I've learned (hopefully) to be more careful hunting sick. On an early bear hunt a couple years ago I climbed the ridge to the blind in about 20 minutes with a fairly full pack. About an hour into the hunt I had to hit the bushes -- something I have never done in my life. Like clockwork it hit every 45 minutes. After 5 hours I left and said I would be back at nightfall, and continued to loose fluids in similar fashion at the same interval all day long.
To say it felt like the flu is an understatement -- I was totally crushed. But I had to go back out to get my buddy that evening (it was his first big game hunt ever). So eventually I was standing at the bottom of the same ridge with a much lighter pack. After 10 minutes I had to drop to my knees and rest every 10 'steps'. Using trekking poles. I made the ridge in 2 1/4 hours, in another place entirely from the blinds. Fortunately I correctly surmised I had gone too far 'right' and floundered down the ridge until I found my buddy. At that time I was 90% incapacitated. We left that night with him driving.
Real danger here was minimal since I could have, at any time, simply turned downhill and ended up at a road. But lots of my hunting is done where there are no roads, and on ridges that I could not have navigated. With Arizona temps and dehydration in the mix, you have a recipe for dead old men. So I stay home or in camp when sick. Sometimes you have to loose to win.
