Do You Hunt When You're Sick????

[Huntrdfk]

Over the last couple of days I have come down with a sore throat, cough, runny nose and sneezing, not fun.  I want to hunt, but don't want to ruin stand sites coughing and sneezing, what do you all do when you get like this?


David

[JEFF B]

if ya hunting in a tree stand no because if ya have one good sneezing fit ya might just blow ya self off the tree stand.    plus i hunt on the ground

[bornagainbowhunter]

I ahve been running a fever for about the last 12 days.  Hunt.  Deer don't care if your sick.  I just try to supress a cough and sneeze as much a possible.  Can't kill a deer if you ain't trying.

God Bless and hope you get to feeling better,
Nathan

[Friend]

If I had a cold, and I still felt quite up to it physically and the weather was fine, then I would always go.

I have had an uncontrollable cough which kept me out of the woods.

[twitchstick]

Yea if I'm no on my death bed but I'm addicted. I shoot a buck once with a drian tube still in me from a surgery just days before,but I was young and dumb then. I had to leave a blind once as some nice bucks were coming in due to food poisoning. It hit me real quick and the bucks were only 50 yards away but I was so sick it didn't matter. I have had a cough blow more than on deer. More times than not it would have been better to stay home and get well. Last year on a late hunt I keep going on some grulling hikes with a slight cough. It got me real sick by doing that. I rarely get sick but by getting hot and swetty in winter cold it wasn't the best idea. I was sick for a week after that when normally would have went away quick.

[lpcjon2]

This may not work for you but when I start to feel sick 3-5 beers gets it out of my system.      And nothing does you better than some fresh air,even if it has a scent of doe pee in it.  

[centaur]

I've been fighting the coughing, sore throat, etc, for several days. Scared a few deer this morning with my coughing, but I was still out there. Killed two turkeys last week while fighting this crap.

[Bjorn]

If really sick and light headed, no. Otherwise, hell ya!

[Bowwild]

If I'm making racket or if hunting will delay my recovery, nope.

Last year for example I had ashmatic bronchitis for 45 days - I couldn't suppress coughing for more than a couple waking minutes at a time. I chose not to educate my deer herd.

In 2006 I experienced the "joy" of a kidney stone on the first morning of my out-of-state elk hunt. After 3 trips to emergency and then surgery I returned to elk camp.  The ordeal wasn't over because the surgeon left me a little present (stint) that had to be removed in about a week. So I hunted a day and bled for a day during the duration of the hunt. Unpleasant experience.

[imskippy]

A few years back I was supposed to go salmon fishing with my dad but came down with a wicked fever and cold so I stayed home. I decided the next day to go sit my blind for an hour before dark and ended up shooting my 3rd biggest buck that night. However getting it out of the woods by myself with a fever and no physical energy was probably not the wisest decision I've ever made. Good luck and get better.

[droptine82]

I would but I am a nut.  Two years ago I hunted with the flu.  I would puke the whole way to the stand. Luckily it was just vomitting.  After three days I decided to see the doc but he does not work fridays so I sat it out over the weekend.  Ended up my acid reflux didnot help as it ate away at my esophagus until I could not swallow spit let alone anything else.  Monday came and I went to the doc who started me on an IV and made me go to the hospital.  5 days of fluid and some god awful drink that tasted bad but numbed my throat and I was out of there.  Still 25 lbs lighter than the week before and weak as h3((.  Went straight out and helped a hunter track a wounded deer for the rest of the day and finally found him bedded in a thicket.  So, if you are headed this way I would recommend a doctor and some rest but I would not follow my own recommendation so make your own choice!

[House]

I hunt unless I feel so bad that I cannot focus on target and make the shot I know I can make.  So, almost without exception, yes...I hunt.  (I have had the rare case of migraines so bad that I couldn't shoot, thus the exception)

The way I see it, I'd rather be sick and uncomfortable out in the woods, then at home on the couch!

Travis

[rraming]

I hunt when I'm sick but I'm not sick when I hunt

[smokin joe]

The season is short and opportunities to get out are too rare. I hunt when I can sick or not. If I can drag my butt to the woods I'm going. If I am too sick to drag my butt to the woods, I am pretty darn sick.
Joe

[vermonster13]

Well when my appendix issue happened three years ago, I hunted with an open pack wound and then with 70 stitches last spring for turkeys. I may be the wrong person to ask. lol

[No-sage]

Go to work when you're sick....... call in sick to hunt....

[Andy Cooper]

I only hunt when I'm sick during hunting season.

[Leon.R]

Living in the UK where you cant bowhunt...I'll be hunting if I could even if I'm bleeding from the eyes...

[Huntrdfk]

Thanks guys, Dave I knew you would hunt.  Physically I'm fine, it is the issue of sneezing and coughing that has me concerned.....I take care of the runny nose sniffles by stuffing toilet paper up my nose and breathe through my mouth, not a pretty picture, but it works!


David

[Killdeer]

Been there, done that.
Tough taking care of a wound in the middle of your back when you are alone in camp, but that is what I did. Had a major sinus infection another year, toughed it out. The time is short, and a year's planning for the time off leaves me little choice.

Better hunting than being miserable at home.
Killdeer