When to Retire from Huntting ???

[VaRedneck]

Well....not much I can put out there that ain't been already said. But here goes...

I just turned 50..been feelin the aches and pains becoming more regular....drugs only do so much. Heart still good...eyes slowly going. Thought about this topic while in the stand on more than one occasion. Here's my decision.

I will still hunt....
-while I can still hit what I aim at
-while I can still drag them out by myself, with or w/o mechanical help
-while I can still stay awake

When I can't do any of the three, I'll put the camo away and take down the stands.

...prolly get back into fishing after that.

[Hoyt]

I'm 66, been hunt n' something ever since I could walk good. Hunt alone, a long ways from a road and up steep ridges, behind my house on National Forest now days. Haven't seen another human back in the areas I hunt in the 6yrs I've hunted it.

Had my first serious health problems 25yrs ago with heart by-pass surgery, then, 4 angio plasties..balloons, major knee and back surgery, another 5 by-pass heart surgery in 2001...cost me 6wks of gun season and all the by-passes blocked back up before I finished deer season out. Had to sign a waiver from my cardiologist for refusing to go back in hospital before deer season ended.

Soon as it was over I went back in and started on heart stents. He said I'd have to have up to 13 as needed. Got number 7 this August had my appendix removed two wks later and since had two minor strokes, two minor heart attacks, a stent put in carotid artery in throat, a hernia I'm seeing a surgeon for the 24th of this month to see if he will operate with me on blood thinners..lots won't and I can't get off of them and stay alive.

Packed two bucks out from over a mile, up and down ridges this season I killed with my recurves...so I would say I have really been blessed. Wasn't all that long ago when heart problems put many men on the couch for the rest of their lives and open-heart by-pass surgery survival odds weren't very good.

I've had heart attack alone deep in the woods, made many slow, scary walks out when I'd have to just lay down in a damp creek bed or mud hole to try and cool off and get myself together to get out or keep moving to stay warm. But, I don't know how not to hunt and don't have any plans to try and learn.

[Dan Morris]

Lessee....during deer/elk hunt this year, I'll turn 73...group that I hunt with knows my body has been donated to a med school....800 number is in my pocket.....just hope I remember that when the moment comes!!!! Mean while.....enjoy the trip n hunt. By the grace of God, I've been blessed with good health...still doing my walks and weights daily...have the usual breaks and scars from a very active life!
Dan