Who's the oldest hunter you know?

[CouesWhitetail]

How many of you know people over 65 years old that are still hunting? I was trying to think the other day about who the oldest hunter I know is. I believe for me that would be a guy in my neighbor's family named "Chub", he is 90 and he killed an elk this year.

 

I was fortunate this year to help a 75 year old friend on a hunt in the Kaibab this year. I hope I can be that tough at 75!

Here is his pic:

 

 

I thought it would be nice to honor some of our eldest hunters with posting their photos here.

 

So if you have pics of older hunters, post them here and tell us a little more about them.

 

 

 

 

In mid-December Lark asked me to post these photos for him. (sorry for taking so long Lark!)

 

Here is what he wrote about him:

80 year old Rusty "Papster" Lewellen took this bull yesterday north of Payson. He was aided by his son Steve, and and an assortment of grandsons and other derrilects and reprobates. This is one tough ol' WWII vet that deserves a little recognition.

 

 

 

 

[.270]

hey Amanda, thanks for putting those photos up. Rusty is one tough ol' dude for sure. he got a little 5x5 shot out from under him, but before it was over he shot this fat horned ol' bull. it's a good story. my ol' man is nearly 80 and got another nice buck this year. i'll send ya a photo of him with some sorta dead animal. this is a good thread to start. be good to see what kinda photos and stories folks get on here about the greatest generation. Lark.

[DesertBull]

hey Amanda, thanks for putting those photos up. Rusty is one tough ol' dude for sure. he got a little 5x5 shot out from under him, but before it was over he shot this fat horned ol' bull. it's a good story. my ol' man is nearly 80 and got another nice buck this year. i'll send ya a photo of him with some sorta dead animal. this is a good thread to start. be good to see what kinda photos and stories folks get on here about the greatest generation. Lark.

 

 

If your dad is 80, that means he must a fathered you when he was like 12 years old.

 

[willhunt4coues]

My dad Bill is almost 60 (january 17 birthday, in the forum under bprice) and just shot an old Javelina (lower canine 3 inches). Thanks to him I am who I have become now. He has many 90+ couesdeer, mule deer, Elk, used to fish turney's, shot many many pigs, and is one he^% of a bear hunter. One of these day we will gather all of his trophies and post them. Here is a recent pic of me and my dad:

 

 

[rut]

Coach See from Camp Verde....84 years old and still going.....USMC in WWII...NAU grad where he played basketball, football and ran track.... first Arizona resident to play pro basketball, Waterloo Hawks (now Atlanta Hawks).....has spent more time in unit 10 than anyone, including the cowboys. Don't come any tougher than Coach. He is Cramerhunts grandfather....

 

Jim Parker

[muledeerarea33?]

One of Terry's (25-06) good friends and a person I have hunted with a few times is Leroy. heck he's gotta be like 130 years old he is still up and at it and a very smart man with lots of outdoors smarts. A man to respect that is for sure.

[IHunt2live]

My Father-in-law is 65 and still going strong. I sometimes have a hard time keeping up with him on those coues hills. He has a cabin on 40 acres in 34A that border national forest and those hills he hunts are crazy steep.

[KidBowHunter]

The oldest hunter I Know is Marvin Robbins,(inducted into the Arizona Outdoor Hall of Fame) one of the country's best turkey hunters.

Oh, he is also 75 and STILL hunting turkey

http://www.nwtf.org/nwtf_newsroom/press_re...es.php?id=11623

 

Troy

[GameHauler]

Here is my best hunting friend ever.

Len is over 70 but I do not know for sure.

We have hunted together for the last 15? years.

He is a great hunter and has done so well with the things that ail us older folks.

Len had a heart attact coming out off a setup and his boys found him in time for him to enjoy many more years of hunting.

What a TROOPER.

Maybe we can get his son (TJHUNT2) to add to this.

Thank You Leonard

Mike

 

GREAT Idea Amanda

[billrquimby]

"Who's the oldest hunter you know?"

 

heck, all my friends are over 65 and all are still hunting. Here are some of the better hunters among them, in alphabetical order.

 

Don DeLuca

Whitey DeVries

Boris Baird

Bill Berlat

Bud Bristow

Alex Jacome

Bill Mattausch

Dick Remaly

Fritz Selby

 

Mattausch arguably is the toughest of the bunch, but that's only because he's the youngest at age 65.

 

Bristow's no slouch, either. Within a two-year period Bristow had a brain tumor removed and a quadruple heart bypass. In 2007, he hunted Arizona elk, deer, javelina, and Wyoming antelope and tagged three of the four -- with no help from anyone. He spends more days swatting quail and doves than anyone I know.

 

The oldest in this group is Whitey DeVries. At age 90, he still goes out alone in his boat and fishes every day, weather permitting.

 

Don't bet your farm that someone you know is a better turkey caller than Whitey or a better hunter of any type of game than Mattausch or Bristow.

 

We have nearly five centuries of hunting experience combined, and if the truth were known we may have collectively taken more than 500 deer, 50-60 pronghorn antelope, 200 javelinas, and dozens of elk over the years.

 

Eight of us have hunted at least once in Africa (most of us a lot more than that), and together we have collected just about everything that walks there except elephant and rhino.

 

None of us is ready to quit hunting yet, not even Whitey. I intend to help get him an elk near my cabin this fall if he draws a tag.

 

Bill Quimby

 

Incidentally, Clay, the oldest javelinas don't have the longest tusks. Like us old farts, the oldest peccaries have worn their tusks down to mere bumps on their jaws.

[azpackhorse]

I had posted a story about a month ago about my buddy's grandfather Ray Abrams who is 83. Ray lives up in Springerville but spent a lot of his younger days in Southern Arizona cowboy'n for ranches down south, Ray told me a story bout how he suggested to the ranch owner down around Arivaca bout damming up a spot and making a lake which is now the site of present day Arivaca Lake. I could sit and listen to Ray all day long and by god giv'n a chance he'd tell ya stories all day long

 

Here is Ray with his November Coues, which of course he shot with a 30-30

 

Edited January 4, 2008 by azpackhorse

[Kilimanjaro]

my Grandad (Dad's dad) is 80 and he still gets out in the west TX sand country and chases those blue quail with his dogs.. even after a double knee replacement a few years back.. he even manages to hit a few while he's out there!!

he's a tough old codger for sure..

[SilentButDeadly]

Took Ken out Coue's hunting in October, he's 72 years young, and can crush a man with his thumb!

[cramerhunts]

Coach See from Camp Verde....84 years old and still going.....USMC in WWII...NAU grad where he played basketball, football and ran track.... first Arizona resident to play pro basketball, Waterloo Hawks (now Atlanta Hawks).....has spent more time in unit 10 than anyone, including the cowboys. Don't come any tougher than Coach. He is Cramerhunts grandfather....

 

Jim Parker

 

Got to second this one since he is my grandpa and one of the toughest hunters I know. He still can out walk me and slap me a round when needed. As Jim said he knows unit 10 better then any other person alive. He just happened to have gone through lung surgery this past week and already talking about getting back out in the hills. I can only hope to be going half as strong as he is when or if I reach his age.

 

Phil

[billrquimby]

"Ray told me a story bout how he suggested to the ranch owner down around Arivaca bout damning up a spot and making a lake which is now called Arivaca Lake. I could sit and listen to Ray all day long and by god giv'n a chance he'd tell ya stories all day long "

 

I don't intend to warp this threat, but as a point of information, the lake mentioned here probably was actually built by the rancher. It was larger than the present Arivaca Lake, but it lasted only a few years before its dam gave way. The Game and Fish Department came in a few years later and built a new dam in a different place. The remains of the old dam can still be seen if you know where to look.

 

In the 1960s/70s, Game and Fish went on a lake-building spree and built (with help of federal agencies) Arivaca, Pena Blanca, Rose Canyon, and Rucker Canyon lakes in southern Arizona, plus Lynx Lake near Prescott and several others around the state. It even had a separate branch for "devlopment." In the late 1970s, opposition to lake-building caused it to abandon plans for two more lakes it had on drawing boards -- Twin Peaks Lake near Arivaca and one in the Chiricahuas whose name I've forgotten.

 

Sorry 'bout that, but I thought you youngsters might want to know.

 

Bill Quimby