I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year.

[Len Backus]

This is the first day of the rest of my life. I just completed on online calculator that computes your life expectancy based on family history, current age, life style, current health. Not good news.

According to its result I will only live to be 99 years old.

As a result of this shocking revelation I have told my wife that in 2009 I will be hunting coyotes in 5 states, antelope in 2 states, mule deer in 2 states and whitetail deer in 1 state. I will be photographing outdoor stuff in 7 states plus 1 Canadian province.

I will put 40,000 miles on my car traveling west 12 times, nap at 17 rest areas, eat at 43 different restaurants, stay at 12 different hotels, listen to 23 recorded books in my car, tell my wife more often that I love her and think of each of you 18,201 members every day. Now that I know of my problem, and with more advance planning, I should be able to hunt lots more often in 2010.

I refuse to let this situation get me down.

 

[eddybo]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

So sorry for the bad news.....99 is just not enough years when you consider all of the distractions. I hope that the hunts go well, and can tell you that you will be sorely missed. Please tell me that you have already taken care of your final arrangements, and will be laid to rest wearing your OD socks.

 

[old_heli_logger]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

That's awful, only 99 years huh? I guess you might as well give me all your guns…I'll think of you every time I shoot 'em. You'll be sorely missed, but I sure do look forward to them guns.

 

[JUDD]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

Wow Len I'm sorry to hear this...

I will formily invite you to our July wodchuck fest hunt here in PA...it's seems like it is the least I can do for letting me be a member to this wonderful site of yours..

 

[ebd10]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

Bravo Len! If I only had another 3 years to live, I'd do what you're doing too!

 

[shorty]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

Len, My neighbor only made it to 105. When asked on his birthday how he felt at that age, he replied "The first 100 were easier". He still drove his own car and mowed his own three acre yard at 104. Also would shoot any varmint that came onto his property, two leg's or four.

I think the lesson here is that hunting is the only way to avoid an early and tragic end!
At the very least our heirs and the funeral director will earn their money hunting for the carcass.

 

[Coyboy]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

Where on-line is this life calculator? My familly history ain't so good, and I'm always looking for an excuse to go hunting more!

 

[esshup]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

****, Len, don't scare me like that! I just ran across an old co-worker from 20+ years ago and was catching up on old times and friends. It turns out that about 1/2 of the guys that bummed around together are no longer on the green side of the grass, and many of them went before 1/ 2of your life expectancy to boot.

One guy left home on a Sunday morning to get milk for the kids and never returned - drunk driver got him. Another's wife died from a brain tumor, and his 11 yr. old son went to get him up for the funeral and found his father dead in bed from an anurism.

See why I'm jumpy?

 

[Eaglet]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

Len,

I don't know what to tell you, man I'm sorry for you!

If you care to answer, how many years before you're 99?

 

[Joel Russo]

Re: I just learned I don't have long to live so I am going on lots of hunts this year

I'm with esshup, I read the title of the post and got that sour feeling in my stomach.
I don't want to count the number of friends that have left us in the past few years...