Life of a Conservation Officer?

[wilderness]

I have been a big outdoorsman for the majority of my life. I am at the point in my life were I need to decide what my future career will be. I am currently working as a Granite Fabricator/Installer and am trying to decide if I want to pursue becoming a General Contractor or a Conservation Officer. I would love to be a CO but am concerned about a few things. I meet the requirements for the recruit screening process and definitely know I have what it takes to make it through the training. My concerns are that my wife is currently getting ready to enter into Graduate school for Physical Therapy(duration of 3 years) and the problem is that if I become a CO, I run into the chance of us getting split into different locations. If I wait, then there is the chance of her having to relocate immediately upon entering her first job. If I become a CO before her schooling is over, then I may have to reside far away from our home. What would be some advice how to go about this if I decide that CO is for me. The reason I am at a deciding point is for the fact that my current job is causing physical damage from heavy awkward lifting and my age. I would like to start a career before I get much older. If you could also include general information about your daily job affecting family time I would greatly appreciate that as well. Thank you for your time and advice.

[buster]

As a CO, you can bet that the majority of weekends during the summer and during firearm season will be spent working. Those are the busiest times of year for us. We have to be working when everyone else is out recreating, which means when you wife and family are going to weekend get-togethers, cookouts birthday parties, etc, etc, etc, you will be at work most of the time.
As far as getting to hunt and fish, I get out for both LOTS more than I did prior to becoming a CO. Most of the time its during the week on my days off, usually solo bcause most of my non-LE friends are at work. I do get to hunt/fish weekends as well, either before my shift or after my shift, depending on whether I'm working nights or days. It has slowed some due to family commitments (kids).
With you ewife being in school, there is a chance that if you would make it through the training process, you could be assigned a county that is of considerable distance from your home county. It all depends on what counties are open/have officer vacancies and where you rank in your class. This decision is yours to make and is a judgement call as to whether or not you and your wife's relationship can handle the distance until either she is out of school or another county opens up to transfers after one year of employment.