Looking after your rifle and ignoring your belly

Reloader708

Well-Known Member
So a slightly contentious post!
I hate to generalise but I've happened to notice that quite a few deer stalking types seem to be fairly unfit middle age blokes which is strange given its a potentially fairly demanding way to spend your time.
All well and good to have the very finest gear, custom built rifle topped with expensive German glass but how many of us actually look after ourselves.
I've heard many berate the fella with a second rate scope claiming it'll make a difference in the last 10 mins of daylight but are we getting the most from ourselves?
I take the time to keep fit because it makes my job easier, a 100yd climb up a slope and you don't want to be breathing through your arse and let an opportunity pass.
Anyone else try and keep trim to get the most from their gear?
 
Now the Op knows why so many SD Members walk the woods with crutches. Sorry, I meant quad sticks!

Says he who is currently laid low and in no little pain with a lower spine problem!

K
 
I think mostly by the time you can afford and or have time for stalking often you are older and older men suffer middle age spread… well that’s my excuse lol
 
So a slightly contentious post!
I hate to generalise but I've happened to notice that quite a few deer stalking types seem to be fairly unfit middle age blokes which is strange given its a potentially fairly demanding way to spend your time.
All well and good to have the very finest gear, custom built rifle topped with expensive German glass but how many of us actually look after ourselves.
I've heard many berate the fella with a second rate scope claiming it'll make a difference in the last 10 mins of daylight but are we getting the most from ourselves?
I take the time to keep fit because it makes my job easier, a 100yd climb up a slope and you don't want to be breathing through your arse and let an opportunity pass.
Anyone else try and keep trim to get the most from their gear?
Waiting for a picture of you pushing a wheel barrow250 yds with it full to the brim with kit and birds.... barrow.jpg

:tiphat:
 
So a slightly contentious post!
I hate to generalise but I've happened to notice that quite a few deer stalking types seem to be fairly unfit middle age blokes which is strange given its a potentially fairly demanding way to spend your time.
All well and good to have the very finest gear, custom built rifle topped with expensive German glass but how many of us actually look after ourselves.
I've heard many berate the fella with a second rate scope claiming it'll make a difference in the last 10 mins of daylight but are we getting the most from ourselves?
I take the time to keep fit because it makes my job easier, a 100yd climb up a slope and you don't want to be breathing through your arse and let an opportunity pass.
Anyone else try and keep trim to get the most from their gear?
Yes. People tell me my rifle is too heavy as it weighs a couple of pounds too much. I think they are a couple of stones too heavy, so I am ahead
 
It is outrageous to suggest that Gentlemen of a certain age, have let themselves go.

We all know how physical Stalking, Keepering and working dogs can be.

I could write more, but frankly bashing away at this keyboard, has left me quite short of breath...
 
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If you think stalkers are fat xxxxers you should have a look at divers. I’ve dived with some readlly unfit, rotund people.

but just to blow my own trumpet, I managed to lose a stone over lockdown and increase my fitness quite a bit. Now to maintain it…..
 
I do try to keep fit and trim but it's more to do with my life style than stalking. It does help when I'm out and about though. However I am well past middle age. Being over weight now seems to be the norm and not just for the middle aged or deer stalkers.
 
I'm ex services and am still in the habbit of keeping fit I train 5 days a week but I am still young enough to do it as I'm only 31 but I can't see me stopping my routine any time soon, it does help with my deer stalking activities massively
 
So a slightly contentious post!
I hate to generalise but I've happened to notice that quite a few deer stalking types seem to be fairly unfit middle age blokes which is strange given its a potentially fairly demanding way to spend your time.
All well and good to have the very finest gear, custom built rifle topped with expensive German glass but how many of us actually look after ourselves.
I've heard many berate the fella with a second rate scope claiming it'll make a difference in the last 10 mins of daylight but are we getting the most from ourselves?
I take the time to keep fit because it makes my job easier, a 100yd climb up a slope and you don't want to be breathing through your arse and let an opportunity pass.
Anyone else try and keep trim to get the most from their gear?
interesting topic, would you like to disclose your age?
 
you don't want to be breathing through your arse


It's a skill I'm half- way to mastering...... breathing out is the easy bit, inhaling is proving trickier.....


Seriously though, up until 2015 I was a keen cyclist, and mountainbiker. I developed osteoarthritis and eventually had to give up the cycling and in 2017 had a hip replacement. Over the next couple of years I thumped on a bit of timber, but have lost over 3 stone since the pandemic started. Look better, feel better and climbing up hills to shoot stuff is much easier. I'm even thinking of getting back on the bike. We owe it to ourselves and our loved ones to stay healthy.
 
interesting topic, would you like to disclose your age?

interesting topic, would you like to disclose your age?
I'm 42 and try and do a bit to keep trim, just because it makes my job less demanding than if I was carrying an extra couple of stone.
I like a nice rifle as much as the next fella but it's no good if i can't hold it steady after a walk.
Also if you do take a bit of care of yourself it can only extend your time doing what you love and what's not to like about that?
 
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