Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game Hunting after heart attack

Good luck

There is much hunting after heart surgery. In Oct '98 I had open heart surgery to repair a malfunctioning valve. Walking was a big part of recovery so I walked and walked and walked.

I hunted harder in December and January than ever before, I did drives for my friends and carried a 243 while doing it.

In 2013 I had a near miss while deer hunting. I shot a doe and was dragging it downhill on snow and thought the big one was coming after a 20 yard drag. It turns out I had a blockage my Dr. referred to as a "widow maker". Two stints and some more walking and this year I'm hunting as hard as I did in '98 but now i'm carrying a 444 Marlin.

It's all about your mental state and weather or not you are ready to give up. Listen to your body, it will tell you when you are F'ing up and talk to the Dr. If he/she
is worth a damn, will tell you moderation is your friend and life goes on nearly normal.

So sorry to hear this Mike. When you look at a rifle to use, don't look past a centerfire .224 of some sort and the faster the twist the better the program as far as I am concerned.

A quick story.... a good friend of mine had a 10 year old grandson that was going deer hunting for the first time this fall. He had been shooting a .223 for practice and I told my friend that I had an 8 twist 22-250 700 he could use with 53 grain TSX bullets. The young man had his other grandparents buy a 700 in .243 for him. He took the 22-250 and 243 to the range, shooting the 22-250 first then the 243. He fired several shots out of the 22-250 and one shot out of the 243 because it kicked too much for him. He wanted to use the 22-250. He proceeded to fill his and several of his party's tags (party hunting is allowed here) with 5 deer including a 4x4 buck. He shot deer to 250 yards with the 22-250 with no issues. It was a pretty good season for the 10 year old!

At any rate, good luck with your hunting and next procedure.