It has taken me a couple years to come to grips with the fact that ignorance as to certain health risk associated with elk hunting may have cut my elk hunting short by 10-15 years or at least severely limited it. Do not make the same mistake I made.
In 2020, I lost nearly all of the sight in my left eye while hunting elk in New Mexico at about 8,500 feet. My optic nerve died due to a lack of oxygen. I had suffered an Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.
You can read about it, and should. In summary, the optic nerve dies due to a lack of oxygen in your blood. It happened on the first day of the hunt. I did not feel anything, which is normal for NAION. The second day of the hunt, I thought my left lens in my binoculars was not clear. After trying to clean it many times, I closed my right eye and tried to look through my left. It was then that I knew something was horribly wrong.
A trip to the ER and an ophthalmologist over the next two days revealed what had happened, and worse yet there is no surgery or anything that can be done to correct the vision in that eye.
There are a few risk factors and I hit several, diabetes and sleep apnea are two. I don’t know what caused my episode, but I do know I was 52 at the time and in very good shape. I was not Lance Armstrong, but I could keep up with most anyone when chasing elk. I had hunted elk for 30 years all over the country. The only thing I did different that trip was I did not give myself an extra day before the hunt to acclimate to the altitude. I had hunted much higher altitudes many times. Why it happened this time is unknown.
My advise to you is to be aware of the condition, take an extra day to acclimate when hunting altitude and don’t push yourself too much. That was probably my biggest problem, I liked to push myself while elk hunting and it cost me. I will say, never had I felt better than the day it happened. Just be careful out there.
As for me, well I would like to try a another elk hunt, but I am going to limit myself to 5,500 feet. I have been to that altitude since then, and have been fine. I am just unwilling to risk going higher. I have max points in Wyoming and 17 or so in Arizona. If I can find places to hunt in those two states that are low elevation whether private land or not, I suspect that will be my last two elk hunts.
If you know of any low elevation hunts in those states - primarily bowhunting - I would appreciate the information. Again, take care of yourself.
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In 2020, I lost nearly all of the sight in my left eye while hunting elk in New Mexico at about 8,500 feet. My optic nerve died due to a lack of oxygen. I had suffered an Nonarteritic Anterior Ischemic Optic Neuropathy.
You can read about it, and should. In summary, the optic nerve dies due to a lack of oxygen in your blood. It happened on the first day of the hunt. I did not feel anything, which is normal for NAION. The second day of the hunt, I thought my left lens in my binoculars was not clear. After trying to clean it many times, I closed my right eye and tried to look through my left. It was then that I knew something was horribly wrong.
A trip to the ER and an ophthalmologist over the next two days revealed what had happened, and worse yet there is no surgery or anything that can be done to correct the vision in that eye.
There are a few risk factors and I hit several, diabetes and sleep apnea are two. I don’t know what caused my episode, but I do know I was 52 at the time and in very good shape. I was not Lance Armstrong, but I could keep up with most anyone when chasing elk. I had hunted elk for 30 years all over the country. The only thing I did different that trip was I did not give myself an extra day before the hunt to acclimate to the altitude. I had hunted much higher altitudes many times. Why it happened this time is unknown.
My advise to you is to be aware of the condition, take an extra day to acclimate when hunting altitude and don’t push yourself too much. That was probably my biggest problem, I liked to push myself while elk hunting and it cost me. I will say, never had I felt better than the day it happened. Just be careful out there.
As for me, well I would like to try a another elk hunt, but I am going to limit myself to 5,500 feet. I have been to that altitude since then, and have been fine. I am just unwilling to risk going higher. I have max points in Wyoming and 17 or so in Arizona. If I can find places to hunt in those two states that are low elevation whether private land or not, I suspect that will be my last two elk hunts.
If you know of any low elevation hunts in those states - primarily bowhunting - I would appreciate the information. Again, take care of yourself.
Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
