Keeping Older Hunters Interested. How can it be done?

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I'm 77 and still hunt some public land plus my 150 acre place. If it's cold and raining, I'm staying home but otherwise I'm still out there. I can't climb as good or set stands as easily as before but I still try.

I don't hunt all day anymore and use the tractor to haul out deer or hogs on my place. On public land I'm still relegated to dragging them to the nearest vehicle access. My lungs and heart don't allow really long drags but, if I do it in stages, it's OK. One thing I hate and that's cleaning a deer after dark. :thumbdown:
 
I was happy to see that my 80 year old father made it out rifle hunting this year. He has given up on bow hunting.
I don't get excited about deer hunting like I use to, but do still enjoy the time with family and friends.
Looking forward to pig hunting this year, something that is new to me at 56.
Time in nature is my favorite thing. This includes seeing wildlife, walking the woods and hills.
 
50730039386_767b885747_k.jpg 2020-12-17_10-17-57 by poofy27, on Flickr

Ahhh. My lonely tree stand.
I like it up there.
I watch squirrels and chppies that still make me smile when they chase each other.

Turkey's fly in from across the valley and pick around looking for a bite or walk up to my bird feeders for a snack.

Doe and small buck are common.
The last 4 years, I've gotten the 4 best buck of my life out of that stand.

If I don't see a deer. That's OK too.
The peace, solitude and watching nature is what I love.
The decent buck or doe is a pleasant by product of time spent.

Even the drags, if paced slowly enough , aren't too bad. YET. HA.
 
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Laphroaig said:
I would like to go back out west for elk. But that's the only thing hunting related thing that truly interests me now. I'm not going to shoot another bear, that's one thing I'm pretty positive about!
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Was the bear not good eating?

Moving west to NM has extended my hunting interest. I remember when I lived in the midwest walking all day in 38 degree freezing rain deer hunting, no thanks. I've hunted private ranches for elk, and once each for pronghorn and oryx. Driving around in a truck glassing, and turning things over to the guide when the animal is down is about my speed at 61. I also enjoy hunting hogs from blinds in OK or TX. One elk guide said he had an 85 year old client, my oryx guide had one that was 91.

Gratuitous hunting photo, my wife and I with a cow elk taken at Chama Land & Cattle Ranch last week. Typical weather for us out here. :)

thumbnail_IMG_1360.jpg
 
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Hokkmike said:
An easy chair instead of a bucket to sit on, dressing to stay super-warm, no going in before sunrise, (sleep in a little) taking time out of the field for a comradely lunch, using a blind with a heater, forgoing the iron sights and using good scopes on flat shooting guns. Maybe even taking cat naps in the field.
Click to expand...

I'm 40 and I do most of those things. lol
I hunt in an enclosed box blind most of the time with a heater.
While I do arrive at the blind slightly before daylight, I do break for lunch and sometimes a nap.
I have never killed a deer with open sights.

If it weren't for those things, I probably wouldn't go as much.
 
Since quite a few of my hunting buds are a bit younger but still in their 60s, I try generating interest by asking them what they've done to prep.
Asked if they've sighted in rifles.
Asked if they've started getting in shape.
Asked if they've set out any cameras or scouted their hunting spots.
I've offered to go over some basic reloading or go with them to shoot.
One buddy, a Marine said he's too out of shape.
I told him its always a matter if priorities and how I started walking a mile or 2 to start, then up to almost 10 miles. Then added hunting boots and a backpack with up to 40 pounds to essentially train for the hunt.

Sometimes, I think the TV, couch and a half dozen beers has more appeal.
Glad I'm not there yet
 
Paul7 said:
Was the bear not good eating?
Click to expand...

Bear is pretty good. I like to make pulled bear in the crock pot. Had some hot sausage made, it is very good. Some bologna too. That is awesome! Chops and roasts in the freezer.

I don't know why I said that. $1000 bear skin rug? (it's my second bear and I already have a full mount). Feeling like 2 bears is enough for any one man? I just don't know.
 
I'll be 79 few months and I haven't missed deer/elk season since moving to Co 1977. I'm still able to walk in and hunt around timberline and pack out. What helps me is living appr 7700 ft and wife and I do lot of stream fish in high country.

I've slowed down and it's age and I know at some point I'm going to quit hunting.
 
I am too broken to trudge the fields anymore. Sleeping in a bag on the ground with hip holes WAS fun, waking up under a tarp with an inch of new snow WAS...exillirating. What I miss is watching the fire burn down; I hate to see a campfire go out...one more stick, then I'll go to bed...
 
Lots of good stories above. I have a 2nd hand story, if you will bear with me.

Oct 1972 I was in the Littlerock VA Hosp with a broken ankle. A man came in with no legs below his crotch. A lot of family filed thru and later that night I had a chance to talk to him. Normally, he had a "skid pan" over his stump he attch'd with a belt and used heavy gloves. He "walked" on his fists and stump. He went deer hunting every year...drove his tractor to his spot on his farm, got down, drug his rifle in a sniper bag and set up under a tree. His tractor had an "A" frame winch to which he hooked up the deer. His sons processed the deer back in his barn. His farm was a working farm with many mods by him and his sons.

When I think of him I feel ashamed that arthritis from my 48 yo broken ankle and 45 yo broken knee have limited me so. I'm sure he is dead now, but he was an older HANDICAPPED hunter that certainly kept the flame alive.
 
There are a number of things that keep hunting exciting. One thing is using a different type of firearm. Got real exciting with the 50 cal flintlock, or my 1858 rem, or my s&w 586 357 mag.

Up until a couple years ago I hunted alone, for the most part, I did take my SIL s few times or called him to come tag a downed deer. When I started hunting it was 1985 with my girlfriends father, a ww2 vet 62 at the time, and about 8 other family members. We did stand and silent drives, most were successful, we also joked with each other. One guy my age St tgevtime always saw deer running away, so he was labeled there they go, another was named where cause he never saw anything. My girlfriends brother, 40 wore skunked patches 3 years in a row.

The past 2 seasons I had the privilege of hunting with a couple of high road members Troy fair-weather, his dad and highland lofts, his brother Jim and this year his grandson. Though the drives we put on weren't successful NY downed game, they were by teaching a new hunter and the comaradery shared by all.
 
I'm 65 and the desire to go out and sit has some what slowed. I have been gung ho hunting for over 50 years and now I just enjoy sitting out there most of the time. I did take a doe and nice buck opening morning this year. I have never shot 2 deer in one hunt before. If the weathers bad I don't go. You can have all the right gear for bad weather but over the years you learn to read the weather. If its raining and windy you are wasting your time imo. Yeah you might get lucky but older wiser deer are not moving in bad weather. I was suppose to be heading out this morning but the weather is iffy for the weekend so here I am. Maybe go next week if the weather looks good. Younger hunters are getting few and far between because no one has taken them out and got them interested.
 
I get a better response from my old buddies when it is an outing for hunting small game than for medium game such as deer. Small game hunting is more social and involves less discomfort, work, or preparation. If the weather is bad we just stay dry, drink coffee, and swap stories. If we get there late or leave early it is no big deal. Most of us do not want to sit in a blind and stare out of the window.
 
Patocazador said:
I'm 77 and still hunt some public land plus my 150 acre place. If it's cold and raining, I'm staying home but otherwise I'm still out there. I can't climb as good or set stands as easily as before but I still try.

I don't hunt all day anymore and use the tractor to haul out deer or hogs on my place. On public land I'm still relegated to dragging them to the nearest vehicle access. My lungs and heart don't allow really long drags but, if I do it in stages, it's OK. One thing I hate and that's cleaning a deer after dark. :thumbdown:
Click to expand...
Hi, fellow Florida man. Isn't there some wheeled gizmo you can use to haul the animal out?

I recently returned to Florida, and I've been thinking this is the perfect place for some kind of ultralight "camping dolly" with balloon tires.
 
The worst part of a big game hunt for me is killing a big animal. Everything after that is work, pure and simple, and I just don't feel like doing it any more. I have become a devoted small game hunter, though. For me, it is easier, cheaper, more fun, and far more available than big game hunting.

Beyond that, it might make me a bad person to think it, but there already are enough people in the woods where I hunt, and if a few of them decide to stay home I am not going to complain about it!
 
pairof44sp said:
Hi, fellow Florida man. Isn't there some wheeled gizmo you can use to haul the animal out?

I recently returned to Florida, and I've been thinking this is the perfect place for some kind of ultralight "camping dolly" with balloon tires.
Click to expand...

I have a cart with solid tires that works OK on level ground but a lot of the areas I hunt are swamps with cypress knees and bogs. A Gheenoe works well in deeper water.
 
Like this.
stillquietvoice said:
There are a number of things that keep hunting exciting. One thing is using a different type of firearm.
.
Click to expand...

I just texted one of my friends who is having shoulder surgery in Jan but our muzzle loader/ shotgun comes in the day after Christmas.

In almost 45 years of deer hunting, I've taken deer with a Spanish 7mm mauser. A rem 760 pump, an Ithaca 12 ga, a marlin 30-30, A Savage 111 .300 wm, a 20 ga Savage, a National Ordnance 1903A3, a ruger redhawk. Using archery, a Whitetail hunter, a Golden Eagle evolution, a Ten point Invader and a 10.point Stealth FX4.

I'm working up a load for a PA10 and my state doesn't even allow semis for deer yet.

There are a few more rifles and handguns I'd like to use and my point to my friend was that using different means to harvest deer helps me maintain a higher interest level.
Hell, I've even gotten one with a 1996 Ford Ranger although I'd advise not to try going that route.
 
27hand said:
Like this.


I just texted one of my friends who is having shoulder surgery in Jan but our muzzle loader/ shotgun comes in the day after Christmas.

In almost 45 years of deer hunting, I've taken deer with a Spanish 7mm mauser. A rem 760 pump, an Ithaca 12 ga, a marlin 30-30, A Savage 111 .300 wm, a 20 ga Savage, a National Ordnance 1903A3, a ruger redhawk. Using archery, a Whitetail hunter, a Golden Eagle evolution, a Ten point Invader and a 10.point Stealth FX4.

I'm working up a load for a PA10 and my state doesn't even allow semis for deer yet.

There are a few more rifles and handguns I'd like to use and my point to my friend was that using different means to harvest deer helps me maintain a higher interest level.
Hell, I've even gotten one with a 1996 Ford Ranger although I'd advise not to try going that route.
Click to expand...

Just like that, only listed a few I've used. There are quite a few more like my para ordnance p 14-45.
 
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