Limitations...

[Guy Miner]

I was a Marine, in terrific condition. I was a SWAT cop after that. Also in good condition.

All that stuff wore on the ol' body, and... I've got limitations... Used to be able to assume a great sitting position and shoot MOA from it. Competed in NRA long-range prone events, with just the sling to stabilize the rifle and did pretty well at it.

Now... injuries & age... Neck, rt shoulder, rt elbow... All have had to be repaired... Have a few more parts that should be repaired, but am tired of surgery.

Prone is acceptable for a few shots. Unless I'm shooting uphill, then it's completely impossible. The three fused vertebrae in the neck kinda hinder that sort of thing.

Sitting has changed. Though I stretch and work out regularly, I can no longer comfortably assume a cross-legged sitting position. I can manage "wide leg sitting" and also a sniperish sitting position inspired by an old photo of GySgt Hathcock in Vietnam.

Standing... Is good! I was better at it in my 20's, but honestly, in my 60's, if I work at it I'm okay. Not bad. Ring that gong at 300 yards pretty regularly with my hunting rifles... Dry fire practice is helping.

Age. Adapt. Overcome... Shoot! Good marksmanship beats a fancy rifle/load for me. A good rifle, a good load, and good marksmanship has done just fine for me over the years.

Guy

 

[Anonymous]

My friend's motto...after crashing a chopper into a mountain in Iraq..."Never let what you can't do stop you from what you CAN do!"

 

[djauofd]

There are two ways to look at aging, First you can compare it to your limitations when you were twenty. From here you become grumpy old man. Why because you are pissed. I know I am.

Or you can say, yeah everything hurts and admit I can not do this or that , but who cares what matters is what I can do, and what ever that is I am going to do that. I will do it as best I can and push the new limits. Basically II ain’t dead yet.


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[truck driver]

Guy welcome to the club.
Though I've never had back or neck surgery though it has been recommended, I have had shoulder and knee surgery and I guess do to lack of exercise the surgeries have limited my out door and physical endeavors.
Fighting a pinched nerve in my lower back/hip right now which is a real pain (pun intended)
and it has caused me not do some things like wadding in my favorite stream to fish and walking on rough terrain or any terrain but still got the desire to get out there and do it.
Pissed off yeah probably but I am not one to be a victim of something or someone trying to control me and will die fighting just because.
One of my Doctors once described me as an old Tom Cat saying I would go out on Friday night get beat up and come dragging home on Sunday rest up all week and go out and do it again the next week end. He would look at me and say you just won't give up and you know what I won't though it gets harder every day I find new ways to get around it.

 

[BretN]

Guy, you are a step ahead because you are able to recognize your limitations and adapt to them. Some can't or won't. You also put in the practice time to keep your skillset sharp. Sounds like you could use some nice shooting or trigger sticks?

Keep at it. Good luck this season.

 

[cloverleaf]

My goal in my old age and declining abilities is to shoot up all the ammo I have and then load one box at a time. Dad had a dozen boxes of ammo under the bench when he died. I'm working on those.... Way more than that laying around for the 250. I gotta shoot more! Do whatever you can for as long as you can, and adjust as your pride allows....but don't stop shooting. The option is hold down the recliner...Yuck! CL

 

[diverdown]

At age 60 everything was still going great and I considered that as a definite plus. Retiring from the PD at age 47, moving to Florida and continuing to do what I always did (Hunting, SCUBA diving, target shooting and so forth) kept my body active and I know I'm not the only one who had my Doctor say "just keep doing what your doing, don't stop because getting started again is a son of a b---h. Well, at 74 my get up and go takes a bit more time. My back complains all the time and getting down into a prone position? haven't tried that in a while. I still SCUBA dive but not nearly as much as in the past. My pace in the woods is considerably slower but that may be a good thing (see more animals). What happens to our bodies is a normal occurrence and we can all take a lot of satisfaction on what we've done previously.

 

[69gto]

I feel real good about what I can do at age 72. I had open heart surgery at age 28, back surgery in 2000, pacemaker in 2006 and I am still able to restore cars, do hard physical labor and work out at the gym. This morning I hiked 5 miles picking wild black berries so I am very happy to be still active. Of course 10 years ago I could go a lot farther and faster. I retired from paper mill at age 55 so have had 17 great years of doing what I want.

 

[Guy Miner]

I do think I'm going to get one of those Bog-Pod tripods that I could use from sitting or standing.

Am trying to get the accuracy from sitting, that I used to get from prone... Since prone is so uncomfortable & even painful anymore.

Have always been a decent shot from sitting, and have taken quite a bit of game from sitting when prone simply was too low, but... Am thinking I won't be using prone much at all anymore, and I need to keep the accuracy level up for those longer/more-precise shots.

Any bad experiences with the Bog Pod tripod? Or other suggestions?

Thanks, Guy

 

[SJB358]

Guy, is there any physical therapy or traction to assist with the neck?

I’m the young dog here and still find if I don’t stay on PT that it is way tougher to stay tough!

 

[Guy Miner]

Guy, is there any physical therapy or traction to assist with the neck?

I’m the young dog here and still find if I don’t stay on PT that it is way tougher to stay tough!

Had some bad neck problems, didn't realize how bad until I suffered a pinched nerve and lost partial use and quite a bit of strength from my right arm! :shock: I'd tried traction, chiropractor, therapy, massage... It all felt like it was helping, but there was never any lasting improvement.

Neck surgery two years ago fused three vertebrae in my neck. That solved most of the problem. My rt arm has come back pretty well, but a nerve died and I've had some permanent muscle loss in the arm as a result. The days of a 315 pound benchpress are gone forever, but who really cares? Not me!

These days it's just the pain from trying to bend my neck into a prone shooting position. Just doesn't work well. If trying to shoot at all uphill, it doesn't work at all.

If I shoot with my head held normally, as I can do in sitting, kneeling & standing, I'm fine. So, instead of relying on prone so much, I'll be relying on sitting more and am trying to make myself a seriously good field shot from sitting. I have taken a fair percentage of my animals over the years, from sitting. Shouldn't be hard to improve my accuracy, not if I can find a good rest that I like using.

I have kept up my exercise program. Mostly cycling in the summer. Snowshoe hikes and Nordic skiing in the winter. Weight room/gym all year. You're right, gotta stay on it!

Have been doing a bunch of 30 - 50+ mile rides the past two months. Feeling good. Riding strong.

Prone is just something I won't be doing much of anymore.

Guy

 

[69gto]

Guy: never tried a Bogpod but I am going to buy a Pig saddle to try on my Vortex tripod. The Pig saddle clamps the rifle to help with the up and down wobble.

 

[jezzolo]

My grandpa always said, “gettn old ain’t for pussies”

 

[Too Tall]

I feel it to, Guy. I was always in shape, and fairly strong. If I got ahold of something, alive or dead, it moved. Well not any more. My health really dove off, a few years ago, when I had heart trouble. I have had to change my life style a lot. No more real physical work, for very long, at one time. Even light duty, like trimming horses. Used to do them all in a couple hours, now one a day.
As far as shooting from the sitting position, I have done it for years, hunting coyotes in the brush. You pretty good at it with practice.


Too Tall

 

[SJB358]

MKes compete sense to me fellas. My danged legs and arms go to sleep if I lay my head back in the barber chair for more than a few seconds. So I definitely understand all of that. I guess something gives with a couple hard landings and throwing yourself around the hills chasing folks.

I’m taking notes though!

 

[truck driver]

Yep when you ride your body hard and put it away wet when your young you pay for it when you get older. <)

 

[Europe]

Do whatever you can for as long as you can, and adjust as your pride allows....but don't stop shooting. The option is hold down the recliner...Yuck! CL

amen! and to go a step further, which I have, dont quit "doing". I am now chief cook and bottle washer, at best. But I am still there to hear about the days activities of others in the field and to perhaps share thoughts with others about what might work the next day. No more hunting, or sailing, or drag racing, or even as much traveling, but I hope my last day here is, in the field, not in a recliner. stay, as active as you can for as long as you can, and dont "hide" because you are not the man or woman you once were.

And Scotty, Guy and others, thank you for the sacrifices your have made ( with your body and mind ) to help keep is free

 

[IdahoCTD]

Sorry to hear you gave up on sailing April. It sounded like something you really enjoyed.

Guy,

You might try to build a ramped platform to shoot prone. Kind of like a car ramp to lessen the amount your neck has to bend back. It would be like shooting from the back side of a hill with the gun rested on the top.

Those tripods with the clamp that goes on the stock are pretty stable with everything locked down though.

Scotty,

My dad is a bone cracker and I've been down your road. C7 is the bad one for me and that is where the nerves to your arms go. I had carpel tunnel for awhile too and it's never fun with numb fingers. The low lumbar vertebrae and your tail bone (sacrum) causes issues with leg nerves. I have a hard time concentrating while shooting prone sometimes when my neck is out of whack. I'm sure most of my guns will out shoot me, especially when shot from the prone position.

 

[djauofd]

Do whatever you can for as long as you can, and adjust as your pride allows....but don't stop shooting. The option is hold down the recliner...Yuck! CL

amen! and to go a step further, which I have, dont quit "doing". I am now chief cook and bottle washer, at best. But I am still there to hear about the days activities of others in the field and to perhaps share thoughts with others about what might work the next day. No more hunting, or sailing, or drag racing, or even as much traveling, but I hope my last day here is, in the field, not in a recliner. stay, as active as you can for as long as you can, and dont "hide" because you are not the man or woman you once were.

And Scotty, Guy and others, thank you for the sacrifices your have made ( with your body and mind ) to help keep is free

Amen to that! Thank you for all you who have served. Got all my aches and pains from injuries while I was an athlete in my youth having fun. I have all kinds of issues mainly degenerative disc disease at 65 I finally gave up running. Now I bicycle. I don’t feel proud for what I sacrificed but know that we all appreciate everything you have done. In the end though no matter what the circumstance do whatever you can for as long as you can. It is the doing that is living. Sitting on the sofa just waiting for your time because everything hurts is just slow death. Get up everyday push your limits, whatever those limits might be and enjoy the Spector of the creation God made. Just do it.


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[SJB358]

Thanks to all that said Thank You. Means a ton to me and I’m sure the rest of the Veterans on deck here at Nosler.

I wouldn’t give back a single day of my time. It was my job and I loved it! Some were crappier days but as a whole it was an excellent experience for me.

I don’t plan on taking it easy, unless I can get those elk on the plains. :mrgreen: