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I'm 56. I hunt as much as my work schedule allows. I bowhunt more than anything else but in the last two years I've been getting more and more back into muzzy shooting and hunting. I had three hunting trips booked this year. My annual spring bear hunt in Canada was canceled. I have a brown bear hunt booked for Alaska in early September and I have three points in Iowa so I should draw this year. I have a friend with some great property in zone 4. I plan to be out there for the first 10 days of November. That leaves me with an extra week of vacation so my plan, for now, is to muzzy hunt in the Adirondacks or western Maine in late November/early December. Aside form those hunts I'll hunt at home in New Jersey from September on.

I'm pretty healthy yet and I hope to be hunting as long as some of you. We lost my father in law January at the age of 97. His last buck was killed at 94 with my 10 gauge Browning Gold. Now THAT is something to shoot for!

richs buck.jpg
 
twild
I hope that your health returns so that once more you may visit nature in her cathedral. If not, you always have the memories. Good luck on your recovery. May GOD bless you, and yours.

Bruce
Got diagnosed with macular degeneration last year, still can see but its getting to be a problem. Good luck with your health issues, every day is precious, perspective is everything.
 
I'm 56. I hunt as much as my work schedule allows. I bowhunt more than anything else but in the last two years I've been getting more and more back into muzzy shooting and hunting. I had three hunting trips booked this year. My annual spring bear hunt in Canada was canceled. I have a brown bear hunt booked for Alaska in early September and I have three points in Iowa so I should draw this year. I have a friend with some great property in zone 4. I plan to be out there for the first 10 days of November. That leaves me with an extra week of vacation so my plan, for now, is to muzzy hunt in the Adirondacks or western Maine in late November/early December. Aside form those hunts I'll hunt at home in New Jersey from September on.

I'm pretty healthy yet and I hope to be hunting as long as some of you. We lost my father in law January at the age of 97. His last buck was killed at 94 with my 10 gauge Browning Gold. Now THAT is something to shoot for!

View attachment 9067
Sounds as though your staying on top of the hunting just fine. Take the fine aim and never take anything for granted.
 
Turned 58 this past February. I grew up in the Bronx, NY. When I was 10 years old I saw the movie Jeramiah Johnson. I knew I would be a muzzleloader toting hunter the day I saw that movie. Eventually my family moved from New York City to the Maryland country side when I was in high school. Finally my opportunity to hunt. My passion for hunting has never waned. Actually it has only increased as I have gotten older.
 
I'm 56. I hunt as much as my work schedule allows. I bowhunt more than anything else but in the last two years I've been getting more and more back into muzzy shooting and hunting. I had three hunting trips booked this year. My annual spring bear hunt in Canada was canceled. I have a brown bear hunt booked for Alaska in early September and I have three points in Iowa so I should draw this year. I have a friend with some great property in zone 4. I plan to be out there for the first 10 days of November. That leaves me with an extra week of vacation so my plan, for now, is to muzzy hunt in the Adirondacks or western Maine in late November/early December. Aside form those hunts I'll hunt at home in New Jersey from September on.

I'm pretty healthy yet and I hope to be hunting as long as some of you. We lost my father in law January at the age of 97. His last buck was killed at 94 with my 10 gauge Browning Gold. Now THAT is something to shoot for!

View attachment 9067
You’re father looks great for 94! Hope to still be able at that age if I’m around. If not, I’d just as soon not be here anymore.
 
The last hunt.

There comes a time in an old hunter’s life when he starts wondering, ‘Was that my last hunt?” Now to many people that may seem to be a trivial question, unimportant, but to a long time hunter it’s a very real question, recognized if only in the back of his mind.

As the days seem to start and end in what seems like a moment, even when less has gotten done throughout the day, it becomes evident that age has finally caught up with the old hunter. Memories of hunts that were once forgotten now are brought back, almost in color, memories beyond hunting camps and socialization with other hunters. The memories of the “little things” appear from out of nowhere and bring joy to the old hunter’s thoughts, almost reliving them at the instant.

Long past are the days of bog trotting through a wet marsh. Those who have never been there can never understand and realize its beauty, the solitude and also its dangers. The old man can smell the damp marsh grass and the muck again. Gone are the days of moving from marsh bog to bog, in the attempt to get further into the marsh to that higher ground which may be his quarry’s sanctuary. More often it ended with a lot of work and boots filled with water and muck. Looking back now, it was never really work. It was an adventure.

Little things that never seemed to matter that much, are now realized from places long stored away. It could be some small detail associated with your first hunt, even more than the result of the hunt itself. It could be of a hunt and conversation with a friend or relative, gone to soon. Somehow I don’t believe these memories were ever forgotten, but rather stored away for a day they would be much more appreciable.

I imagine the old hunter will never know when he will make his last hunt, until that day’s over. Will someone be kind enough or loving enough to take the old hunter out for the last time or, will he be alone? I believe those questions have yet to have an answer available. But in his mind, the old hunter always wonders, when will that last day come?

GP
 
Good stuff, Encore. That’s the kind of philosophy that keeps me exercising and eating right during the off seasons. And those habits were part of the reason I was able to take my biggest ever buck last year.
 
Im 73 ,with 2 back operations ,both shoulders done and Im out with the bow, muzzy and centerfire both here in NC and after a 11 hr drive back in NY at my hunting club Ive been a member of like 45 yrs. Still hunt from a climber but getting more use from ladder stands and ground blinds.Only thing really slowed down is havent been turkey hunting last couple of years, usually to hot for me here in NC and dont relish the long drive to cabin in upstate NY..The good thing is even if I dont see any game the time in the woods is all that counts. Keep goin guys and gals.
 
Looks like I'm the baby in this group. I'll be 50 in September, but I got a secret for staying in the field longer... Wanna hear it?😉

Step 1: Marry a Catholic girl
Step 2: Have a bunch a' kids
Step 3: Dont stop havin' kids until the other parents at your youngest kid's pre school are the same age as your oldest kid.

See, I'm going to be teaching my little animals about the outdoors, hunting, fishing, camping, shooting...all that stuff until I'm all old and crusty like the rest of you geezers!!
 
Looks like I'm the baby in this group. I'll be 50 in September

Sorry to take the crown (or is it pacifier?) from you jc, but I just turned 41 last month. Married, but no kids to occupy my limited free time, so I’m on here soaking up all the knowledge I can from y’all. My grandpa got me into hunting (he was a West Virginian mountain man, born and raised), and I learned so much from him before he passed 22 years ago (and no one else in my extended family shoots/hunts). But he wasn’t a blackpowder guy. So y’all are filling in for him when it comes to muzzleloaders, and I thank everyone that contributes on here.
 
Sorry to take the crown (or is it pacifier?) from you jc, but I just turned 41 last month. Married, but no kids to occupy my limited free time, so I’m on here soaking up all the knowledge I can from y’all. My grandpa got me into hunting (he was a West Virginian mountain man, born and raised), and I learned so much from him before he passed 22 years ago (and no one else in my extended family shoots/hunts). But he wasn’t a blackpowder guy. So y’all are filling in for him when it comes to muzzleloaders, and I thank everyone that contributes on here.
You are the baby of the group so far....
 
I personally think the kids today don't want to be bothered by having to clean their ML's as soon as they get home. I think and it's my personal opinion if companies offered and advertised more smokeless ML's our younger generation would buy into it. But then you have a ML, that's mostly a Center Fire rifle, that can shoot a lot further with a flatter trajectory.

Guess that's why I love my Renegade and White's you need to get a lot closer and know your trajectory. The furthest shot I ever took with my White was about 140 or so yards give or take. To me, that's a LONG shot, most of my shots are 50 - 75 yards and is why I sight in my ML's for 75 yards. I also shoot them once I get them zeroed in at 75yds to see where they hit at 50 and 100 yds. Generally, depending on the load there is about 1.5 - 2" difference high at 50yds and low at 100yds. I personally feel ML's were meant as a short-range weapon initially designed anything under 100 yds is ideal ML range. Guess that's why some states in the US designated ML and Shotgun zones? Again, my 2 cents and how I feel, for what it's worth. I'm not looking to start any arguments we all have our opinions it's just the way I feel.
 
I personally think the kids today don't want to be bothered by having to clean their ML's as soon as they get home. I think and it's my personal opinion if companies offered and advertised more smokeless ML's our younger generation would buy into it. But then you have a ML, that's mostly a Center Fire rifle, that can shoot a lot further with a flatter trajectory.

Guess that's why I love my Renegade and White's you need to get a lot closer and know your trajectory. The furthest shot I ever took with my White was about 140 or so yards give or take. To me, that's a LONG shot, most of my shots are 50 - 75 yards and is why I sight in my ML's for 75 yards. I also shoot them once I get them zeroed in at 75yds to see where they hit at 50 and 100 yds. Generally, depending on the load there is about 1.5 - 2" difference high at 50yds and low at 100yds. I personally feel ML's were meant as a short-range weapon initially designed anything under 100 yds is ideal ML range. Guess that's why some states in the US designated ML and Shotgun zones? Again, my 2 cents and how I feel, for what it's worth. I'm not looking to start any arguments we all have our opinions it's just the way I feel.

Perhaps I was lucky, as I was raised on a ranch. My dad had quit school after finishing the eighth grade, and that was the only thing he really knew so he raised sheep. Being a country kid I had many chances to hunt at an early age, and did. Now I'm equipped with many grandchildren and only two hunters, and they hunt more than I did. There dad (my son-in-law} loves to hunt and perhaps that is the reason, but they do live over 200 miles from me. My four grandsons that live within a rock throwing distance, three have all hunted, and don't seem to want to anymore. I won't make them any excuses, but they have many other interests that weren't available to me as a kid. Until I was 13 my folks didn't have electricity, so things are different. I think more than just not wanting to be bothered, they have so many other things, from sports, to TV, to Internet, to face book, to Skype, to Wi-Fi, and a few other things that I know nothing about, they really aren't looking for anything else to do.
Squint
 

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