Buckhunter1955
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2 weeks post op visit, the Dr. said "Lookin Good"
Older Backcountry hunters?
- Thread starter schoolhousegrizz
- Start date
Bigwiffy
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Dude your Dr. Is full of crap! All kidding aside I hope you heal up quick, that doesn't look fun
Buckhunter1955
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Thanks Bigwiffy, I hope I'll be back in the hills soon.
feddoc
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Was this a series of injuries or one big one?
2lumpy
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It seems like I’ve bitched about my age and limitations about ten times already here on MM but what the hell, it’s therapeutic, so I’ll take another run at it. I’ll take no offense if you turn the “Ignore” feature on.
First, I’ve read all the posts and find many truths in the comments you’ve shared. Much of your situations parallel my personal experience.
I’ll be 75 in six months. That sounds older than saying I’m 74. More’s the pity.
My life style has been extremely significant in my current state of calamity. I have no one to blame other than myself. It seems like I should be able to blame my wife but she’s in a hell of a lot better shape than I am and she just survived a bout with cancer. And she did it because she’s kept herself in great shape for the last 69 years, I have not.
Since I can remember, I’ve never had any interest in being a spectator. I never wanted to watch guys play hockey, I wanted to play hockey, and let someone else watch. The same was true when it came to baseball, basketball football, pole vaulting, and rodeoing, along with passive sports like hunting, fishing and golf. During early years, my activity level keep me lean and my cardio system was what I would say was excellent. However, being lean and having strong lungs does not do a thing to protect one from personal stupidity.
By the time I was 25 I had broken 11 different bones, arms, leg, ribs, nose, fingers, and toes. By 70 I’d broken 3 more bones, dislocated joints, ripped loose tendons, ligaments, and separated my sternum. That’s the absolute truth and in every case the cause was my own doing and in nearly every case caused by my own carelessness and stupidity.
As I’ve aged, many, thankful not all, those injuries have began to rub in the wrong places. However, the worse problem I’ve had are not all the wrecks......... it’s been my appetite. I weighted 180 lbs when I got married at age 24. I’ve gradually put on more and more weight since 1971. I’m a big boned sucker so I packed it well until I hit 60. The knees and lungs went first. I was up to 280 in my fifties but I could still go vertical and had no problem going down hill, but the wheels started to wobble by age 60. From that time on my son’s did all of the pack outs on the elk, deer and moose. Now, 15 years later, I don’t even try to get into the back country. I’m still hunting and having some success at age 74 but I’m over 320 lbs now and in the last 5 years my stability has gone to crap. My balance is okay on level ground but my ankles and leg muscles don’t respond at all like they used to. If I step on a rock, stumble on a sage brush, try to go up or down a rock pile, I hit the ground. There is no recovery from a mis-step, like there was 15 years ago. None. When I start down, I’m going all the way. And there’s no putting my arms out to catch myself or adjusting to soften the fall, it’s face first, every time.
I knew this was coming, so it’s no surprise. I tried to plan for it as much as possible, I’ve tried to use up my preference before I can’t do anything. I’m down to 21 moose points, and 5 antelope points in Wyoming, and 15 mule deer points in Colorado. I used my Wyoming deer points last year, and my Utah deer points two years ago and bear points this year.
Not all bodies are created equal and some folks take better care of themselves better than others but somewhere between 70 and 80 most folks use up their battery. I still have passion, actually, more passion than good sense, but for me I feel very fortunate to have been able to stay on the hunt as long as I have, in spite of my own indifference to my physical condition.
Some have talked about making adjustment in order to keep going and I absolutely encourage that concept. The live style is worth keeping alive as long as possible and never giving up. Rather than giving up, modifying how you operate. That’s the answer. If sleeping on the dirt starts to hurt, get a cot, if your bladder goes to crap, take a pee bottle in the tent with you, if you’re cold night, get a better bag, if you can’t walk well, buy a ebike, or learn to road hunt (there’s more to it than just racing around dirt roads all day), spend more time hunting areas that your body can handle. Do more fishing. If you can’t wade the fast water in the big rivers learn to still water fly fish the lakes. Take up ice fishing. When you can no longer make long casts, start digging clams. If you can’t chase pheasants and chukkers, take up hunting ducks and geese from a blind. If you can’t chase mule deer up the side of the mountain, learn to hunt whitetails. If your hunting buddies die or become unwilling or unable to go, make some new friends. Take the neighbor and his son’s and daughters on easy hunting or fishing trips, they’ll love you for it.
As others have said, don’t ever stop, adjust. Adjust until you have no alternative. The memories we make, in the field today, at whatever age are, are just as incredible at an old age as they are at any age. Interacting with nature is a huge blessing that millions upon millions of your friends and neighbors never get to experience.
A bugling elk sounds just the same 50 yards from the road as it does 10 miles from a road. The strike of a fish is just as exciting through a hole in the ice as it is in an isolate lake at 12,000’. Watching ducks spill the air out of their wings is just as exciting a flush of chukkers at 8,000 feet. And when all else fails, golf is still a pretty good outing with a couple of good friends.
So as long as my sons will cover my bets and these old legs will hold me up, I’ll be out there, somewhere, doing the best I can........ until I can’t.
One more thing........ if it hurts, get it fixed, medical science is amazing!
First, I’ve read all the posts and find many truths in the comments you’ve shared. Much of your situations parallel my personal experience.
I’ll be 75 in six months. That sounds older than saying I’m 74. More’s the pity.
My life style has been extremely significant in my current state of calamity. I have no one to blame other than myself. It seems like I should be able to blame my wife but she’s in a hell of a lot better shape than I am and she just survived a bout with cancer. And she did it because she’s kept herself in great shape for the last 69 years, I have not.
Since I can remember, I’ve never had any interest in being a spectator. I never wanted to watch guys play hockey, I wanted to play hockey, and let someone else watch. The same was true when it came to baseball, basketball football, pole vaulting, and rodeoing, along with passive sports like hunting, fishing and golf. During early years, my activity level keep me lean and my cardio system was what I would say was excellent. However, being lean and having strong lungs does not do a thing to protect one from personal stupidity.
By the time I was 25 I had broken 11 different bones, arms, leg, ribs, nose, fingers, and toes. By 70 I’d broken 3 more bones, dislocated joints, ripped loose tendons, ligaments, and separated my sternum. That’s the absolute truth and in every case the cause was my own doing and in nearly every case caused by my own carelessness and stupidity.
As I’ve aged, many, thankful not all, those injuries have began to rub in the wrong places. However, the worse problem I’ve had are not all the wrecks......... it’s been my appetite. I weighted 180 lbs when I got married at age 24. I’ve gradually put on more and more weight since 1971. I’m a big boned sucker so I packed it well until I hit 60. The knees and lungs went first. I was up to 280 in my fifties but I could still go vertical and had no problem going down hill, but the wheels started to wobble by age 60. From that time on my son’s did all of the pack outs on the elk, deer and moose. Now, 15 years later, I don’t even try to get into the back country. I’m still hunting and having some success at age 74 but I’m over 320 lbs now and in the last 5 years my stability has gone to crap. My balance is okay on level ground but my ankles and leg muscles don’t respond at all like they used to. If I step on a rock, stumble on a sage brush, try to go up or down a rock pile, I hit the ground. There is no recovery from a mis-step, like there was 15 years ago. None. When I start down, I’m going all the way. And there’s no putting my arms out to catch myself or adjusting to soften the fall, it’s face first, every time.
I knew this was coming, so it’s no surprise. I tried to plan for it as much as possible, I’ve tried to use up my preference before I can’t do anything. I’m down to 21 moose points, and 5 antelope points in Wyoming, and 15 mule deer points in Colorado. I used my Wyoming deer points last year, and my Utah deer points two years ago and bear points this year.
Not all bodies are created equal and some folks take better care of themselves better than others but somewhere between 70 and 80 most folks use up their battery. I still have passion, actually, more passion than good sense, but for me I feel very fortunate to have been able to stay on the hunt as long as I have, in spite of my own indifference to my physical condition.
Some have talked about making adjustment in order to keep going and I absolutely encourage that concept. The live style is worth keeping alive as long as possible and never giving up. Rather than giving up, modifying how you operate. That’s the answer. If sleeping on the dirt starts to hurt, get a cot, if your bladder goes to crap, take a pee bottle in the tent with you, if you’re cold night, get a better bag, if you can’t walk well, buy a ebike, or learn to road hunt (there’s more to it than just racing around dirt roads all day), spend more time hunting areas that your body can handle. Do more fishing. If you can’t wade the fast water in the big rivers learn to still water fly fish the lakes. Take up ice fishing. When you can no longer make long casts, start digging clams. If you can’t chase pheasants and chukkers, take up hunting ducks and geese from a blind. If you can’t chase mule deer up the side of the mountain, learn to hunt whitetails. If your hunting buddies die or become unwilling or unable to go, make some new friends. Take the neighbor and his son’s and daughters on easy hunting or fishing trips, they’ll love you for it.
As others have said, don’t ever stop, adjust. Adjust until you have no alternative. The memories we make, in the field today, at whatever age are, are just as incredible at an old age as they are at any age. Interacting with nature is a huge blessing that millions upon millions of your friends and neighbors never get to experience.
A bugling elk sounds just the same 50 yards from the road as it does 10 miles from a road. The strike of a fish is just as exciting through a hole in the ice as it is in an isolate lake at 12,000’. Watching ducks spill the air out of their wings is just as exciting a flush of chukkers at 8,000 feet. And when all else fails, golf is still a pretty good outing with a couple of good friends.
So as long as my sons will cover my bets and these old legs will hold me up, I’ll be out there, somewhere, doing the best I can........ until I can’t.
One more thing........ if it hurts, get it fixed, medical science is amazing!
Last edited:
OutdoorWriter
Long Time Member
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Is the excess weight a medical issue or a mouth issue??
Bigwiffy
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I've been lucky being able to stay in good shape, round is a shape.
2lumpy
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Purely mouth ODW. And self control. In my youth I smoked, got rip roaring drunk, and rode fast horses, chased the ladies. I haven’t had a smoke in over 50 years, I can’t stand the taste of alcohol, I was over it long before pot got popular, sold the ponies and married an amazing young lady, giving up those vices was easy, never had the slightest desire to go back to any of it. (Don’t tell my wife thought, cuz I keep telling her I’m gonna drink one more cold beer and smoke one more good Cuban cigar before it’s over. It makes her crazy.)
However, food is my “achelies heal”. When it comes to will power over food, I’m worthless.
I used to be critical of people who had additions, my Dad tried to quit smoking a thousand time, he never did. I’ve had other family members who had alcohol problems. Until I was 35 I figured they could quit...... if they wanted to........ I have a different attitude now. That being said, it’s still my cross to bear and I have only myself to look to for the reality of it.
OutdoorWriter
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Well I'm sure no one to preach, but if it's a mouth problem, it's curable, albeit perhaps with difficulty.
I started smoking when I was 14 by occasionally 'borrowing' a pack of Camels from my dad's nightstand drawer. My parents didn't know I smoked until I was 16, and I was doing it all thru high school while playing several sports, including cross-country running. That nasty habit stayed with me until just three years ago, long after it ruined my life. Three weeks in the hospital & another 22 days in a rehab joint has a way of convincing one that something is amiss.
So even though I was quite addicted, I quit cold turkey -- that is after I got home & finished off the three packs I had left.
BUT...I weigh within 3-5 lbs. of what I did when I played HS football in 1958. As I've mentioned here before, give me a new pair of lungs & few weeks of exercise and I'll get up & go with the best of the youngin's.
Although they might vary for a day or two, my eating habits have always been pretty much the same: coffee & a smoke for breakfast (now just coffee); some sort of mid-day snack, a sandwich or maybe a protein shake; a GOOD meal for dinner. Mainly, though, I eat when I'm hungry & not as a perfunctory ritual.
I started smoking when I was 14 by occasionally 'borrowing' a pack of Camels from my dad's nightstand drawer. My parents didn't know I smoked until I was 16, and I was doing it all thru high school while playing several sports, including cross-country running. That nasty habit stayed with me until just three years ago, long after it ruined my life. Three weeks in the hospital & another 22 days in a rehab joint has a way of convincing one that something is amiss.
So even though I was quite addicted, I quit cold turkey -- that is after I got home & finished off the three packs I had left.
BUT...I weigh within 3-5 lbs. of what I did when I played HS football in 1958. As I've mentioned here before, give me a new pair of lungs & few weeks of exercise and I'll get up & go with the best of the youngin's.
Although they might vary for a day or two, my eating habits have always been pretty much the same: coffee & a smoke for breakfast (now just coffee); some sort of mid-day snack, a sandwich or maybe a protein shake; a GOOD meal for dinner. Mainly, though, I eat when I'm hungry & not as a perfunctory ritual.
2lumpy
Long Time Member
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Ha.... it was lacking the right amount of cream and had a little too many ice crystals...... but you noticed how throughly I cleaned up those onion rings and the dip!Well, you did only have ONE milkshake!!!
2lumpy
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I hear you ODW. Like they say, “they told me, you have the right to remain silent, but I didn’t have the will power”.Well I'm sure no one to preach, but if it's a mouth problem, it's curable, albeit perhaps with difficulty.
I started smoking when I was 14 by occasionally 'borrowing' a pack of Camels from my dad's nightstand drawer. My parents didn't know I smoked until I was 16, and I was doing it all thru high school while playing several sports, including cross-country running. That nasty habit stayed with me until just three years ago, long after it ruined my life. Three weeks in the hospital & another 22 days in a rehab joint has a way of convincing one that something is amiss.
So even though I was quite addicted, I quit cold turkey -- that is after I got home & finished off the three packs I had left.
BUT...I weigh within 3-5 lbs. of what I did when I played HS football in 1958. As I've mentioned here before, give me a new pair of lungs & few weeks of exercise and I'll get up & go with the best of the youngin's.
Although they might vary for a day or two, my eating habits have always been pretty much the same: coffee & a smoke for breakfast (now just coffee); some sort of mid-day snack, a sandwich or maybe a protein shake; a GOOD meal for dinner. Mainly, though, I eat when I'm hungry & not as a perfunctory ritual.
2lumpy
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Chew was my early lesson in nasty chit.
Hiredman put a dip in his lip. I was about 6. I said, hey, can I have some........ He said, ask your Dad. I said, Dad can I. Dad said, go ahead.
You know the rest.......
Never needed anymore of that crap in my mouth!
Hiredman put a dip in his lip. I was about 6. I said, hey, can I have some........ He said, ask your Dad. I said, Dad can I. Dad said, go ahead.
You know the rest.......
Never needed anymore of that crap in my mouth!
2lumpy
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yup an those that deny it are habitual liars........?
OutdoorWriter
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Yea, but if you grew up in the wrong era, it might have been different. When I was a teen, I could never find any gals that had vices. Even with my ultimate charm, they all thought it was the in thing to be a virgin. In today's world I would have lost my virginity when I was six!
eelgrass
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Which is harmful to others. I rest my case.
