They say hope springs eternal and for me, I guess that’s true

This calendar year began for me with some angst over my health. I had just been confirmed as having cancer in my prostate gland. Surgery to remove the prostate happened on Jan. 5th and turned out well. All my follow-up visits have come back as negative for any cancer and the healing continues.

I had also been consulting with an orthopedic surgeon about my ankle and the decision was made to do a total joint replacement to eliminate the pain and inability to walk problems. That surgery was scheduled for mid-May. I consulted my other doctors (family, heart, urologist, and orthopedic) to see if anyone had any concerns about a 72-year-old, diabetic having this second surgery within four months of the invasive prostate surgery.

Some routine tests were run, and I passed with flying colors since all the doctors consulted gave their approval. The ankle surgery went ahead as scheduled. I am now almost four months past that surgery and walking normally. In fact, I was doing so well in physical therapy with the ankle that both the ankle surgeon and the physical therapist cancelled the last two weeks of physical therapy, saying I didn’t need it.

During all this time, I had written off any hunting and probably fishing this year because of being laid up recovering from the surgeries. Occasionally, I would let myself think that, maybe, I might get out to do some small game hunting and possibly some salmon and/or trout fishing. To date, none of that has happened. I missed the two calls from my friend, the sports fishing guide, to get in some silver salmon fishing.

There’s still some hope I might get out to do some lake fishing for trout and grouse hunting is also a possibility. I live less than a mile from a stocked lake and that would be my preferred choice to fish. However, now that Labor Day has passed, I suspect the gate across the entrance road will be closed and locked. The best way to fish this lake is out of a canoe or inflatable. Having the gate closed and locked turns access to the water with a watercraft into a royal pain. If push comes to shove, I can walk in and fish from shore, but I wouldn’t hold my breath for much success on this particular lake.

I was thinking that I might get some waterfowl hunting in, especially for geese up near Delta Junction on a guided hunt. When I checked into that possibility, I found out that booking hunt dates at least six months in advance was required to assure getting a guided hunt. I had only started checking maybe a month before opening day, so that option was lost.

Grouse hunting is still possible, but all the rain has dampened my enthusiasm for doing much brush busting. Also, the grouse hunting trips that I had hoped to make all required using my small motorhome to overnight and towing my six-wheeler to access the hunt areas. Needless to say, I never got the motorhome ready for use this summer and the six-wheeler could use its annual service before making any extended trips.

Things could still work out for some outdoor adventures, either fishing or hunting, but if they do, the excursions will be different than what I had hoped.

They say hope springs eternal and for me, I guess that’s true. Looking ahead toward winter, the lakes will freeze over sometime in late November or December and icefishing then becomes an option. I have all the gear and could use either my four-wheeler or snowmachine, depending on snow conditions, to access a number of lakes to fish. Plus, I will be healing for two months more by the time icefishing might start happening.

Not only would everything be better, health wise with additional healing, but I would have plenty of time to get everything ready for the first trip.

I also need to get an area in the garage cleared out and get my weight bench and stationary bike set up to begin working out. All this inactivity has done nothing for my hunting and fishing shape, or even just shooting my muzzleloaders.

Now that I can walk again, I want to do a lot of things I couldn’t easily do for quite some time. While I’m not thrilled about essentially losing the 2022 hunting and fishing seasons, I know with some workouts and exercise, I can resume doing what I have always enjoyed.