[MCgunner]

I'm only 55, really doesn't seem that old, but my body seems to be falling apart. I went duck hunting this morning, very few birds, fired three rounds the whole morning. Anyway, I normally just go stand in the reeds. It's usually in water anyway, though I had a dry bank to hunt off of today. I'm getting to where I just can't do it. My knees start hurting, my lower back kills me. I'm going to buy me one of those little hand carts I've seen others using and build me a nice marsh chair out of a boat seat and pedestal, I think. That will help the old bones.

Now, I've been hunting ducks my entire life, well, starting from age 14 anyway. I've been hooked on it, love it, really not sure why, but I am. Even a bad day in the marsh is refreshing to me. I would hate to give it up, but I see the writing on the all at this point. I don't know how much longer I can do it. I did talk to some old fellows once at the local marsh, though, both in their 70s. I was walking back from farther down from where they were hunting and they were taking a breather, sitting on marsh stools, and had a little wheeled buggy with 'em. They said they were from Missouri and they didn't get picked for a blind on some refuge up there for the first time in years and one of the guy's sons works down here, so they just came down here to hunt. 70s, I tell ya! They were taking their time, not pushing it, getting along. I don't know how they handled the mud in the potholes, though, no dog to retrieve or anything, not to mention pickin' up the deeks. Good exercise I guess, but it's gotta be tough at that age. They were inspiring, though. Maybe I'm just a big wuss.:rolleyes:

[Cougfan2]

Even a bad day in the marsh is refreshing to me.

Amen. That's the way I feel about fly fishing. The worst day I ever had on the river was pretty darn good. :)

[alsaqr]

"I would hate to give it up, but I see the writing on the all at this point."

Well, i'm 68 and climbing. Saw the handwriting a long time ago and just keep on going like the Energizer bunny. It does hurt a lot but i'm able to block it out once i'm in a tree stand after hogs and deer. At my advanced age i'm still a hog killing machine.

Good luck to you in the beautiful Texas marshes.

[hankpac]

Take an Advil with your morning coffee, and put a couple of tylenol in your pocket. That and the chair will get you out there. Heck you paid your dues, Build the blind, fix up the chair, and get some comfort. You earned it.

[Scoupe]

I hear ya! I'm just 50, but humping a shotgun and a bag full of dekes a mile, then wading another 300 plus yards is starting to hurt. I've already streamlined what I carry, and micro spreads of decoys are looking liek a great idea. ;)

What I have done when possible is float to my spots in a pirogue(solo) or a canoe (when GF joins me). We just hide the boat and hunt from the tules as normal, but it sure cuts down on a lot of totin'.

[MCgunner]

Build the blind, fix up the chair, and get some comfort.


Well, they don't allow blinds on public land, but if I ever get that tank built (that's Texan for "pond") on my place, that definitely IS an option. :D

[Kingcreek]

I had a chance encounter with an 80 year old elk hunter once years ago that changed my life. He was hunting alone on horseback and said he usually got an elk and packed it out all by himself. He was in great shape for his age. He wasn't afraid of what might happen up there and said he was usually out 3-4 days. He stayed active, stayed healthy, wasn't medicated, and he took his time and enjoyed life.
I looked around at other folks I knew, took a hard look at myself, and decided to make some changes, live a healthy life, and hope to do half as well as he did.
I'm only 50 but I will outwalk, outwork, outhunt a lot of 30 year olds. I eat fresh whole food, organic and home-grown as much as possible. No junk food, no sugar, no processed food or preservatives, no meds not even OTC. I haven't seen a medical doctor in 10 years but every couple years I get a biochem blood profile just for giggles. I feel better, sleep better, and go longer than I did when I was 35. It's never to late to take care of yourself.
I can't get it all back but I can lose it slower than most. Just wish I had started sooner.

[MCgunner]

Nearly 30 years in chemical plants. I have a herniated disc in my lower back that never got cut on, just treated with hormones. I have a blood condition I'm convinced is from all the chemical exposures over the years, called "thrombocytosis", excessive blood platelets. Platelets or "thrombocytes" are the building blocks of blood clots and without them, you'd be a hemophiliac. However, with too many and I have WAY too many, you are at risk of stroke or heart attack, infarction. I got off the meds, which ain't good for you, either, called "Hydroxyurea" for a while and developed a clot in my leg that was disablingly painful last hunting season. Plavix fixed that. Add to that a football ankle, broken clavicals and jammed shoulders on both sides from motorcycle road racing injuries, a twisted knee from flattrack, this and that and, well, I've had a fun life, but it's been a little rough. So, I guess I have a right to feel 80. :banghead: But, well, I'm not giving in or giving up. I don't like drugs, even taking aspirin, though I've been doing that for the clot situation in lieu of plavix and in addition to the hydroxyurea. I haven't quit riding, though I've severely curtailed the racing and cut the flattrack out entirely, shame, because I really enjoyed that sideways stuff. But, I know my limits and, heck, I can't afford the racing anyway. But, I'm going to work around this duck hunting thing. I'll make it to 70 hunting ducks, anyway, I'm determined. That's far harder hunting down here than anything else you might do due to the environment, the mud, the walking in the mud. Of course, I could get a boat blind and do all my hunting out of the boat, but I prefer the marshes and I really don't like messing with boats at 4AM in the dark. :rolleyes:

I mean, I'm a little overweight now, but over the years, I'm not a heavy drinker, never smoked or done drugs. I eat what I can...LOL...but now days mostly cook at home. I'm not a vegan nor do I care a crud about "organic", but hey, I ain't UNhealthy. I'm just beat up and had a hard job all my life. Why worry about pesticides in your food when you spend days at work breathing caustic and amine vapors, vinyl chloride, getting hits of such nasties as Hydrogen Sulfide and Hydrogen Cyanide occasionally, etc, etc, etc. ROFLMAO! I got paid well for it, but I've paid for it, I'm afraid.

[.41 magnum man]

I was born with a heart defect. Had a doctor tell me I could fall over dead any day walking these mountains, and begged me to get on disability when I was in my twentys. I told him, if I died on the side of a mountain I would die happy. I kept on going as good as anyone, could out walk most people in the mountains, carried out deer on my shoulders, and worked a job everyday. Now in my forties, and in this past year I found I have leukemia, arthritis in my lower back is eating up my vertebra, as well as diagnosed with 2 other chronic problems. Now I can't walk more than a few yards at a time before I have to stop due to pain and being just plain worn out. Carrying a gun or crossbow makes it worse. I'm not complaining, I got a new body in reserve when I check out of this one. But what I am saying to everyone is you better enjoy your life to the fullest. Work hard, play all out, and have a relationship with your Creator, because you never know what is going to happen in the future.

[Art Eatman]

Ah, you young guys...

I just worked too many nights by myself, lifiting too much heavy stuff without help. It didn't help that I got run over one time by a truly nutzoidal horse, falling backwards onto a bunch of baseball-sized rocks. The doc looked at the X-Rays and said I was a 40-year-old man with an 80-year-old back. Now I'm 73. :D

I probably oughta follow the advice of a buddy of mine, whose Ibuprofen regimen has eased the lower back pain of his degenerative arthritis. He's 74 and bouncing around like a kid of 70. A gram a day...

Then there's the 100-year-old Grammaw who's taking up para-sailing...

Anyhow, gettin' old ain't for the faint of heart. Remember, though, ya gotta be over 70 to tell nursing home jokes. :D:D:D

Art

[Cosmoline]

My knees start hurting, my lower back kills me.

Heck, I feel that way at 37! I'll be amazed if I'm still alive by 55. I should have died so many times in the past five years, and chances are a snowplow will get me in the next five. I'll get pressed into a bank and they'll find me come spring.

[joab]

My doctor once told me that what other people consider pain I would have to consider the price of waking up in the morning

I never expected or wanted to live past 30 and abused my body accordingly

The last time I went hunting was about 15 years ago, which was about 5 years after I crushed my nose and face in a motorcycle accident.
The pain of breathing that crisp cold air that I used to love so much was almost unbearable and only got worse as the day wore on

Enjoy the outdoors while you can, you never know when they will be taken away from you

[Kimber1911_06238]

God Bless the old timers that still hunt. I am 23 and hunt local game club property with guys in their 60's and 70's. I'm always around to help them drag out their deer, skin, butcher, etc.

I pray that when I am that age I will still be able to hunt.

Good luck and keep hunting!

[learningman]

A few years back the doc's gave me some neat news. They said I had something called Palindromic Rheumatism. Its basically a "traveling" arthritus. The pain and swelling will start in one joint then move to the next one between 2 hours to 2 days. Its been so bad that I thought someone had broken my ankle. I can't even open and already open jar of pickles when it affect's my hands. Would have to have my wife tie my boots for me. On top of that I have a torn rotator cuff in my shoulder. I've spent my life as a carpenter and now at the ripe old age of 34 (will be 35 in 3 days) my career is now a stay at home dad (which I love). I still get out some but I will admit that I road hunt more than I ever did before. Will be going back to eastern Montana in about a week to try my hand at some deer hunting. I'm going to keep going until my joints won't let me. It's in my blood to out amongst them. Good hunting to all.

[marty1]

I'm 63 and have been hunting since I can remember. I climb the same mountain every year. I use to to able to climb it in one push. Today I rest for 5 minutes at least twice. No big deal. You need to pace yourself not push yourself.

[eliphalet]

Wish me luck boys, I get a stint in my heart tomorrow. No elk huntin this year as the hunt we were gonna do starts the 10th, so much for that huh?
Shattered ankle in 1981 no cartilage and she hurts a lot but mother's little helpers and I get by , but I hate pain pills so I endure a lot of pain. But I am glad to be here lived when I did, where I did.

I have much compassion for some of my fellow posters here. makes me glad what I have is all thats wrong. I prey each and every one of you get better.

I was riding home today from a hospital orientation, and a couple of gun shop stops, feeling better than I shoulda playing some old tunes to loud and wishing for back when I played harder than I shoulda and I wanted to get on my scooter and go about a 100 for a while just to feel it, or go flying down that Colorado once more with a cold one, water skiing or jus looking at the bikinis and generally playing harder and faster than was safe, like we usta could do before laws were so restrictive, the laws were maybe a good thing I guess,, naa we all lived through it.
Man I tell ya, guys I need some fun a tad on the wild side ya know? Wish I could face one of those feral cattle down done Art's way and hopefully live to tell about it, life's just to short and I feel like I need to REALLY feel alive. By gosh next summer I plan on some of that, a Motorcycle trip across Hwy 50 in Nevada is meant to be, I can still do that unless I fall completely apart before then.

I am a cantankerous jerk sometimes but I do enjoy this forum at times.
Y'all take care ya hear.

[.41 magnum man]

Man, were all just going to pot! Eliphalet, we'll keep you in our prayers. By the way, have you seen the movie "Road Hogs?"

[Harve Curry]

I'm gettin' too damned old

Yea, but the alternative is bleak, so keep at it.

I'm 51. Last year I slipped and broke my fibula and ankle ligaments. I asked the Doc, how many did I brake? He said all of them. Man your muscles go to hell quick. Look like a peanut where my calf muscle used to be.That was on a deer hunt for the largest muley I've seen in years and hopefully he's still out there as I've got a tag for this week coming. My old heavy 45-70 is sighted in, tommorow I practice some more. Can't wait.

[Art Eatman]

Years back, we had an 80-year-old in our deer lease group. He'd found a spot where deer would come out of the brush, jump a fence and cross the adjacent jeep trail and go on into the brush across the trail.

So, he'd park advantageously to be able to shoot from his truck and pop Ol' Bucky in the road.

One year, a real braggin'-sized buck stopped at the fence and didn't seem all that interested in jumping and crossing. So, Bang-plop and down went Bucky.

Did he get congratulated on his big buck? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!! He got teased for shooting a deer so far from the road. :D:D:D

Ya get to where walking's a pain in the allovers? Find a good place to park! I have mine...

Art

[MCgunner]

Yeah, I never realized it was a buncha cripples on this board. ROFL:D:D

Definitely prayers for eliphalet and anyone else that needs the word.

I'm going to sit in my stand tomorrow and wait for "muy pocito". :D That's not a tough form of hunting and I figure I'll be able to climb that stand for at least 20 more years. I guess, maybe I can build one with an elevator if I get too bad off. I'd like to have a deer stand with a bed, heat, a coffee pot, maybe a micro-wave to heat up lunch. Maybe I could get a dish and TV with an ear phone for when the game ain't moving. Oh, a bathroom with a flush toilet would be nice, and internet hook up so I can waste the time on the net just like at home.

[cmidkiff]

At the ripe old age of 38... I love to read these battle stories. Makes my aches and pains seem a minor thing. I guess if I was that worried about my aching knees, I'd quit carrying around the extra 80lbs or so 'round the middle... Don't know what I'd do if I had to give up the fun things in life. I'll keep doing what I do as long as God allows it.

You're an inspiration :)

[308win]

Add to that a football ankle, broken clavicals and jammed shoulders on both sides from motorcycle road racing injuries, a twisted knee from flattrack, this and that and, well, I've had a fun life, but it's been a little rough.

Your racing moniker wasn't Lucky was it?:D Sorry, couldn't resist.

I am 61, don't get nearly enough exercise so I need to start hunting a lot again (at least that is what I tell my wife). She says "uh huuuuh" and gives me one of these:rolleyes:

I haven't hunted waterfowl in years. We used to do most of our hunting from boat blinds or a stationary blind that we would build every year. On the few occasions when we would walk into flooded timber or crop fields - well it was a chore then and I know I couldn't do it now. Ohio is relatively flat compared to a lot of places so deer, turkey, upland game, etc. are not that strenuous and if I respect my limits (read that as age) I expect to be hunting for a few years yet. I just won't cover as much area as I used to.

[Kingcreek]

My grandpa got all busted up in a wreck with a drunk driver when I was a youngster. Broken pelvis, leg, and dislocated shoulder. He was 64 and still in a leg cast at the time. He had my dad and uncle take him up on the mountain as far as they could drive him in a truck and parked him on a stump with his leg propped up on a pine log.
Dad and uncle circled around the ridge to push deer towards him. He shot a nice buck that bolted at the shot, ran straight at him and piled up breaking off an antler on the log that his leg was on. He hunted with us until he was about 70. He walked with a bad limp but always drove the truck and blocked pheasants for us at the ends of the fields. I never heard the man complain about anything but drunk drivers.

[ZeSpectre]

I take 1,000mg of MSM (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methylsulfonylmethane)daily. The "professionals" can argue back and forth all they want about what it does or doesn't do, but at age 36 I went from intermittently needing a cane (due to knee pain from an old injury) to not using one at all for the past four years!

At one point I ran out of MSM while on a vacation (hiking trip of all things) and went two weeks without, man my knee started aching again and I made the last part of the hike on advil and determination.

I'm not a medial professional, your mileage may vary, etc. But maybe you guys should try it.

[MCgunner]

Hmm, well, I ordered some 1500 mg tabs from a site I googled. 6.50 or so a bottle. I want to try it on the wife, too. She's the one that REALLY needs it. She's all banged up from a wreck in 99, bones full of titanium. Can't be on her feet long, much less exercise to get the weight back off. I got her a motorized wheel chair for the malls and shopping and general getting around, but it'd be nice to see her back on her feet again, real nice, like revolutionary. I'll try it, too, though. Might work better on me since I don't have debilitating pain, just nagging pain in my knees and lower back.

http://www.puritansale.com/pages/Categories.asp?CID=31&AFID=38&SAFID=GOOGLE&SCID=5663&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_term=msm&utm_content=main&utm_nooverride=1

[righteousbarbarian]

I'm not a doctor so this is not medical advice, but it sounds like you might have arthritis. my parents have arthritis and they take glucosamine with chondroitin (http://ww2.arthritis.org/conditions/alttherapies/glucosamine.asp) and it helps them.

[ZeSpectre]

MCgunner - Just FYI, the MSM generally takes about a week to two weeks to really kick in. Also righteousbarbarian is giving good advice too in that glucosamine with chondroitin is supposed to help the cartilage in the joints.

I still take glucosamine with chondroitin even though I'm not sure what it's doing for me, but the MSM definitely works for me in reducing (and most days eliminating) joint discomfort, hopefully it'll work for you (and your wife) as well.

[Skoghund]

Ah, the joys of getting old. Must say i feel very good for nearly sixty. Broke my leg in two places 2 years ago. slipped in the snow while going to the post box to see if i had any cards as it was my birthday. After six months i was out hunting again. Few minor twinges. Must say i open my eyes in the morning Realise i'm still alive and think its another good day. Still hunting as much as i used to but do more hunting with the dogs these days. So there is more sitting and waiting apart from pheasant shooting with the spaniel. So life is good:)

[Hokkmike]

Enjoy what you can as it comes and don't think about it!

[springmom]

Well, after reading this, I feel better about this morning.

The cold front came through yesterday, so this morning I expected to have a great day out in the woods. Couldn't get to sleep last night because of pain (rheumatoid arthritis is the current diagnosis, along with a cold intolerance thing called Reynaud's syndrome) so was moving a bit slowly this morning. Didn't get to the woods until "shooting light", although still before dawn.

And an hour and a half later, I had to leave.

The cold, and the arthritis, and the Reynaud's, all working together had me in so much pain I could not stay. I'd really struggled last weekend out there too, but I was hoping that having dressed more warmly, nice heavy socks, wearing my winter balaclava, would do and I could stick it out until about noon. HA.

I can still add layers to try and keep the warmth in as much as possible, and given that we're heading out to Mason County next week to hunt, and there's another cold front coming, I'd *better* be successful at it. I realized, too, that the "sports bucket" I've been using as a seat is just NOT working. I went out this afternoon and got one of those folding game chairs, and I'm going to try that. I'd LOVE to be one of those folks who can climb a treestand, walk ten miles, pack a deer out on their backs...

So I can't. I'll do what I *can* do, and problem solve when things go wrong like they did this morning, and do what it takes to stay out there until I can't lift a rifle any more or I'm too blind to see the deer. This is too much fun to give up, so if I can't do it the "purist's" way, I'll do it a way that works for me.

Better than quitting.

Springmom

[alsaqr]

"my parents have arthritis and they take glucosamine with chondroitin and it helps them."

It works well for me.

[Joe Gunns]

Well, as it is now the tomorrow that eliphalet was getting his stent, I trust that it went OK and we'll hear from him in the near future.
I'm 58, had a near fatal infarct Sept 2001. Got a stent, but had permanent damage 'cause I clowned around too long before I collapsed and got the fun ambulance ride, so needed a pacemaker too. Am thankful for each and every wakeup and lights out. Weekly chiropractic keeps my lower back and the old dislocated rib injury that knots up the muscles between my shoulder blades managable. I take the pills the doc sez to, and a whole buncha nutritional supplements, lost 40 lbs, watch the diet, walk 3 miles or so a day. Generally feel better than I did 15 years ago, although now when I hit the wall, it stays hit. No reserve. Havn't hunted since my 20's, and was a bird hunter then. Been seriously thinkin' about going after deer and bear just for the joy of being out in the woods on a mission and the general joy of bein' alive.

James

[eliphalet]

Thanks for the thought and preyer's, I was home today before lunch, feeling great and all is well or OK considering I did have a heart attack Sept 10, one stint then and #2 yesterday. Because of a older relative waiting to long like Joe did, I went right in and had minimal damage. Doc says with no complications I might not be able to tell it ever happened in 6 months to a year. At 58 the doc says I will need to watch things in the future but for now I can even return to work Monday just nothing to physically demanding.

Someone earlier mentioned MSM it has done wonders for me. Let me state I am not much on what I call "snake oil" or any cure all, wonder stuff that comes down the pike. A few years ago was doing some stone work on a guys place and as always limping around on this bad ankle. Guy comes up tells me what MSM had done for his knee, gives me about 1/4 pound of pure MSM. Looks like white crystals, tells me to take a teaspoon full with OJ twice a day. Ankle is so bad I try it, what could I lose, and he was sincere. Now I have been a stone mason years and had been having big trouble with bursitis (sp) or more commonly known as " tennis elbow". Doc had tried everything until he says "surgery is the only option left". I can't lift a glass of ice tea at the wrong angle because of pain, it was that bad. MSM never did a thing for my bad ankle but within a few short days the elbow's started getting better, much better, till after a couple of months there was almost no pain. I was and still am kinda amazed, but need to take some along now and then or the pain will began to return. Guess it depends on the person and problem but it sure helped me out.

I feel so good that I may go look for elk next to a dirt road I know about as I have two guys that will drag one out and load her for some meat, gosh I hope I am up to that, we'll see I guess, might be a lot smarter this year to not. Jury's still out on that one.

[MCgunner]

Man, great to hear it all went well! I'm gonna try the MSM and might get some of that condroiton stuff or whatever it is, too. Wife says they have it at Walmart. If they have MSM thee, I might pick up an early bottle of that, too. The order will probably take a week or two.

I'm headed out to sit in my stand tomorrow morning and have another stand to set up after I'm done. Was going to go this morning, but decided I had other things to do around here.

[salthouse]

Like Righteous, I'm not a Dr. and my advice is worth every penny you pay for it!
For a lot of the chronic aches and pains, fish oil does wonders. Take 3 times the dosage on the bottle of the Omega 3 fish oil capsules. In a couple of weeks you'll notice a difference. Also good for the ticker.
MSM, Glucosamine&Chondroitin are good too.

[wolfe28]

I'm going to assume the following, and then give you my $0.02 worth. First, the pain in your legs and back is worse when you are duck hunting than in daily activity. I'm also going to assume that you are wearing rubber boots or waders while hunting. Second, I'm going to assume that your knees and back hurt in the nothing-to-mild pain range durring non-hunting activity (work, loafing, etc), and they get progressively worse from the time you start hunting until you are done, and feel a little better the next day (provided its a non-hunting day). If this is the case, read on; if not, ignore the rest.

If the above is true, the problem is probably a combination of your previous history of activity, the way you were put together "at the factory", and your footware. Many ankle, knee, hip and low back problems can be attributed to poor or improperly chosen footware. So, stop by your local drug store and pick up a pair of FirstStep or Spenco (both brand names) insoles, and put them in your boots. They should run you about $20.00 and should make you feel better within 20 minutes of putting them in your boots.

Good luck,
D

[Art Eatman]

Does your championship buckle get caught on your truss?

Is Jim Beam and Geritol all that's keeping you alive?

When you heard the little praying preacher on the radio say to lay the afflicted part of your body on the radio and his prayers would help, did you look around and ask, "Maw, do you think that if I..." and she immediately snorted, "He said heal the sick, not raise the dead!"?

Gettin' old just ain't for the faint of heart! Ya gotta be tough!

:D:D:D

Art

[BAT1]

We are a beat up bunch of geezers huh. Went on vacation Oct 4th to Georgia, caught some fish with my brother and then went to Tamps bay to fish and bike. I peddled a kayak all over the bay fishing, and then went mountain biking, but boinked going uphill. That night I couldn't breathe. Next day it was worse, couldn't bike. My friend said I better get checked out when I got back. I was supposed to go hunting with a friend the next day. Went to the doctor, my feet were swollen, so they checked me in the hospital, and it was Congestive Heart Failure! I'm only 55! If I would of went hunting.... this is every bodies wake up call, your not bullet proof, and you better get that check up before stomping off in the woods. MSM does help, as well as Boron, Bromelain, [fresh pineapple] and sulfur foods like asparagus, eggs garlic and onions. A paste of cayenne peppers and wintergreen oil for topical use. Tumeric is good. For heart problems take pure tomato juice with molasses at 12 noon. I found this Chronobiotic diet through a friend and today I went for a follow up visit today and the Cardiologist couldn't believe my recovery. www.yesnomaybe.net for the diet. Take care of your selves people. We want to be here to hear all the young ones gripe in the future! ;)

[M67]

ArtThe doc looked at the X-Rays and said I was a 40-year-old man with an 80-year-old back. Now I'm 73. How do you do the math on this? Do you now have a 113 year old back, or a 146 year old one? :D

Didn't someone say that anyone could live for a hundred years?
You just have to give up all the things that make you want to live for a hundred years...

[alsaqr]

"At 58 the doc says I will need to watch things in the future but for now I can even return to work Monday just nothing to physically demanding."

i'm glad that you are coming along well after your ordeal.

[Joe Gunns]

Glad to hear it all went well eliphalet!
James

[.41 magnum man]

Glad to hear the good news Eliphalet! Don't over do it, but I hope you can get some hunting in.

[Caimlas]

I don't know; if you're still around when I get there, I'll let you know, though. :)

My grandfather is 74 this year. He's had lymphatic cancer for the last couple years, but he's actually doing better now than when they found the cancer. Up at 6 every morning, up until 2 doing tasks and errands, or just keeping busy, usually. This time of year he's usually not home - he's off in one of several different states hunting or trapping.

When I was a kid (well, about 14 years ago, so he was just about 60) he'd come out here and we'd go pheasant hunting. I was fast for my age, in karate, and probably more fit than most. Yet he'd still have a lot more energy than I at the end of the day. To this day, he honestly doesn't look a day older...

Eat well, eat right, and keep consistently exercising, he says... While that's true, I think a lot of it has to do with genetics, to be honest. His father (my great-grandfather) had his back broken twice (he recovered fully the first time, mostly the 2nd time, but he was 93 when that happened - and he died), and there's a history of healthy longevity in my family. Some families have people start dying from poor health/old age and wearing out in their 40s - and while there's certainly some diet and lifestyle involved there - I can't see that happening without a predisposition for it.

[skinewmexico]

Hey, I had to skip my son's Boy Scout backpacking trip this weekend because I hurt my back..........getting up off the toilet.

[MCgunner]

Hey, I had to skip my son's Boy Scout backpacking trip this weekend because I hurt my back..........getting up off the toilet.

Man, that had to be a good one! Was it a "three ringer?" No, I won't explain.....:D

[skinewmexico]

No, but my pants fit better.

[FLORIDA KEVIN]

When I get up in the morning ,if nothing hurts I'm affraid I died in my sleep !:what: 54 next week ! i aint done yet !:banghead:

[Rebailey]

I am 79 and have been hunting deer 70 years. Have had knee replacement, hip replacement and arthritis in many joints but keep going. Have two shooting houses at each of my four food plots, one 15ft high and one at ground level. I hunt the tall one if I feel I can climb it that day and the ground house if I'm feeling bad. Works great! I let the young ones do all the hard stuff and I do the bush hogging, discing, etc. They'll drag me out of the woods feet first some day but what a way to go!