Is there a point where elderly shouldn't get a tag?

Come on guys!! Ease off! T-bone was venting frustration and if you carefully read his post the first line says "Hypothetically".
If we can't vent a little about something on this forum w/o expecting members getting their panties in a wad, we have done ourselves a huge disservice. We are all hunting brothers and we all have times when enough is enough. So let's try a little understanding on this topic!
 
Originally Posted By: T-boneIn AZ it's illegal to "help" old uncle joe. If old uncle Joe can't do it, then maybe his kids should be putting in for Elk or Deer, and taking care of him.
If Uncle Joe pulls the trigger, that's all that matters even if somebody else holds his weapon up. It is illegal for a tag holder in AZ to put their tag on an animal they did not kill. There are no laws in AZ about "helping."

It does not bother me that physically challenged hunters apply to hunt big game. They have lower hunter success so they will not impact the resource and diminish the chances of others getting drawn.
 
Sorry t-bone-----I think your going to lose this one. Hypo. or not. Take away a freedom and a privilege from a man or woman, and it's like putting a nail in their coffin.
Anybody see Jim Shockey and his father and family on hunts. Just do it, and enjoy.
 
Originally Posted By: Big_FootCome on guys!! Ease off! T-bone was venting frustration and if you carefully read his post the first line says "Hypothetically".
If we can't vent a little about something on this forum w/o expecting members getting their panties in a wad, we have done ourselves a huge disservice. We are all hunting brothers and we all have times when enough is enough. So let's try a little understanding on this topic!

sorry. my granddads were only venting frustration at tbone. hypothetically that is.
 
I mostly hunt my own land and my brothers place so I am very fortunate and know it. I am much slower now than I used to be,which is not a bad thing. I am more likely to set and watch which is not bad either.I have looked at deer through my scope and decided not to shoot many times. When I do shoot I use the winch on the four wheeler to great advantage. I hope when it is my time they find me leaned up against a big white oak.I understand I live in a different place than Tbone. My life style and my life seems to be running out at about the same rate.Within the last two weeks two new houses are going up just across the creek,about a quarter mile away.When I came to this place there was two other houses on the whole road. Now there is over twenty. I can't shoot in three directions now.I understand how Tbone feels I guess. These young people with their fast cars and houses have ruined two thirds of the area I used to hunt.Sort of the other side of the same coin I guess.
 
WA has various tags over the counter and permit draws open to all then separate draw categories for each Senior, Youth, and Disabled.
Seniors, Military, Youth, and some disabled receive discount rates.
Disabled also can use the Companion Card which allows a designated card holder to shoot, tag, and retrieve game.
It is far more difficult for disabled to get a drivers license than persons of any other category.
 
I don't think I want the state to figure out new ways to restrict my rights as I age. I'd expect that people who are older than I am likely feel the same way only stronger, as they're in more danger of being limited.
 
Lets see....
Chaseing elk off with dogs and taking old peoples right to hunt away, What's next ?

If my mind and will is strong enough to hunt, no matter my age, I'm freekn going !
 
I don't know many kids under driving age, that can take care of their own big game animals . Get them out of the field/woods, mountains and process them by theirself.

My Grandpa is 93 and retired from hunting at 90. Not because he could not, he just did not wanna go anymore. I cried opening day the first deer season,I knew he was not in the woods.

He lives alone, cooks and drives himself still.
 
There are Wounded Warrior Foundations who specifically try to get our disabled veterans back in the field to enjoy what they have left

wheelchairs and all
 
I can understand any frustrations over lottery draws with big game tags. South Dakota does all big game tags on draws except resident archery tags on some species. I just drew my antelope tag for the county I live in for the first time in 4 years! So if that's your angle I understand;).

Now having said that if a hunter is not a danger to himself there is no reason to restrict him. If you don't want to help them you don't have to. Around here the hunting community is so close nit you could call a 100 different people if you need help recovering an animal or what have you.
 
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Your "hypothetical" question seems to be quite self-serving. I 100% disagree with how you feel about restrictions or requirements. For the past couple of years I have been fortunate enough to both mentor my oldest son and also help my aging father. My dad had a heart attack spring of '14 and was not supposed to lift anything over 10 lbs. Does that mean he shouldn't be able to go deer hunting? [beeep] no, it just means I get to pay him back for all the deer he gut and dragged for me when I was new to it. I gut, dragged, and processed 3 deer last year and never pulled a trigger...and loved every second of it. We are making memories that I will carry forever.
 
T-bone I too feel the frustration of not Drawing. I live close to some of the best elk hunting in the country but have only drawn 3 tags in the last 20 years. I have a different take on the elderly hunting as I have been out there calling and trying to get these gentlemen their elk several times. I feel that after a certain age they should be taken out of the draws and just given a tag. As long as they are the ones hunting and pulling the trigger god bless them. The oldest gentleman I have taken was 90. And I was able to call in 4 elk including one monster. He was just a little slow getting things right to take a shot with his muzzle loader. He didn't care that he did not kill the elk of most men's dreams. His dream was just being in the woods and having an opportunity.

drscott
 
I actually just chuckled to myself thinking about this post. I was thinking about somebody telling my grandfather he could no longer apply for tags because he was too old, man I can just imagine how that one would have ended. He was 94 when he passed and he gave up hunting around 90 when he was forced to move to town in order to be closer to a hospital and medical care facilities. He was rather slow in his later years and needed help dressing game and so fourth but he went whenever he felt good enough to go. I never once would have considered he shouldn't be hunting.

He was a highly decorated WW2 veteran. None of us really know what happened while he was in the South Pacific because he didn't talk about it and made it quite clear that he wasn't going to. Once a year him and the members of his unit that were still alive met and to the best of my knowlege that was the only time he ever discussed the war. The one and only time he ever really talked about it to any of us grand kids was after someone asked him why he was awarded his medals. He told us he did what he did for us and for his freedoms and the medals didn't matter.

My point is that he very much valued his freedoms and if you had told him he was losing a freedom because he was to old and couldn't pack out a deer by himself well lets just say it would not have been pretty.
 
If anything I think it would be cool to see a pre season elderly hunt! We have the Youth hunt where a youth gets to hunt a week before main season only stipulation is that someone 21 or older helps them. Id like to see something like that for elderly.

Just this summer my 83 year old grandfather was always talking about how he wished his father could have taught him how to hunt and fish. He said they went a few times but money was always scarce. If I didn't live 10 hours away Id take him.
 
TBone,,,Not "Hypothetically", but for real...Let me pose my dilemma...I'm 74 and I have three serious health issues that prevent me from covering much distance, much less pulling a deer, or other game out of the woods...

If I choose to hunt and obtain a tag, I certainly would be going with, or have previous arrangements to have, help on any game harvested...What you are suggesting, "Hypothetically". would eliminate what pleasure I might derive by denying me the ability to obtain the tag in the first place...

That would be almost as bad as me suggesting that since you may have filled your tags in recent previous years and I have not, you should be restricted from getting a tag for this upcoming hunting season...
 
Originally Posted By: Wyoming WinchesterHow old will you be when someone stops you from buying a license and go hunting.

Maybe you need to take that "too old," person out and help them get their animal. The pleasure in their face and attitude are priceless.

No doubt. Sometimes I have more fun being the "helper" than the shooter.
 
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