Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

What do you do for a living?

I graduated college three years ago with an Environmental Studies and a Biology degree hoping to get into the conservation field. I worked for an environmental consulting firm out of college and got laid off after 7 months. I worked for a county conservation board for 6 months then got hired on with a police department. I've been doing that for a little over a year now and I'm enjoying where i'm at currently.
 
I currently work for the Polk Co. Sheriffs Office as a Detention Officer. Prior to that I worked for the Oskaloosa Police Department as a Community Service Officer for 1.5 yrs, and prior to that worked at the Mahaska County Jail as a jailer for 4 yrs. I don’t mind what I do at all, but my heart is not in the jail. Have all intentions of getting on the road in the very near future! My job, although many don’t see or understand, is beyond difficult, to deal with those who hate every aspect of my being around them. Some days good, some days bad (but most bad days aren’t that bad), but pay is great! That being said, we are also hiring!!
 
Response Safety Manager

We do nationwide (and beyond) hazardous materials spill response. It's a lot like a fireman's job, sit around and wait for the bell to go off. Can get hectic at times dealing with a tanker in TX and a leaking tote in ID at the same time amongst others. Really enjoy the work and the hours (7 days on and 7 off).

They are looking to hire a couple more individuals, this is in the Olathe, KS area......
 
letemgrow said:
Response Safety Manager

We do nationwide (and beyond) hazardous materials spill response. It's a lot like a fireman's job, sit around and wait for the bell to go off. Can get hectic at times dealing with a tanker in TX and a leaking tote in ID at the same time amongst others. Really enjoy the work and the hours (7 days on and 7 off).

They are looking to hire a couple more individuals, this is in the Olathe, KS area......
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I would love those hours! Would like to stay fairly close to the family farm though.
 
I'm in the Process Management Team at John Deere. It truly is a great place to work.
Prior to that I've always been in an Engineering group either within Deere, or at other companies.
 
Working for PwC (Big 4 Accounting Firm) in Minneapolis. Just started a month ago after graduating college. Work is great and puts me on the track to owning a farm down the road! However, I am paying dearly by being out of Iowa for the first time and not being able to get to the farm all the time! Will be the first year ever I won't be able to hunt :( I hope is to move back to Iowa next year or the year after!!
 
Sorry to hear about you losing your job. I have been in the construction industry for 24 years. As a foreman for the last 11. We do road work, sewer/water and building sites. My dad and I also started our own plumbing business 13 years ago. Installing septic systems. Summers are quite hectic burning the candle on both ends. I like the work, but the traveling is getting old. Some benefits to owning your own business is being able to set your own hours-especially during hunting season- and owning excavating equipment is nice for doing habitat projects. Interesting post, seeing what everyone does.
 
I have been a construction superintendent for a general contractor (two companies) for the last 36 years. 18 years with one company and going on 18 1/2 with the current company. We build schools, churches and municipal facilities. My wife and I were also the ASA (Archery Shooters Association) state directors in Texas for the last 12 years. We ran 3D archery tournaments state wide and led the nation in attendance for ASA state level events during that time. We are retiring this summer and moving to our farm in SE Iowa (my wife and her family are from Iowa). We plan to have a 3D archery range and run some shoots on our farm when we get to Iowa.
 
Worked in the midstream side of the oil and gas industry for 21 years starting full time right out of college after working 2 summers for the company while going to the U of I. Worked from the ground up in operations, maintenance then safety and training. Moved a lot the last 10 years of that career and traveled throughout a large portion of the US. It was a great career and financially treated my family well. During that time we lived in KS for 6 years in the early 2000's. Got a call in the fall/winter of 2011 and was asked if I wanted to join a manufacturing company as a plant manager with the potential of buying into the business down the road. After cafeful thought and prayers over a few months, we decided to take the plunge and move back to KS. Been in KS since the summer of '12. I'm proud of the positive changes I've been able to introduce to the business, but still strive to do more with my life. Guess I've never beensatisfied if I'm not moving forward and growing in my education and worth (physical, spiritual and financial).

Great topic. It's interesting to learn about others career stories.
 
Graduated from UNI in Accounting 5 years ago, moved to Chicago thinking no easier place to find a job as new CPA. Learned how passionate I was for bow hunting and realized a I needed to be to Iowa. Moved back to Iowa and put some serious time in at a public accounting firm in Des Moines and finally moved on from public accounting a little over a year ago as a Senior Accountant for a not-for-profit. Enjoy what I do most days, but it has it's stressful days for sure. I'm like the most, picked something I was good and just stuck with it. I work hard to be able to enjoy my time off doing exactly what I want to do. Good luck in your next venture
 
Great thread...
I am a mortgage loan officer for the largest mortgage lender in the US. I help folks with purchasing/refinancing homes, cabins, 2nd homes etc... I love what I do and get to work with some pretty awesome people and families. I may work 60 hours a week or more in the busy season, but I make up for it in Sept-December. I make my own hours and come and go as I please. I'm fortunate that I have a satellite office and do not have to adhere to a bank locations hours of operation. I have no one to answer to but my own checkbook and the Mrs... Its a great gig that allows me time to volunteer in the kids classrooms as well as take off at 1pm on a Wednesday to go shed hunting or do plot work in the summer if I choose. I love the fact that if its November 7th for example, and the wind is right for my favorite set, I shut the door and I'm out till dark. My buddies hate it that they punch a clock and I don't and give me a hard time about "banker hours" all the time. What they don't see is me heading back to the office after dark and working til midnight to make up for it...
 
Thru college and then 3 years after I was chasing the DNR positon. I worked in fish management, fish research and hatcheries. In the winters when I was laid off I would head to Arkansas and was a duck guide for 7 years. That actually turned into a fulltime gig with an outdoor company running their logistics, warehousing and customer service departments. From there that owner has semi trailer dealerships and was offered an outside sales position with them where we cover a HUGE line from over the road to specialized construction equipment. Have been doing that a little over two years and it has been the best decision I have ever made! Run hard and get your work done and they treat you right. Helps that the owner is a huge waterfowl hunter so I get to slip out with customers on mini hunting trips when its right.
 
Sorry to here about your situation. Hope all works out for the best. Graduated from UNI a long time ago. Started teaching high school phys ed in 2001. Have been coaching fb for 20 years now. High school Phys Ed for 17. Also did girls basketball for 5. Coaching really cuts into hunting time and my tractor time in the fall. Love getting those text messages all day and while I'm at practice from buddies sitting in a tree informing me of all the deer they are seeing. Teaching has its plus and minuses for sure but its a pretty good gig having summer and winter breaks and teaching PE I get to play games all day. At least I used too now I'm old.
 
Sorry to hear as well. Hope it turns into a blessing in disguise for you. I started in finance out of college in '08 and got a graduate degree at the same time because I had nothing better to do. Got lucky with that as the economy was going to shit. Keeping it short, that job morphed into systems testing and that into software development. That whole time I was doing work that no one else wanted to do which led to me knowing things that no one else did and by chance opportunities came up that those "skills" were wanted (by skills I mean someone said "idk what that is but that idiot over in the corner does"). Funny how things happen. Good luck to you

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I got a degree in nuclear technology, now I am a reactor operator. Can’t complain about anything really, besides working swing shift. But that too has its pluses.


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Interesting thread, though I hate the reason it was started. Best of luck to you, buckfever321.

I'm a minister at a small nondenominational church and a spiritual counselor at an inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation facility. Say no to drugs, boys and girls. I have more time to spend in the woods than most, and after working with a much larger church in a a much larger city, I've decided that some job benefits are more valuable than others.
 
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Self employed painting contractor. Seriously debating ending the self employed part though . Been at it in new construction for 28 years.
 
kwright said:
Interesting thread, though I hate the reason it was started. Best of luck to you, buckfever321.

I'm a minister at a small nondenominational church and a spiritual counselor at an inpatient substance abuse rehabilitation facility. Say no to drugs, boys and girls. I have more time to spend in the woods than most, and after working with a much larger church in a a much larger city, I've decided that some job benefits are more valuable than others.
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Let the woods, fields and streams heal those who heal others.

Not that I ever healed anyone but 40 years in healthcare. 33 years in EMS, 23 of those flying the friendly skies of Iowa. Sitting in a tree stand or at the edge of a lake always made me feel better.

Retired last June.

Healthcare is a pretty stable work. My granddaughter was thinking about becoming a nurse. I told her as long as she continued her education to become a physician extender (RNP or CRNA) or DNP it would be better than being a grunt on the neuro floor. Healthcare requires working days, nights, weekends, holidays and on call. Serious things for a hunter to consider but like I said, job security is pretty good.
 
I have never had a real job. Went to School for forestry at a small college in Northern Minnesota. After 2 years got an opportunity to work for an outfitter in Alaska ended up doing that for 9 years. Stayed with the Alaska Guiding long enough to get my Registered Guide/outfitter license. Had always spent my later fall/winter hunting in Iowa and in the early 2000s made the decision to live here full time. Have always done some guiding and land management work. My connection to the the land and land investing led me to getting a real estate lic. Strange how life works out for a kid that grew up in the Chicago suburbs
 
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