One More Year , I Hope!

I have a completely trashed rt shoulder, not surgically repairable. Can't even go artificial its so bad. I killed decent 8 last year and thought prob last one with Hoyt Double XL. Hoyt BTW, awesome company! They made new limbs for me at 50-60 so I could try to keep shooting. Did not charge me a lot to do so! Very grateful!

But fast forward June 2022. Could not pull bow back at all. Shoulder killing me. Had to wait till August for steroid shot due to shot timing issue. Shot went fine and I waited till today to try to pull bow back at 52lbs.

Wow! I could not pull bow back in June, got steroid shot in late August and just shot 8 arrows in basement, no prob pulling back and shot pretty good! So now to outside in couple days and shoot 10, I hope at distance. It was so nice to be able to pull bow!

I have to baby the shoulder for hunting season and not over work it. I had no trouble hitting spots at 15 yds in basement so my form holds true. It should from shooting same form for 50 years!!

You cannot imagine the joy of being able to still pull bow back without screaming pain.

My mantra: One More Year!

I hope it continues to work out for you, and I feel your pain. My right shoulder and bicep are trashed as well, but I can still archery hunt (I'm left handed). My issue is more around packing out game or lifting anything heavy where I'm not pulling straight up. I feel like a one-armed man at times. Completely sucks.

Hey Muddy, I feel you. I've had two operations on my right shoulder and one on the left. Need operations done on both again, but I'll be waiting on those. I'm heading down to Phoenix in 2 weeks for my second back operation this year, had three vertebrae fused in May and somehow transverse fractured the S1 vertebrae which was the lower one in the fusion. I saw an ortho guy about the right shoulder earlier this year at my local Army hospital, he said, "Congratulations, your shoulder is in the top 8 worst shoulders I've ever seen".
Glad you can still get it done, plenty of deer killed with even lower draw weights than your able to draw now. So you should be able to keep going for a long while.
Take Care

They lied about those…."Golden Years"

It might be time for a crossbow. It's not the same as my old Hoyt bow, but I just came to realization that excruciating pain takes the fun out of a hunt.

Lower draw weight is not a big loss for me with orangutan arms so my power stroke makes up for lower poundage. Buck I killed last year was 32 yards, passed through like piece of paper and slammed into tree behind him. So the 52 is not a big deal. I have shot 100 gr Thunderheads since they came out in early 80's and they have never let me down. I have a xbow Bowtech Stryker 380 but kills with it were uneventful. Funny thing is first 2 bucks were killed on ground were 6 and 8 yds! No blind, just sitting in good blowdown cover. Also killed doe at 45 so it does nice job. The biggest improvement was changing out the light xbow arrows to FMJ's which quieted it down a little but really didn't lose much speed. Still shoots 350 so it packs a punch. But its not the same as watching flight of an arrow!

I hope to get one more year but handwriting is on the wall eventually.

I love FMJs. It's all I shoot as well for reduced noise, bow shock, and maximum momentum. My father, back when he could still archery hunt, used Thunderheads exclusively. A great head. I can't get away from the Magnus Killer Bees myself (unvented version of the Stingers). The easiest to sharpen and tune, super quiet, hyper sharp, keeps an edge, and absolutely cuts through anything like nothing else. I'm definitely a bit jealous of everyone out in the sticks in the Rockies right now chasing some big bulls around.

I tore my rotator cuff on right shoulder so took it easy and worked the crap out of my left shoulder. And now both are torn.
I went down from 60 lbs to 50 lbs on my Hoyt but came to the realization I couldn't shoot like I needed to. I broke down and bought a ten point crossbow last year.
It just ain't the same!
Enjoy your archery as long as you can cause you will definitely miss it once you can't do it! I know I do.

Yeah, three surgeries on rt shoulder and unfortunately the second surgery was a success then failure. The surgeon did not take out a calcium deposit which then tore crap out of rotator tendons rendering them useless.
Here is the calcium deposit. Surgeon who does Notre Dame football shoulders has never seen this before. Size of golf ball! Big incision on side of shoulder to remove whole. So nothing left.

Hey Muddy, my last right shoulder surgery sounds similar to yours. I tore my right bicep tendon off at the elbow, needed the right shoulder fixed too. Asked the Army surgeon to fix both at the same time, it was a bridge to far for him. Bicep tendon fix good, shoulder in worse shape after the surgery. Everything felt ok for a while, even started playing racquetball again after 6-7 months of recovery. In 6 months shoulder was killing me and here we are needing another shoulder operation. I had some bone spurs in there cutting up the rotator tendons that were just left in there, so they're trashed. My bicep tendon that connects in the shoulder was cut and just left loose in there. I guess this is why they call it, "Practicing Medicine".
Bow season starts soon in MI, correct? Good Luck with your season. I grew up in MI, but haven't lived there since 1981.
Take Care

Getting old ain't for sissies.

My Mom used to say that all the time!

At 72, I can assure you the aging process absolutely sucks! The last 2 years has been one battle after another. But one foot ahead of each other keeps me going. All you can do.

Muddyboots,
My father is 74, has had two vertebrates fused, some surgical work on his neck, and really needs two other vertebrates fused, but they won't do anymore. We stopped hunting together some time ago because of it. I'm happy to say that this past weekend he decided to go with us on our Coues deer hunt (his home state). It's a family hunt, and he will ride around a bit and mostly stay in camp. I'm just glad he'll get to enjoy the outdoors, and I'm sure I'll hunt "close in" a few times so he can sit and glass with me just off the road.

I sure do miss him being out there with me. We were always hunting buds that went where nobody else would go. Nobody would partner with either of us usually, lol. It's hard to see him barely make it off the road now. Time is precious, and I'll be enjoying every bit of this hunt. Yes, it's the maiden voyage "on hair" for my production bullets in my own gun, but that is secondary to memories I will cherish with him being out there with me again, even in limited capacity.