Anyone solo backcountry hunting over the age of 60?

[ZDR]

66 next week and reading this thread in the blue range wilderness in a spot right now where I just happened to get service. Hunting elk out of a fixed camp and having a blast. Nothing like chasing elk all morning and then bedding down under a tree for a nice nap and then get up and do it some more.
My one concession is to carry an inreach at all times.

 

[Fujicon]

Age is not the issue. Right attitude is. Either your noggin has it or it don't. With the right attitude far more is possible than your body would have you believe.

 

[Bluethunder8]

I’m 66 and I hunt alone very little unless there is good cell service.

 

[fshaw]

I have been hunting solo the first week and 4th week. The other weeks I have partners.

I will be 72 next month. My dad hunted with me until he was 79 and his wife convinced him he was too old.

The biggest issue is judgement. You have to be honest with yourself about limits and how far you can push.

This pretty much says it all. I’ll be 68 this season and just bought a new bivy (thank you mtwarden) for multi day solo hunts. Pretty excited for it to start.

 

[Beendare]

67 here.
I just spent 8 days solo in the rockies backpack bowhunting elk. Shot a bull 6 miles from the TH....18 miles of meat packing was more than I would have liked....but you have to shoot them where you find them. Only 18 miles as a buddy came over from another part of the unit and I shortened the pack out by getting it to a motorcycle trail.

 

[squirrel]

I was just reminded of how quickly things can go awry, and how being solo can change the outcome. Took 8 llamas to set up my elk camp, got it set and woke up and was going to climb a knob and look for elk at daybreak, was feeling a bit lazy and thought a pot of coffee would really help with that climb. Stove was going and I tottered down to the creek for a pot of water and for some dumbass reason went barefoot. Filled the pot and a bottle and on about the 3rd step back towards the tent stepped on a log which rolled and before I knew it was wearing the water and my feet were pointed at the sky and one was squirting red stuff.

Limped up and made coffee after things warmed up went to the creek to wash it out and look it over. All the way to the tendons on the bottom of my toe, I was suddenly in quite a pickle and 6-7 miles from the truck with 8 llamas and two dogs to get out of there. No cell signal of course.

Could have been laying down by that creek with a busted leg or arterial bleeding just as easy and of course the in-reach and phone were on the sleeping bag in the tent a long crawl away.

Amazing how quickly a routine act can go wrong with too many birthdays and a bit of stupidity mixed in.

 

[mtwarden]

Ouch! Glad you made it out safely.

Not just old guys, but anyone venturing into the backcountry should have an inReach or some sat comms- everyone.

 

[mtnwrunner]

Absolutely. The reason I finally got an inreach was because of a stupid mistake.
You really just never know.

Randy

 

[squirrel]

Not just humans either, once I was horn hunting and came upon a very big 5pt bull upside down in a gully with his horns entangled in some brush and buried very deeply into the dirt. To the best of my analysis he flipped over in that deep little gully in the deep winter snow and got stuck, thrashed himself deeper until he died. Not a good way to go, for anyone.

Just finished a great book on D Boone. In many instances the authors used the phrase, " he was never seen again" to account for a pioneers demise. those "long hunters" had some very adventurous times.