Keeping the Fire in your belly...

[shrapnel]

I am 82. Last Fall was the first time I can recall not hunting. The Covid virus complicated travel and then isolation occurred. Despite being ultra careful I still came down with the virus. This year i may not have the strength but we shall see. The fire is not as strong as it has been throughout my life, two years ago i was in Tanzania for 21 days and took eight head of plains game and four Cape buffalo one shot each, maybe that is a good place to stop.

Don’t stop. My son and I took my father hunting until he was 92, he shot his last deer at 91. I hope my son and grandson do the same for me...

 

[JShane]

2rocky. The fire is in there, it always will be. Men are made that way on purpose. We always want to know what's over the next hill and for good reason. Go look over the next hill and see what you find. Happy Myles, You've been my age before and I ain't been yours yet but I think the same applies to you. Atleast I pray it does for you and for us all. Go look you adventurous s.o.b. .

 

[gouch]

The fire is still there for hunting but not so much for killing. When I was a younger man eating a tag was a terrible thing. Now I find myself passing on shots for such important reasons as "I don't want to spend the time butchering it" or "I just don't feel like shooting it right now"

 

[Buschy]

51 years old here and still have the drive to hunt hard. Trying to get as many “physical” hunts in as I can in the last few years.

I am also pursuing bucket list hunts and experiences (UT elk, WY moose, CO mt. goat, AZ javalina, NM oryx and NM aoudad. Sometimes it is simple as taking my boat to Fort Peck and hunting mulies in November out of my wall tent on the shore. It always seemed so exotic growing up in North Dakota and I plan to knock that one out in 2022.

I guess I have lots to do yet for myself, my family and friends. I just hope to stay healthy enough to do that as I get older.

 

[Bambistew]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems like the drive is sorta there, but the pain and suffering to get to the ends has declined dramatically. Luckily the learning curve has flattened out and I hunt smarter not harder.

I just have a hard time justifying time away from my family. My kids are getting old enough to start to do some cool stuff though, won't be long until they're leaving me in the dust.

 

[jejack26]

I am 59 and I thought I was the only one having these issues. I enjoy just being out more. I truly love it. The hunting just not as important, unless the kids can get off work. I wish I would get grandkids to take

 

[Steiny]

I'm 61 and hunt more than ever. Got the real hard core physically difficult hunts done earlier in life and now mostly just shoot lots of deer. I can have great whitetail hunting and a lot more days of hunting, in multiple states for the price of one AK trip or big time western trip. We're also very fond of wild game as table fare, so that has also kind of turned me off on hunting anything that requires an airline flight.

Might drive and do another elk or muley hunt, but I'm pretty content chasing whiteys for three months every year with bows and guns. Whitetail are the big game animal I got started on and my interest has never waned.

My dad hunted deer quite a bit last fall at 90 years old and still loves it. If health permits he'll be back at it again this year I'm sure. Quite a few of my friends I hunted with a lot when younger gave it up for reasons mentioned above; family, jobs, etc. Now they're nearing retirement age and have lost touch with hunting, and it will be difficult for them to get back into it seriously if they wanted to.

 

[Dougfirtree]

At 45, I think I've got more fire than ever, but I know some of that is because I can tell it's getting harder and I won't be able to do this stuff forever. I'm having alot of fun taking my kids out too, for sure, but I could be happy hunting my butt off without them.

 

[Europe]

I'm going to resurrect this thread as I'm looking at applying in CO and realizing I haven't done any research for a number of years.

Last year I helped a buddy fill a mule deer tag on a forky in NV. Never saw a legal buck in my unit in NM.

I'm going to to a 4 day trip to Western Oregon for Spring bear with a buddy.

I should draw a reduced price cow elk tag in Wyoming. Shooting for a hunt after the General Season.

Just looking for something to get my enthusiasm up.

I am going to move in a bit of a different direction while responding to your question in a general sense of "doing" all you can for as long as you can.

First and foremost, do everything you want to do before you can not. The body will give out and when it does you will miss doing a lot of things that you once took for granted.

I wish I could still hunt, but I also wish I could Tango in Buenos Aires one more time, or scuba in Cairns Australia, one more time, drive a Ferrari through Nevada or Italy one more time, high tea on The veranda of the Victoria Falls Hotel one more time, sail, drag race, fox hunt via horse back, travel--------

My point is, if "hunting" is what you "want" to do and yet your finding it hard to get "up" for it, perhaps you need to try a more unusual hunt. Go dove hunting in Argentina, Caribou in B.C., Coues in Arizona, Turkey in Old Mexico, . You have some very nice hunts lined up and yet the enthusiasm for them has diminished, maybe something a bit different would be something you would look forward to doing.

However; Maybe you need to look at a different hobby, you may find that you will get just as excited doing something different, just like you did when hunting in years past. Also if you give it up for a year or two, you may find a renewed interest and enthusiasm in hunting again.

I loved to hunt, but it wast the only thing I enjoyed or looked forward to doing and for me the variety of activities kept them all enjoyable to me when I was fortunate enough to do them "Variety is the spice of life"

I am 82. Last Fall was the first time I can recall not hunting. The Covid virus complicated travel and then isolation occurred. Despite being ultra careful I still came down with the virus. This year i may not have the strength but we shall see. The fire is not as strong as it has been throughout my life, two years ago i was in Tanzania for 21 days and took eight head of plains game and four Cape buffalo one shot each, maybe that is a good place to stop.

nice try but no cigar ! You will hunt coues deer with Lv2hnt, dirtclod and I before we hang it up ! However dirtclod will only be available to go with us if his "babies" are out of the nest

I've been thinking about this a lot lately. It seems like the drive is sorta there, but the pain and suffering to get to the ends has declined dramatically. Luckily the learning curve has flattened out and I hunt smarter not harder.

I just have a hard time justifying time away from my family. My kids are getting old enough to start to do some cool stuff though, won't be long until they're leaving me in the dust.

Excellent points. "smarter, not harder" -- and ----"doing things with your children"---one will never regret spending time with your children, doing things with them that interest them, which may not be hunting and fishing .

 

[AlaskaHunter]

I recently retired and all of a sudden its like a kid in a candy store.
Hunts are no longer long 4-day weekends, but a couple of weeks at at time.
I'd much rather hunt the same area for weeks, year after year than
jumping on a plane and hunting an area for a once-in-a-lifetime hunt or going on a guided hunt.

I enjoy hunting the same local area year after year,
getting to really learn a landscape and a legacy of little niche spots that worked in past years.
Most of my local spots require logistics and sweat-equity, so I rarely see other hunters which I appreciate.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I am going to move in a bit of a different direction while responding to your question in a general sense of "doing" all you can for as long as you can.

First and foremost, do everything you want to do before you can not. The body will give out and when it does you will miss doing a lot of things that you once took for granted.

I wish I could still hunt, but I also wish I could Tango in Buenos Aires one more time, or scuba in Cairns Australia, one more time, drive a Ferrari through Nevada or Italy one more time, high tea on The veranda of the Victoria Falls Hotel one more time, sail, drag race, fox hunt via horse back, travel--------

My point is, if "hunting" is what you "want" to do and yet your finding it hard to get "up" for it, perhaps you need to try a more unusual hunt. Go dove hunting in Argentina, Caribou in B.C., Coues in Arizona, Turkey in Old Mexico, . You have some very nice hunts lined up and yet the enthusiasm for them has diminished, maybe something a bit different would be something you would look forward to doing.

However; Maybe you need to look at a different hobby, you may find that you will get just as excited doing something different, just like you did when hunting in years past. Also if you give it up for a year or two, you may find a renewed interest and enthusiasm in hunting again.

I loved to hunt, but it wast the only thing I enjoyed or looked forward to doing and for me the variety of activities kept them all enjoyable to me when I was fortunate enough to do them "Variety is the spice of life"

nice try but no cigar ! You will hunt coues deer with Lv2hnt, dirtclod and I before we hang it up ! However dirtclod will only be available to go with us if his "babies" are out of the nest

Excellent points. "smarter, not harder" -- and ----"doing things with your children"---one will never regret spending time with your children, doing things with them that interest them, which may not be hunting and fishing .

Still, in the nest-building process, birds are moving a little slow
this year. Aren't we all?
I'll be sure to send pics of the new pups when they arrive.
I just took my 85yr old Mom out to feed our resident herd
and she had a great time!
Howdy April! I thought we were going to spring Turkey hunt. lol!

 

[Otto Matic]

The fire has been there since age 2 when pop took me with him the first time! !
Sixty eight years later, the fire is still there! LOL!
I've had to damper the flames a time or two, but the fire has never died.
The flames grow a bit slower these days and I'm a bit more affected by weather.
At one time, rain, sleet, snow and cold only dictated where I might best concentrate my efforts.
These days, those factors dictate whether I go or not.

 

[OntarioHunter]

I am 82. Last Fall was the first time I can recall not hunting. The Covid virus complicated travel and then isolation occurred. Despite being ultra careful I still came down with the virus. This year i may not have the strength but we shall see. The fire is not as strong as it has been throughout my life, two years ago i was in Tanzania for 21 days and took eight head of plains game and four Cape buffalo one shot each, maybe that is a good place to stop.

Happy, I was getting worried since we hadn't heard from you for a while. Now I know why. Are you mending okay?

I hit the jackpot the first year I hunted elk, 1971. At 356+ it is hard to beat. But I still kept hunting them and took twelve more in as many years before moving on. Six moose here before I hung up big game hunting for chasing birds with my dogs. More shooting, fun to watch the dogs work, and no butchering to mess with. A few years back my brother talked me into dusting off the old Springfield for Montana mulies. One thing led to another and two years ago I wound up in South Africa, adding eight more trophies to the already crowded walls of a tiny old house. This August I'm going back for another cape buffalo, a better kudu, a waterbuck, and maybe a couple other critters if time allows. They made me a great deal on sable and roan but I just don't have room for them.

The short answer is I have always found new objectives. And who says they have to be about hunting? I can suggest some great fishing adventures in Alaska. A return trip was supposed to be in the cards again this summer (#3) but COVID vaccination and two surgeries are ahead before Africa.

 

[MTGunner]

Heck, approaching 74 and I am excited. Look forward to very season to hunt. The fire is burning a HOT! MTG

 

[460Wbymag]

I am nowhere near to meeting my hunting goals! Will I get them all done, probably not, but I will sure do my best trying too.

 

[Misguided]

At 66 the passion burns strong. The plan is to chase elk indefinitely. The most passionate and fulfilled people I know hunt and fish!

 

[AndyPOW]

I turned 60 last month. Once I got past the blood lust of my teen years it became more and more about the hunt. . . or fly fishing . . . or shooting only the grouse and woodcock that my dogs pointed, and which I trained to be steady to wing and shot, and to retrieve the bird to hand. More about the how and where than the kill.
Along the way I quit a sure thing banking job and bought a fly fishing operation in Labrador, then one in Alaska. Neither made any money, but I never thought of being anywhere else other than as far back in the bush and down a lake as I could get.

As far as I'm able I won't hunt where I might see other people, their footprints, or their trash. I prefer the solitude of hunting alone, and the challenge of being on the far side of the mountain.

I see things, and have experiences, that I otherwise never would have.

A few years of being empty nesters made my wife and I realize we weren't done being parents. We thought adopting maybe two boys would be nice. Well, long story short. . . we ended up adopting five brothers, ages now of 5-15. That right there is some motivation to stay fit in order to keep being able to get up to the alpine. These boys love to fish, hunt, run boats, shoot rifles, camp, help train the Chessies. . . It is wonderful to get the opportunity to teach and mentor them. I don't know if they keep me young, but they certainly keep me on my toes!

 

[brockel]

Will be a sad day for me when a bulging bull or a furred up coyote coming to a call doesn’t get the blood pumping

 

[JShane]

Europe needs to write several books. Just sayin

 

[GaPointer]

I just turned 30 and while I still love to hunt - I find myself doing it for mostly two reasons:
1. solitude in the woods
2. spending time with Dad

The blood still gets pumping when I shoot something, but right now the things that get me out of bed are the 2 reasons above. Especially #2....