At 59, I'm a good number of years younger than Art, thank Gawd
", but I don't know how well I'd do back in the rough country of New Mexico I used to so enjoy. It was tough on me then. Spot and stalk hunting out there, not any sort of stand hunting works very well unless you pattern movement..IE live out there. What you do is walk to a canyon and glass, find deer (mulies) and plan a stalk, usually a LONG stalk, that may or may not work as these critters have ears like radar and noses to match and the loose rocks on a hill side make noise if you slip. But, it was great fun to do. It involved a lot of rugged country hiking with gear, though, and my back ain't much better than Art's, what with a herniated disc some years ago that never got surgery. My knees and hips pop when I get up in the mornings, now, so I guess I ain't gonna get any better. :banghead:
On my place, I have a feeder and a stand. I get to hunt and I do enjoy it, believe it or not. I even use a game camera to pattern the game. Is that cheating? I guess you may think so, but it's also legal here. I know right now, late season, that 5 point I shot early on is probably all I'm going to get because even the does down there have gone nocturnal. Hell, I've been dove hunting, season opened the 23rd and the birds are down there. I have figured out their highway and have had a couple of decent hunts.
Migratory bird hunting cannot be done near the feeder, so I do that in another non-baited spot where the doves seem to use as a highway. I'm going to let the feeder feed out and bring it home for the year, I reckon. I have enough meat between the hogs and that deer. I have always preferred wing shooting to any sort of mammal hunting, anyway.