quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:

quote:

Originally posted by LivingTheDream1:
So only 39, but balancing family life with hunting. I have a 4 year old who is my fishing buddy.

But I told my best friend last night actually, I see the end of my big game hunting, it just isn't the same for me and maybe I will get that fire again. I killed whitetail on a kill permit, so I am but over it. I am really frustrated with the Western draws and the state of western hunting, I might shoot one more elk in my life but not sure. If I hunt Antelope or Mule deer it will be friends or family. When I burn points, I dont but back in.

I love sheep hunting and being in the mountains but that is a young man's game and I hope to keep pushing myself for as long as possible hunting them. My trips are going to focus on those in the next 10 years, hunting Ibex and Sheep. Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan seem to be calling me, but that is only really 5 more trips. I'm not sure I will ever hunt a Marco Polo or Blue Sheep as much as I would like to, the costs are getting a bit ridiculous. If my last hunt could be a Dall Sheep in the Yukon, I would be a happy man.

I have a Leopard hunt booked next year, and then Cameroon for PG in 26. I hope to do Uganda and maybe one more trip to RSA for tiny ten. But mostly doing those now because now sure if they will be possible in 5 years.

I will probably continue hunting birds, and traveling to do so, but I look forward to trout streams and deep sea fishing. I might even play golf again.

Don’t get frustrated, there is other places like NZ Australia and Europe with great hunting opportunities and good prices and to boot, you can bring family and enjoy it

I am actually taking them to Greece this year, and I am going to sneak away to hunt Kri Kri Ibex. Part of the appeal of hunting Europe is taking my family and doing some touring.

quote:

Originally posted by LivingTheDream1:

quote:

Originally posted by M.Shy:

quote:

Originally posted by LivingTheDream1:
So only 39, but balancing family life with hunting. I have a 4 year old who is my fishing buddy.

But I told my best friend last night actually, I see the end of my big game hunting, it just isn't the same for me and maybe I will get that fire again. I killed whitetail on a kill permit, so I am but over it. I am really frustrated with the Western draws and the state of western hunting, I might shoot one more elk in my life but not sure. If I hunt Antelope or Mule deer it will be friends or family. When I burn points, I dont but back in.

I love sheep hunting and being in the mountains but that is a young man's game and I hope to keep pushing myself for as long as possible hunting them. My trips are going to focus on those in the next 10 years, hunting Ibex and Sheep. Turkey, Pakistan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan seem to be calling me, but that is only really 5 more trips. I'm not sure I will ever hunt a Marco Polo or Blue Sheep as much as I would like to, the costs are getting a bit ridiculous. If my last hunt could be a Dall Sheep in the Yukon, I would be a happy man.

I have a Leopard hunt booked next year, and then Cameroon for PG in 26. I hope to do Uganda and maybe one more trip to RSA for tiny ten. But mostly doing those now because now sure if they will be possible in 5 years.

I will probably continue hunting birds, and traveling to do so, but I look forward to trout streams and deep sea fishing. I might even play golf again.

Don’t get frustrated, there is other places like NZ Australia and Europe with great hunting opportunities and good prices and to boot, you can bring family and enjoy it

I am actually taking them to Greece this year, and I am going to sneak away to hunt Kri Kri Ibex. Part of the appeal of hunting Europe is taking my family and doing some touring.

Been doing the same

I'm winding down too, but a bit different reasoning than I am seeing from previous posts. At 67 I am reasonably fit but my finances are diminishing as I semi-retire. I have spent most of my hunting travel with my bird dogs during my 30's through 50's with big game hunting mixed in. I now have enjoyed more North American as well as Safari big game hunting and I am pleased that this has not been a burden financially, however my peak earning years are behind me so that will be the reason for winding down, certainly not my desire to go.

65 now but as long as I have the money and health I will keep going. Where to depends on how much I have to drink at one of the auctions. They make it too easy with the live online bidding but I have to drink my own whiskey. In Zimbabwe two years ago and last year in Macedonia. I also have an AZ mountain lion hunt I bought but have until 2028 to use. Don't know where I am going to next but plan to wait till the late season specials pop up.

I'm 65, brain thinks I'm 45, body swings between 55 - 75 depending on the day of the week and the weather ☺.

Growing up I listened to my father and uncles and their friends all talk about how when they retired they were going go here and that or go there and see this, etc. In reality, by the time they retired they either didn't have the money to do it or were to sick and feeble. I swore that wouldn't be me. There would be plenty of time to sit and look out the window and remember when.....

Been fortunate enough to have hunted Africa 5 times for plains game, buffalo, and leopard. Hunted Scotland for red deer, fallow, and roe deer. Canada for black bear and caribou. A couple of western states for pheasant, grouse, and quail. Been lucky in all these places to get what I went after.

Still want to do a moose in Newfoundland, musk ox and reindeer in Greenland, and brown bear in Kamchatka. Would go back to Africa for ele and lion but don't think my wallet would be able to survive it.

There's a bunch of places I want to fish too.

I'll keep going as long as I can. Like many here I kinda like the feel of rifle slung over my shoulder, a nimble side x side 20 bore in the crook of my arm, or good fishing rod in my hand.
All depends on the heart,legs and cash on hand.

Holy Crap!!
Talk about end of the game... I just received a quote for a jump off safari from our Circumnavigation cruise to hunt 2 Tiny 10 on Zanzibar... minimum 10 days, $24,000, and trophy fees $4k each!!
If anything stops me, it will be the ridiculous prices these outfitters are asking... it's NOT that I can't, I WON'T!!
I will just admire these little buggers on our $100k Circumnavigation of Africa!!

CheerZ,

quote:

Growing up I listened to my father and uncles and their friends all talk about how when they retired they were going go here and that or go there and see this, etc. In reality, by the time they retired they either didn't have the money to do it or were to sick and feeble. I swore that wouldn't be me. There would be plenty of time to sit and look out the window and remember when.....

The above is about as good advice, on this topic, as one could get…

At today's prices, I have to keep working to keep hunting, but I wouldn't know what to do with myself if I retired, so that's just an excuse to keep working. I love what I do and I love to hunt.

Switching to fishing myself, but ecstatic that I took the advice given my senior year of high school, by "Psych" Fonseca, at RVA in Kenya. In 1975 hunting was still legal in Kenya. It took until 2001 to start hunting in South Africa. "Don't wait 'til you are 65 to go on safari! Borrow the money, go when your body allows, then pay off your loan."

In 2022 I had my right ankle replaced. Bad move. I broke one of the pins inserted into my tibia; one was loose as well. Went on a hunt in New Zealand last year but it was really painful, especially when I side-hilled with my right foot near the mountain. Had it redone on Feb 8; also had cataract surgery. My eye surgeon said he couldn't correct me to 20/20 unless I opted for a new kind of lens in which they use UV light to modify the molecular structure of the lens - wow, best 10K I ever spent. Waking up and seeing 20/20 (sometimes I test 20/15) is life changing. I hate glasses when hunting and contacts (gas perm rigid) were an equal pain.

I am waiting to see how my latest ankle replacement works. I am riding a bike a lot but yesterday I walked four miles and it was a bit stiff this morning. I have held off on booking anything exotic until I see how this pans out. Last year was quiet - CO antelope, KS deer, but struck out on DIY elk. This year I drew deer in NM 16 (rifle). I am also fishing a lot more; just got back from sturgeon fishing along the MN/Ontario border - what a hoot. Going to La Paz the last week of June; this has become an annual trip.

Money is not an issue for me at this point in my life; my net worth is more than I could have ever imagined, but I have stopped chasing animal "x" just to say I shot it. At this point in my life, I hunt what I enjoy hunting and am less inclined to go somewhere where travel is complicated (like Marco Polo).

I will be 65 next month. A European company approached me about buying my company and I will probably take the deal. I know I would get a higher price in an auction via an investment bank, but I really don't want the bother. As my M&A attorney said, you have to realize your "point of indifference" in terms of price.

I built a house on our land in Colorado, and frankly, a day there is a day in heaven. I am really into long range gong shooting and can do it right from the house. I am getting really good at wind doping when shooting long range. The more time I spend in Phoenix, the more I hate traffic, although the weather is nice (now) and I have a 500 yard range 7 miles away. When I am in Colorado by myself I often don't see a human for weeks at time.

I have always thought that if I am diagnosed with cancer, the last thing I would do is go hunting. Instead, I would take family members on trips they would like to do but cannot. Last summer my brother, a plumber, noted that June 6 2024 will be the 80th anniversary of D Day. He has never been out of the country, so I am taking him, my wife, and her sister to France in a few weeks. From there we go to Barcelona to visit some friends. My brother is super excited.

In September a friend of ours is going to the International Space Station; it will be his fourth and last trip into space. I watched him lift off via the Space Shuttle on Nov 14, 2008. My wife went to Russia to see him launch some years later. He was on the ISS when the Columbia disintegrated. My wife is going back to Russia (Kazakhstan actually) to watch him but I am not going. Too long, too complicated, and a bit of a protest over Evan Gershkovich's detention. So I might book a last minute Africa trip in September.

AZ,
I am in the situation as you, almost to a "T". The biggest difference is that I lived in Kazakhstan for 3 years and have no desire to go back. To me, the bravest person on planet earth is a Russian astronaut. Those folks can't make toilet paper or a working pencil. How do they make rockets???

Anyway, good on you. I have started the "rash of body repairs" as well- prostate cancer, knee surgeries, shoulder issues and others. Mostly from a life spent living with a "Collision mentality". Football and other contact sports are taking their toll.

However, like you, I relish the outdoor spaces. I just got back from a Eurpean roe deer and wolf hunt. Great fun, easy travel, great accomodations. However, I miss Africa - the smells, the people, the wildness.

As you may know, I am off loading a large rifle collection to get down to the best of my best. So as to not have too much "stuff" at the end.

It is fun and has been a super run.

On a separate note, I have been visiting with Peter Flack, the author and hunter. He has many of the same "takes" as you and I. He has hung up the rifles but not his pen. He is writing one more book....

I turned 58 today. I've been fortunate with many good hunts and many good trophies (elephant, 10 ft+ Kodiak bear, buffalos, etc), but I have a few I haven't gotten that I'd like:

1) Alaskan Moose (wife and I are both hunting with the Shoemakers next fall)
2) Rusa deer (wife and I are going in 2026 both to hunt)
3) Cape Buffalo for my wife, probably 2026, maybe 2025
4) Hippo on land
5) BIG Croc
6) Mountain Goat (for my wife and me both)
7) Leopard
8) Scottish highlands stag (more about the location than the animal, have a few stags) for me and my wife
9) NZ Southern Island full bag for my wife (I already have)
9) Lion
10) Baboon (never got one after 6 trips)
11) Free range greater kudu for us both (my daughter got a nice free range one in Namibia; my wife and I already have cape kudus and I have a few greater kudu)
12) 200"+ free range white tail
13) 200"+ mule deer
14) At least one of the bighorn sheep species
15) The mythical free range 40" Axis and 40" Aoudad (I have plenty under)
16) Eurasian giant boar
17) Warthog
18) Sambar deer
19) Mountain Nyala
20) Bongo

For the infirm, South Africa and Europe are the easier hunts when it comes to international hunts
Here in States, whitetail and turkey pretty easy hunts, bear hunts in the west can be fairly easy
Those Asian hunts in high country , travels for days with all the upheaval, I’ll pass…nothing to prove for me
NZ OK but that high fence bothers me and Argentina intrigues me
Alaska got stupid expensive for single species

Some of you guys are a few years ahead of me, BUT. I am enjoying reading that you still have some passion left. I hate when old guys come into my shop and say, "I'm selling my guns because I no longer hunt". I absolutely hate it. It doesn't give me something to look forward to. Remember there are many of us that are watching/looking to you for what the future holds for us. I know I will not get to go everywhere I would like to. But i do want to go as much as possible.

M Shy, if high fence hunts in NZ bother you, you can always hunt where the Kiwis hunt, on government land or low fence private land. You won't get a 40 point stag but you can get fine trophies. I got a 12 point stag shooting over my garden fence a couple of weeks ago.
Austin Hunter, none of my business but if I was you I would put the Bongo and Mountain Nyala first on your list not last. You can hunt moose when you are 75 but you won't stand the heat of a Bongo hunt then. Also, given the political instability of Ethiopia and West Africa I wouldn't wait 5 years before trying to book a hunt for either of them.
Don't make my mistake and leave it until you are too old!

I agree with you Pom, I have hunted Stags in Europe and that’s exciting and the history is amazing
That’s why NZ doesn’t interest me and those many points stags seem a bit weird and not natural
Of course, that is my opinion only
We all have out standards and outlooks and favorite animals to pursue and in the end , budgets to go with

I’m 77 and still enjoy hunting deer and turkeys here in the US. I’ve had my left knee scoped, hernia repaired and gall bladder removed. After six safaris to Namibia I’ve shot enough Plainsgame to fill up my walls with trophies. The only African species left on my list is Cape Buffalo. I hope to hunt Black Death in 2025. I’ll continue to hunt as long as I can balance the Go to Sleeps with the Wakeups.

Gentlemen,
As we age issues don't resolve quickly anymore!!

Last August/September I was sailing in tall cotton, ready to go on my October Moose hunt. BANG!! Over night I was hit with what felt like a cable around my waist, and then started having walking problems, and weakness in my right foot, and thigh muscles!! My GP scheduled me for MRI...SEVERE SPINAL STENOSIS!!... calcification around the nerve roots and spinal cord canal.....booked for surgery with a NeuroSurgeon before losing more function!!
Surgery welt well but I now have neuropathy, and loss of ability to lift my toes on right foot... dropfoot..which I had from first surgery on my left foot. I wear a brace to prevent dragging it and tripping... now on both feet!!
So here I am 7 months after surgery, using a cane for balance, and very unstable on anything but flat surfaces!! SHEEEEIT!!
I am doing PT 3X per week, electric stimulation on feet and spine, hot therapy pool with exercises, treadmill and recumbent bike, elliptical starts next week!!
Will I fully recover, Doc's won't say!!... I am desperately trying to build back strength in my thighs and ankle!!
I am going Prairie Dog shooting next month, fishing in the Queen Charlottes later in the month, hopefully Moose huntING in October... but I may still be very compromised?? I don't know if I will hunt Cape Buffslo or Elephant again, safely???
Bottom line, don't wait... things happen quickly after 80!!
Thankfully I can drive well, and fly my plane....
but I am an old guy using a cane....I hope temporarily??!!

I am 66 and took my nephew on a plains game hunt at Bokomosa in Botswana. Have taken
4 of the big five and have never enjoyed a hunt as much as seeing him get so excited hunting Africa. We went 10 for 10 shooting and finished our package in 4 days. I am retired in Florida and love fishing and hunting with family and friends. Plan on returning to Africa for as many plains game hunts with family and friends as I can. My dangerous game hunts are behind me at this point.

quote:

Originally posted by cnm123:
I am 66 and took my nephew on a plains game hunt at Bokomosa in Botswana. Have taken
4 of the big five....Plan on returning to Africa for as many plains game hunts with family and friends as I can. My dangerous game hunts are behind me at this point.

AH COME ON cmn123... you've gotta set goals to motivate yourself!! I know there is alot of criticism about Awards here on AR, but for me, it is just GOAL SETTING!!

When we did our first 3 safaris in 1978, I had no vision of Awards, Big 5!! But it happened!!I darted two Gold medal Rhino, that was a blast, and very challenging getting within 20 yards to "Stick em!!" Elephant and Leopard with John Sharp...UNFORGETTABLE!!
Once I completed The Big 5, what next??... Dangerous 7, with Hippo and Croc... with Carel Maartens in the Chorra Bossa of Mozambique. WOW, incredible fun in the deepest, black Africa I had experienced!!
Now what??...I read an article by my taxidermist completing "The African 29" with a Blue Duiker in South Africa. What's that...he did it, guess I could too... another goal...I kept pecking away, with Cam Grieg at Bombazi Wilderness, East Cape, with Blue Duiker off the ranch in the pineapple plantations... then off to Namibia for Damara Dik Dik, and common Duiker...author Alain Smith, from home State, just happened to be in camp too!! That was fun...
HUMMMM, only 2 more to go and I started looking... several Zambia mis-starts... then David Keith arranged for me go hunt East Cape with Hunters Hill, for Roan, and Aoudad... at the end of a 94 day cruise disembarking in Capetown.
We flew to East London, John Sharp's brother Bernie met us with John's new book and a good chat, then off to Queenstown and the ranch...greeted by both Rhino and Cape Buffalo that were roaming within the ranch main lodge and rkndavels!! Yes, walking back at night was daunting!!...and yes, they did break glass in the rondsvrls... lions roaring at sunset not far away!!
Great hunting there and a great Southern Roan... and off the ranch at God's Mountain near Queenstown... a fantastic Aoudad!!....scored #16 too!!
BINGO, AFRICAN 29 completed!! FUN... and I never had that in mind when I started... bit it caused focus and a goal!!
What next?? I guess Tiny 10... very challenging little squirts!!...and expensive today!! I need 5 more to go...I am working on hop off hunts as we do a 90 day cruise around west Africa, Capetown, Tanzania, Seychelles and back... bad time to hunt in dead of summer with tall grass... just another challenge... that's what hunting is all about... Suni on Zanzibar??!!
Another goal, challenge...and Romantic, as my wife really enjoys these adventures!!
"Living the Dream"...yes, even if I have to use a cane this time??!!

Go For It!!
CHEERZ,

An old client and good friend who I've worked with for decades tried to gently suggest the other day that I was getting older and maybe I should stop hunting stuff that could hurt you. I laughed. He said he knew better than to bring it up.

Although I'm not quite 70, declining health has made the decision for me. Wrapped up, I think. Still enjoy shooting.

Jeff, sorry to hear. Wish you the best.

I keep wondering when this "Act Your Age!" thing my Mom pounded into me for years is going to kick in. Hasn't happened yet. I realize that someday it will.