I guess I don't comprehend the rifle weight thing being a timber faller. My saw is in the neighborhood of 25 lbs and it gets packed 6 hours a day on steep ground all week in my hands and it doesn't have a sling. Packing a 7 1/2 lb rifle ready to hunt is almost not noticeable. I know a very large number of fellas well into there 50s that do the same thing.
Shod
Shod;
Good morning to you sir, hopefully this finds you well and keeping dry enough on this foggy, soggy morning.
One of the things I've learned over the years - albeit slowly I'll admit, but I'm trying to do better - is that as humans we're far from being created equally. This includes our physical capabilities along with mental and spiritual components too of course, but we'll deal with the first two and leave the third one for the main forum.
Anyway in my experience to remain in your line of work an individual will of necessity have physical conditioning and attributes that will exceed at least 95% of other people in your age group. I hasten to add there's no research numbers I can base that on - just living in BC for the last 31 years and personal observation.
As well, the aging process is a rather sneaky one for many of us that had "colorful youth" phases. What I mean by that is that some days the car, horse and motorcycle wrecks don't have an effect on what I can accomplish physically and nowadays sometimes they do.
When I was in my '30's I still had the ability to mentally push my body into places it didn't want to go and could make it do things that it just doesn't do any longer in my early '50's.
Some folks don't have this happen until their 60's and some have it happen in their 40's, but again based upon personal observation it happens to about 99% of us.
When I answer anything here at the 'Fire then, I'm going to try to temper my answer with the knowledge that we're not all created equally and neither have the sum of our life experiences been the same. Hopefully that makes sense?
Long, long ago I was wrestling with a heavy task repairing a piece of farm equipment and my brother who is larger and 9 years older commented, "God didn't make you very big Dwayne, lets hope He made you smart" and then he proceeded to show me how to use mechanical means to assist my task.
For me, speaking personally as a hunter who turns 53 this year and is 5'6" on a tall day - a 7½ lb rifle does feel better than a 9 lb one and especially so after 6 or 8 hours on the mountain.
Again hopefully that makes sense Shod and gives a better perspective on my answers, etc. All the best to you in the upcoming week and do stay safe up there.
Dwayne
Favorite place to chase mulies photo added just because.
![[Linked Image]](http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x83/BC30cal/scenery/Similkameen.jpg)
