Getting older, priorities, being happy!

[JNewton]

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......

[Orion]

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.

[Wild Bill MCP 808]

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

[dnovo]

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.

[SS Snuffer]

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

[TIM B]

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

[nashoba]

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.

[Phillip Fields]

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.

[Ron LaClair]

I'll be 82 in March, if you guys think it's bad now.... wait until you look like this

   

[ron w]

How did you get my photo.........  

[Sam McMichael]

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.

[Ron LaClair]

When I turned 60 I bought a Harley and got a tattoo, it made me feel 20 years younger.      

   

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.    

   

[Mike Bolin]

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

[DeerSpotter]

Originally posted by Ron LaClair:
I'll be 82 in March, if you guys think it's bad now.... wait until you look like this

     

Is that " wishful thinking "  Ron    

I think you look pretty good Ron, I think you're three times as active as I am !!!

Carl

[DeerSpotter]

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

[DeerSpotter]

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

[Ron LaClair]

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    

   

[Mike Bolin]

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!

[Ron LaClair]

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

[Pointer]

Sounds like pretty good situation Mike...congratulations. And a wife who enjoys it too..I envy you that..lol.