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.

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.

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.

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.

We spend most of our family time outdoors.

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.

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".

include family

I spend as much time as I can with my family during the spring/summer/winter and then try to hunt quite a bit in the fall. Although I never seem to get out as much as I would like.