Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting How old can you go.....

I'll be 62 next month and have mostly hunted solo for the last 25-30 years. This past fall was the first season in a long time I wasn't solo - my 10 yr old grandson started hunting this year. He's small enough I still have to do most of the heavy lifting...

I’ll be 79 by the time modern gun season rolls around again. I usually hunt by myself, but due to some surgeries I don’t do much work after the shot. I have a son, a son-in-law, and a grandson in the wings to handle the hard work.

I go hunting and kayaking solo most of the time.

I kayak in the spring, summer and fall 5-6 days a week and I go with friends maybe 2 times a month. (In winter time there is no open water here)
I hunt elk, deer and antelope every year and I go by myself about 3 times out of 4.

I'll go myself until I can't. How long? I don't know, but UNTIL I CAN'T
At 67 and with no sign of letting up, I expect to go for a while longer. If God blesses me that way, maybe for 35 more years. But that's not up to me.

Fifties, you're young and agile.
Sixties, Heck, i can do anything.
Seventies, what the heck, that worked great yesterday, darn fix engine lite won't go off. Put some duct tape over it.
Some of us got good genes, some didn't. Some of us put more miles on the meter than others. A few of us made a bunch of bad decisions and somehow survived. If you're still around in your seventies and eighties, you've buried most of your fishing and hunting buddies. You just keep fixing and patching and trying. The hard part is adjusting.
Life's a great adventure, live it.
Bfly

The loading is my challenge. I use a hoist/winch system that slides into my receiver hitch. Breaks down to 3 ft. sections and swivels. Comes with a boat type crank but I use a set of 2/3 rope blocks that make it even easier. Not many tall mesquite trees in S Texas to drag one to.

For you guys reluctant to shoot an animal where you would need to pull it back up hill to get it out, you might want to look at buying yourself a Simpson capstan rope winch. Been there and done that when I was hunting in hills that you could bury Packer Stadium in. That was back in the days when we had to get deer out whole except for field dressing. I bought one of those little 16 pound, two stroke 2,000# pull Simpsons with 300’ of no stretch rope. Problem solved. It came in handy for pulling in the boat lift for the winter too.

I am 72 and still plan to be out solo. The distance I can cover has changed a bit and I think more on how far the pack out would be for an animal. This past fall - late in the season we had bad snow conditions - break through crust with 12 to 18 inches of soft underneath — this was the first time in many years that I used a quad to get back into areas to hunt.

The first two deer this past fall were spot and stalk a ways down a creek bottom, walk back to the truck, get it close and a lot of rope to drag up and out. The third was in an area miles from the truck and only accessible by machine.

I will be more open on using the quad now as the pack out with an animal was much easier.

I hope to be able to do this for quite a few more years and as a hard core upland hunter use that season for keeping my legs in shape for the deer / elk seasons.

I was on a late season special draw hunt with 2 other fellows this past fall - one slightly younger than me and one at 75. I had a cow moose tag and they had deer tags. I had considered going on my own — having the helping hands to deal with a downed moose made me realize that I am no longer young.

The other realization was on a long drag out out at night in tough snow of a deer that my 75 year old partner shot. He worked to fast and to hard — he got his heart rate and breathing up to a point that he was disoriented. Older should mean wiser which at times should also mean slower. He came out of the night pull out ok but it took a couple of hours back at the truck for him to settle down.

I’m only 33 but hope to be like you gents when I’m 66! Good Lord willing.

Thanks for posting, I'm going to check into this.

Yeah, I dropped a 210 pounder dressed buck back there and a buddy and I worked for most of the day getting him out of there with a boat winch and lots of rope. As soon as I got back I asked some western guys what they do when they can’t use an atv because of terrain or wilderness restrictions. They recommended that Simpson rope winch, but not the chainsaw one. I think that they are using Honda 4 stroke engines on them now and they weigh more than mine with the Tecumseh 2 stroke. Mine fits in a back pack with a small bottle of pre-mix when I’ve needed it. But… the father-in-law sold the cottage with the boat lift and I don’t hunt that hill country anymore, so talk nice and mine could come up for sale. It should get used. The Simpson web site said something that hit home for us older guys, “Just what’s a coronary event worth to you?” Ouch.

Wish I could have been able to retire earlier.

I would agree with that

That is smart

Damn Right. Rio7

I'd definitely be interested in your winch. If you don't mind, send me a PM with details.

pushing 77 and have a bad ticker. Do my hunting now at my son's place. Very productive, 8 miles from my casa, and he will do the work after the shot.

Did mine on my own last year,70 yrs old. Luckily only about a 1/4 mile from truck,and somewhat down hill. Was stumped how I was going to lift it into truck . I was about 50 yds from truck, and heard a vehicle approaching on the road. Ran down and flagged them over. They were Idaho state workers (2). Asked them if they could give me a hand loading, they stated they were already late for an appointment, but congratulated me !! LOL. Managed to drag the deer to a higher bank next to the road, so not too bad . Gotta get the Grandkids involved, could really use the help !

i will be 70 this next deer season i plan on only using my favorite rifle a Ruger #1 - 257 Weatherby mag. half the time and the other 1/2 will be with my new to me Ruger #1- 1B 257 Roberts and probably in a year a 2 more i will just use the 257 Roberts. because of worn out shoulders , i was a climbing REA lineman for 35 years here`s my surgeries : 1 knee surgery , 1 neck surgery with a steel disc installed ,heart surgery , 4 back surgeries steel plates and screws installed ,left and right shoulders both have had surgery , i have had many spinal shoots,knee shots,shoulder shots i could fill a bath tube with steriods for what has been injected in my body ,surgeon wants to replace my left shoulder i told him no more surgeries for a long time. eye surgery too. but heck i am ready for another trap season ,fishin and fall hunting including a black bear hunt up at my camp this fall alone again but i will be using a 1953 Winchester pre-64 model 70 -30-06 . guys hang in there at least we don`t have to work anymore !

DIY solo this year at age 66.

I'll be 70 this Oct 1. License will be $5.