Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire How do you tell a long time hunting buddy that it's time to hang it up?

My Dad was more than happy to become a wrangler/camptender/master chef when his back went to hell..no hard words, hurt feelers, worked well. He knew his limits and was smarter than the rest of us combined.

Only 'cause your buds are closer to the end than you are. Enjoy them while you can.

I will be 74 this fall and hunt with a couple fellas 2 years older. I am a cancer survivor, good heart & lungs, and all my joints work pretty good.
One of my buds has heart issues and can't go to altitude. The other fella has had both knees replaced and is in good shape.
Neither can hear worth a damn and one has poor vision. I wouldn't let either of the old guys be camp cook.
There is generally sons or son in law along on most trips.
I plan on hunting in the mountains for a while yet.
In the mountain hunts we generally get a cabin or car camp then use OHV or ankle express.
Had to cut hunt short last 2 years cause someone at home got serious sick.
I figure I can hunt around home flatlands for several more years.
Most of those young guys just want to go too fast.,
When you rush around you miss too much of nature.
I enjoy the time in the wild too much to rush.

What do you say a long time hunting buddy when it's time to hang it up?


"Can I have your guns?"



Bruce

Bingo!

Besides what's wrong with going out into the woods one last time and not coming back? So you die out in the woods doing what you love to do, ain't much wrong with that in my book.

I'm in that age bracket, and am beset with heart and joint issues. Trust me, the hardest thing to do is to come to grips with issues like this, and accommodate them.

No matter if it is hunting, driving, tying shoes, there comes a time when you have to hang up the spurs if the long nap doesn't get there first. While it is easy to see that time in others, it is a very difficult pill to swallow for ourselves. Not sure too many type A personalities will voluntarily give up. I will fight it to the end, but I wouldn't drag others down that road.

I would NEVER make my buddy the camp cook. He has some really strange eating habits. I don't know how his wife puts up with him. I learned over 30 years ago that when we go, we do our own cooking. He might make a pot of pasty white rice and toss in a hot dog. That's supper. He doesn't like stuff mixed together - like stews or soups. Each ingredient is eaten separately. I could go on.

I’m getting long of tooth, 45 plus years of hunting/guiding. Where does it go?
Being camp cook may not go over well but I do recall camp cooks have shot plenty of deer and elk from camp while the rest of us were out burning legs and leather.
Gets to be a time when having your finger on the trigger is the least of the reasons a hunter wants to be somewhere.

Osky

35 year member of our camp was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s. Vietnam Vet who earned his RVN degree with the Americal Div. Agent Orange related - the gift that keeps on giving. 100% disabled. We could see it last deer season. His meds are helping, but won’t hold it off forever. I told him I’d carry him out there if he wanted. MI will give you a permit for hunting from a vehicle if it comes to that. At least he can stay warm. Or he he just wants to hang out at camp, that’s fine too - and that’s becoming the most enjoyable part of the hunt anyway.

We were 11 for decades. Soon we’ll be down to 3. The youngest is 50. As for me, I haven’t missed an opener for 45 years. I never expect to; even if I can only get 20’ from the truck for a few hours. When that can’t happen anymore, then I’m off this mortal coil.

You can always take him to range to go shooting.

Lot of experience gathered in this thread. I’m 45 and dad turns 70 this year. He’s still killing and processing a good supply of venison every year and threads like this make me grateful he’s able and enjoying it. Hope to have him in the woods for many, many more years.

If there’s been a change in him at all, it’s how much effort he puts into the grandkids being involved. Best man I know.

The little cartoon was drawn after an elk hunt a few years ago, preceded by a hip replacement just 6 mos prior. I struggled with strength and balance on canyon-sides.

I’m not making fun of anyone or anything other than, perhaps, myself. There is some humor in reality. I’m 73 and still deer hunting by myself and walking miles per hunting day after pheasants. But it’s getting more challenging for my buddies (same general age) and myself and there are more “after market” parts involved.

Overall, getting to septuagenarian status largely intact, is a great blessing — three score and ten and if by strength, a little more…

"Nothing f%&#'s you harder than time."

I’ll be 74 in June. This thread hits home. I do my best to stay strong and active but I can see a marked decline in the last ten years. Some days are better than others.

I'll never let pride or being scared keep me from keeping my friends safe.

That said it may just be you are not going with me on a flight out again. Or a backpack hunt. Or whatever but I'll sure do for my friends the best I can to keep em going one way or another if they want to.

If thats finding a place to push a wheel chair into a blind or park a truck behind a bush and roll a window down then I'm all over it. Whether they shoot or not who cares, but they will have the chances they need.

And obviously at some point they may be unsafe around a gun but if they want to go look...

You just do the best you can until you can't anymore.

69 here, still walking pastures, fence-lines, hunting every chance I get.
Still fairly strong, hoping to ride horses longer than my father, who had to quit at 75 (bad hips that seem to be congenital)
Only thing I have to watch anymore, is rimrocks. Due to neuropathy, my balance isn't what it was just a few years back.
So I go slow and easy - crawl or scoot as necessary.
Don't want to fall - finding and recovering my carcass could be a biotch!

Yeah, one of my elk hunting buddies thinks a jar of Ragu or a can of cream of mushroom soup over some mystery meat is camp gourmet…. Two wives come along with husbands these days to keep them out of trouble or make sure they get cross-country safely. None of us are getting any younger. Works for me since we eat really well these days. I used to lose 10 pounds on an elk hunt. Now I hope to come home even! 🤣

I'll hunt until my wheelchair rusts away.
Three joint implants and numerous orthopedic surgeries.
BUT....I'm also sadly aware of my physical condition. When I reach the point I no longer need to be "out there", I'll shed a tear, and stay in camp or at home.

To tell an old buddy you no longer think he needs to be out hunting, tell him honestly and privately.
Don't make s#¡t up.
Don't lie.
Don't argue.

My grandad was 80+ when he killed his last deer with an open sight .30-30 and no glasses. One shot.
The camp built him a box blind with a heater and we drove him to "his" blind.
I'll be 72 this year and haven't deer hunted in 4 years due to surgeries and recoveries.

NOT THIS YEAR!!! 😃