I am 62 years old now, but a lot of miles on the body. 2 ankle surgeries, 2 foot surgeries and 2 knee surgeries before I was 45. Double knee replacement in November of 2016. Impingement in both rotator cuffs. Nerve damage in my left lower back. Other than that I'm good!! LOL!
Like a lot of you, I have a bucket list of animals and places I want to hunt, with Moose being at the top of the list. Lately, I find myself enjoying my time in the woods here at home more and more. Having the time to spend hunting this year, I learned more about the deer and turkey movement and the property in general than I have in the last 10 years. I spent a lot time in the spring and summer doing habitat work and some food plots, not just for deer, but for turkey, rabbits and quail. Actually have a few quail now and I've seen more rabbits this year than I have in the last 10 years. Property was logged a few years ago and I cleaned up a lot of the treetops for firewood and made brush piles for the rabbits and quail. My wife helps me on all of this. She drives the tractor and runs the small chainsaw. We plan to plant a few pear and crabapple trees this spring.
I actually get around fine. I can hang stands, cut wood...pretty much anything I want (can't get down on my knees very well) at my own pace. I just stop and rest when I need to. Dropped my bow weight to 50# in February and shot over 100 arrows yesterday and feel just fine today.
I have come to the realization that I just don't want to spend 2-3 weeks away from home. I get so much satisfaction working on the property and seeing the work make a difference for the critters. I like spending time in the woods with my wife and being home at night planning what we'll do next. I want to hit some of the bigger bow shoots and the smaller local ones too. 3-4 days at a shoot then back home. I will still hunt deer like my life depends on it and want to get back into chasing turkeys. May take a few days once in awhile to go someplace for pig hunting, but the wife can go along for that. No big plans, but I am a happy (lucky) man!
58, only one knee surgery so far.
But 12 years ago THE ADMIRAL and I sold the sailboat, sold the house the suburbs and bought a modest cabin "in the sticks" on 20 acres (mostly wooded). Our property backs into a 5 mile x 8 mile wooded hill. It has been our little slice of heaven. Two nights ago we had deer 15 feet from the bedroom window browsing a sapling.
I walk out my back door 250 yards to my tree stand or a little further to a ground blind. Very content with the whitetail available locally. Achievable but still a challenge.
And more stumps and rotted trunks than a man could ever need. :archer:
Older and wiser maybe.......I hear what your saying, wish I had a good place to hunt so I would think about traveling to do so. Maybe when the day come I move south things will improve on the on the hunting end. Still like to stump shoot when ever I can. I went on Bear Quest #9 and I might do that again......it was a great time with good people. Heck I even shot a bear.......ding things at your own pace is not a bad thing.
Mike,Sounds like your living the good life...Enjoying the simple things
I couldn't agree more. Ive always been a hunt close to home type. My wife and i bought a 30 acre farm of which half is wooded and i am blessed with some farms nearby to hunt. I retired this past summer and seldom leave the property or walking distance woodlots. I do find im much more aware of the deer population which curbs my harvest. Ohio has been too liberal with doe tags and nuisance permits and my area has pretty low numbers. Id love to hear some of your habitat improvement projects.
Mike, I'm 63 and sounds like we're doing the same things , lucky enough to have a nice chunk of property to mess around on , small food plots, planting some trees , running some trail cams, and naming a few bucks, its the best, enjoy yourself I sure am.
Mike I know what you are saying.Have been moose hunting and killed one,a couple of black bears but have enjoyed chasing whitetails here in Okla more than anything this year.
Terry
Life can beat the Hell outta ya.So anytime I read about brothers slowing down, enjoying their retirement,& passion for archery it makes me happy!
Mike you are a lucky man and you are smart enough to know it. As we age things that used to be in the bucket list don't seem as important, we enjoy a sunset and the quiet things in life, like the wife, did I say quiet....
:clapper:
As the saying goes if I had known I would of lived this long I would have taken better care of myself :-)
Will be 72 in January, retired 5 years ago and spend winters in SC & GA hunting hogs, forging knives, riding my horse and just enjoying life after practicing over 40 years. Life is good!
I hear ya Mike. I've read that the secret to satisfaction is managed expectations. Doesn't mean that I gave up any dreams, just looking at my future realistically.
I'll be 62 in a month and am in a hospital bed for the next 3-4 days. Second bout with endocarditis in seven years. I retire in February and plan to spend time with family fishing and hunting local favorites. I have no desire to travel long distances for adventure when there's plenty to keep me busy close to home.
Really didn't expect this much response and I thank you all for the positive comments! There are times that I read about some of the hunts and adventures here on TradGang and I feel guilty for not planning a big trip somewhere. Almost feel like something must be wrong with me not wanting to go out west and chase critters!
I still love to read about everyones adventures here and I am sure I always will and if anyone ever has an abundance of Moose or Elk meat I would be more than happy to "store" it for them!
Mike
Hi Mike,
Glad to see you are doing well even after all the physical challenges! Super great to see you are in high spirits and having fun.
Our mutual buddy Jim, in Lafayette is doing well except he can't shoot the bows he likes best. That tree stand fall two years ago boogered him pretty good.
I love my time hunting here at home with my son, son-in-law, and more and more the grand children. My so and are enjoying our new property as well, most of the work is just bush hogging to keep it from becoming a cedar forest.
My brother, son, Jim, and I still try to make it some place for something economical and not too rowdy (black bear, pronghorns, and turkey). I have a chance to go on first (and last?) moose hunt this next year (Alberta) but I don't know if I'll do it yet.
I'm planning, if God agrees, to retire at 67 (I'll be 64 in Feb.). I do delegate a lot more these days.
You did it right Mike. I retired at 51 from a local police department (we had a 50/25 and out and I took it). Wife and I traveled a lot by riding a bicycle self contained across the United States which was of course our longest trip but we did many other long rides around the U.S, Europe and Ireland. Now at 68 I read the obituaries to make sure my name isn't in them and thank the Lord for waking up on the right side of the grass everyday.
Mike,
Thanks for sharing. Having gone through a similar 'awakening', I beginning to think/wish I'd done it 20 years sooner.
Life is always about what makes you happy. At 65 I still like to do a trip out west somewhere each year. It was aways hunting but I am now planning fishing trips as well.
52, 2 knee surgeries, I just cant grind in the woods every day like I used too. Sometimes just need a sleep morning. Mike
Mike,
I think you & I are a lot alike. I'll be 62 in a month, 1 knee replacement, a pacemaker, and packing 2 cow elk out, and hunting 2 weeks ago reinforced the need for another new knee....
I've told my wife if we ever move anywhere, the only requirement is that we move near a good hardware store. Need to be able to easily buy parts for myself, hee hee......
I dunno. I'll be 72 soon and still greatly enjoy a two-wek hunt out West. Love chasing the whitetails around home and spend two-three weeks pre/during/post rut doing that as well, but I won't stop going out west until I can't hack it anymore. Figure I don't have too many years left to hunt the mountains so doing all I can while I can.
Mike,
I am in the same boat just without the land to hunt. I hunt public land not easy to find a good area. I am 64 but still have the passion to bow hunt I go as long and hard as the body allows, sometimes maybe a little too much. Enjoy your retirement!
Bill
Mike. I'm coming around to your way of thinking. I'm at home now recovering from double knee surgery. My priorities are changing now. The last 15-20 years I've done a lot of hunts away from home. Now I'm wanting to just spend more time with my wife doing camping trips or whatever and just hunt on the farm here for whitetails. Physically I can still do just about anything but am looking at what is most important.
Good to hear from others like me. I'll be 67 in the spring. Sometimes it is hard to stop doing the thing you've been at for 50 years. Had a knee replacement shoulder replacement at the rate things are going I think I better retire soon. Whitetails are what I like to chase and I've got 160 acres to hunt so I best get at it! Great kids and 8 grandkids all bowhunters. I guess I better get busy.
Good luck to you all
I'm not quite to retirement yet at 48 but close.
I've been on several hunts out west and it just burns so much vacation time so fast. Most years I choose to just burn a hour or so vacation every afternoon and that allows me to bowhunt virtually every single day from our opener on sep 15 until our gun season starts second weekend of November. It's hard to give up hunting every day for one animal and 2 weeks.....
Tim B
Mike my life story reads just about the same as yours. I was a union carpenter for years. I was forced to medically retire a couple years ago after having back surgery. Prior to that I had two shoulder surgeries ,loved my job but the trades sure aren't body friendly. My desire to hunt is sometimes more than I can physically do, at times I push myself a little to hard and pay for it later on. My wife keeps saying You cant do things you used to but in my mind I'm still in my early twenties.
I just turned 71 in November. I still like to make trips to other states. I also enjoy my deer hunting on our property down in NC.
I'll be 82 in March, if you guys think it's bad now.... wait until you look like this
(https://ohtheplacesyoullgouk.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/oldman.jpg)
How did you get my photo......... :biglaugh:
I retired for about a year, and then went back to work part time out of boredom. I am having some health issues that make travel very difficult and some others that have made it very difficult to shoot the bow. I did not hunt this year. I have even begun to consider taking up the rifle again, something I haven't done in 23 years. Shoulder surgery fixed part of my problem, but arthritis is beginning to really become an issue. That takes some of the luster off bowhunting. Fishing with the grandson is a big part of my spring time plan. I don't have to travel far or climb trees to catch fish.
When I turned 60 I bought a Harley and got a tattoo, it made me feel 20 years younger. :goldtooth:
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/Harley-500.jpg)
Last summer at age 81 I went on a one week road trip on the bike and on the last day I road over 200 miles to make it to the GLLI. So the solution to getting old is....don't act your age. :biglaugh:
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/harley-2.jpg)
I don't feel old at all. My point was that I am content with hunting deer and turkey here at home and spending more time with my wife, kids and grandkids. 3 mornings a week I lift weights and try walk 3-5 miles a day. I've been cutting and splitting firewood this morning and am heading out this afternoon to try to get deer number 3 for the season. Maybe I should've worded my title differently. I was just saying that I am content with my life. I'm not ruling out a Moose hunt in the future, it just isn't as much of a priority as it once was. Happy New Year to everyone here on the "gang"! Mike
QuoteOriginally posted by Ron LaClair:
I'll be 82 in March, if you guys think it's bad now.... wait until you look like this
(https://ohtheplacesyoullgouk.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/oldman.jpg)
Is that " wishful thinking " Ron :pray:
I think you look pretty good Ron, I think you're three times as active as I am !!!
Carl
Ron,
I had to get up on my gold wing because of my knees !
What's your plans for when you get 120 ! And besides yeah don't look a day over 25 !!!
I bet you are skydiving without telling us !
Carl
Wow ! Mike,
Splitting wood, hunting deer, running a 3 to 5 mile race with turkeys.
I think I got to have a better attitude Mike, because it looks like you got it down. Attitudes are adjustable, and that's all you have done to bring your self right down to happiness. You look like a guy that appreciates what he has not what he needs to chase to be happy. Having your wife help you with that, that's great
Congratulations on retirement !
Carl
Speaking of cutting wood I did some of that too last fall. It's good to know I can still cut it....wood that is :biglaugh:
(http://www.shrewbows.com/rons_linkpics/cuttin-wood-1.jpg)
Hey Ron, if you get tired of the Kawasaki Mule, I'd be glad to load up and get it out of your way! Never had a side by side before but now that I'm retired I find more and more uses for one. I gotta '05 John Deere Buck (650 CanAm) that I'd leave for you to use! ;<) LOL!
I love my Mule Mike. I've got a Polaris quad but I got the Mule a few years ago when Nancy was too sick to walk in the woods so I'd take her for rides around the farm.
I haul it up to Shrew Haven in the U P every year now too, It's real handy for old guys with bad knees. :D
Sounds like pretty good situation Mike...congratulations. And a wife who enjoys it too..I envy you that..lol.
Keep on keeping on Mike!
I have noticed that the colder it gets, the older I feel. With these current temps, some of you northern guys must be about 110 years old this week.
Could never stand the term "bucket list". I'm almost 64 and retired almost two years ago. I do what feels good and there is no "list" involved. Kind of like "man cave", I don't like that crap term either. Yup, I'm a crusty ole bastard. :)
Sam-went out mid-morning and hiked a bit under 2 miles on the hunting property looking for turkey sign (season goes out on Sunday) and checking out the deer movement. Wind chill was -3 degrees when I hit the woods. As long as I was moving it wasn't real bad...not real good either!