As of my first cancer (Jan 2006--Jun 2007), I have been partially disabled (enough that I've on Social Security Disability
since then).  There are other aspects of the damage done that don't really apply, but the two that really do are A) low
energy levels caused by A) loss of one testicle (it was testicular cancer with many metastases---first my lungs, then three
brain tumors, then back to my lungs), B) damage to my thyroid by radiation therapy after the three brain surgeries, which
controls the metabolism, C) low B-12 levels caused by the inability to process B-12 in the digestive tract, which was in turn
caused by low levels of thyroid hormone, and D) very harsh chemo (high dose-long-duration of one of the most destructive
chemo drugs that exists).

To further complicate matters, the first metastasis to my lungs left them almost completely useless (in fact, one of my
three soon-to-be oncologists gave me a 50% chance of just getting out of the hospital alive---I quickly, and not so
politely, corrected him on that...under no circumstances would I allow the cancer to win (and it didn't).  My lungs are
now back to somewhere around 55--60% of normal (per regular tests I get at my allergist/asthma doc's office).  Oh,
and yes, I do now have asthma, too.  The reduced lung capacity means I get winded very easily.  More ** to deal with.

I am, this year, finally getting back to hunting after far, FAR too long away from it.  I will be hunting on the Eglin AFB
public land (WMA), and will probably not have anyone hunting with me 99% (if not 100%) of the time.  So naturally,
I have some questions that I'm hoping to get answered before Eglin's "General Gun" season starts in November.

What I need help with is suggestions on how best to A) move any deer I shoot to a nearby tree so I can hoist it up to
field dress it; B) get it back to my car (2007 Honda Civic Si ... no truck) and into the trunk, and c) raise it again when
I get back to this metal box (trailer) that I'm stuck in (I live on Social Security Disability) so I can process it. I WILL
be processing it myself, for two reasons. 1) I can't afford to pay to get it done, and 2) I've both read and been told
that when you do pay, you never know WHAT you'll get back...and that is TOTALLY UNSAT. Every now and then, I
might have a friend hunting with me, but my plan, right now, is to hunt weekdays, when most people are at work, so
I'm not counting on having help, except the mechanical kind. Oh, and did I mention that I'm on SSD, and have an
incredibly-limited budget?

Any suggestions would be most welcome!

Thanks,
   --jim

I have the use of one arm and use a power wheelchair. You could do what I have done for the last 19 years. Get a hunting partner or have someone on call for when you get one. Yes, I hunt alone once in awhile.

Posted By Straight Shooter on 05 Sep 2012 09:45 PM
I have the use of one arm and use a power wheelchair. You could do what I have done for the last 19 years. Get a hunting partner or have someone on call for when you get one. Yes, I hunt alone once in awhile.

I'm basically assuming that I won't have that option, so I'm looking for ways to essentially reduce the load (or rather, make it
easier to handle the load, e.g., by using a cart to haul the deer, etc.).  I am trying to find someone who'll want to hunt with
me, but everyone I know here works during the day, and I'm planning on hunting weekdays, while everyone else is at work
(when I'm hoping the deer will be at least a little bit more relaxed).

Thanks,
   --jim

I have not looked but have you posted this in the florida section .As I have read on here about others in your situation that hunt there .Chect it out if not .

Posted By holly on 06 Sep 2012 09:05 PM
I have not looked but have you posted this in the florida section .As I have read on here about others in your situation that hunt there .Chect it out if not .

I'm new here ... there's a Florida section?  Where?  If nothing else, I've got lots of questions about the Eglin land that
I'd prefer to have answered before 1 Oct.....  :-)

Thanks,
   --jim

Just keep scrolling down the forums page as the States forums are further down the page.

Posted By Big Dawg on 07 Sep 2012 05:37 AM
Just keep scrolling down the forums page as the States forums are further down the page.

Thanks.

Just looked in the Florida forum ... not a single post. Nothing.

GT a lot of the states in the forum are not used much. Most other forums see a lot of use particularly the Misc thread. Always remember we are disabled and NOT helpless.

Posted By Big Dawg on 08 Sep 2012 08:46 AM
GT a lot of the states in the forum are not used much. Most other forums see a lot of use particularly the Misc thread. Always remember we are disabled and NOT helpless.

And, other than Social Security Disability's verdict (disabled), I consider myself only partially disabled.  My energy levels
start out well below normal, and after a little while, drop like a lead brick to zero.  My vision is impaired when reading due
to a 2.5" tumor in my left occipital lobe (the part that processes vision).  That one basically mixes words around.  For
example, look at the first two lines in this paragraph.  I might read these (several times over) as:

......  disabled.  My levels
start energy well below normal

Or words simply vanish, move around, or get completely changed.  It's incredibly annoying, and I have to read slowly and
meticulously just to TRY to catch my brain shifting stuff around.  Oh, and those puzzles on IQ tests, the online sample
admission test for MENSA, etc., where you have a bunch of squares, with dots in some, etc., and you're supposed to figure
out the pattern and identify the next image from a group ... I used to be able to do those with just a glance.  Now I
can't even see the patterns at all.  Along with all of that, for any group of one character or number, repeated more than
three times, I can't identify how many there are without breaking them up somehow.

Another of the three brain tumors I had affects my typing and spelling; when I'm typing, if I start thinking of the next
word while typing the one before it, I'll often mix the two words (i.e., start typing the second in the first, and put the
missing chars from the first into the second), spell words backwards, and so on.

Btw, the three tumors were:  1cm left front, 1cm right front, 2.5cm left occipital lobe.  Three brain surgeries in one
ten-hour session, followed later by whole-brain, max-dose radiation therapy (which took out my thyroid.  The lack
of thyroid hormone (Free T-4), in turn, took out my body's ability to process B-12, which I now have to inject
(SUB-Q, alternating arms) every other Saturday (today being one) along with an IM/leg injection at the same
time (more hormone replacement due to damage from cancer #1).  Low B-12 can have devastating effects on
energy levels (starting with fatigue, and getting worse from there), thought and concentration, and can cause
depression....

After taking my cast net out this morning for the first time in probably 12 years (one throw on 3 speckled trout,
and they got away before the net hit bottom), my arms are not exactly being forgiving right now.  :-)

Chemo took out my short term memory.  My friends here know that, if I suddenly stop talking and look confused,
one of a few things has happened:  either I've forgotten what I was going to say next, or I've forgotten what we
were talking about completely, or (and this is REALLY annoying), I *KNOW* the word I want to say.  It's as if I
can "see" it on one side of my brain, but can't get it to the other side to actually say it.  They all know to start
giving me cues as to what I might have been about to say.  When, in the middle of a sentence (or even a WORD),
I forget what we were talking about, the back up the conversation and remind me....

But despite all of that, I only consider myself partially disabled, out of respect for those who really are disabled.

Later,
   --jim

jim

first welcome to the club and the boards! as the name implys i am disabled, not by cancer, my was a cell phone driver! 27 surgeries so far,another 1 in less than 3 weeks,waiting for a new heart too! now i would never recomend anyone who is handicapped to go in the woods alone! that being said i have done it myself!

in order to hoist a deer you should go early and place a block and tackle in a tree, if no 1 see it and steals it, you should be able to lift a deermaybe a friend could climb up and camoflage it for you, if you wind easy dont climb! have you scouted a location to hunt, are you ground blinding it, tree stand(which i have stated my opinion on this method) or spot and stalk? if you have picked a tree to work from, can you get you car close to it? there are some deer drags that might help, the 1 i am thinking of is like a wheelbarrow, only just a tubular frame!

again i would strongly recomend a hunting partner! best of luck to you!

Posted By crippledhunter on 08 Sep 2012 10:06 PM
jim

now i would never recomend anyone who is handicapped to go in the woods alone! that being said i have done it myself!

in order to hoist a deer you should go early and place a block and tackle in a tree, if no 1 see it and steals it, you should be able to lift a deer maybe a friend could climb up and camoflage it for you, if you wind easy dont climb! have you scouted a location to hunt, are you ground blinding it, tree stand(which i have stated my opinion on this method) or spot and stalk? if you have picked a tree to work from, can you get you car close to it? there are some deer drags that might help, the 1 i am thinking of is like a wheelbarrow, only just a tubular frame!

again i would strongly recomend a hunting partner! best of luck to you!

I'm going to be hunting...one way or another.  I haven't had any way to since I was about 16 or so...no land to hunt on,
didn't know about hunting on public land, etc.....  So as you can imagine, I'm ready to go now (but can't).

As for ground vs tree vs spot/stalk, ground....definitely ground.  No, I wouldn't dream of trying to climb a tree.  Those
days ended around the time I turned 20 (back then, I could climb any tree with ease...not now).  And my "blind" will
be whatever I can use on-site.  The regs say you can NOT cut down any branches, etc., but you can use any that are
already down (those that fell naturally).  So I'll be doing what I can.  When I was a kid, we sat on rocks, tree stumps,
whatever we had available.

As for getting on the land and choosing areas to hunt, etc., I can't get my permit for the Eglin AFB public land until
1 Oct.  It's a year-long permit, so next year, I'll be able to get in a bit earlier, if I want to.  Another bit in the
regs  states that while you can bring in certain types of blinds (there was something about only one type of tree
stand, but I didn't really read that, as I'm not climbing), they state clearly that whatever you leave behind may not
be there when you come back (they are not responsible, blah blah blah).  So basically, I have to carry what I need in,
and carry it out.  I'm already planning on doing some intelligence gathering (where the deer are moving, etc.) starting
on 4 Oct (I have more stuff I need before then, so I won't stick out, so I can use my old digital camera AND so I can use
my 35mm, etc., and I can't buy anything more until I get my monthly SSD deposit on the 3rd).  I'll be checking one area
after another (spend a few days at one, then the next, and so on), looking for signs of deer movement (or better still,
seeing and photographing deer movement (and either with my Android phone, or, if I can afford it, the $97 GPS I'm
looking at, logging GPS coordinates).   I'm planning on hunting weekdays, while (hopefully) most people who would
otherwise be hunting there are all at work, and resting on Saturday and Sunday (or maybe taking my cast net out
on the weekends!).

But until 1 Oct, all I can do is wonder what I'll be seeing when I get out there.

Later,
   --jim

PS:  Good luck with the upcoming surgery.  May they put you on Dilaudid faster and more consistently than they
did with my cancer #2 surgery....  (I had a thousand lifetimes worth of horrifying pain from the second of  two chemo
types during my first cancer...and that's as far as I want to go into that...those memories cannot be allowed to escape
the mental prison I have them locked away in.)

i know how you feel about pain and memories, my first surgery was anterior posterior 3 level fusion with robotic cage! fancy way of saying cut front and back! it was a 11 and 1/2 hour surgery and i was woke up at the 9 hour mark to view myself in 2 pieces upper and lower halves! i see that every night in my dreams!!!

now that being said, for 3 years i did surgeries every 3 months! barely got to heal before i was on the table again! after i was hit(i was stopped he was going 55) i went skunked for 11 years, dont get discouraged. things come when they are supposed to come! just enjoy the time you have in the woods, wheather you get an animal or not, cause sitting in your room sucks alot more!! you might try HHH for help, thats hunters helping hunters, or try going to the local fish and game office, some one may help you or know someone who can!!

i wish you all the best my friend, keep your chin up and keep moving foreward!

Posted By crippledhunter on 09 Sep 2012 03:23 AM
you might try HHH for help, thats hunters helping hunters, or try going to the local fish and game office, some one may help you or know someone who can!!

i wish you all the best my friend, keep your chin up and keep moving foreward!

Thanks, I'll look into that (both).
   --jim

GT I now use a ground blind as like Humpty Dumpty they can't put me together again if I were to fall. I would suggest you go here http://www.sportsmansguide.com and type ground blinds in the search box and you will have a variety of blinds available to look at. I also would suggest you get one of the popup hub style blinds as they simply popup easily and take down is easy with a little practice. I love it when I see fellers like yourself who refuse to just lie down and not get up. Had I listened to the MD's that is what I would have done but I just ain't wired that way and I have to get up and go even when there are days I really don't feel up to it. Choices are ours to make and the only advice I will give here is to make your own choices and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. They may tell you this with the best of intentions but they don't have a clue as to what it means to someone like us who are disabled to be able to defiy the odds and live our lives to the best of our abilities. This is especially true of hunting as if I could not hunt I really don't know what I would do or how I would act as I have lived my life working and hunting and when I was medically retired from the Army I was a little lost at first until I decided that if there was anyway possible I would hunt as much as possible. I do have a son and a SIL and both hunt and don't mind in the least helping me hunt as well. The I have some of the best friends a man can have that hunt and they too have no problems helping me hunt and getting my deer out of the woods. The best to you my friend and don't ever lose that can do attitude !!! My email is bigdawgwalls@yahoo.com and you can email anytime you want just be sure to put NAHC BB in the first message so I will know that it is someone from the club.

Posted By Big Dawg on 09 Sep 2012 08:52 AM
GT I now use a ground blind as like Humpty Dumpty they can't put me together again if I were to fall. I would suggest you go here http://www.sportsmansguide.com and type ground blinds in the search box and you will have a variety of blinds available to look at. I also would suggest you get one of the popup hub style blinds as they simply popup easily and take down is easy with a little practice. I love it when I see fellers like yourself who refuse to just lie down and not get up. Had I listened to the MD's that is what I would have done but I just ain't wired that way and I have to get up and go even when there are days I really don't feel up to it. Choices are ours to make and the only advice I will give here is to make your own choices and don't let anyone tell you that you can't do something. They may tell you this with the best of intentions but they don't have a clue as to what it means to someone like us who are disabled to be able to defiy the odds and live our lives to the best of our abilities. This is especially true of hunting as if I could not hunt I really don't know what I would do or how I would act as I have lived my life working and hunting and when I was medically retired from the Army I was a little lost at first until I decided that if there was anyway possible I would hunt as much as possible. I do have a son and a SIL and both hunt and don't mind in the least helping me hunt as well. The I have some of the best friends a man can have that hunt and they too have no problems helping me hunt and getting my deer out of the woods. The best to you my friend and don't ever lose that can do attitude !!! My email is bigdawgwalls@yahoo.com and you can email anytime you want just be sure to put NAHC BB in the first message so I will know that it is someone from the club.

As far as a ground blind goes, I like the idea of a quick pop-up blind, but I don't like the extra weight (and the high price
of some) that they list.  HOWEVER ... seeing that gave me an idea.  I have some old mosquito netting that someone gave
me a long time ago.  It was from Vietnam, and is the usual olive drab color.  I could easily spread some of that around at
just below my eye level.  It'd easily fit into my backpack (DOD issue from my Special Ops Intel days) and probably weighs
in at a few ounces (in other words, negligible), and could be deployed in no time.  Thanks for the idea that led to the idea!

As to people telling me I can't or shouldn't, there's only one...and you'd never guess who:  my mom.  A couple of months
ago, when I bought my Remington 700 ADL .270 for deer/hogs, and my Mossberg .410 for any venomous snakes that
get too close, she asked if it was really worth it (like she always does when I tell her I bought something to, in my opinion,
get a lost part of my life back---she'd rather I spent that extra dose of cash (usually from tech reviews for a publisher of
Android development books) on paying off small chunks of the medical bills I'll be paying off for the next 10,000 years.....
This time, I told her that every deer and/or hog would be a bonus to my food budget.  She asked how much I'd have to
get before it paid for the rifle/shotgun....not realizing that A) this was a way for me to get more active again, and B) meat
is getting insanely expensive in the stores.  I started thinking cut per cut, price for the beef vs the cost of a bullet for the
deer, and when you add it up that way, even if all you look at is the dollar signs, it wouldn't take that many to add up.
But then, I'm not just looking at dollar signs.  If it improves my life, it's worth it if/when I can afford to buy it (right now,
I have to re-calculate my monthly budget every time I plan to spend more than about $10).  If it improves my life and
puts food on the table (well, I don't have a table, but you get the idea), then it's doubly worth it.

Oh, and one other thing:  SIL ???

Thanks,
   --jim

jim

sil= son-in-law! ibutcher all my own animals, elk i need help with, but deer are not a problem! just take your time, you can do anything you put your mind too! my doc`s all of them have pictures of me in thier offices, my regular doc has a shot of me 5 days after i broke my neck and on the ground in front of me is a dozen salmon! cardiologist has a shot of me with the 5x4 i took 2 years ago! but would tell you i am crazy for doing what i do, but like you say meat is expensive. and being 6 foot 2 and 275 i like to eat!!

Posted By crippledhunter on 09 Sep 2012 03:23 AM
  you might try HHH for help, thats hunters helping hunters, or try going to the local fish and game office, some one may help you or know someone who can!!

i wish you all the best my friend, keep your chin up and keep moving foreward!

Ditto, but I think the HHH Charter specifies that the $ provided is for medical or funeral expenses.

Posted By crippledhunter on 09 Sep 2012 11:24 AM
jim

sil= son-in-law! ibutcher all my own animals, elk i need help with, but deer are not a problem! just take your time, you can do anything you put your mind too! my doc`s all of them have pictures of me in thier offices, my regular doc has a shot of me 5 days after i broke my neck and on the ground in front of me is a dozen salmon! cardiologist has a shot of me with the 5x4 i took 2 years ago! but would tell you i am crazy for doing what i do, but like you say meat is expensive. and being 6 foot 2 and 275 i like to eat!!

Same here.  I should point out that when I started doing comparisons of the price of beef cuts, vs the same cuts of venison,
I quickly realized that I had to compare venison with the most lean (and thus most expensive) cuts of beef, which may still
not be as lean.  I strongly prefer the leaner cuts, myself, so that has to be factored into the cost comparison, as well.   :-)

I don't have any photos of times I've pulled around 75--80 pounds of mullet (not a trash fish here) up in my cast net
(catches like that take about 4--5 adults to pull up from 35 feet below, while not letting the net slide against the
bridge railing (which would rip my net, making me spend hours patching it), but if I get a net-full like that this year,
I'll try to get a photo and post it in the member photos area.  But then, as I've mentioned somewhere here, my first
bridge net is retired now (too many encounters with the bridge's pilings, after the currents pushed it right into them),
and I don't have the lead melting pot or the lead molds for making the lead weights, so I can't finish my new bridge
net, and am limited to my dock net (which I made right after making my first bridge net).  So, it won't be that big
of a haul (13.5 foot bridge net vs 10.5 foot dock net).....

Later,
   --jim

steve when i first heard of hhh, they had helped a friend of a friend`s cousin`s brothers uncle! well something like that anyway! he needed to adapt his truck to his new needs, got some kind of hoist to lift and swing, now that was like 8(or more oldtimers and all) years ago! now could be different now!

jim as far as i know you can on dip net for smelt here! i am a salmon guy! the kings can get to 60 and up! best i have done is 54 pounds! took me 20 minutes to land her! we fish with beads and yarn, using coils of lead, weight is factored different for each and every trip depending on speed of the river!
best of luck to you, hope you able to get out there and visit mother nature often! and that you fill all your tags!

Posted By crippledhunter on 11 Sep 2012 12:04 AM

jim as far as i know you can on dip net for smelt here! i am a salmon guy! the kings can get to 60 and up! best i have done is 54 pounds! took me 20 minutes to land her! we fish with beads and yarn, using coils of lead, weight is factored different for each and every trip depending on speed of the river!
best of luck to you, hope you able to get out there and visit mother nature often! and that you fill all your tags!

Here, people fish with just about everything (a neighbor town, Destin, has been a fishing village since as far back as I can
remember).  Too much politics there now, though, so I wouldn't want to live there......

As for the "tags" ... we don't have those.  They call them stamps, but basically, it's all a printed receipt-style hunting
license that just shows what you've paid for.  In mine, it's hunting + deer + turkey.  And on the Eglin AFB public land,
if I read the regs from last year (haven't seen this year's yet), there are no season limits for deer---only antler size
minimums and a daily limit.  So that would mean getting a nice buck every day I go out (which I'm hoping will be every
weekday that Eglin isn't doing operations in the area(s) I'll be going to.  (You have to call in every morning before you
head out to see if the area you plan on going to is going to be off-limits---usually they won't be, but that's subject to
change).

Later,
   --jim

PS:  I did take the net out Saturday morning, and was disappointed that most of the areas I thought were public areas where
I could fish, were either private or marked "No Fishing".  But I did find a dock on the Sound (not as good), and made one
throw on a few speckled trout, but they got away.  The fish around here are always on the lookout for a human with a cast
net, or worse, a cast net in the air heading towards them, and can blast away between the time you throw and the net
hits the water...mullet are good at it;  speck is really good;  sheepshead is VERY good, and redfish is insanely good not only
at avoiding nets, but escaping them if caught..    If you're familiar with sheepshead, you know that their size is all vertical,
and they aren't exactly very wide (they're a type of drum).  I had one under the net when the net was inches from the
bottom....so what did he do?  He turned on his side and went under it.  I heard about a redfish that WAS caught in the net,
that did a few laps around the net looking for any weakness, found a spot where the bottom was just a bit shallower (i.e.,
a gap between the lead line and the bottom), lined up at the other side, and darted under the net at that low spot and was
gone in the blink of an eye.

Well leaveing Thusday for two weeks in the woods .Got my hoist set up yesterday atacted to my quad so if I get one I can get it out .You ever see a disabled old man and his disabled wife load a 200 lb deer in a truck .Good thing no one had a camera aroung .

For a 200 lb deer (150 lb is very large around here), I'd do anything to find a way.... :-) That's a lot of meat, and a lot of money I'd save by
not having to buy it. I'm still going with the ask at the Jackson Guard (the group that handles the Eglin AFB public range) if someone can either
hunt with me or if I can call someone when I need help. That would be great.

I'll be going out to do some simple recon when I get my permit (that day, I'll just be driving around, getting a feel for the geography and roads,
but the next day, when I can get out EARLY, I'll be watching for deer and/or hogs). I'll post some photos if I have any worth posting.

Later,
--jim

Good luck and enjoy!  A pic. of your quad with the hoist on it would be cool.

Posted By Steve on 11 Sep 2012 11:05 AM
Good luck and enjoy!  A pic. of your quad with the hoist on it would be cool.

Wow...somehow, when I opened the tab with this thread, I was put into another topic, and my response (to another post
that I thought was in this thread) ended up there.  I never even selected that group.  :-)   Strange.

In terms of deer hunting, what's a quad?   And for now, the pics I'm talking about are just recon // intelligence gathering
pics (i.e., if I see a nice cluster of deer or hogs all within easy shooting range).  I'll be taking my old Nikon Coolpix camera
(with a 3x telephoto), my Pentax 35mm (with a 300mm lens), and my Android phone, as a last-resort backup.  I'm just
wondering how the deer will react to a shutter click (particularly from the 35mm)....

Later,
   --jim

A quad is an atv. As for the shutter click - no clue but too late at that point anyhow, ya have the pic.. ;-D

Posted By Steve on 11 Sep 2012 11:59 AM
A quad is an atv. As for the shutter click - no clue but too late at that point anyhow, ya have the pic.. ;-D

Ah, and ATV.  Can't drive on the Eglin public land except for the roads (including non-paved roads).  No ATVs.
I don't have one, anyways (I have a 2007 Honda Civic Si with a big trunk...even bigger if I fold the back seat down).

As for the shutter click, I'm referring to before the season opens, when the only thing I'll be shooting with is a
camera (documenting what I see at each spot I check out prior to the season opening, around 6 weeks later).

Thanks,
   --jim

Come over and visit us old guys in Everyday Hunter sometime. We have a feller that lives right there by you who would most likely jump at the chance to hunt with you. He hunts Eglin all the time. I know this because I used to go doewn there every couple weeks when my son lived there. Come over and get to know us over there a bit and go from there.

Posted By Brian Warner on 13 Dec 2012 10:45 AM
Come over and visit us old guys in Everyday Hunter sometime. We have a feller that lives right there by you who would most likely jump at the chance to hunt with you. He hunts Eglin all the time. I know this because I used to go doewn there every couple weeks when my son lived there. Come over and get to know us over there a bit and go from there.

Contact info?

Thanks,

   ---jim

http://w11.zetaboards.com/Everyday_...ter/index/

Just drop on in ansd say HI. Get to know the folks in there. Alot of us are disabled one way or another but together we work out some good times.

Posted By Brian Warner on 13 Dec 2012 11:07 AM

http://w11.zetaboards.com/Everyday_...ter/index/

Just drop on in ansd say HI. Get to know the folks in there. Alot of us are disabled one way or another but together we work out some good times.

Awwww, and here I was thinking this was a local (FWB, FL) hunting club.  By "contact info" I was hoping for the location (and time, etc.) where everyone meets.  :-(

Btw, would someone please answer the question I've posted in "Hunting Lodge" about regular gun oil vs rust-prevent products for muzzleloader cleaning?  Please......  I used regular gun oil, and am hoping that's ok, because I don't have the money to buy ANYTHING extra until the 3rd when I get my January SSD deposit......

It IS sorta. There are a couple members that live right there and work on Eglin and Pensacola. My son's place was in Navarre right by the back side to Eglin. I'm not steering you wrong here. The only way to reach Quailman is through that forum.

As far as the oil in the Muzzle loader goes, regu;lar gun oil will work. Just be sure to keep an eye out for corrosion in the off season.

Posted By Brian Warner on 26 Dec 2012 04:32 PM

It IS sorta. There are a couple members that live right there and work on Eglin and Pensacola. My son's place was in Navarre right by the back side to Eglin. I'm not steering you wrong here. The only way to reach Quailman is through that forum.

As far as the oil in the Muzzle loader goes, regu;lar gun oil will work. Just be sure to keep an eye out for corrosion in the off season.

Thanks.  The rut (Late Archery/Muzzleloader) isn't until February, and by then, my budget should be fully recovered, so I'll be able to buy the rust prevent stuff.  :-)

To be honest, I just the the rust preventive stuff for storage more than a few weeks.

I would find a way to hook a deer cart to yur chair. They do make one. Have someone help with installing a hoist. That way when you get back itll be ready for you. Im disabled also and my son helps me alot but for the most part i try to be indepedant.

Posted By sscott14 on 27 Dec 2012 01:45 AM
I would find a way to hook a deer cart to yur chair. They do make one. Have someone help with installing a hoist. That way when you get back itll be ready for you. Im disabled also and my son helps me alot but for the most part i try to be indepedant.

I like the idea of having a hoist mounted here at home...would solve the problem of getting the deer up the steps to the small deck outside the front (and back) door.  I've got a friend who could weld one together and get it installed as a big frame box-like thing, but it would be very expensive, so it might be a long time.....  As for the deer cart, first, wouldn't it make more sense to hook the chair (which I plan on carrying in on or in my new backpack (ordering both from Sportsman's Guide on the 3rd when I get my next SSD deposit)?  And second, regarding a deer cart, it'd have to be one with BIG and WIDE wheels---it would have to be able to be pushed/pulled easily on beach sand.  You have to go pretty far inland here in NW Florida before you reach soil; until then, it's all sand (some with grass, some without).  I haven't seen any that fit that description, and I suspect that any that do are far beyond my budget.  :-(

I am, however, open to suggestions on the cart.....  I had, until I saw how much of some key areas are mostly sand (tough to walk through, but I'm getting better at it each time I go out), thought of one at Sp. Guide (a "Guide Gear" aluminum deer cart for about $69, I think , but I seriously doubt it'd handle beach sand.......

Thanks,

   --jim

Depending on the cart you might could skip the chair. I have one out at the farm that is shaped like a Lounge chair almost. The wheels are where the bend is. I put a pad from the lawn furniture on it and sit on that. It's low and easily camo'd with one of those ground blind things that sets up on sticks. It can be tricky with a deer on it though. Kinda top heavy so take the time to be sure you strap the deer and clear the path as you go.

Posted By Brian Warner on 27 Dec 2012 07:54 PM
Depending on the cart you might could skip the chair. I have one out at the farm that is shaped like a Lounge chair almost. The wheels are where the bend is. I put a pad from the lawn furniture on it and sit on that. It's low and easily camo'd with one of those ground blind things that sets up on sticks. It can be tricky with a deer on it though. Kinda top heavy so take the time to be sure you strap the deer and clear the path as you go.

I've already got the chair picked out---it's the  WX2-138868 - Alps Mountaineering Turkey Chair from Sportsman's Guide, for $40 and change---along with a new backpack[1].  And regarding the camo you referred to, I've got one.....  I used it during my last hunt (last day of the December muzzleloader season) ... after going out for a silent walk to check out the area around me, when I got back, knowing where to look, it took me a few minutes to find it (or rather, to SEE it).  That answered a question that I'd been wondering about, whether RealTree or Mossy Oak was better here.  Definitely RealTree for the plants and trees in this area.  It was basically invisible.  And finally, clearing the path for the cart would mean getting a bulldozer to remove about 50 feet (depth) of beach sand.  Being a bit inland, it might be more like 25 feet, but still.......  No, it's a deer drag all the way.  The thing that WOULD be nice is one of those drag sleds, which I might buy later.  Right now, my plan is to wrap the deer (or hog) in an old sheet first, then the smallish blanket the hospital gave me when I was admitted for cancer #1, all wrapped with bunjy cords (oh, and this is after field dressing, of course) and then attach the deer drag to the legs as usual and drag it out....stopping if/when needed to take a break and have some water from the Camelbak that I was issuee with the backpack.  Like I said, to get through the sand roads here, (only two of the range roads are red clay---the rest are all beach sand...and even a 4x4 truck can get stuck on those.  A deer cart most likely wouldn't stand a chance.  My car certainly didn't....  I had to get towed out by a guy driving a 4x4 with tires that were up to my chest in height, and very, very wide with deep traction.  Very nice guy, too...by his mannerisms and extreme courtesy, I'm 99% sure he had to have been active duty.

Thanks,

   --jim

[1] I've got a Blackhawk backpack that was DoD issue when I was at 16th SOW Intelligence, but it seems like it's breaking down or        something inside---anything in it gets small bits of the inside black material all over it.  I've seen this with other backpacks, too,          but those only took a few years, whereas this one took about 13 years.  Still, time for a new one.

I know the range is tough there. The one by where my son lived is up 87 a bit near the Black River. We went in there and just in there a bit was some prime turkey hunting. He got 2 in there. If you can get a northern buddy to get you one of those plastic snow sleds like a shallow pan. They are about 18 inches wide and 3 ft long give or take. They slide GREAT on the sand, clay, grass or leaves even with a deer on them.

Posted By Brian Warner on 01 Jan 2013 04:37 PM
I know the range is tough there. The one by where my son lived is up 87 a bit near the Black River. We went in there and just in there a bit was some prime turkey hunting. He got 2 in there. If you can get a northern buddy to get you one of those plastic snow sleds like a shallow pan. They are about 18 inches wide and 3 ft long give or take. They slide GREAT on the sand, clay, grass or leaves even with a deer on them.

I've seen at least one on sale from one of the hunting shops (including WalMart's Sporting Goods), but I'm not sure which.  I do remember that it was around $10 or $20, but at the time, I didn't have even that much.....  Yeah, that's what I definitely want.  I can easily see where it'd be great on sand.  :-)

Thanks,

   --jim

PS:  I'm hunting in the Robert's Pond area, NW of Ft Walton and N of Hurlburt.  Lots of swamp area, which I've been advixed (by a friend at the Jackson Guard office---they're the ones who manage the whole Eglin public range) not to even attempt to enter, whether there's water there or not, as it's so thick even they don't try to get in there.....  But on the other hand, I've read that swamp deer are typically MUCH larger than the area's average....I'm anxious to find out when the rut finally arrives next month.

That's over in the Archery ONLY area  isn't it??? I have never been in there but my son has been through it a bunch. It IS tough going. The kid knows what he's talking abou too. He was raised up in the Louisiana Swamps and Bayous and is used to going through those kinda places. We wiould spends days or even a week or more down in there before I got this bad.

Posted By Brian Warner on 01 Jan 2013 05:01 PM
That's over in the Archery ONLY area  isn't it??? I have never been in there but my son has been through it a bunch. It IS tough going. The kid knows what he's talking abou too. He was raised up in the Louisiana Swamps and Bayous and is used to going through those kinda places. We wiould spends days or even a week or more down in there before I got this bad.

The Robert's Pond area might have been archery-only in the past, but it isn't now.  The two archery-only areas are the East River  Archery Units and the Eglin Main Archery Units.  The ER units (there are two that I can see) are just east of the FL/AL border and right along the Gulf coast, and the Eglin Main unit (I only see one on the map) is right in the main Eglin AFB area, bordering the Choctawhatchee Bay, and is limited to DoD personnel and escorted guests ... and if by "escorted" they mean the same as when I was in Wing Intel (and later HQ AFSOC Intel) at Hurlburt, they mean escorted at ALL TIMES (except in bathrooms, of course).  Being known as the bulldog when it came to classified, I was chosen as the primary for escorting uncleared most of the time...and I DID have to be  the bulldog a few times.

Sorry to hear all that you have been through.I too have lost because of cancer right leg above the knee on dec & and managed to still get out this year I live in Mass best bet is to find someone that is willing to go with you its safer that way just in case anything happens someones there in case of an emergency I used to hunt alone all the time and now all has changed.You may not want to hunt with a partner but trust me for safety sake it is the best way.

I was raised in Mass Jon. The adjustments we make will have to made by ALL hunters sooner or later, In a way, we are the lucky ones in that we have been able to make the adjustments when we're younger and more able to "adapt". Sooner or later, we ALL need someone to go with us. I like to think that I get to benifit with the extra time with my boys and daughter and now grandbabies. Of course, my friends and I have gereat times and share some special moments too. Keep your eyes, ears and minds open and enjoy the times you can get out. Even if it IS only a few feet from the truck on some days...That's better than just a few feet from the bed or couch.

got on this late and haven't read through all the posts so someone has probably already said this - learn the gutless method and use pillow cases for game bags. With a sharp knife you can take them apart on the ground and pack them out in pieces, making the load as big or small as you need. Takes me about 30 minutes to break down a deer, a little longer for an elk.

Posted By AzSlim on 01 Feb 2013 05:02 PM
got on this late and haven't read through all the posts so someone has probably already said this - learn the gutless method and use pillow cases for game bags. With a sharp knife you can take them apart on the ground and pack them out in pieces, making the load as big or small as you need. Takes me about 30 minutes to break down a deer, a little longer for an elk.

And congrats on being a survivor, my wife was give 3 to 4 years with a malignant brain tumor, she signed up for an experimental treatment and made the 10 year mark in Dec.  Our diet is wild game and fresh vegetables for the most part.

I came up with something similar...  I have an old sheet (twin) to wrap
the deer in (after field dressing) to keep dirt, etc., out, and then an
old blanket IF NEEDED to help drag the deer.  Then bungy (sp?) cords to 
keep it all pulled together.  Fasten the deer drag to the ankles as
usual and drag to car.

And if it's A) a weekday, and B) too heavy (or too much to fit into my
trunk---which I'd LOVE to see this month during the rut!), call Justin
(at the Jackson Guard office---they run the public land, and he said to
call him anytime I need help getting a deer out).

I'm also trying to find a deer drag SLED that I found somewhere.  It's
supposed to put less drag on the drag (you know what I mean), thus
providing less resistance to being pulled along the ground, AND it
protects the hide more.  I've sent an e-mail to a friend here with
an idea on making one.  More details later, if we go ahead with the
project (or not, if we decide to (attempt to)[1] market it ...).

Thanks,
   --jim

[1] I know...nested parens in anything other than code is bad...right
    now, I say "so what".  :-)

if you know how to butcher then the gutless method will be easy for you to pick up quickly, no sense packing out stuff you aren't going to eat

Posted By AzSlim on 02 Feb 2013 07:35 PM
if you know how to butcher then the gutless method will be easy for you to pick up quickly, no sense packing out stuff you aren't going to eat

Not only that, but everything I've read says field dress the deer immediately (as in, carry in everything you'll need for that and getting the deer out.  So I do.  Then, when I (hopefully) get one during the rut this month, I'll clear out the lagering fridge (has grain in it right now to keep the mealy bugs out), set it at (if I remember correctly---I have it written down, but responding from memory) 38 deg F and then let the deer age a day.  Then remove the hide and pull out the processing kit and find or make a space to do the processing part.  I can't afford to pay someone, so I'll probably just watch the videos again a couple of times.  :-)    Then I'll see if I'm any better with the freezer paper for a change (did a terrible job with it trying to wrap up some HB meat when I bought a 3 lb tube and only needed 1 lb at the time (but I wrapped that with plastic film, so it was all ok).

Even when I field dress and bring back whole I get the hide off as soon as I get to camp. The hide really keeps the heat in and you want to cool the meat as soon as you can, it reduces the gamey flavor, which is actually the meat going bad. With the gutless method and pillow cases I get the hide off right where the animal falls and start the cooling much sooner.

I have an old fridge on the back porch I age game in. Just did a coues deer yesterday that a friend I helped gave me, it aged for a month.

I'll probably wait until I get home, just to help protect everything.  But then again, when I hang it to field dress and weigh the deer, that would be, by far, the easiest time to remove the hide.  Besides, not that I think about it, I'll be wrapping him in a sheet and a blanket while I drag him to the car, and in the trunk, I'll have ice jugs to put in the cavity to cool him from the inside during the 15--20 miinute drive home (only that slow due to the 6--10 inch deep potholes on the short paved portion of range road 234 (on which I have to maintain about 10--15 mph to safely dodge potholes AND in case I hit one...less risk of destroying a tire or worse, a tire AND a rim.  The tires on my Civic Si are the expensive high-performance tires, and cost WAY more than I could afford mid-month (unless I have just gotten paid for a book T/R).

Jim,

Your only as disabled as you allow yourself to be. Might not get stuff done as fast or as easily as others but we'll still get them done. Go post in the Florida section and see what comes up. Also swing by the Outdoor Rec at Eglin and the Game Warden's Office and see if they can help you find someone to hunt and fish with you. It works. BUT, it DOES take patience.

Posted By Brian Warner on 15 Feb 2013 04:23 PM

Jim,

Your only as disabled as you allow yourself to be. Might not get stuff done as fast or as easily as others but we'll still get them done. Go post in the Florida section and see what comes up. Also swing by the Outdoor Rec at Eglin and the Game Warden's Office and see if they can help you find someone to hunt and fish with you. It works. BUT, it DOES take patience.

As for being "only as disabled as you allow yourself to be" I agree, and have always felt that way.  That goes
along with the same attitude that I have had since diagnosis:  I will win, the cancer will not.  That was my
attitude while the cancer still existed, and it's my attitude with the aftermath.  It's the only acceptable
outcome.

As for hunting at Eglin AFB, there are three days left (not out yesterday or today because the areas I hunt
are closed for military exercises):  tomorrow, Sunday, and Monday.  Then deer season is history.  Just
yesterday, I bought some doe estrus and a scent drag, and now have a popup ground blind, and am planning on
dosing the area with (per instructions) scent of hot doe.  I will NOT start the scent drag line from my car,
but rather, from about 20 yards away (maybe even on both sides---two trails) and into the woods on the other
side of the road to pull them my way out of those woods.  I have three days left to hopefully get at least one
buck to both avoid being discouraged and to boost my budget.....  After Monday, though, it's off to the bridge
with my cast net(s)[1] and/or new fishing pole until November.

Later,
   --jim

[1] I'm thinking of taking my old bridge net out of retirement, if I can find the needles (lost mine) for
   patching the net.  That'll depend on how my 10.5 foot 12.5 lb dock net performs as a bridge net.....

vim:set columns=110: vim:set textwidth=110:

Just FYI for y'all......As of one week ago at 30 minutes after sunset, deer season ended here for this year, and I officially stuck out.

:-(

I never even SAW a buck.  I saw two does, both on range roads (illegal to even attempt to take while on, or depending on the area, within 50 or 200 yards of a range road ... not to mention that neither sightings were during doe season).  The first was while walking in on one range road (sand) where I got stuck before trying to drive my Civic Si on)---I came up on her, we stared at each other for a few seconds, and then she decided to vanish.  The second, less than a week before the season ended, was crossing another range road (a different favorite spot) while I was driving out, and about 50 yards from her.  Those are my "great successes" this year....seeing two does I couldn't touch.  Oh well.  Time for fishing in about 1--2 weeks (not with the cast net yet, though---I'm adding rod//reel fishing back into the game...first time, other than charters with family and fellow 16SOW/IN folks once when I was there, since I was about 17.

bump

Ummm, I just realized, "I officially STUCK out" was supposed to be "stRuck out" with the 'r' ... oops.  :-)