Need Some Encouragement

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Nathanael_Greene

Nathanael_Greene

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Has anyone ever had a major stroke and been able hunt again?

I'm improving after mine, but it seems like such a tough, long road to recovery.
 
Well, now I don't feel so bad. I'm anemic as all get out, can't walk far without a rest. But, we have to do what we have to do, right? :D I can just stay home and hunt deer. I've already given up ever hunting ducks again. But, I have this opportunity for an elk next season. Come hell or high water, I'm going to do it! It's a paid hunt, so I'll get to ride in a SxS 4 wheeler and will have a guide. I just hope I can walk that final few yards in rough country.

I think recovering from a stroke, I'd rely on the doc to tell me what or what not to do. Don't want the physical stress to get ya. You can always put off one season, ya know. Good luck and by all means, TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF!
 
If you don't give up there is a good chance you'll make it back. It may take time, as in missing more than one hunting season, but you CAN get there. You may have to modify the way you hunt,and may need help from others, but it CAN be done. You may need to hunt off an ATV and may need help getting game out.

I have a buddy that I played football with from 2nd grade through 12th. He had a very serious stroke about 10 years ago at age 52. He came very close to dying but recovered. He had to relearn how to walk and even talk again. For over a year he couldn't even speak coherently. It took him 2 years to learn how walk with a walker.

Today he can walk for short distances without the walker. But he still needs it for longer walks. His speech is fine, you'd never know he had ever had a stroke. His motor skills have returned to near what they were earlier.

The key is physical therapy and how you react to it. If you work hard at it things improve faster. The fact that you have the motor skills to type and post here says you are already in pretty good shape.
 
My son's fifth grade teacher fell from a ladder and broke his back, and became a paraplegic. Not sure how long it took him, but he was in his late 50's early 60's, still teaching grade school, and still hunting. He had a lot of help and support from his wife, friends and family.

Not the same, but as long as there is a desire and will, I'm sure you and your loved ones, family and friends can figure a way (with doctors guidance) to get you back in the field.

Good luck, and God speed in your recovery.
 
Thankfully I have not. But my grandfather did. He never really cared much for the killing part but he loved sitting on the edge of a field watching the deer play. After his stroke he missed 1 season and then was back out there in his lawn chair. He killed a doe for his neighbor when he got back. I believe that the doe was one of about 3 deer he killed in his life. He still liked to go squirrel hunting as well. He just wasn’t quite as surefooted so we stayed out of the rough areas. Before the stroke he used a 22 if the leaves were off and a 410 if the leaves were on. He used the 410 a lot more after the stroke.

And a friend of mine is roughly 60, had a very very serious stroke. He was on machines at the hospital for about a week. He had lost all speech and all motor control. He has retired from work now, but he has taken up shotguns. He shoots a lot and is pretty good. He still has fine motor control issues but he is hell on orange things that fly.
 
jmr40 said:
You may have to modify the way you hunt,and may need help from others ....
Click to expand...
I think this is the key.

You will have a mental problem in that this injury = a drastic change. So the definition of "hunting" for you abruptly changed, and this abrupt change bothers you, annoys you, now. That's normal.!

BUT if you think back, over your life, "hunting" was changing for you then too, but gradually, so you didn't notice it so much. Who of us that are 50+ years and older can say they hunt the same way and with the same success as they did when they were 20? ;)

I think for you, you need to set small goals for mobility, and strength.
Talk to the docs and the physical therapist, and even consider a chiropractor too. Seriously, you can be out-of-alignment and not feel it, and during your stroke recovery you musculature may weaken a bit from reduced use, Ensuring your spine and neck are aligned will speed up recovery from the stroke as misalignment can hamper that, AND alignment will help when you start strength building too. I missed the 2014 deer season because of problems from my knees to my feet..., so my wife convinced me to see one of those "snake oil salesmen" chiropractors. Turned out I was being stupid, and they are legit, and my hips and lower spine were off, but I felt it and it impacted my lower legs. Had I gone in September of 2014 instead of January 2015, I wouldn't have missed a thing. :oops:

Work your goals, and expect delays and roadblocks, but don't stop. There's more than one way to skin a cat, and there is more than one way to harvest deer and other tasty critters. So when you're back to a point where you can go "afield", then work on how you're going to go about harvesting the critters. If it seems discouraging, well imagine you're off in some foreign country, with weird laws about hunting, and you the American have to adapt to their methods. ;) As silly and frustrating as those foreign regs may seem.

Finally, program your own sub-conscious mind. Yeah this will seem "odd" too, but it works. You sub conscious doesn't know the difference between negative and positive inputs. Your conscious mind does, and understands, but not the sub-conscious, SO only say positive things to yourself about your situation, and say them out loud to yourself each morning when you get up, and each night as you go to bed.
I love a good fight
This is a good fight
I get more coordinated every day
I get stronger every day
I will hunt again; I can't be stopped; I am figuring this out.
I can't wait for tomorrow.

Send us progress reports too :thumbup:

LD
 
You and your doctors are the only ones that can really answer this. You first have to have the health to get yourself in the woods and the determination and drive to push yourself to do it. Most states have disabled hunting opportunities where you can hunt from a vehicle if you cannot walk far, then there are UTVs and other ways to get you out there. I help with disabled pheasant hunts at the local game farm. We use a coupla different ways to get hunters to the field that either cannot walk very far, or not at all. It may be not the way you are used to hunting, but it is better than not at all. Any of us that have gotten older realize that even without a severe health issue, we cannot hunt the way we did when we were 25. Just the way life is. I would start walking/exercising to see just how much you are capable of after conferring with your doctors is realistic. Then, when i realized how capable I was, I would go from there as to what and how I would return to hunting. For me, just getting back into the woods with a gun/bow in my hand would count, even iffin I came back empty handed.
 
jmr40 said:
If you don't give up there is a good chance you'll make it back. It may take time, as in missing more than one hunting season, but you CAN get there. You may have to modify the way you hunt,and may need help from others, but it CAN be done. You may need to hunt off an ATV and may need help getting game out.

I have a buddy that I played football with from 2nd grade through 12th. He had a very serious stroke about 10 years ago at age 52. He came very close to dying but recovered. He had to relearn how to walk and even talk again. For over a year he couldn't even speak coherently. It took him 2 years to learn how walk with a walker.

Today he can walk for short distances without the walker. But he still needs it for longer walks. His speech is fine, you'd never know he had ever had a stroke. His motor skills have returned to near what they were earlier.

The key is physical therapy and how you react to it. If you work hard at it things improve faster. The fact that you have the motor skills to type and post here says you are already in pretty good shape.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Very helpful.

I was (relatively) lucky that I didn't lose any cognitive skills. I've regained some mobility, and I can walk short distances unaided. But I hit the dreaded "plateau", and sometimes it seems I'll never get much better.

It's important to hear success stories. Congratulations to your friend!
 
WestKentucky said:
Thankfully I have not. But my grandfather did. He never really cared much for the killing part but he loved sitting on the edge of a field watching the deer play. After his stroke he missed 1 season and then was back out there in his lawn chair. He killed a doe for his neighbor when he got back. I believe that the doe was one of about 3 deer he killed in his life. He still liked to go squirrel hunting as well. He just wasn’t quite as surefooted so we stayed out of the rough areas. Before the stroke he used a 22 if the leaves were off and a 410 if the leaves were on. He used the 410 a lot more after the stroke.

And a friend of mine is roughly 60, had a very very serious stroke. He was on machines at the hospital for about a week. He had lost all speech and all motor control. He has retired from work now, but he has taken up shotguns. He shoots a lot and is pretty good. He still has fine motor control issues but he is hell on orange things that fly.
Click to expand...

Thanks. Good story about your grandfather. More power to your friend!
 
Don’t let a doctor set your limiting factor. You set it. Push yourself in small increments. Not all at once. And don’t doubt yourself. Whether you believe you can or whether you believe you can’t, you’re right. Think about that.
 
Loyalist Dave said:
I think this is the key.

You will have a mental problem in that this injury = a drastic change. So the definition of "hunting" for you abruptly changed, and this abrupt change bothers you, annoys you, now. That's normal.!

BUT if you think back, over your life, "hunting" was changing for you then too, but gradually, so you didn't notice it so much. Who of us that are 50+ years and older can say they hunt the same way and with the same success as they did when they were 20? ;)
Click to expand...

I don't think age has anything to do with success because I have several friends with major health problems who are getting far better animals than they did when they were young. Each of us has our own demons and handicaps which all affect stamina. When a hunter gets older he normally gets smarter so hunting skills and success are easier as he draws on past experience. I don't do things quite as ignorant as I did when I was 20 because then I worked a lot harder to get what I wanted. The main ingredient to hunting is time and you will have a lot of time to work on your physical skills, and then I hope you can get enough help from people around you to put yourself in a position to hunt again. You're the only one to make it happen again. Even if I couldn't hunt I would still use my rifles, watch videos on youtube, and plan for the next hunt. Good luck on your recovery.

The noted gun editor Jack O'Connor was in a major automobile wreck which put him in the hospital for several weeks. His was in bad mental and physical condition, and he wrote that he received a new rifle that he had previously ordered and his recovery began the moment he got his hands on that new rifle. Hope there is a key for you.
 
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My stepdad had a big stroke around age 60. He made full recovery. Men in his fam were lucky to reach 50. Not athletic....not a health nut....and really bad genetics.
 
And he had no goals. Made it to 82.

Listen to your docs and I bet you do fine. Maybe mod some behaviors/ tactics.....but just from posting here.....it sounds like youre better off than you think.
 
Know a deer hunter that had massive stroke. Bout killed him. Bad shape for a long while. Dude bounced back except for the walking stuff. Big boy.....older......he can walk but not far ( never could LOL ).

I think the shape before has a lot to do w the shape after.
 
Really close family friend had a stroke two years ago. He was able to get into the woods a little last year and should be hunting in earnest this winter. He is 67 years old. Stay with it and I pray you make a full recovery.
 
Don't ever give up, no mater how long it takes. God don't make junk; He has a plan for you.

I was in the Littlerock VA with a broken leg ln 1972 when an older man, from the Korean War I think, a double leg amputee, came in 2 beds down, with a whole clan escort. Later that night, after lights out, I got in my wheelchair an rolled over to see him.

His legs were gone at the hip, there were no stumps. The reason he was there was because he had chipped a bone in his hip while deer hunting. He lost his legs in the war and came home to his farm. He felt sorry for himself until he realized it was up to him what he did with the rest of his life.

He "walked" on his hands/knuckles with heavy gloves and a "skid pad" made from old conveyer belt, like in the grocery store, held up with suspenders. He began to modify the equipment so he could operate it and run the farm with minimal help from family.

On his tractor, he had an "A" frame with a winch and pully. He drove the tractor to near his hunting spot, slung his rifle and "walked" to his spot and waited. He said he got his deer for the last 5 years.

He would drive the tractor close and winched the deer out to the top of the "A" frame and drove to the barn. This time getting off the tractor he fell and chipped a bone.

I never got his name, but I'll never forget his story. I never met anyone who exuded determination like he did. He didn't quit and found a way to cope with his circumstances. Hang in Nathanael and don't give in, don't give up........And we think we are tired after a day in the woods.
 
My very good friend had a stroke that threatened his life as well as his love of hunting, that was 3 years ago, now he is slower but actually
gets more deer than ever because like Hookeye said = slow down. That was always his problem deer hunting, you would see his orange
hat over to the east at 7AM then the west at 8AM & so on all day, loved hunting with him then because he ran a lot of good deer to me & others.
Now he sits & lets the walking hunters do the job he used to do. He has to have a wide open area so he can react soon enough & have
a deer dragger available but it's ok now.
Then there is my condition, I just got news this past few days that I have a serious heart condition that they are trying to figure out. I can
tell it is serious by the symptoms & all I can do is what the doctors say until something can be done, of course my first thoughts are
about my Wife & Kids. I am sure this is the same way you looked at it, human nature isn't it.
Of course hunting & gun collecting have been my passion for years then this comes up & the passion for family is front & center.
Take -your- time, love family, do doc's orders, & you will be back out there one day.
May be silly to some people & it would have sounded like that to me a few days
ago, but I was looking up an old western movie on the net to see who all the cast
were back then, I came upon the music which I always liked anyhow. If it isn't
too much trouble & you want to hear an beautiful young girl sing with such
life inspiring voice, try Patricia Janeckova singing title song which is the title
of the movie = Once Upon A Time In The West. It makes me feel glad to be alive
& enjoy any gift like that.
There are 3 or 4 versions of it, the one with an army band is best.
 
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