doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Ruminations while walking the 6-mile horse trail

I think you are definitely on target on this one. I recently spoke with a widow who I had not seen in years. They were living in Dallas. He went deep into the wilderness on a pack hunt and died while in the woods. Took two days to get back to a place to transport him. He was a heavy smoker who was an avid hunter. In his 50's. I was glad that he died doing something he loved but maybe he would still be here if he had watched his health a bit more. I think many of these hunting shows are great but they should focus on the all around health of the hunter. My $.02. Duke

I laugh when I watch ESPN Outdoors or OLN wing shooting shows. Most of the hosts and sports are so fat it's unbeleivable. Most of the guys they show are a heart attack waiting to happen. I agree with Duke, more focus on the health benefits and conditioning requirements of hunting.

Some 20 plus years ago I was guiding elk hunters from a tent camp in the mountains. One of the clients was a doctor from Phoenix. One evening while playing cards and enjoying a few drinks he asked me why I smoked a pipe. I told him that I enjoyed it and smoked only during the hunting season. I asked him why he drank alcohol. He told me that alcohol was poison but the human body could cope whereas there was no mechanism in the body to combat the effects of smoking. The conversation continued and I asked him what hunting he recommended as one aged past 65 or so. He said Sheep hunting. Elk and Moose could cause you to over extend yourself trying to cope with the mass of the animal as at that age most men were not in prime muscular condition but remembered when they were. One hardly ever shoots a sheep and if you do it is much smaller and lighter than either an elk or moose. Plus sheep hunting is hard on the legs and lungs and if one became addicted, which is often the case for those who try it once, you would exercise all year long just to avoid the pain of climbing those durn mountains. Pretty good advice.

One of the things that gets me thinking about hunting and health was a pheasant hunting trip I went on three years ago. In 2003 I planned a pheasant hunting trip in Iowa. I invited a friend, then his brothers wanted to go, then another friend found out about the trip and he wanted to go too. Before I knew it there were eight of us. We all met at a little motel outside of Tama IA late Friday and went out hunting early on Saturday. After hunting all morning we stopped for lunch at which point five of the guys announced that they were exhausted and went back to the motel for a rest. The remaining three of us hunted till sunset. That evening we all headed for a steak dinner at Rubes Steakhouse in Montour IA. Before the meal even started one guy announced “I’m getting to old for this s---t!” The rest began chiming in that they too were getting too old. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing, I’d hunted the entire day and I felt invigorated, I felt great, the part that was unbelievable was that every guy there was at least 10 to 15 years younger than me. Go figure!

Hey, Rocdoc, et al! I am 58 and am doing great - now. I have always maintaind a pretty good fitness level, but a few years ago I developed very high cholesterol (277 -299) and the docs put me on statin drugs to lower the levels. They did lower, but over time I developed a lot of pain in my hip joints and was measurably weaker (I could tell in my weight training regimen). I initially attributed it to age factors and "accepted it"> For whatever reason I also developed acid reflux or GERD. Started taking aciphex to fix that. Finally, one day I decided to do some Internet searching and found a "cure" for acid reflux and also that statins can cause joint pain and muscle degradation. I started the "no grain diet" and drank lots of water and took some supplements including Grapefruit Seed Extract (GSE) and fish oil with enteric coating. Also stopped taking statin drugs. Result was that in three months I had no more acid reflux and in a year my cholesterol had dropped drastically - lower than with the statins! It has been a bit over a year now and I have never felt better. I can pretty easily run three miles - slow, but still 'running'...and my weights are back up to my old routine. Just wanted to share that age isn't always the problem! Oh, yes, I have only smoked one pack of cigarettes in my life at age ten or so and am at the weight I was at age 28 (5'8" and 165 lbs.) If anyone is interested in the acid reflux cure give me a pm and I will send you the info. Doesnt' work for everyone but sure did for me!!! Have a great season!!! Steve

Hi Guys,
Great post, I believe in keeping fit all year long and your base of fitness will help you maintain condition. My activities change season to season and year to year. At 47 I still try to play as much competitive team sports as possible (they are more fun). I am the oldest on the flag football field and often on the soccer field as well. I started lifting weights about 1.5 months ago and the change has been great. I coach 2 traveling soccer teams so I get some exercise with teens twice a week.I also try to ride bicycles when possible (easier on the joints).
Funny thing is at 40 everything seemed to bother me, ie knees, back, neck, instead of quitting activities I increased them and all problems went away within 6 months. My new theory is, when I slow down I will fall apart. I am only 5'7.5" and weigh 165, I also believe that it is easier on the body to be on the smaller, thinner side.
You only live once, do it right and once is enough.
Jeff G.
I think I am adding a liquid mineral and vitamin suppliment.

Rockdoc,

At hought provoking original post.

My medical history is roughly similar to SGW's; had the wake up call and done something about it. My best and closest shooting chum has angina, is overweight, smokes and drinks....I worry for him because he won't do what's required (at least not consistently) to turn things round.

Me...Aged 60, 5" 10", 162 lbs, non smoker, now a moderate (wasn't always) drinker, low cholesterol, BP around 117 / 70. In the gym twice a week; plus I walk four dogs twice a day.

This shooting season I have 34 days picking up booked so far...legging it up and down Welsh hillsides with loads of deceased pheasants.....so we'll see!

On the other hand my late pal Phil collapsed with a fatal stroke whilst out on a driven shoot with his friends on a beautiful fall day; his spaniel had just pulled off couple of smart retrieves and as he passed the birds to his buddy he went down. His surgeon was shooting that day and reckoned he was dead before he hit the floor.

If you have to go, that's a pretty classy exit. I'd settle for it.

Eug

Good reminder Rockdoc, never too late to do things to change/improve our lifestyle.

I wrote this awhile back, but this thread has reminded me of it. Several years ago I found myself, after installing a satellite TV system, enjoying the hunting/fishing shows so much that I practically skipped the first whole hunting season that I had it due to sitting on the couch. It's hard to imagine now that I ever enjoyed most of those shows, but they were new to me then. I awoke from my TV induced stupor to realize what an idiot I was, and immediately changed into some camo, picked up a double and some shells and went straight to a harvested peanut field and began calling crows from the cover of an adjacent pine plantation. It was bitter cold, but I felt great. Never looked back. I shoot doves 12-15 times a season now, shoot sporting competitively when work allows, and duck hunt with a passion. Gave up deer SHOOTING years ago. No challenge to killing something while it's standing eating from a camouflaged elevated stand with a rifle that will hit him in the head at 400 yards.

I will be 55 on Friday, the 13th of this month. I'm 6'2", weigh 165 lbs., and farm 1400 acres of cotton and peanuts with my youngest son. Don't let anyone tell you farming isn't still hard work physically just because of a/c and big equipment. Not eating ain't what keeps me skinny. I do believe strongly in eating healthy, balancing my protein, fat, and carb intake as nearly to a 7-3-9 ratio as possible. And in taking large doses of Omega-3 fish oil daily. I take 4000 mg a day, and may up that to 6000. Since beginning to eat better and taking the fish oil several years ago my triglycerides have dropped to the point that my HDL is now higher than the tryglycerides. I have my blood work done every 6 months and the HDL slowly improves each time while the triglycerides continue slowly dropping.

I would like to live to see many more birthdays and bird seasons, and stay healthy enough to enjoy them. It takes active participation in improving your health to do that, it seems. There are those rare individuals who smoke, eat anything they like, and never break a sweat that live to get old, but there ain't many of them. And when the day comes that my Maker is ready for me to join Him, I'll be quite content to leave here for a better place, whenever that may be. I intend to go kicking and scratching, though. He has given us a beautiful and wonderful world to enjoy, and I want to do so for as many years as I can. And take out as many limits of birds as I can in the meantime!!

Here's to good health for all who desire it. Stan

For the past three years each August has seen wife and self in Namibia with French anaesthetist friend, part of a team for cardiac surgency on children, and clearly in need of a restorative hunt at the ends of the earth every year. Two years ago was my 60th; last year was his; and this year was his wife's. He put it like this:
"If, at the age of 60 you wake up in the morning and nothing hurts, you are dead!"
Regards, Tim