Taking time off to trap

I have a weeks vacation that I am planning on using to trap. The question is do I do it the first week of December or the second week? I can't get on most of my properties until after deer gun season ends on December 2nd. So should I wait and let things settle down for a week or go right after the season? My issue is the weather, things could be worse weather wise the latter in December we go. I know nobody can predict the weather, but what would YOU do?

If deer season doesn't end until the 2nd you'd miss that weekend if you trapped the first week.

What's the lunar cycle looking like at the times your looking at?

Is It paid time off? If not stay at work. LOL

Right after deer season, all the meat eaters are cleaning up gut piles and finding the lost cripples & having a feast!
Dennis

Hoosier - can you use your vacation a little at a time? Take a couple hours off just on trap check days - come in late or leave early kinda deal? That's what I do to extend my time. Spend the weekends setting, check using comp or vacation time during the week.

I hate trapping fisher last week of, or right after deer season. They dont seem to move! Why move around when you can camp out on a buffet!

I assume you have to use it all at once. I would take it the 8th through 16th (Fr-Su) and run two lines. Set Saturday and pull Tuesday or Wednesday, set the next day and pull on Sunday. If you can break it up, I would take two days with a weekend and three days with the next weekend.

I take maybe a day off to set traps then check them for about a month and a half in wee hours of night and still go to work regular hours. Weekends are my treat to go in day time.
I use my vacation time with my family. I used to take time off to trap many years ago before I had a family, but even then I often would waste it staring out the window at some god awful snowstorm while my vacation was spent doing stuff around the house instead.
Go after deer season would be my recommendation, fur will be better, and you will have to roll the dice on weather. I'd rather catch quality over early goods and I think in today's for market you will need to do that anyway.
Jim

Thanks for all of the input. Several different schools of thought here and they all make sense. Still not sure what to do. I might kind of combine some ideas. Take a day or 2 off to set traps and then check in mornings and then go into work a bit late.

jabNE - I agree. I have used literally every vacation day the last 20 years for family time. My youngest is 15 now. This year was kind of unusual that I still have a week to take off before the end of the year.

Last year I took all of November off (paid). This year, I'm down to 3 paid days left. I took a week off when my daughter was born in June, another week when my wife had gallbladder surgery, a week to go on a family vacation, two days to go to the NTA convention and a few days here and there to extend some weekends. I'm lucky, in that I get about 6 weeks off paid vacation per year.
I say, do what YOU want. I personally like to have multiple full days in a row to hit it hard