Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk hunting after total hip replacement?

Coyote Hunter,

Pretty much reflects my experience. Both times I was out of the hospital in under 24 hours. Low level of pain, though some moves did hurt, and the 4 inch incision is pretty tender to start with. You must have a standard transmission like I do. I was able to drive sooner with the right one.

You should be in fine shape by elk season. I had a harder time because of having the second one just under 3 months later, so my elk season started just over 2.5 months into the second. Doc wanted me to wait that long so I would not over stress the first. I was pretty careful the first 6 weeks since there was so much bone healing during that time. You will find your limits at various stages of healing, but even barely a year out from the first one, I am still noticing improvements over what things were like beforehand. It is sooo nice to walk normally again, even if I do need a new knee.

Finding a place with an ultra low infection rate should be right at the top of the list - totally agree. And a proven good surgeon.

I hope OP finds this all reassuring.

I had my left hip done in 1988. I hunted elk for years in Colorado and did 10 years on state fire hand crews and 10 more on fire engines. 27 years after the procedure I probably need a rebuild, but no problems doing what you want to do ......

I'm one of those guys who refuses to be cut up. I've observed friends who have bad experiences, and i've had some bad experiences of my own.

So, at the moment I have a hip that needs replacing, a ruptured disc in my lower back, and a meniscus tear in my knee.

I say screw it, take some Advil, and go hunting. I did give in to getting all the meat out alone though. I have a friend that comes out to help me now.

I'm not recommending this to anyone else. I'm just saying it's my way.

I can appreciate that. A lot of people go that way,but finally subcumb to the pain.

For me it was either wheel chair or the knife. One of the problems with back injuries and others is permanent nerve damage.

I agree it's not the best way. However, i'm still hunting, and it's hard to give that up for a chance for less pain that might end up keeping me from hunting.

Sort of playing the odds.

I'm 43 but had broken back, neck, with rods and fusions and right rip replacement in '97. Got in an accident.

Since then I live my life and still kill elk. I am not as strong or cardio solid as I was as an kid but I'm still doing what I want and am still hugely strong.

Good surgeon is half the battle but streching, conditioning, and recovering is the other half.

Have goals and keep actively walking or biking.

Great info, I was told I need a hip replacement. Didn't bother applying for an elk tag this year because of it.

If you are in any kind of shape when you go in - and have an anterior technique used - 3 months recovery should be enough to allow you to hunt elk in the fall - though probably not like you once did. (On the other hand, the season before I got my hips done, I could not hunt like I used to be able to anyway.) Based on where I am at now, a year of recovery, like the Doc told me, is probably close to getting back to "normal".

I have to admit, this year I may not be up to par yet come elk season because I just had a knee replaced - after both hips last year. But I am buying a tag and will be out there. A double whammy on a single leg is a little harder to rehab, but I am hoping that 5 months will be about enough.

It is important to find a good surgeon, and a good low infection facility. Both are worth traveling to for your best outcome.

I have 8yrs on a double hip replacement, I'm 61 and hasen't affected my Elk hunting in the least.You MUST stay on the exercise program !!! "It is important to find a good surgeon, and a good low infection facility. Both are worth traveling to for your best outcome." Very true, and one of the tools to finding a good surgeon is to talk to the physical therapists , in your area, they have to get people up and running after surgery and they'll usually be straight up with ya.

You will find youself hunting slower because of taking the time to select good foot placement and taking longer routes instead of just bailing off the top of the mountain.

And I thought I had it bad with possible cataract surgery in the next few. Prospects of eventually having hip surgery worry me less then having a knee replaced.

BarHunter -

Grin and bear it was my method for 6 years after I tore up my hip. Last year, after driving 40 miles back to camp I stopped to gas up. I could barely make it from the truck cab past the back door to the gas cap. Not just once but multiple days. Ended up hunting from the truck the last couple days because I couldn't do anything else.

Now I am almost 6 weeks past my replacement surgery. Yesterday I bought a hybrid bicycle and look forward to riding when the doc clears me to do so. While I still have minor pain (that that decreases daily), I can now look forward to hunting like I did years ago.

Like my doc said a couple years ago, you will know when the time is right for surgery. Afterwards you will probably be like so many people I know, including myself, that wonders why the H they waited so long.

Good luck.

That may be true, but i'm in my 70's, and still hunting elk solo. I've learned to deal with pain pretty good.

I just feel if I had my hip, knee, and lower back operated on my hunting would be over. One of them wouldn't turn out well, and they all need to be fixed equally. So, it's all, or nothing. I'm going with nothing.

It's only pain.

Might work for some but I always without fail step into a hole while walking in the dark.

Don't walk in the dark.

There is "pain" and there is "PAIN". I spent a month in the hospital with burns to both legs from the bottom of my shorts to my boots, both arms from my shirt sleeves to my knuckles, both ears and my face. Until the morphine came almost two hours later, the pain was by far the worst I've ever experienced. My pre-surgery the hip pain was minor in comparison but it was still affecting my daily life in very negative ways. It reached a point where I couldn't get up off the floor out of a stuffed chair without help.

If you can still do it, go for it. I reached a point after 7 years that a truck hunt was the best I could have done and that was questionable. I was down to a cane and crutches, depending on the day. Next stop was a wheel chair. Time to retire and head to better fishing country if that was the case.

Wife had leukemia and the chemo ruined several of her joints. So far she has had a hip, both shoulders and a knee replaced and her doc said the left hip has dead bone that is just waiting to collapse, at which time she will need another hip replacement. She had to get them done serially but she gets around very well now - far, far, far better than before.

There is a big downside to NOT getting the surgery done - comorbidity. In my case my hip was causing me to limp which in turn was affecting other things, including a bad knee I've had since I was a teen. Muscles were atrophying and my back was stressed and hurting so much that at the time I decided to get the surgery I was walking bent over at a 45 degree angle. Now my back is much better, I walk standing straight up and my knee isn't bothering nearly as much.

Instead of your hunting days being over, getting help through surgery might well extend them. It has for me. Two of my girls and my wife told me if I didn't get the hip done I couldn't go hunting this year. The sad part was I had finally reached a point where I agreed with them. Last year, as a precaution, I got a "Help, I've fallen and can't get up" satellite beacon. When I couldn't get from the truck cab to the gas cap to refuel without holding on to the truck, and then only slowly, I knew it was over, even if I didn't admit it at the time. Now I'm looking forward to a WY antelope hunt with family this fall, followed by a week-long CO elk hunt with a daughter and one or (hopefully) two sons-in-law. And many more hunts in years to come.

And, for the first time in 7 years, I will be free of hip pain. Doc says I'll be able to hunt, water ski (I gave up snow years ago but could ski that too if I wanted), swim, bike or do anything else I want - no restrictions. All of those were far too painful before. Before I gave it up several years ago I used to swim 5 miles a week. Now I look forward to getting started again. I haven't biked for years, either, but yesterday I bought a new hybrid bicycle and plan to start putting a lot of miles on it to build my leg muscles and endurance back up. My boss, for what it is worth, has had both knees replaced and is now a very active mountain biker.

The point is, surgery isn't necessarily the end, it can be a new beginning.

Like you, I had some fears surgery might be the start of a downhill trip and found multiple excuses for putting it off. But as others told me I would, I'm really glad I got it done. Now I realize I put up with years of pain for no good reason other than doubt.

Again, your choice. I hope it all works out well for you.

Thank you. I'll be thinking about it.

Coyote hunter makes some good points. Like CH,I waited longer than I should have and subsequently caused issues with my back and good knee. But when no one wants to be around you because you're miserable with the cronic pain It's time to do something.
.

That's why I hunt solo.

I do move a bit slow, but I get there.

^^^^ Perfect ! ^^^^