Age and Hunting Dreams

T Bone · Mar 13, 2018

My right knee goes under the knife next week. I have high hopes of recovery by late August. Gimpy or not, I'm hunting my butt off this year. CO, WY, ID and SD.

I've had the great fortune of having 3 sheep tags and 2 goat tags. The high country is a siren's song.

The biggest defeats and victories came from the Frank Church in Idaho. I want to go back. Perhaps with just a deer tag or wolf tag, but I need to go back before the knees get too rickety.

Good luck to all who chase their dreams.

BrentD · Mar 13, 2018

Best of luck with that knee, and physical therapy afterwards.

Mallardsx2 · Mar 13, 2018

Randy,

I'm in my 30's and my knees hurt me daily...Badly....

Thats why I have 3 DIY hunts scheduled for the 2018 Season. I am worried that when I am in my 50's I am going to be in serious trouble.....I'm to the point where I take unpaid time off of work to hunt. It drives my wife crazy but the reality is that I need to enjoy my youth while it lasts. When I am old and grey I will sit back and tell the stories. I look forward to revealing my secret spots to people when I am an old man and hopefully hear their stories when they return.

Go for it Randy. NOBODY is getting any younger.

He who has health, has wealth.

maxx · Mar 13, 2018

Mallardsx2 said:
Randy,

I'm in my 30's and my knees hurt me daily...Badly....

Thats why I have 3 DIY hunts scheduled for the 2018 Season. I am worried that when I am in my 50's I am going to be in serious trouble.....I'm to the point where I take unpaid time off of work to hunt. It drives my wife crazy but the reality is that I need to enjoy my youth while it lasts. When I am old and grey I will sit back and tell the stories. I look forward to revealing my secret spots to people when I am an old man and hopefully hear their stories when they return.

Go for it Randy. NOBODY is getting any younger.

He who has health, has wealth.

What is wrong with your knees? I have dealt with Knee pain my entire life well since soph year of high school.

I find that my pain level is directly correlated with my health level. If I am being active and lower on the weight scale they are better. If eat like garbage my knees take the brunt of it.

Mallardsx2 · Mar 13, 2018

I was archery hunting from the ground about 4 years ago and got caught in a stare down with a doe while crouched looking uphill. I fear I have partially torn my quadriceps were it attaches to my patella. I have not verified this but it kills me to sit with my knees bent for any time period without stretching out my knees. Fixing this is a major surgery and involves drilling holes.

The pain is right where that tendon attaches to the patella.

I am not overweight so it has nothing to do with that.

BrentD · Mar 13, 2018

Mallardsx2 said:
I was archery hunting from the ground about 4 years ago and got caught in a stare down with a doe while crouched looking uphill. I fear I have partially torn my quadriceps were it attaches to my patella. I have not verified this but it kills me to sit with my knees bent for any time period without stretching out my knees. Fixing this is a major surgery and involves drilling holes.

The pain is right where that tendon attaches to the patella.

I am not overweight so it has nothing to do with that.

I've had knee issues and surgery. Doctors were fine at fixing the meniscus but not so much about anything else - Their cautions and recommendations, were frankly ridiculous. 3 yrs post surgery, and my knee was stiff, sore and I couldn't go downhill.

I lucked out with my physical therapist - with whom I started before the surgery. She, not the docs, is the one that keeps me running. If you don't know exactly what's wrong, and you haven't seen a PT person, you might check that out and begin there. Be clear about your goals and expectations and a good one will tell you what's realistic and what it might take to get to where you want to go (or if it is even possible). And then go there again whenever issues crop up again.

I just can't say enough for good PT.

buckhunterhart · Mar 13, 2018

Much like Watt21 I had a cancer scare at an early age, for me it was 26 years old. Almost did me in. From there on out every hunt has been a gift. I hope to finally draw a limited entry bull elk tag in the next 5 years and get a big bull off my bucket list, until then chasing big mulies and filling the freezer with the occasional cow elk fills my needs pretty well. Only time will tell if the bull moose once in a lifetime tag hits before the reaper does.

glass eye · Mar 13, 2018

I'm 55 now and back in 2007 and friend and I planned a DIY hunt in NZ. We drew some tags here in the states that put a halt to our plan. Then in 2011 my brother asked me if I had done that trip and I told him no. He reminded me of some of the health issues that my older brothers were going through and me being # 7 out of 8 siblings I wasn't far behind them. So that lit a fire under me and beginning that same year in 2011, I began to quit dreaming and start doing. The empty nest came in 2010 so that helped to open the door.

All hunts DIY

2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015.....NZ alpine game while I still can. Tahr and Chamois, and waterfowl too.

Alaska ...2014 in Jan & Sep. Waterfowl and Caribou on Adak
2015 in Dec for waterfowl on St. Paul Island

Florida 2016 for waterfowl

Alaska 2017 in Jan for waterfowl on Adak. May POW black bear. Nov waterfowl in SE AK. Dec waterfowl on Cold Bay......and flights booked for Dec 2018 waterfowl on Adak.

In January my brother #2 of 8 siblings died from a heart attack.

Addicting · Mar 13, 2018

Randy, go for it! Just remember to give the guide your bullets and only give Marcus a still camera. That way there is no waiting on video, you have a young pack mule, and if it goes south you can still blame the camera guy. (Incase you have to justify trip 2 to the wife)

Treeshark · Apr 13, 2018

I love reading these. Mine seems really tame compared to most that have posted, but my dream is to shoot a bull elk with my bow on public land with my dad. I want to feel that feeling of removing the heavy pack off of my shoulders after the last load of meat has been carried out so bad...

CampRipleyLF · Apr 13, 2018

A float moose trip or Dall Sheep. Unfortunately the latter is very unlikely, unless I win the lottery. Very expensive to do and I know myself too well.... I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a one time hunt when I could spend it to hunt many things.. Heck the moose is unlikely too, but we will see.

Northwoods Labs · Apr 14, 2018

At a funeral once when I was young, a gentleman sitting across from me at the meal in a wheelchair with an oxygen tank overheard me talking about fishing. He gave me some advice, "go fishing, go as much as you can. When I was young all I did was work. Figured I would have plenty of time to fish when I was retired. Well look at me now."

I have done everything possible to follow that advice, even when others think I'm nuts.

LopeHunter · Apr 14, 2018

Saw the decline in my ability to get in shape. Was during mid-40s. Legs would give out after 3 days in the steep stuff. Core strength was not as reliable when would slip. A decade later and I am no longer doing solo hunts. No longer packing in from trailheads. No solo elk hunts as is too many heavy pack outs when get a bull on the ground.

I still hunt but are gentlemanly hunts and often on gentle terrain with a sidekick or guide. Leaving for a gobbler hunt in two weeks and that hunt checks all the boxes as no heavy packets and will be sleeping in a bed each night.

passinthru · Apr 15, 2018

Randy,

Thank you for all the inspiration over the years and for sharing your thoughts on this.

It took this site to open my eyes and see the collection of double digit points in multiple states for sheep that I will more than likely never draw. The only good thing about those points is I accumulated them myself w/o paying a service to do it for me.

But your and others words here on health and continually seeing <.01% draw odds on a ton of applications pushed me over the edge in 2015.

I booked a Dall sheep hunt in the Brooks and had an incredible hunt. Made lifelong friends and experienced some of the most awe inspiring views you could imagine.

Its awesome that your going. Immerse yourself in it and enjoy every moment.

We've all seen that life can turn on a dime, and we may not be as invincible as once thought.

Good luck up there, that is one special place for certain!

I hope you find what you're looking for.

---- · Sep 17, 2018

I watched all nine parts of this last night with my wife, it's incredible. It's hard to imagine a more awe-inspiring intersection of species and habitat than dall sheep.

That's truly great that you let yourself go on this hunt and enjoy it while still able. I think about these 'bucket-list' type things a lot, and it's very rewarding to see a friend pursue one. It also seems like a very good idea to have Marcus come along. He seems like a heck of a guy you have around to push you.

Congrats to both of you! I hope the rest of the fall seems like a breeze after that hunt.

Big Fin · Sep 17, 2018

Randy11 said:
I watched all nine parts of this last night with my wife, it's incredible. It's hard to imagine a more awe-inspiring intersection of species and habitat than dall sheep.

That's truly great that you let yourself go on this hunt and enjoy it while still able. I think about these 'bucket-list' type things a lot, and it's very rewarding to see a friend pursue one. It also seems like a very good idea to have Marcus come along. He seems like a heck of a guy you have around to push you.

Congrats to both of you! I hope the rest of the fall seems like a breeze after that hunt.

Thanks, Randy. You would understand the perspective more than most.

It was a hard hunt for me, complicated by a liver that was already suffering before I flew to Alaska and then spending a week hunting alpine Sitka blacktails immediately before this sheep hunt. Probably the toughest days for my liver in all the years we've been filming. I feel bad for those who are watching it unfold, as I am sure they feel helpless to do anything and it is not pretty to see me borderline convulsing as I try to do something as simple as zipping my jacket.

I went to the Mayo for my week of annual checkups, the day after I got home from this hunt. They asked what I had been up to, and I might not have been complete in my answer when I said, "I've been hiking a bit." That is always a good visit for the comfort that they can monitor the "progress," along with the perspective they provide that things could be a lot worse and they think I am doing remarkably well for a guy with the condition I have.

So, with this one behind me, it is now a focus on my upcoming Utah bison hunt in the Henry Mountains; a dream I had since I started applying twenty years ago. And in 2019, I fulfill my dream of Mountain Caribou in BC.

Once those are behind me, hunting will be back to normal and the pursuit of antelope will increase another notch. With the bucket list mostly crossed off, except for the gambler's luck chance of a MT bighorn, it will be more of a focus of retracing past bootprints and enjoying those same hunts with a deeper appreciation for the experience that I might have had the first time I hunted them.

If I have one bit of advice for those who followed this thread or the Dall sheep hunt, it is this..."Hunt when you can, you're gonna run outta health before you run outta money." A hunt like that surely reminds you of the terminal state of human health and the fact that our health this year is usually better than it will be next year, or the next year, or the next year, or.......

Irrelevant · Sep 17, 2018

Good advise Sir. I heard a good suggestion from a biologist friend. If you can't afford a sheep hunt, try a ptarmigan trad bow hunt. A lot of the same terrain and lots of fun, just bring 3x the numbers of arrows you think you need.

Aussie_hunter_JD · Sep 17, 2018

I've altered some of my dreams, it's hard to hold on to some that are essentially unattainable. I dream of sheep like most, but I was over 20 before I realised the states had a point system and I'm not wealthy enough for a dall or stone guided hunt.

But I do hope one day to at least have a crack at MT unlimited to say I've done it.

Hunting a moose, elk, mule deer and a black bear diy are my dreams, except for moose I reckon I can make it happen.

Want to get Australia's six deer species, only one to go.

Bowhuntrben · Sep 18, 2018

Randy, it was great watching your dall sheep hunt and seeing your dream accomplished.

My dream has always been to hunt bull moose with my dad. I've been building points and applying without success, and the reality has sunk in that (because I didn't get in the points game soon enough) it will likely never happen where I draw a tag in my dad's lifetime. We decided this past fall after watching loads of moose in Colorado to just make it happen. We now have a moose hunt booked for 2019, and I can't wait! It won't be DIY as I would have preferred, but the DIY options were not a choice for us. I'm just looking forward to getting this once-in-a-lifetime experience with my dad and being able to have that memory the rest of my life. Just over a week ago a pair of my best friends lost their dad at a young age unexpectedly. It makes me really appreciate that my dad and I have this hunt booked (and even the non-extravagant hunts).

I have also always been drawn to Alaska. After watching your dall sheep hunt, that is the next dream hunt on my bucket list. It won't happen for a long time most likely, though. I'm hoping when my son is old enough to go and appreciate it that I will be able to take him there and experience that hunt with him!

Thanks for reminding us of the need to pursue our dreams and to not sit idle waiting Randy!

ErictheRed · Sep 19, 2018

I’ve booked a “doing it all at one time” Sheep, Caribou and Moose in NWT. For me, I’m going 1 time. These are dreams hunts I want to do for my 50th. I know I won’t go back. My dad on the other hand is 78. He has a MT doe antelope tag. He’s went west when he was 30 to float the green river with mom. He’s never been back. Last fall he realized if he doesn’t go now, it won’t happen. I wish he would have decided to hunt with me when he was younger but better late then never. Time is ticking; life is a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away. Randy, do everything you physical can do while you can. You continue to inspire us all.

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