off. And then only for 3-4 nights until the first year. I would sit this one out.
I agree with most of the above. Just pretend there is no season this year. It hurts a little, but that's just part of family. Now my two boys are older and there is time to hunt - sort of! That's my youngest boy in my avatar 11 yrs ago.
I was lucky enough to have had our two kids, one in april, the other in february. I took a week of my vacation for each child to stay home all day evry day to help my wife out, if that were to have landed in the middle of hunting season, I would have done the same thing. Like john said, in all reality she isn't ok with you hunting at that time whether it came from her mouth or not. Be the good dad and stay home, you have many many years to go hunting! My wife is due with our third in april, so one of my weeks I was going to put towards hunting this year, will be used at that time. So I had to sacrifice some of my time towards family.
I would sit it out unless you have your mother in-law to come help or your mom but even at that I wouldn't want to leave it is a great time.
I have cancelled Alaskan bear hunts the last two summers because my youngest son made all-star baseball teams. The kids just have to come first, even when they are no longer babies. Its just the right thing to do.
agreed, we only have so much time on this earth, and why regret missing valuable and special moments like these! I'll admit i've been selfish at times, but I haven't missed any special moments with my kids so far and I hope I never do...
I agree with the others here. I don't have kids yet, but you better believe that when/after my first or any of them are born, I'm not going to spending much time in the woods. Maybe a couple hours here and there after the first couple of weeks, and maybe a weekend or two a couple months later........but certainly not extended periods of time away. It's just not an option I'd consider.
My son was born on thanksgiving day last year. I bailed on the annual rifle hunt trip to WV. It was hard, but my wife was really understanding when I wanted to do some late season hunting after our son started sleeping through the night.
you may or may not remember your hunt...but your wife sure as hell will...forever and always at the worst time
If I were in your boots, I would stay home with my wife and son. I hope all goes well during the birth of your son. I pray your wife and son come away healthy. Enjoy your blessings. Best wishes to you and yours. C
Thank you so much for the advise. I was thinking the same thing all you have written but this just confirms it. It is really nice to see how everyone puts family first and I love the the quote of "you only get one first child and you get other hunting seasons". I will miss not hunting this year but I'm sure when I have my son in my arms the last thing I will be thinking of is hunting. Again thank you for all the great advise. It is nice to have a forum like this to get some great guys opinions and life experience.
