Home Forums Hunting & Shooting General Big Game At what age did you begin to feel physically less functional in the bush

For me, the 4 phase process works like this:

1) run a mental inventory of current aches, pains, twinges, and crackling noises;
2) choose the least problematic body part to bear the burden (back? left knee? right knee? right elbow?);
3) plan the downstroke and upstroke;
4) execute and head for the medicine cabinet.

Pretty ridiculous, considering that two years ago I was going up and down ladders and walking around on roofs, goig for bike rides, etc.

Ain't that the truth. Grinnin' here.

Steve

Man, listening to you makes me feel like I'm 64. I went out to get a Christmas tree on Sunday, a 75 mile RT by snowmachine- something that was like a 5 mile bike ride 5-10 years ago. I spent yesterday hurting. I am getting so used to that, I barely realized it until I spent 20 minutes too close to the wood stove and discovered what it felt like not to hurt everywhere for awhile.

I hate stairs. It seems like only yesterday that stairs were built too small - two at time or three were more logical. No more - by a long shot.

But like you all say, pain is prefereable to the usual pain-free alternative when you get around and beyond the "quint"essential years.

Wow, all these posts make me thankful for my life. By the time I was thirty I had all the farm work, Foundry work and plant Bull work behind me and was settled into something that didn't break down my body like some of you have had to do.
I saw my dad pretty well worked out by age fifty and some of my friends suffer from work related problems. One hunting Bud can barely hobble around camp the first part of the day in cold weather.
My heart ain't the best, and the hands are a little shaky but so far all the joints work and the lungs still pump air. Maybe I'll complain a little less next year and be thankful for what I've got.
I've got a lot of respect for those of who who push past the pain and still get it done.

I just turned 47 last week. I started seeing a few things changing when I was around 43-44. My high range hearing was lost well before that. funny, my body compensated for the hearing loss by making my "woods" eyes better.
But speaking of eyes, I've been using cheaters the last few years since I ran out of arm to read the paper.
I've always worked outdoors and have a physical job. Works both ways, on one hand ,it can keep your body conditioned. OTOH, wear and tear factor is higher.
I had my first shoulder surgery this past June.
I started hunting when I was around 13 in the mid-seventies. That would make it at the half-way or just past the half-way mark in my hunting life, if all goes well, of course. Thirty something hunting seasons under my belt. Yea, I'm cool with that.
Approaching 50, and recent injuries, I just go a tad slower, and smarter.

I already posted some of my "age difficulties". I am leaving for Florida with the wive to visit relatives, pick up a mount, & go on a boar hunt. I had a sudden arthritic attack in my foot & can hardly walk. Wive asked me how I was going to boar hunt if I can hardly walk. Hopefully, it will improve in the next several days but I'm going on the hunt. Hog hunting is a passion with me & I will find a way. Happy holidays to all.

At 56 I cannot follow a blood trail without the cheaters, but can still see good enough to shoot. I spent a lot of time in the sun when growing up in Florida, it coagulates your eye lens protein early so I will get a cataract operation in 3-4 years. I am going for as close to long distance seeing as I can get!! I had been going to the gym 2 times a week but lifting too much so now I am taking a break and will start back Jan 2 with 30 minutes of Aerobic and 30 minutes of reasonable lifting. All I do is carry an 8 pound rifle and a 25 pound pack at most a mile or two for where I hunt. I have deliberately avoided using a 4 wheeler unless draging a deer out. My biggest issues are hearing and seeing, the hearing is not too bad but it is going at bit, the rest is OK so far. Let me tell you about the 80 year old that hunts with us and fell a few feet out of his climbing tree stand this year. Austin is a salty 80 year old marine, he is on blood thinnners, and cannot bend fast or easily over to pick up his rifle but he climbs trees and shoots deer. I would even at his tender age of 80 rather kick a 400 pound hog in the Azz than mess with him....a lot of life is attitude in my opinion...Scat Man Cruthers used to say....don't look back someting might be gaining on you....

That's a relief. I thought I was the only one.

-

This yr I guided 3 brown bear,2 moose,and 3 Dall Rams then went to Kodiak for 3 weeks. At 56 my pace is more relaxed but still gets the job done. The trapline has been finetuned over the yrs but big dumps of snow and overflow are as exhausting now as it was 25 yrs ago. I've also noticed my alcohol consumption has increased and the amount of sleep needed has decreased.

Well folks, this has probably been one of the best threads I've read all year, maybe in many years. Not saying that because I started this one, but because there are over 100 posts and no arguements or debate! Usually with that many posts there is some problem that drives the thread.

I'm blessed genetically to be able to keep doing what I am, and have not lost much even at my Middle age score! There is probably more to genetics then anything else, and after that injuries and damage repairs. Over all I think conservatively that Most folks should be able to hunt hike and climb til well over 60, probably 65 years old. Minus some time off of that for injury or other health reasons.

In my job one of the things I worry about is having a hunter waiting on me to climb the hill, or make good time quietly on a stalk. One of the things I see as the biggest problem for my older hunters is hearing. Funny too in that this thread mentioned almost no problems in that area. Hearing makes stalking very difficult, the hunter cannot hear his own problems while sneaking along. Change and/ or empty shells in the pockets, pant cuffs rubbing together, thorns and such scratching against clothing. "Wispering" to me at about 90db.

Anyway........ Thanks for sharing all of your humbling thoughts on this. For any of you younger hunters interested in hunting some difficult species and habitats, consider your health and the choices you make in your 20's now. You're setting the foundation for the future when you can afford these hunts later in life.

I don't know what the future holds for me health wise, but I'm darn glad I took such good care of myself in my 20's and 30's. My wife who is much younger then I am was not as genetically blessed. Her hearing and vision were never as good as mine, and is now showing some age related decline. Fortunately she has several other very redeeming qualities so I'll keep her around a while yet.

Thanks for the feedback and the very entertaining contribution to this thread.

Bless you, my son. (It really has had very sincere confessional qualities to it, hasn't it? I mean, what other thread have you ever seen where grown men come out and discuss this stuff as unapologetically as they have here?)

Okay, back to arguing and other stiff upper lip stuff....

JJ and others,

I fall into your "younger hunter" bracket currently, as I'm 24. Staying in shape well enough to be able hunt hard for a long time is of particular interest to me, and I know the way I take care of myself now will affect my performance (and ability to pick up things off the floor) years down the road. (note: this doesn't mean I ALWAYS take care of myself how I know I should, but at the very least I am aware, and trying to get better at putting it into practice)

There is an issue I've been hoping for some insight into. I hear many older people claim that working hard jobs, or being very active in the bush, is what enabled them to stay in shape and continue to be active in the bush. On the flip side, I hear folks suggest that working hard jobs, and running around hard in the bush, wore them out prematurely. I know I've felt dogzapper was suggesting this second might apply to him.

So what should I do with these two conflicting concepts? Will the activity really wear one person out early, and sustain another, or are there other factors at work? Undoubtedly some are dealt a better genetic card than others, but is there more to it than that, and if there is, what is it?

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Thanks,
Carl

And by the way, good topic and discussion, to all involved.

I don't have a pat answer but I think young people like you are ahead of us as to keeping physicaly fit. I lost a lot of it in my late 20 and 30's too much partying and not enough physical activity except for hunting. If I knew what I know now I would have never have gone down that road. I missed out on a lot stuff that I would like to have tried like trail running and eadventure racing stuff like that. By the time I decided to get with a program in my mid 40's I was a little behind the eight ball. With that said the fact that your reading this stuff and asking questions says to me that you are you ahead of the game.

I hope some one can answer your question I worked at a desk my whole life but if I had thought it important I could have stayed in a lot better shape when I was younger by doing fun phyicial fitness stuff hobbies in the off season. I also think younger people are more away and have more oppertunites we had very few gyms and work out options when I was younger.

It's pretty simple. Every trauma your body goes through when you are young comes back to haunt you in the future. It's not the working hard, but the physical demands you put on your body. A person can work darn hard setting at a desk or such, but when you are in construction, mining, farming, ect, jobs that place a high demand on your body, you will suffer more in the future.

Saddlesore you just hit it 100% accurate with your comment.

I've been employed as a Marine, a Timberfaller, and Hardrock miner. I'm in my late 30's and must say that timberfalling and underground hardrockmining have really taken their toll on me. It makes an old man out of you quickly, especially the underground environment, with it's unhealthy conditions.

Saddlesore, is so right in that every little trauma you get in youth comes back to haunt you.

Stay away from high impact dangerous work (especially mining), and keep yourself fit and injury free as possible.

7 yrs ago I flatbench over 540 lbs without training much. Nowadays I cannot hardly use my hands for work as they are really destroyed. My back has been broke in several places, and my neck broken/plated/screwed and laminated twice. Left leg, foot, and left shoulder all broken and full of hardware. Right hip is artificial.

Take the easy occupations in life and stay away from busting your a$$ and preserve your body. I sure wish I followed that advice and I'm offering it to young guys now.

Elkcreek, Know what you mean about hadrock mining. I spent about 3 months per year, 10-12 hr days, from 1969 though 1992 at the Nevada Test Site, 120 miles NW of Las Vegas doing undergrond nuclear testing. It is essentailly a hard rock mine, but had 20 ft drifts. Bad air, diesel fumes, silica dust, asbestos, lead dust, cement dust,radiation, mold, high noise and a whole bunch of other nasty things. Probably the hard living weekends in Vegas didn't help a lot either.
Ironic, I left western PA in 61 becasue I didn't want to work in a coal mine

I am going to turn 53 in Feb. and well I don't move like I did in my 20's. I had eye surgery when I was just forty, both eyes need new lenses. A good surgeon saved my flying career such as it is. I started having a problem when I was just 34 years old. Then there was the couple of bouts of pnumonia that dam near killed me, then I need to have my gall batter removed and some other minor surgeries along the way. I have noticed one thing, I don't get the flu like I did when I was younger, I guess is that is because I don't socialize much anymore. I have the usual aches and pains, my night vision is not what it was. One doctor thought I was diabetic, had me bouncing off the wall for a year, and another said no the tests don't show it along with your self testing records, you are just a little inslun resistant. So I watch what I eat, Other than that I do what I want when I want. I don't hunt the way I did when I was 35, I just give myself more time. But we are getting older, and we do slow down that is a fact and the Bible tells us this Ecclesiastes Chapter 12 verses 1-7 so its natural for us to talk of this, its something that has been in the mind of man since the begining of time

Interesting comments, to all. Most of my childhood was spend farming in western PA. I also worked in coal mines there, prior to moving to Montana. Mining was harder on me than farming, by a long shot, though it got me in great muscular condition (cardiovascular is another story). Now my days are spent in an engineering office, and I often long for the hard work I have left. In many (if not most) of the office environments I've been in, no one seems to want to work, especially hard. It seems to be slowly rubbing off on me and I HATE that aspect of it.

It seems there must be SOME real work out there, which won't wear a guy out early?

I think something that should be taken into consideration when training as you get older (I'm 43) is to find a regimen that does not accelerate the wear on your body. I played football elementary school - college and have now been in the Army for 20 years. Until recently, a lot of my training was high impact. It really has taken a toll on my ankles, knees, hips and lower back. A couple of years ago, I was in a cycle of training really hard, injuring myself, getting out of shape while healing; repeat every 3-6 months. I've found I'm much better off in terms of overall fitness with a lower impact workout that I can accomplish long term without hurting myself. I typically work out 3-5 times a week. Because of the wear and tear on my wheels, I only run about once a week. The other days I use an eliptical trainer or stationary bike for my cardo workout, or walk. Instead of trying to constantly lift heavy weights, I lift lighter weight higher reps and on some days do workouts using only my body weight (push-ups, planks, sit ups, core body exercises, unweighted squats, ab exercises). This allows my to work out consistently for long periods without hurting myself and then ramp up the intensity for a specific event (PT test, etc.). As we age, we have to make sure our training does more good than harm.

Expat