The time is come to quit Hunting

[Kf338]

It's just me and my dad . I am 55 and my dad is 80 we had lots of good times

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[Dungannon]

Age and health issues catch up with everyone, eventually. Have you been thinking about what you can still do together? For your father especially, it would be important. My grandfathers were both handy guys, and kept working on small projects til the day they died. My dad wasn't so handy, but he looked for ways to be helpful to others and refused to feel sorry for himself. Best wishes, Bob

 

[Andy54Hawken]

So not really knowing anything about you or your dad....

Have you considered some other type of hunting...?
For instance , grouse and rabbit hunting is pretty low key and low "impact" on the body...
As in its more of hiking with guns , than say hunting , like for deer or elk.
One can go as fast or as far as one wants..and the critters are easy to clean and pack out.

In any event....Like Dungannon , I hope you and your dad still find things to enjoy together.
Andy

 

[Dinglenutz]

Dad (a logger) and I quit hunting for the most part when it got trendy and, in his words, "the woods are full of city slickers" became a common thing. Too many people with too little skill. We found other things to do.

 

[thorborg]

That day is going to pretty much suck the life out of me. I've looked forward to eastern Oregon hunting season all year for the last sixty years. The last fifty by myself. I don't make it far from camp now with camp not being as spiffy as it use to be.
Ya, I have other hobbies, but none that thrill and enliven me as getting into the woods watching, feeling and smelling nature no matter the weather. The last deer in 2019 took me three hours to field dress, move it 100 yards to the road, load it and get back to camp. another three to hang it, skin it, and bag it whole. From that experience, I decided no more elk for me unless it wanders into camp, but I still go elk hunting just to get out and always hopeful.
When its time to lay down, I want it to be in the woods, and though no longer possible, for it to be deep in the trail-less wilderness, where I have felt most at ease and comfortable while at the same time exhilarated and refreshed, surrounded by the things that I love and have Inspired me my entire life.

 

[turq]

Have you seen the one;;; where next to your camp or on a road The brown painted 4x4 with a. 3/4" older galv. pipe with faucet held on with clamshell pipe clamps. 2' tall and maybe the number 2.

Set it on the ground and wait for your first customer.

Getting old and Camping can be fun.

 

[Rem700..300]

Take the camera and bag a buck that way. We do that often during the off season or shed hunting. Still getting out and enjoying the woods. Glad you have that relationship with your father. Mine stopped hunting years ago but still enjoys getting involved if I get something. I cherish those moments.
Craig

 

[Bon Sauvage]

I suppose staking him out for bait is out of the question....

 

[orygun]

I hunted with Dad as a kid, but then he pretty much stopped hunting in his 50's (my 20's) until an uncle wanted to come out from Indiana to hunt elk. October of 97 his Brit 303 came out of the box for the first time in over a decade. While we didn't hunt deer together anymore, we started making trips to eastern Oregon for elk. I think the last time Dad hunted it was probably 2012, after that he hung up his boots. At that time he was 81 and I knew those hunting trips we made held a lot of very good memories, even if we didn't bag many elk.
@Kf338 , just because Dad isn't going, doesn't mean you can't. He'd probably like to hear the stories. @thorborg hit that nail right on the head, in my opinion. I'll quit hunting when I can't go anymore. Being in the woods is like Church to me.

 

[fredball]

Your all very Lucky to still have your fathers to do things with cherish everyday you can spend with them .
I lost my Father on April 3rd 1983 miss him immensely .
But I have some pretty fantastic friends and several from this very website I am Blessed in a way I can spend quality time with them
Have a great day everyone

 

[Camohunter]

I lost my dad in 1993. Up until that time we spent a lot of time in the woods chasing animals. I am now blessed to have grown sons to hunt with.
They are not "into" hunting as much as I was when I was their age, but I love the memories that we make when we are hunting.

 

[bbbass]

You are indeed blessed. My dad moved to Calif from Ct before I was born. When I was little, he said there was not hunting avail in CA, therefore we didn't need and couldn't have firearms. But I always had an interest in hunting and had to learn everything on my own.

Many years ago I quit hunting because of all the slob hunters out in the woods locally... they ruined it for me. Then when I lived in Brookings I met a family that had elk camp here in E OR and I camped/hunted with them for many many years. However, I became crippled up enough that I couldn't hike around much, and when I shot elk from my sitting spot, which getting to was hard, the chores of packing out were ruinous to an already damaged body. But I still spent 5 yrs in camp with them. They would go out, and I would clean up, cook, shoot the pellet rifle, read, nap, etc. It was a lot of comradeship and still being out in nature. Unfortunately, 3 yrs ago the health of other group members and their family grew bad enough that elk camp is no more. I miss it greatly!!!

 

[The Heretic]

Quit about 20 years ago after an elk hunt where I had to give up during the hunt due to back pain.

Today the pain is much worse, and I cannot walk 100 yards up the hill to the trash can without chest pain.

Getting old sucks.

 

[bbbass]

Quit about 20 years ago after an elk hunt where I had to give up during the hunt due to back pain.

Today the pain is much worse, and I cannot walk 100 yards up the hill to the trash can without chest pain.

Getting old sucks.

Imagine trying to run to the lifeboat, patrol boat, or swim to rescue!! I don't think I'd have the legs or breath for it at all!!! I'd have been a Master Chief and retired at least 20yrs ago.

 

[Mistman]

Dad passed in 88 @ 51. He had cancer, our last hunt together was 3 months before he passed. While we were walking in the woods that season he told me 'if you see something you shoot it, I don't think I can'. I replied no, you can do it. I think I had more faith in him than was reasonable but I really wanted him to take his last buck himself. He struggled breathing, the radiation treatments had damaged the upper part of his lungs (thyroid blasting). I think he knew it was his last time in the woods, he was so much less of a man than I was used too. I felt like the dad, making sure he was doing ok, drinking enough water, not getting too tired and picking the easiest trails I could find. It was very sad but I wouldn't trade that day for any other. Dad was a man's man, he didn't like attention on himself, he was always about everyone else. He was embarrassed to have cancer, to be coddled. He worked until 2 weeks before he passed as that's all he knew and it was his rock.

So many years have passed since dad and I were together but whenever I'm in the woods I feel like he's with me. He started taking me when I was 5, it wasn't always fun when I was little but it became something I looked forward to with giddy joy. Thinking about hunting and preparing for it is what keeps me going throughout the year when there's not a lot to do.

He passed at 51, I'm 58 now and in my mind I've grown older than him. I think of him as a younger man and myself as older, I see where he was still growing and learning about some of the things I've experienced that he never was able to. I don't talk to him, he's like a silent friend that follows me around and watches what I'm doing. He never met my children, never got to grow old, to be the wise owl.

Make all the day's with your parents special, I always thought they'd be around, be my kids grandparents. Mom passed in '06 @ 65. She new my older kids but not the twins (12 yo). I miss them very much but am most sad they missed growing old.

 

[thorborg]

I hunted with Dad as a kid, but then he pretty much stopped hunting in his 50's (my 20's) until an uncle wanted to come out from Indiana to hunt elk. October of 97 his Brit 303 came out of the box for the first time in over a decade. While we didn't hunt deer together anymore, we started making trips to eastern Oregon for elk. I think the last time Dad hunted it was probably 2012, after that he hung up his boots. At that time he was 81 and I knew those hunting trips we made held a lot of very good memories, even if we didn't bag many elk.
@Kf338 , just because Dad isn't going, doesn't mean you can't. He'd probably like to hear the stories. @thorborg hit that nail right on the head, in my opinion. I'll quit hunting when I can't go anymore. Being in the woods is like Church to me.

On my first elk hunt I coveted a sweet shooting sporterized Enfield 303 Brit a close friend owned which took a nice 3 point in Mill creek watershed and has taken many elk since. I still lament never owning one. Partly because I didn't want to be seen stepping on his parade. Sadly he is now gone as is his rifle.
This is my friend during that hunt:

 

[orygun]

@Mistman , we're the same age. When Dad passed almost 5 years ago at 2 months short of 85 I knew I was one of a lucky few that got to enjoy their parents as adults. High school wasn't that far behind us in '88. Way to early to lose Dad. My sincere condolences.

 

[DeanMk]

It's just me and my dad . I am 55 and my dad is 80 we had lots of good times

You're lucky you and your dad are (were) still going out, even now,
My dad passed in '94, but I think the last time I hunted with him was 1980.
Not a day goes by that I don't wish we could've just kept going out.

 

[Camohunter]

Hunting changed forever for me when my dad passed.
It was always so warm and comforting when we were out in the woods together. It seemed to always make me feel safe somehow, even as I grew older just knowing he was around.
Now when I hunt with my grown sons I try to give that same feeling to them and hope that they can carry those feelings and memories with them through their lives.
It really is incredible how fast the years pass.
You blink and become a mentor when it seems like just yesterday you were following around on someone's shirt tail.

 

[TTSX]

I never did get to hunt with my dad, though he's still very much alive. Only been shooting with him once and like to go again but he's not as mobile as be used to be. A slow walk is all he can manage.

My hunting partner, who has shown me the ropes from the start, is 60 I believe, or very near it. Hopefully he and I have many good years ahead of us but sometimes I worry.

You're all making me sentimental