Thoughts From an Aging Outdoorsman

Every outdoorsman goes through different stages in their life. I’ve seen “The Six Stages of Hunter” and I’ll link that at the bottom of this write up. But along with those stages comes something else; the slow decreasing in desire to push the limits and see what you’re made of. When a young person starts to hit the woods, everything is new to them and all it takes is one successful trip and the fire has been lit. They’ll do anything it takes to bring home a deer or boat flip a 7-pound bass.

But as you age and life’s responsibilities begin to shave time off the adventures that you love so much, the once go-getter outdoorsman starts to see where they can stay in that same box that they’ve been in and can continue to have success. It might not be that challenging and new success but it’s still reaching the goal of bringing home that big deer or that big fish. As age starts to set in, the smaller and smaller that box gets. The efforts get shorter, but the success remains relatively the same….for a time. Then that starts to dwindle as well.

Before long, that person who would once stalk a squirrel for 300 yards, is now the older person who won’t hunt because it’s over 75 degrees and also, it’s the same person who’s just happy to see the occasional animal or be out on the water. Their fire is now a smoldering pile of what once was.

In this video I give you my thoughts on the topic as someone who knows his time is coming but is also trying to keep that fire stoked to keep that old timer he’ll be seeing soon in the mirror away for one more day.

Where Are You Among the Five Stages of a Hunter?