Hunting and Bipolar

[Pucky Freak]

Puffballs! Of the fall fungi chanterelles are my favorite, but these are a close second.

 

[TheBenHoyle]

Puffballs! Of the fall fungi chanterelles are my favorite, but these are a close second.
View attachment 294351

Awesome. How do you like to cook these up. I had them once when I was younger and have had times when I could have picked some, but I just don't know what to do with them.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Awesome. How do you like to cook these up. I had them once when I was younger and have had times when I could have picked some, but I just don't know what to do with them.

Cut the base off, scrub the dirt of the exterior. Then slice 1/4” thick and sauté in butter and garlic. The taste and texture is somewhere between white mushrooms and mozzarella.

 

[Don Fischer]

@Pucky Freak, I deeply respect and admire your honesty and courage and humble self-awareness, and am glad you’re on the road to recovery. You putting it out there for others to read will help those in similar situations. Thank you for doing it. Respect to you and I hope nothing but good things for you and your family.

I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression in 1983 at the VA Hospital in Vancouver, Wash. Hardest part to learning to live with it is accepting you have it in the first place and then staying on your drugs! Really really helps to accept it and treat it like a common cold. Drugs keep it under conrtol when it does get out of hand, never quit taking your drug's! I'll talk about it with anyone that come's along, doesn't bother me at all anymore but did in the beginning. Problem is it's a mental illness and nobody want's to be mentally ill. But stay on your drugs and get to where you can talk about it and it is totally, well almost totally, liveable. It is nothing like being insane, nothing like that!

 

[Pucky Freak]

I was diagnosed with Clinical Depression in 1983 at the VA Hospital in Vancouver, Wash. Hardest part to learning to live with it is accepting you have it in the first place and then staying on your drugs! Really really helps to accept it and treat it like a common cold. Drugs keep it under conrtol when it does get out of hand, never quit taking your drug's! I'll talk about it with anyone that come's along, doesn't bother me at all anymore but did in the beginning. Problem is it's a mental illness and nobody want's to be mentally ill. But stay on your drugs and get to where you can talk about it and it is totally, well almost totally, liveable. It is nothing like being insane, nothing like that!

So true, have not missed a day of meds yet in 9 months. Sometimes it’s seemed like they don’t help much, and the side effects always suck. Beats the alternative of not having them though.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Shaggy parasols! Literature says rarely someone can be sensitive to them. I’ll try a little bit to start with.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Catch of the day + baby onions from my garden getting ready for supper.

 

[Pucky Freak]

We learned to cast today. This was a perfect spot - little bluegills, little green sunfish, and little largemouths on every cast. Plenty of action to keep her interested. She asked to hold the fish a couple times but then changed her mind because they move

 

[Pucky Freak]

Opening day 92 degrees! Passed on a little forky at 20 yards from the folding chair. Back out tonight with my daughter.


In six days it’s supposed to be 38, haha.

 

[R.K.]

Opening day 92 degrees! Passed on a little forky at 20 yards from the folding chair. Back out tonight with my daughter.
View attachment 294726

In six days it’s supposed to be 38, haha.

That is a terrifyingly large stand of poison ivy on the left.

 

[Pucky Freak]

It’s everywhere. I don’t even try to avoid it. I pretty much have a rash for 3 months straight. Boots are handled with gloves on, and I wash my clothes on hot for about 4 hours to get all the oil out.

 

[fmnjr]

Hunt journal for 2023 season I’m going to highlight living with disability/ mental illness. I was recently diagnosed with anxiety/PTSD, and bipolar disorder. I started treatment with medication in December, and I also have talk therapy 1-2 times a week.

I’ve had mood problems since high school, and anxiety showed up a couple years later. Symptoms are intermittent, and only rarely have been debilitating.

This changed on 11/15/22, the final 13-mile leg of packing out my bull elk. Woke at 4 AM, up and back down the mountain, struck camp, then on the road home before sunset.

Unfortunately, only a few hours later I smoked a whitetail on the highway and totaled my truck. This ended up being the last straw on top of many dozens of traumatic events I have lived through my public safety career since 2009.

The last five months have been a nightmare with symptoms. It’s been a roller coaster of two manic highs and two deep depressions. The transition from mania to depression is slow and I do get some nearly symptom-free days during that period, which is a welcome reprieve.

Treatment does help. A lot. I regret waiting so many years to start, though. I have a medication follow up
tomorrow. I’m optimistic about efficacy of treatment long-term, although it can take months or years to find the right medications.

Right now I’m getting my butt kicked by very low energy, low motivation, and leaden fatigue/paralysis. Turkey season is underway, but going hunting is not possible for me at the moment. There are still four more weeks of the season and I really hope I can get well enough to get out there, even for just a few hours. My daughter is ready to tag along now.

My wife has been amazing. She has had to be both mom and dad nearly all the time, for months, plus she’s the full-time caregiver for a family member with Alzheimer’s. On top of that, she’s told me to go hunt when I’m able to. That will be a hard gift for me to accept… My greatest desire is to give her some relief.
View attachment 272158View attachment 272159

My employer has been supportive of my health. This is huge, as I’d really be in hot water without that support. I’m working on getting some necessary accommodations in place, as well as intermittent FMLA for when I need it.

For the fall, I have enough points to draw WY deer. Doe antelope is a long shot. Last year for me was 100% public land hunting, and it’s shaping up to be the same this year as well.

Hunt while you can, folks. The next season is not promised.

For you and your family, hope you get all the help and support you need. Thanks for sharing your situation. I know everyone on HT reading your post is send best wishes and prayers your way.

 

[R.K.]

It’s everywhere. I don’t even try to avoid it. I pretty much have a rash for 3 months straight. Boots are handled with gloves on, and I wash my clothes on hot for about 4 hours to get all the oil out.

Dawn and washcloth on your skin after exposure- the oil acts more like a clear grease. Scrubbing is what gets rid of it. Add some borax to your laundry as a degreaser. Also helps eliminate that funk from synthetics/gym clothes normal detergent can’t always get rid of. Beats the hell out of prednisone treatment.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Dawn and washcloth on your skin after exposure- the oil acts more like a clear grease. Scrubbing is what gets rid of it. Add some borax to your laundry as a degreaser. Also helps eliminate that funk from synthetics/gym clothes normal detergent can’t always get rid of. Beats the hell out of prednisone treatment.

Borax, dawn, and prednisone are all friends of mine!

 

[Pucky Freak]

6 turkeys seen up close, no deer spotted. Apparently she snapped a pic of me intently scanning the landscape.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Tomorrow the record-setting heat wave is supposed to start winding down with some high winds. I have a 125” buck I bumped out his bed in 7’ tall grass a couple weeks ago that I’m going to try a blind stalk midday. If I can get in close it will be about a 10-yard shot if I get lucky and he’s still the there.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Here goes - blind stalk towards the willows in the center of the frame.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Winds gusty and inconsistent. About 20 yards of walking and I felt the wind on the back of my neck and it was all over. Try again tomorrow elsewhere, ambush for does.

 

[Pucky Freak]

Where’s Wal-doe??


I didn’t make it out Wednesday. Tonight was my first stand sit in two years. Two does walked in to 45 yards, bedded, and chewed their cud for about 45 mins. When the first one stood up I gave a single fawn bleat. They made their way slowly towards me, browsing along the way within the edge of the timber. When the first doe was 25 yards away I drew back and waited for a clear shot. The second doe saw movement and bounded off a short distance. The first doe always seemed to have a twig or a cluster of leaves near the vitals. She passed the best window at 20 yards without stopping, and then my opportunity was gone.

A younger, more impulsive me would have risked shooting around a twig or through a leaf. I’ve watched one too many Cory Jacobson deflected arrow videos to risk an imperfect shot. Freezer is empty, but I have no regrets.

 

[Pucky Freak]

First time out for waterfowl in a couple years. It’s very dry which means many fewer accessible ducks and geese on huntable public waters. I don’t use decoys or calls. I either pass shoot, walk creeks, jump ponds, or glass and stalk.

First two woodies I spotted 350 yards up a creek. I hiked past them, then dropped into the creek bottom barefoot and crept toward them. I must have taken too long because they were gone when I arrived where they were.

Next were ponds that have about a 1/2 mile hike each. First pond I slowly eased in through the bank cover, and scanned the water. I didn’t see any birds but when I stood up to leave 2 woodies flew up from the far opposite corner - I wish I had that chance back again.

3rd pond had six trucks at the access - skipped it. 4th pond was nearly dry and was empty of birds. 5th pond had no birds. At this point the sun was approaching the horizon and I had time for one more hike. Pond was nearly empty of water but had a lone hen woodie in it.