Coming Down from the High...What's it like for YOU?

[Mule]

I've been doing this backcountry hunt thing for about 5 years now. I'm in my young 50's, decent shape apart from the bang-ups and dinks incurred in regular life. I live at roughly 700' above sea level, and train well for most of the year leading into my 8-10 days of elk hunting at 11,000' +/-; like most do I suppose by lifting for tone, and a little bit for strength, but mainly run stairs for cardio and endurance...lots of stairs!

It's a notable trend for me, regardless of whether I use horses to get up and down, or if I hike/backpack in and out. I've never been less than 5 miles from a trailhead, mostly it's 8-13 miles. When I'm on the hunt, my adrenaline is surging, I'm on my game, I'm supplementing with practically the entire alphabet. I may lose a toenail or pull a muscle here and there, but I'm otherwise pretty fit when I'm high up there.

Within a couple days of coming down, usually a day or so after I get home, I am WIPED out, regardless of any post-hunt supplementation. I'm lethargic, almost depressed, but not quite "I wanna kill myself" depressed...just vegetative. I'm achy, I move like a snail. I'm a slug without the slime. It's the part of my elk hunting that I have come to dread, and it makes me second think whether I want to do it again...and again. Honestly, I've never been a drug user, but I can only imagine this is like being on some sort of methamphetamine that makes you run hard for a week+ and then I come down hard and fast and am in withdrawals for about two and a half weeks before I find my normal. Am I the only one? Surely not. I love it/I hate it!

What's it like for you? How you do recover? How long does it take for you to find your normal? I honestly don't know how these guys like BRO, Rinella, Hushin, Snyder & Gritty do the back to back to back hunts they do without wanting to kill themselves...

 

[Stid2677]

Well, as a fellow 50 something, I will speak for myself. I have similar issues and mine was a Thyroid issue, low T can cause this too. I can see that I don't have the juice to hang with the 30 year olds, the 20 somethings seem softer. But, I just don't have the wheels I had when I was younger.

Serious I would get some blood work done.

 

[philos]

I agree with the above. Get some blood work and a thorough physical. Some fatigue is understandable but sounds like yours is a bit much.
I drive from the east coast and do get a bit tired but mostly I assume from driving 1800 miles x 2. It generally takes me a full day maybe 2 but then I am good again. I don't typically go over 10K feet and I try to acclimate for 1-2 days.

I try to maintain a steady diet so there are no changes my body must process food wise. I might drink more water when out west but I attempt to eat healthy all the time and strive to rest properly. I am 55 by the way.

Definitely go see you Dr. Do let us know what you find out.

philos

 

[5MilesBack]

I'm the same way, and I'm 53. I get up to 11k feet and I'm full of adrenaline. I'll hike miles every day chasing elk through deadfall up and down mountains and I feel GREAT. Come back to camp at night and I'm not "sleep" tired, so I don't sleep all that much. Then I come back home at lower altitude and feel like crap for days......lethargic........tired......sluggish.......most the year. Same for when I go to sea level.......more sluggish. And I've had all the blood tests and other tests including a bone marrow biopsy, and they've never found anything except "low red blood platelet producing cells in the marrow"......even though my red platelet counts are fine. I've even considered moving to high altitude, and already live at 6300'.

 

[JWP58]

I usually just go back to work. Do you have more than one hobby?

 

[Colo4x4XJ]

Do you acclimate at all?

 

[Poser]

While I’d certainly look into blood work etc, I suspect that this may be more of a psychological or, perhaps, physiological symptom: training a whole year for one event and then it’s over. Without a mission or purpose, your motivation zeros out for awhile and that brings a host of physiological changes including depression.

I find that after big days in the outdoors, say, a big alpine Mtn bike ride, or a monster day of snowboarding in 36 inches of freshly dumped powder, I want nothing more than to sit on the couch, eat and do nothing. It’s part of processing such an experienced packed event. This type of “event” can also be spread out over multiple days or weeks. When I used to come out West from the East for one big hunt, the same process would take place, however, during years where I did multiple hunt trips, any one Hunt was contextualized.

The best diagnosis is to view the “coming down” as part of the entire process, but to also have something else to look forward to. Plan an adventurous trip of some sorts that’s not necessarily hunt related. Like, fly out and hike the Grand Canyon rim to rim or go surfing in Costa Rica for $13 a day, or motorcycle across Mongolia.... something else that is life experience packed but that offers a different perspective than hunting and also helps contextualize your annual hunting trip. From your description, I suspect that a chunk of the depression is associated with over emphasizing a single annual experience and also the pressure you put on yourself to perform for this one week out of the year. You need a counter balance of some sort.

 

[2peterhunter]

Multiple hunts!

 

[Bubblehide]

At 56 now, I've been dealing with similar symptoms, but to a lesser degree. I think Poser pretty much nailed it. I think we get a high from just being out there on such hunts. I for one seem to get stronger with each passing day of a hunt, rather than getting that worn-out feeling. I am simply good to go until I get back to the truck, and I know the hunt hunt is over, except for the drive home. And, I can tell you, on the way home, it hits me at the first stop I get out of the truck. I am simply sore and achy, and even walking is a chore. It takes me 2 to 3 days to recuperate after a 5 to 12 day hunt. I am simply pretty much worthless for anything physical. If I get home and have the weekend to recuperate, I have a hard time getting out of bed, and a hard time getting out of the house. It feels like I have to force myself out, so having to go to work the next day seems a bit easier on me, as it forces me to get up...

Personally, I think we get a high from our hunting. I think the act of a hunt, especially a back-country hunt changes out nero-chemistry, and speaking for myself, there is a drop when the hunt is over. Once the hunt is over and the high is gone, I feel the physical symptoms of the hunt, the pushing of myself that comes so naturally for me from the high, that I don't see it as pushing myself at the time. But once the hunt is over, those aches and pains are suddenly very real and noticeable. And siting in the truck on the drive home only seems to make me stove-up more.

So what helps me, is getting my sore and tired butt out of bed and out the door. It doesn't matter what I do once out the door, other than it include moving, but nothing strenuous. I am a firm believer in that age old saying, a body in motion stays in motion, and if I give-in to the drop, the drop wins.

Speaking of the above, after a day long round trip hike that included prepping a back-country camp site, I am sore and achy, and I need to get my butt out the door and moving. So later boys, and girls.

 

[S.Clancy]

I'm usually fine, but this year over archery opener we had a particularly brutal pack out. We hunted through the Labor day weekend and headed out. I was still fatigued all week, lifted Friday afternoon, immediately got sick. Laid low for a couple more days, called my brother to see how he was doing. He was still exhausted. The third guy was equally worthless. Sometimes you just push really hard, little sleep, and you burn yourself down, the only thing left to do is recover.

 

[skaldugwas]

Sounds like you are manic

 

[Doc Holliday]

Poser's post makes alot of sense

I just got back last week from a 12 day hunt/17 day trip in the NWT. It was easily the most extreme thing I have ever done, both physically/mentally during, the prep for the 2 years leading up to it, never had been away from home for that long, and never flew so many times. My wife counted, and including the supercubs and floatplanes, we took off and landed 15 times in 17 days. Most on the front and back end of course. So I got back home and felt fine for a day or so, went into work and had every other person asking me all about it.....went to the gym and worked out hard during my lunchbreak, then the next day and every day since I have been sick as a dog. Sore throat, cant sleep at night, also have a fever blister on my lip which I havent gotten in almost a year and a half. I feel like crap, going to the Dr this morning, and on top of all of that, generally despise my city surroundings more so now than I ever have before. I am 40 years old.

 

[Mule]

I do acclimate, usually spending a night at roadside camp at half or better altitude. I even motel the first night off the mtn, again at half the alt. The first year I did this, I had internal medicine and neurology appts thinking I had some sort of lime disease or wierd sickness. They found nothing. I had blood work/physical just prior to going this yr—just worked out that way...as usual, my vit D was low. I took D all through the hunt and after, so its not that. Maybe low iron, IDK. I do know the s sux. I’ll go do a chore or something after I get tired of “resting”, and after I exert myself for a few minutes, I’m smoked—gotta sit down and recoup ... rediculous

 

[Mule]

This makes a some sense to a degree. Liked the over dramatization of rim to rim hiking and surfing
This hunt is annual, but not my only gig. I have kayak fishing in the gulf, deer hunting the fall, predator hunts in the winter, beaches in the summer...i sure would like to figure it out though! Becoming “sober” sux. I was craving red meat in a major way and finally chowed down on a porterhouse. Felt a tad better, but that also have been psychological...

‘Ppreciated your response!!

 

[tmwtrfwler]

Great timing on your question. I'm 40 and a couple few weeks from my first elk hunt out west. I have been going through high and low weeks about the hunt as it draws near. I have anxiety (mild) that runs in the family. I know that I want to do this hunt for the challenge. Nine days in the back country is going to be an amazing experience regardless of taking an elk or not. It's hard to get the mind ready for something you're not used to and to push yourself to an uncomfortable spot. Especially since most of us don't really push ourselves in our daily comfortable lives. I can't wait to go but let me tell you when the anxiety hits I am ready to say screw it. That's when I just have to slow myself down and work through that process to snap out of it. I have to remind myself that I wanted this challenge to prove to myself I can do it.

The coming down part you detail makes perfect sense to me. I had that experience after our last tournament for a lacrosse team I coach in the summers. The day it ended I felt like I was coming off a high. Same symptoms you detailed. Sluggish, almost depressed, blah. The constants of the schedule, planning, tournaments, etc. all ended cold turkey. I was immediately faced with nothing to do (other than my day job). It was like I was hit by a truck. It was the first time I recognized my anxiety and actually sought out a professional. It's helped a ton. We are all able bodied (mostly) men. There's nothing wrong with recognizing we aren't as bad a$$ as we might think.

I'm definitely going to plan something for when I return from my elk hunt. The key with anxiety is to stay busy. Sounds like that's something you may want to check into. I only say that because it sounds so much like what I experienced (albeit a different event).

 

[rayporter]

there aint no substitute for the rush a flatlander gets in the high country.

the crash is equally as bad when the hunt is over.

 

[netman]

Just got home literally from a 14 day trip at 10-12 k. I’m 54 and a flatlander. 9 days of hunting and 5 days of acclimating and scouting prior to the hunt. Left the mountain and hauled butt home.
I’m wore out but think most of my exhaustion is from system overload and absolute joy I find wandering around in the mountains.
I do have thyroid issues and have a doctors appointment Thursday to see how I’m fairing.
My thyroid issues came with a heart attack I had a year ago.

 

[Thunder head]

Funny,
I am having it this morning. (48 years old) I got back late Sunday night from a 17 day lope / elk trip. Yesterday wasn't to bad. I was on the go from 5 in the morning to 9 at night. This morning I had to drag myself out of the bed. I tired to work out but a sore wrist is hindering me. Then I got to work. I cant keep my eyes open and I'm certainly not happy to be here.

 

[tuffcity]

I must be the odd guy out when it come to the post hunt drain. I've been a high country addict since I started chasing mule deer at 16, and chasing sheep since 1987, and now 40 years later it's as if my body knows that Aug/Sept is mountain time. That's what I do at that time of year and it's my "happy place". I always come back at least 10-12 pounds lighter, stronger, and mentally rested. It's almost like "going home" for awhile and recharging.

When I get home its just a redirection of focus; firewood to get in, other critters to hunt and getting geared up for trapping season, etc. I guess mountain hunting for me is is just the natural progression of the year.

RC

 

[bizyrok]

I am still recovering from a metally exhausting 10 day caribou hunt in AK.. Yes it was physically demanding but I did tag out on the last day with a respectable bull. Well into my 60's, I think its a combination of "hunt stress", 3 hour time zonitis and just getting back into the daily routine. Its the longest period I've experienced. It'll be interesting to see how I react from my 10K NM elk hunt in 4 weeks.