Hunting with injuries

[Divide93]

The team with the best drugs wins!

 

[Bubblehide]

The team with the best drugs wins!

What do you consider the "best" the drugs that numb your body and mind, or the drugs that help you be functional, while painting a sharp mind?

 

[MeatMissile]

I had an achilles rupture in June of 19. Even with surgery, it took a lot of PT to get back to where I was able to hunt the next season. I had to plan a hunt to accommodate not only the physical limitations, but the mental ones. I didn’t want constant “oh shit!” moments.

Back to the Goggins thing. Some of the things he says really helped me. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself. I couldn’t do normal things with my leg, but I could work on other things. It kept me from spiraling. It’s also really cute having your 3 year-old yell, “They don’t know me son!”

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I had an achilles rupture in June of 19. Even with surgery, it took a lot of PT to get back to where I was able to hunt the next season. I had to plan a hunt to accommodate not only the physical limitations, but the mental ones. I didn’t want constant “oh shit!” moments.

Back to the Goggins thing. Some of the things he says really helped me. It’s easy to feel sorry for yourself. I couldn’t do normal things with my leg, but I could work on other things. It kept me from spiraling. It’s also really cute having your 3 year-old yell, “They don’t know me son!”

It is easy to feel sorry for yourself, it creates a negative loop that’s hard to get out of. When I was dealing with a health thing (not injury but another thing which is now fixed) I read a quote that said something like: if everybody threw their problems in a pile and you could trade, would you risk having somebody else’s problem or keep your own.

I realized I’d keep my own problems and do my best to fix them, work around them, do whatever I needed to do in order to keep moving.

 

[mtnbound]

Has anyone else had to drastically adapt their hunting style after catastrophic injuries ? How’d you deal with it mentally? I’m having difficulty finding a new hunting style that works for me and it’s a bit frustrating.

What exactly are your injuries and limitations? How long has it been since these injuries? What are you currently doing to address these issues? DM me if you prefer.

 

[Aussie Dan]

Every person with or without injuries can and will benefit from doing pilates on that reformer machine thing.
Helped me rebuild my core after being stabbed in the guts, after I messed up my knee, tweaked lower back etc etc.

In much the same way as almost everyone here suggests training with your rifle for those shots you make in the mountains, we should all be training physically for the days we do get to spend in our hunting areas.

As for your specific situation OP- you will have to adapt your hunting efforts to suit your physical abilities, until you either increase said physical ability or accept that you are at your peak possible physical conditioning.

PS- David Goggins is just so typical of the alphadouche internet hero that I can't take him seriously, even if what he actually says is useful.
My loss allegedly

 

[Q_Sertorius]

Has anyone else had to drastically adapt their hunting style after catastrophic injuries ? How’d you deal with it mentally? I’m having difficulty finding a new hunting style that works for me and it’s a bit frustrating.

Yes, I have had the injuries. It takes a positive mental attitude, a lot of patience, and a lot of grace. It takes a relentless commitment to self-improvement and self-confidence. It also takes a realistic view of your capabilities and limitations.

Just based off your posting, I think you have a lot of anger and resentment built up inside you. I recommend finding a good therapist and getting that out of you. Get in the right headspace and your body will start to improve, or you will be better equipped to handle its limitations (aka, “free your mind and your ass will follow”).

And, of course, I could just be projecting since I went through a series of injuries, major life changes, and am a constant work in progress. It takes a lot of grace towards yourself to overcome and improve.

I don’t know what your injuries are or what your goals are, so that limits how much advice I can give.

Good luck!

 

[5MilesBack]

What do you consider the "best" the drugs that numb your body and mind, or the drugs that help you be functional, while painting a sharp mind?

Which are which?

 

[Scoot]

Two falls so I herniated 2 discs in my neck. As a result I lost most of the strength in my left arm and all of the strength in my left wrist and hand. No way I could draw my bow. So I improvised the best I could. Ended up shooting a doe in MN and a nice buck in ND.
Decide what's important and do the best you can with what ya got! Good luck!

 

[insanelupus]

EVERYONE has limitations. For most, those limitations will change throughout life.

The biggest difference between survivors and victims is that the victims concentrate on what they can't change, survivors focus on what they can change.

But this process often starts with accepting the reality of the here and now. That can be challenged by the grief process at the temporary or permanent loss of what once was.

Give yourself some time to grieve the loss of an ideal or optimal that may be no longer possible. When you begin to accept the changes in life, consider the things you are able to control in this new reality, and then figure out what is the attainable desired outcome of the things you can control and accept the challenge. Then start experimenting to find what will work best.

I went to visit a friend in the hospital, a capable man before his vehicle accident, afterwhich a severed spinal cord left him paralysed. He was told he would never walk again. With a walker, he proved them wrong. But he's still primarily wheel chair bound. Dude is an animal, does all kinds of stuff outdoors in a chair of some type. Still is hunting. He's one of two I know of hunting from a wheelchair of some variety. Both are hunting differently than they once did, but they are still hunting, successfully.

They focused on what they could control after accepting what reality is and decided on the achievable goals going forward and executed. Do they still wish things were different, some days I'm sure they do.

Are they inspiring in their resiliency and indomitable spirit? I certainly think so.

 

[Trumpkin The Dwarf]

Know your limitations. Learn your fatigue thresholds and learn to keep an emergency energy reserve for the critical moments.

Mobility training and strengthening helped me tremendously. KneesOverToes guy has a great philosophy for training past injury limitations. Adapt what you can.

Don’t listen to the Goggins types. The humility from being crippled is actually an advantage in your relationships and character. You can have hope and push back your boundaries without becoming the type of person no one wants to be around.