Carrying home the groceries

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Feb 9, 2019
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662
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British Columbia
My friend Brad is 57. He still has crazy endurance in the mountains but he knows his body isn't quite what it used to be and that setting himself up for an early season solo pack out is both unethical and irresponsible at this stage in the game. I'm a young able bodied man and was always taught that if you see an older person struggling with their groceries to give them a hand. Brad wanted to prove to himself that he can still get after it in the mountains this year, with the size of the buck harvested being secondary to the overall challenge of the hunt. I offered to pack out the bulk of the meat knowing that I would not only be helping him accomplish his current goal but also would most likely learn a thing or two about hunting mule deer in the process. I'm an adult onset hunter and spent a lot of my early hunting years learning as much as I could about bears as far as their behavior, habitat, where to find them at what times of the year etc. I learned a lot and got fairly decent at getting close and putting sharp sticks through bears but now it's time to expand...you can read as much as you want online but there's no better way to get proficient at something than time in the field learning from the guys that have done it for years. I'm thoroughly impressed with Brad's endurance and persistence in the mountains at his age...many hunters wouldn't look twice at this buck if they saw it through their spotter but I know Brad will treasure far more than just the rack every time he looks at the new skull hanging in his ponderosa pine, some trophies have nothing to do with size.

I definitely did learn a few things along the way, I managed to come to full draw on two separate bucks and although the stars didn't quite align for me I know the knowledge gained will last a lot longer than the meat would have. Time to apply it and add some antlers to the bear skull collection!

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I also put together a short film of what may be one of his last mountain hunts so that even when his body can't keep up anymore he can still look back on the good ol' days when he used to run ridges like a muley himself. Enjoy!

 
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manitou1

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Mar 29, 2017
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Wyoming
I am nearly 60 and do a solo Western hunt every year. I hunt solo at home too. Each additional year I feel as if I am pushing my luck. I really need to start hunting with a partner... and I should purchase an InReach or Spot.
Your buddy has a good friend in you.
Nice write-up.
 
OP
BackcountryBloodline
Joined
Feb 9, 2019
Messages
662
Location
British Columbia
Good stuff! I hope that one day when I'm like Brad I'm lucky enough to have a friend like you!

Haha you and me both! I think I'm going to make this a yearly thing and try to preemptively build up some pack out karma for the future, in my opinion it's just as rewarding if not more than packing out your own kill anyway. @Blockcaver is #1 on the list but if he keeps his pace going it sounds like I may start slowing down before he does :ROFLMAO:

I am nearly 60 and do a solo Western hunt every year. I hunt solo at home too. Each additional year I feel as if I am pushing my luck. I really need to start hunting with a partner... and I should purchase an InReach or Spot.
Your buddy has a good friend in you.
Nice write-up.
I would definitely recommend getting an inreach, they aren't failproof but they can mean the difference between making it home at the end of the day or not. You guys are my motivation to keep getting after it for many years to come, keep it up!
 

TheGDog

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Jun 12, 2020
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OC, CA
Ahh... I can feel you guys on the whole having to pack-in all your water deal. Not fun.

EDIT: Woo man that is some steep terrain!
 
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Joined
Oct 16, 2017
Messages
717
Location
Upper Michigan
I like it man. I’m headed out tomorrow for my first mulie Hunt with my buddy he’s 65, I been hunting and fishing with him since I was a kid. Similar situation. I’m gonna dig into your bear videos when I get a chance. Are you gonna put on video of your mulie archery encounters?
My friend Brad is 57. He still has crazy endurance in the mountains but he knows his body isn't quite what it used to be and that setting himself up for an early season solo pack out is both unethical and irresponsible at this stage in the game. I'm a young able bodied man and was always taught that if you see an older person struggling with their groceries to give them a hand. Brad wanted to prove to himself that he can still get after it in the mountains this year, with the size of the buck harvested being secondary to the overall challenge of the hunt. I offered to pack out the bulk of the meat knowing that I would not only be helping him accomplish his current goal but also would most likely learn a thing or two about hunting mule deer in the process. I'm an adult onset hunter and spent a lot of my early hunting years learning as much as I could about bears as far as their behavior, habitat, where to find them at what times of the year etc. I learned a lot and got fairly decent at getting close and putting sharp sticks through bears but now it's time to expand...you can read as much as you want online but there's no better way to get proficient at something than time in the field learning from the guys that have done it for years. I'm thoroughly impressed with Brad's endurance and persistence in the mountains at his age...many hunters wouldn't look twice at this buck if they saw it through their spotter but I know Brad will treasure far more than just the rack every time he looks at the new skull hanging in his ponderosa pine, some trophies have nothing to do with size.

I definitely did learn a few things along the way, I managed to come to full draw on two separate bucks and although the stars didn't quite align for me I know the knowledge gained will last a lot longer than the meat would have. Time to apply it and add some antlers to the bear skull collection!

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I also put together a short film of what may be one of his last mountain hunts so that even when his body can't keep up anymore he can still look back on the good ol' days when he used to run ridges like a muley himself. Enjoy!

 
OP
BackcountryBloodline
Joined
Feb 9, 2019
Messages
662
Location
British Columbia
Ahh... I can feel you guys on the whole having to pack-in all your water deal. Not fun.

EDIT: Woo man that is some steep terrain!
Haha keeps the pressure out at least, we're the only ones crazy enough to pack in there :ROFLMAO:

I like it man. I’m headed out tomorrow for my first mulie Hunt with my buddy he’s 65, I been hunting and fishing with him since I was a kid. Similar situation. I’m gonna dig into your bear videos when I get a chance. Are you gonna put on video of your mulie archery encounters?
Right on, best of luck man! If you're successful I would still let him carry a little bit of meat so he still feels like he's putting in the work but definitely make it as easy on him as possible...it's incredibly rewarding in my opinion. I may at some point but didn't get any footage or anything aside from recovering my arrow and briefly explaining what happened. I will take a minute to lay it out here nothing crazy exciting but I did learn a valuable lesson on the first one that may benefit someone else.

We had arrived to an undisclosed lake after dark on September 8th, in that region it's open for any mule deer buck with a bow from the 1-9th and opens up to rifle with a 4 point or greater antler restriction on the 10th. I can still hunt with a bow after the 10th but am subject to the 4pt restriction as well and we would be hiking in during the day of the 9th so I knew that morning would be my best opportunity. I woke up early and layered up...up here we deal with the typical early season heat mid day but at night the temperatures can drop significantly and it was pretty chilly that morning. I grabbed my bow and made my way into the flats that sit between the lake and the ridges heading up into the high country.

I began poking my way into the brush, searching for a game trail to follow. I found one fairly quickly and began following it, within 50 yards or so I found a bed and some fresh droppings. I kept moving slowly, now in still hunting mode and stopping every few steps to scan my new view and listen. After a few minutes of doing this I came to a stop and heard a snap. I slowly looked up towards where the sound came from and there was a deer 30 yards away staring at me. It was still pretty low light in the timber, I slowly pulled out my binos and raised them to get a better look. Damn, no head gear. Didn't bring my camera and it's a bit too dark to film anyway, guess I'll just watch her for a bit and wait for the light to open up a bit more. I put my binos up again and as I was watching her I noticed another deer appear behind her. Crazy how well they can blend in when they're fozen, then a little ear twitch can bring them right into view. As I'm thinking that another one appears, and then another. I see 4 deer in total, all within 40 yards or so. First one is a doe, how about that one? Doe. That one? Another doe. How about that one in the back? Damn, another doe. Wait a second! The daylight was clearing up my vision by the second and I was beginning to make out a rack on the deer in the back. I could see he was a nice tall 2 point with very dark antlers and back tines that hooked forward. At this point he had fed behind a large bush to my right that I would need to clear in order to get a shot.

I slowly made my way around the bush and as I emerged on the other side he saw me, immediately stotted off and I lost sight of him. He couldn't have been more than 40 yards but no shot opportunity. Well that was cool, guess I'll just watch these does and see how close they let me get since they didn't seem too concerned, they were making their way towards the ridge but weren't in any major hurry to do so. I slowly began practicing my deer stalking skills on the feeding does, at times they would kind of realize something was there and move 10 yards closer to the ridge but it was a cool little experiment on what I can and can't get away with. At a certain point I looked up at the ridge and realized there was a deer standing about 30 yards uphill, I put my binos up and it was the buck! Guess he had disappeared in the brush but then headed up to the ridge to wait for the does. He was steeply quartered away and his body language said come on, let's go! I ranged him and saw 50m at the bottom of the screen (the local archery range has targets set in meters so that's what I've always shot at, 10m = 11 yards) but didn't want to shoot any farther than 45. I decided to be aggressive and either get a shot opportunity or spook him off so I could have a coffee before we start our grind up the hill.

I walked straight towards him and paced off the last 5 meters. The does knew something was up and moved up to just below him on the ridge. He was quartered steeply with his head at such an angle that I knew as long as I was in front of the pelvis I would kill him. In hindsight I definitely saw his body language, panicked and rushed the shot...didn't settle into my anchor like I should have, most likely never checked my bubble, didn't take the time to really execute the way I know I'm capable of and when the shot broke I watched my arrow sail about 2" to the right of his shoulder blade and hit the dirt as all 4 deer became airborne, weaving in and out of each others path on their way up the ridge. I was a bit baffled at such a significant miss, at a known 45 meters I would look at my bow in disbelief and wonder what got bumped if I missed an entire 3d target like that. The level of the arrow looked perfect so I was confident in the yardage but just out of curiosity I ranged the spot again. Well shit. Yes, he was 45 meters...with the angle compensation. I never even noticed how steep that hill was and had never looked at the top of the screen where the angle is displayed, with the compensation he was over 60 meters away and the factors that came into play from rushing my shot compounded into a clean miss at that distance (thankfully). Very glad I didn't wound him and it was a valuable lesson to always double check the actual line of sight distance and to be much more patient with letting an arrow go as that wasn't an ideal shot angle either.

The 2nd opportunity wasn't as exciting, we saw a spike in a marsh while we were driving from one trailhead to another. He was 32 meters (35 yards) and I drew back but he was in tall grass up to his neck and I couldn't see exactly where his vitals were. Thought he might step out and expose them so I stayed at full draw but he finally just spun around and took off, gave him a couple "maaahhhh"s but he never stopped to look back. Wasn't too bummed about it but was I happy I showed more patience this time, I is learning! :)
 

Scoot

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I really enjoyed your story- thanks for sharing it. One thing I can't help but notice is that you talk about 57 like it's 97! I know a guy who is 80 who does solo backpack hunts in the Rockies every year for elk and muleys. 57 is obviously no spring chicken, but if he's committed and takes good care of himself he can have a lot more hunts in the future. I'm 48 and I work out all year long to ensure I can do my hunting in the mountains the way I want to. I certainly understand that it gets tougher every year, but I have no intentions of quitting in the next decade because it's just too hard. If it's a priority, he'll make it happen as long as he possibly can.

Regardless, you two have a great memory that you made together and it sounds like he was able to pass along some hard earned knowledge from those 57 years he's got under his belt. Congrats to both of you!
 

TheGDog

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Besides, it's no the years, it's the mileage. I'm 51, but because I've had some harsh crashes on DirtBikes/MTB/BMX and used to work out like crazy, I've had issues like broken collarbones now with custom bends to them, shoulder tears, and now have some discs bulging and causing spinal stenosis in the lumbar.

As long as your friend takes an approach to his lifestyle and fitness routine keeping on eye on the long-game... he should be fine.

Oh yeah, and learn to be judicious with caffeine/stimulants. Caffeine wants to rob your bones of calcium if your diet isn't providing enough of it. So limit to just 1 cup in morning. Nobody really needs as much caffeine as our culture is in the habit of drinking in pursuit of mental alertness.

Also... learn to adopt a "pay-to-play" rule. Meaning it's ok to have that occasional piece of junk food, or get your buzz on drinking alcohol at a social event... but make sure to yourself you "pay for it" later with exercise to work it out and offset it. Learn to home cook the majority of your meals and learn how to season them without so damn much salt. And... not that you heard this from me... but take a good long amount of time in determining who you're going to pair up with as a mate. Really take the time to discern if she's a good long-term match that's easy to get along with. Has similar libido levels. Is enthusiatic about your interests as well. THAT... will do more for your longevity than so many other things. Oh, and get a dog too, they make you live longer :)
 
OP
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British Columbia
Maybe it's largely my own personal exposure...my dad just turned 70 and I can't remember a time in my entire life when he ever would have been able to make it halfway up to camp without any gear, let alone carry in a loaded pack and potentially carry out a buck on top of it. My mom is in her late 60s and has barely been able to get off the couch without moaning about aches and pains for at least 20 years. Granted they were never athletes of any sort and definitely could have taken better care of themselves over the years but they certainly aren't 300lb slobs or anything. My uncle is 75 I believe, I credit him as being the reason I got into hunting. I used to hear his hunting stories, see the moose racks in his garage and ask my dad when we could go hunting with him. 25 years ago I remember being told his hunting days were long over. I guess that gave me an impression of a much shorter hunting career than a lot of people enjoy and I never really put much further thought into it. You guys certainly have improved my optimism about not just Brad but also myself getting after it for many seasons to come and I certainly appreciate it!

@TheGDog some real wisdom in there, appreciate you taking the time to pass it on!
 
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Waterville wa
I love the fact that your so selfless in this me me me generation hope I can find someone to help me pack out as well when I’m a little older just got through my first pack hunt in the high country would luv to get another 10 seasons in with any luck
 
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