Does physical limitations alter your goals?

[Brokenarrow1980]

I was a straight up meat hunter back in day and about 5 years ago I decided to start trophy hunting. A few months later I was hit with some bad news that I had a brain tumor and had a surgery that jacked me up something fierce. To this day my right eye arm and leg have severe deficiencies and pain. I'm sure there are others in this group that have limitations physically and I wonder if it affects your goals on the class of animals you take. I try to walk quietly but I really can't, I can't climb trees anymore, I can't do swamps or marsh with my cane. I also can't do the distances like I used to. Should I be targeting 2 year old bucks or do I still have a chance at a mature whitetail.

[matt1336]

Whatever makes you happy. If a doe, fawn or smaller buck won’t make you happy, don’t shoot them and wait for the bigger buck. If a small buck or anterless deer will make you happy. Fill your tags. Nobody here cares what you shoot. We will however be happy for you when you shoot whatever you shoot. Good luck

[cspot]

Whatever makes you happy. If a doe, fawn or smaller buck won’t make you happy, don’t shoot them and wait for the bigger buck. If a small buck or anterless deer will make you happy. Fill your tags. Nobody here cares what you shoot. We will however be happy for you when you shoot whatever you shoot. Good luck

I agree with this.

[stash59]

Whatever makes you happy. If a doe, fawn or smaller buck won’t make you happy, don’t shoot them and wait for the bigger buck. If a small buck or anterless deer will make you happy. Fill your tags. Nobody here cares what you shoot. We will however be happy for you when you shoot whatever you shoot. Good luck

I agree with this.

x2! But you need to realize that if you choose to only try to kill mature bucks. If you can't get close enough to where a mature buck will normally walk during daylight hours. The odds will go way down for having an encounter. So there will probably be alot of "dry" years. Unless you can get on some well managed private.

[tundra]

In Sept of 2017 my world changed. A dull ache on my right side, caused me to walk into my clinic. double by pass.... lost that fall, but kept working myself to get strong. Doctor said " I hear your a swimmer", he said good swimmers survive. My last thought before going under, was where I was going to hang a late season stand" ha ha,,,, that is how I am wired

Now I have to be careful on solo hunts. I have a Spot Gen 2 coming to me in July, for my deep hunts in the UP, but I must be fair to my girls, dad needs to be a little careful. I got the okay, they do not want to see me for another year, but I get a lot more tired than I use to. In my mind I am still 35, heck I even tried a saddle, last month......

They prefer that I do not climb, a climber is too much stress on my chest muscles after being split opened.... I have just been advised to stay on the ground....... that's okay, I am alive and free, and can go, so I am a lucky guy......

I will now strive to be the best ground hunter I can,,,, done it before, but now, I really got to get good at it...... I still expect to kill at least one slob, you bet......

I love venison, eat only wild game now, so you bet, I shoot fawns and small does,,,,,,, There are a lot of hunters, a lot worse off than me........

I will be a "beast" style hunter, till I am gone and I plan on hunting till I am 90............ I have a warrior mentality, there is no other way

[Boogieman1]

For myself I have always set realistic Goals both physical and financial related. In the fishing department I never set out to win the Bass Classic when I didn't even have a boat. But I could give any bank buster a run for his money. I don't have visions of shooting 200" bucks when I'm begging for permission to hunt places that nobody with any kind of money wants. But I'm still just as happy when I do connect. Success and happiness is a state of mind in my book. Had a accident and almost lost my dominant eye, learned how to shoot instinctive cause I was out of options. Nothing special, as hunters it's what we do adapt and overcome. I know a guy with one arm who hunts with a longbow. He ties something like a D loop and pulls back with his teeth. I give him crap about cheating lol. One can really surprise themselves when they set there mind to something. The only thing in life that holds us back is ourselves IMO.

[Autiger]

Some of the best overlooked spots don’t require going far or through nasty terrain. You just need to find them!

[The Silence]

Last year, my body's immune system went hyper so I couldn't even step foot into the woods without a very serious reaction so I had to think of ways of hunting outside of the woods. I shot my first mature buck off the ground at 8 yards, hidden within a standing corn field. For the last year I've been finding kill spots in different places then I had been concentrating on before and to be honest with you I feel like I have more areas I can hunt from the ground and be more effective then I have been in the past. Those special circumstances ended up making me a better hunter and forced me to think outside the box. I've been getting a lot more enjoyment hunting off the ground in my ghillie suit, a light pack and a small light weight stool and getting up close and personal, no matter the age of my quarry.

[hambone]

Life is short. I encourage you to do the things you love during your allotted time here on earth. Hunt in the way you can, and adjust your standards to fit you and your condition. Age has a way of making changes in our lives, whether we want it to or not. I have resigned myself to go til I can't go no more and use any way I can to get there as long as I am able. I am thankful for each breath I take, but I don't want to live long in a world where I am unable to hunt deer. The older I get, the more anticlimactic the kill becomes. I increasingly enjoy the overall experience more than the kill. Don't forget, there is always more than one way to skin a cat. GodSpeed!

[Dewey]

I’m far from limited compared to many guys here. Wear and tear along with age is slowly catching up with me but I can still do pretty much everything I did before just a little bit slower. The guys around here with pretty severe physical limitations yet still getting out there really inspire me. I really have nothing to complain about.

[Itchy Bones]

Type one Diabetic here. It sucks, it doesn’t really stop me it just slows me down sometimes. I told my buddies if they find me expired in a swamp w my face chewed off by coyotes to put on my headstone.

As the whitetail goes, so do I.
Never stoped, never settled.