my last year?

my diabetes has got the best of me this year and my legs are to weak to get around and be safe and i dont mind telling yall i sure have missed it. I cant see taking the 4 wheeler and maybe killing a deer to have someone else gut it and haul it out for me. Anybody else thats hunted for over 40yrs give up on it?

Not yet.

Not yet here either. Gave Dad an off-road walker for Christmas last year and it has increased his time in the field greatly (88 y/o and diabetic).

I'm Sure that's hard and hate to hear that. I wouldn't mind getting ya on some hogs sometime. I would help ya any way I can. Let me know if there is anything I can do to help out! I've seen my uncle go through the same thing. I know its tuff.

i have hauled, cleaned, and processed COUNTLESS deer for my boys. hopefully someday they will return the favor. i just find my drive to kill waning in recent years, and though i still love to hunt, i rarely kill a deer anymore. i fear that someday i wont have any desire to hunt, and that kind of scares me!!!

Got the property to hunt just dont have anybody else to retrieve a deer or hog if i killed one. Im hoping my legs get better but i dont think they will. Thanks guys for the offers.

I have some places in Franklin county we can go. Or let me know when your hunting and I'll make myself available to help you with your animal(s) after you get one! No problem at all. That's what this forum is all about!

TAT i apreciate the offer. It sure is tuff to not be able to do something i have loved all my life.

So sorry you are having to make such a decision. At 70 with diabetic issues I am dreading having to deal with complications down the road. Hunting and fishing is my passion and not being able do so may be unbearable. I pray you can find rewarding alternatives. As noted above i have dragged, gutted and butchered many a deer for a lot of family and friends hope they see fit to give me an extension. God bless you brother!!!!!!!!

I know it is. I saw my uncle go through it and it was tough. The offer stands though!

'Hope it is not your last year, but I admire you for facing reality, being wise and safe about it, and not being so stubborn that it causes grief (figuratively and maybe literally) for friends and family, as some proud men do. If we live long enough, we will all face decisions like this, diabetic or not. Looks like you have some good guys on here to help, if you want to at least get out and about. All the best to you.

Thanks to all for the kind words and offers. happy new year to all and be safe.

Wow. Standup thing right there. TAT, you're a good man. Not too far away either.

Thanks Erath, i feel like if can make someone's day easier or better that's what im here for and I'm gonna try my hardest to do that!

That’s the way I look at it, I’ll never be able to repay my dad for all he has done for me. Since he taught me to gut a deer I’ve done my best to make sure he doesn’t have to do much more than pull the trigger.

I think that's how it should be!

When I was a kid me and Roy would kill a buck and his dad would go get it and clean it. We would be hikng all over the Llano hills and rock mounds hunting everything that moved. I have been hunting for 38 years and they will have to kill me to make me stop. Whoever they is.

I gave up hunting 6yrs ago in favor of my grandson doing all the killin. I had lost the urge to pull the trigger after 50yrs of hunting. Fast forward....grandson has gone into rut and dear hunting has temporarily taken the place of deer hunting for him. So this year I had a problem....I needed meat and tha boy wasn't hunting this year
In past 3.5yrs I've had two major heart attacks and a minor stroke. Now I have 3 stents and a pacemaker/difibulator implant. I have rebounded remarkedly well from all that and docs are even amazed how far I've come. Been feeling great and decided I was gonna hunt again...mainly for the meat which I've always had and loved.
Bottom line....
I've wacked me a couple doe and now hunting a big cull the hunters want gone. Im loving hunting this season prob more than ever. I've been blessed with not one but two extra chances at life. And I've started hunting again. Something I never thought id do....life is good.

I've had marginally successful surgery on my back two years ago, and now with hip, and nerve pain down my right leg, I'm extremely limited in mobility.
I have trouble walking and standing very long because of the pain, but I still hunted this year and managed to kill a doe back on the second of December.
After I shot the doe I took my time tracking and found the deer about 100 yards in thick brush stone dead.
I was about 70 yards from my Jeep, so I began the chore of gutting the doe which just a few years back would have taken less than 5 minutes. It took me a while longer than that because of the many breaks I took during the process.
I then had to drag the 65# carcass to my Jeep which was lucky for me, mostly down hill to the road. Again, taking plenty of breaks to catch my breath and not die there on the spot.
I made it obviously, but in the back of my mind, if it had been a big old buck, I would have had to swallow my pride and get help.
I've always said, "even if I have to crawl" I'm actually not far from that now!
I guess if all I can do is pull the trigger, I'll probably just hang it up after nearly 60 years.

This season was my 43rd chasing deer. Always thought I would have to be drug out of the woods kicking and screaming, not so sure now. Last year, in August, basically had one of my legs torn nearly in two at the knee. Two surgeries, several hours each, and a lot of rehab. Missed all of bow season, but was good to go for rifle. Had to drive the Ranger more than I cared to, and used a cane to go from it to whatever stand I was hunting, but everything worked out fine. This year, most people would never know about my accident, so health isn't the issue. My Father died 23 years ago, my brother last year, my 2 hunting buddies. It's just not that fun anymore. Woods around my place average a hunter per 30 acres, lots of commotion, lots of aggravation. Still kill good deer most years, but it's not the same. If you can't relax/enjoy the hunt, why bother? Doing a lot of soul searching right now.

I landed up in a wheelchair in December of 1999, through the help of God and a great neurosurgeon I was using a walker and sometimes a cane by the 2000 deer season. I have hunted ever since, either my son or one of my nephews field dress what I shoot and load it for me. I also do not drive, 2 bad legs and blind in one eye, so one of them gets me there and gets me home.

Well, i can tell you after hunting 40+ yrs too, im starting feeling the effects of cold weather today, just being in my early 60s inm gonna keep on trucking till i cant. I know next year my old blind i dad and i built on our farm is about shot, i think a nice wind proof, bug proof blind is in order for next year, i closed up the windows some hung on t shirts blocking views, time changes everything in time.

Enjoy the times you had with friends and family and relish the memories, to me just being out is better than couped up in some building 8-5 every day!...


hunt safe....

The way I see it if you are able to set in stand then there are plenty people that would gladly retrieve and dress game for you.Thay are plenty of young hunters that I trained up.I already rely on their help .