Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How many deer seasons have you got left?

It's also about desire. If you have the will, we can find a way. I know plenty of guys who would help drag/pack an animal at a moments notice. If I live within a reasonable vicinity of any of you, I will help.

It's also about hunting smart and within your limitations. My dad couldn't walk the past few years, so we found a spot for his blind that I can drive the truck to. He has lost his desire now and probably has hunted his last hunt at eighty.

Grandpa shot his last deer at 92. Doe, open sights, Marlin 336C 30-30 with Rem 150gr Core-Lokt bullets, on the run, through the forest. Wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't been sitting right next to him when he did it. Oh yeah, he racked one in, shot, racked another, shot again, Two hits, one in the heart and the other in the lung. He died 3 weeks before the next season...a life well lived.

Well I am now in my middle 50's and the mountain hunting has gone from 10 - 15 miles in mountain �off trail� terrain to 5 - 7 miles on a good day. Dragging a deer by myself is 1 mile or less so I cut them up in to small pieces and pack.

I hunt a lot of BLM and Forest Service land for Mule deer and Blacktail with a bow. I have hunted this way for over twenty years. Shot some nice bucks and even a few doe when it was legal but nowadays I cannot find anyone to go with me for archery season. Family seems to always be busy, friends are �too old� for archery and back woods hunting, and I am hard to get along with for anyone else.

So I have bought new hunting rifles and a quad to be accepted in more hunting camps but my way of hunting does not sit well with most. I end up by myself again. With no help with downed game or packing.

Don�t care too much for drinking/drugs and hunting which alienates me. I don�t poach. I take at least two weeks hunting at a time and its tough terrain.

I do not know how much longer I have but I am going out this way. I hunt as hard as my body lets me and if I need to lay up a day so be it � I just hang out in whatever camp I have and hit it hard the next day.

I hope and pray nobody including the Lord takes it away from me. I just do not know what I would do without hunting in those mountains. I do like my new rifle and I am having fun hunting with it. It seems like a natural progression.

So when is my last hunt?

One year at a time with health and finances dictating. I just turned 60 and have an elk hunt going for December in Wyoming. I can still climb anywhere I want to go and pack out elk. When I can't anymore, then it will be deer out my back door and antelope does in Wyoming. I am past the antler fetish!

Just turned 68 this week. Still going strong. No guarantees in life, but Ill hunt until the end.

I am 68 & closer to 69 than Blue Duck, but he said it right! I just can't imagine not deer hunting---or elk hunting ---or bird hunting etc. etc.

Ken

If I had a remote idea at all, I'd be adjusting my spend down rate. Hitting 68 during deer season this fall.

Unlike most guys, I came to this sport fairly late. I was in my mid-20's and out of college. As it is, I've had 30-some years and I'm hoping that I'm at the midway point. That would put me up in my mid-80's, when I hunt my last.

I've done a lot to prepare:

1) I found a relatively flat spot in a rather hilly state. I remember stopping about a half-hour into our first hike on the property and announcing to KYHillChick that we HAD to buy the place, because we'd been hiking for a half hour on a hot July day and we hadn't cracked a sweat yet.
2) I have a house on the property, and I am planning on retiring there and adding on. If the worst comes, I will still be able to post at my bedroom window and nail one out in the fields from my wheelchair.
3) I lost my first group of hunting buddies to the ravages of old age about 25 years ago. My solution was to go and grow my own replacements. I have 3 sons; 2 that hunt, and they all like to come to the farm. I now have a granddaughter, and I have been teaching her to hunt since she came home from the hospital
4) I have decided this year that 35 Whelen was my high-water mark as far as recoil. From now on I'm going to work my way down. My 80-something hunting buddy O.T. finally retired from the sport and I acquired his 25-06.
5) Instead of trading in my S-10 a few years ago, I kept it and turned it into a dedicated deer wagon with a winch and ramps. My 75 yr old hunting partner SuperCore can hoist a deer in by himself.

As long as you have sons or grand sons or daughters you can hunt till you drop. Lol. Seriously with atv as long as you don't have to drag it out. my uncle was in his 90,s.

Im 55 and should have another 30 years . I have a 21 year old son and a 12 year nephew to do all the dragging , My Kubota with a front bucket and Atv are great for retrieving deer too.