Awesome and insightful vid. The beauty of hindsight for sure. Hope you and your family have a great festive season and look forward to seeing some real hunting videos like yours next year!!

My back is like yours Fred. We still still got to hunt, so now I strategise a bit more. Carrying pigs is what did mine in.

Your right on NZMeat Eater Excellent advice I get mean tingling feelings, thank you have a good weekend.

Not good Fred, I figured it out years ago when My back was protesting to take the best and leave the rest, in the end I stuffed a disc at work which slowed me up,then i went gluten free because of another problem learning that where the injury is the gluten will cause a lot of the inflammation so I I Hope you look into this,cheers Callum

H Fred I had my first back op in 94 all caused through over doing it and not looking after myself. I had bottom two vertebra seized together.Sorted and was great for eleven years unfortunately my business involved lifting 50 kg bags bugger me I twisted just a bit to far and ruptured the third disc. Another op followed but this time the disc was replaced with fat and plastic. twenty odd years on and seventy six years old still hunting but a lot more wisely. I still get an aching back on occasion the same as everyone else. I was back at work as normal after six weeks after each op. I remember being advised by several people that they would not have the op. I had faith in my surgeon and I believe in mind over matter and I don't doubt that you will be back hunting an no time. Best of luck mate

Good advice indeed Fred. That lower joint (bone on bone) must have been giving you some grief for a while. Hoping you get that surgery soon so you can be pain free. Last deer I got back in April has caused my lower back considerable mobility and pain issues. However I still have some disc left. Have a beaut Christmas. Cheers Steve

Hope your Operation and recovery goes well.

Yep great advice… we oldies are paying for it now,still enjoy getting out though just don’t carry as much and strap my knees up 😅hope you and the family have a great Christmas

Always good content from you. Hopefully it is listened to. Cheers.

Hey Fred sound advice mate been there got the tee shirt Had my back op aged 35 ruptured that same disc- too many loads up / down hills meat shooting and culling Am 62 now just training a new deer dog which I also use on the farm boned out meat only The only thing I would add is to wrap something high viz round the hindquarters with that backpack method- hopefully saves you getting shot by some trigger happy w***er!! Good luck with the surgery- with your attitude and grit you’ll be back and dangerous in no time!

Nice looking polypores on the tree.i would be processi g the anadou for my flint and steel kit.😁👊💥💥💥🔥🔥🔥💯😎🤘🍄🍄🍄

Great advice mate

Thats a nice head behind you Fred. Yes its a hard one mate, anyone who's had a hard labour orientated job will feel the effects at some point, bodies wear out, some before others. The advice i think is work and play hard but don't try be a hero, but us fellers were all 6ft tall and bullet proof in our younger years 😂. Better for our kids to wear out the bodies on wholesome activities than sitting on their devices. Like i said previously, you do bloody well Fred and i hope you can continue doing what you love for years to come. Phil

Great advice, no need to carry out a complete animal ,if you can take what you need. Leave what’s not needed or useful , so work smarter not harder, have a great Christmas, 👍

Definitely empathise with that situation Fred! When we were young and dumb 🤣

Yeah mate, when I was in my late teens early twenties, I worked as a postie. We figured carrying two mailbags and walking was way faster than a bike on a real hilly run. Six days a week for I don't know, call it four hours, we made fit people look unfit. But it wasn't to flash for the old back, neck and knees. Got to say going to the gym and moving those weights in a controlled manner certainly helps at nearly sixty one. Man, today's posties have it easy.

You hit it on the head, Consequences. Got the same issues. Also got an ear problem, sometimes I have trouble with the sound on your vids, Keep up the effort, I like your stuff

hope others take advice from those that know.........guess there will be those that wont

Youll be a new man once the plates settled in, another 30 years on the hill ;) ( the theme from 6 million dollar man kicks in)

When I started on this caper, choppers were just to expensive. So trapping camps were packed in & out. Stags on the packframe. Would I change it? No bloody way. My xrays are identical to yours.

Hi Fred do you know where this place is?? Rum Gully is in the Kahunui in the upper Waioeka??? Cheers Tony.

Forshaw mate, when where young n fit we feel bullet proof. When age catches up and our body starts failing, ya realize that everything we do takes its toll.

What would you call a heavy load bro. I took 3 back legs and 4 back steaks all boned out from stags. Back was 38kgs and I was walking out of koranga. Body seemed to hold up pretty good but just interested to hear your thoughts

I hear ya Fred and sympathize with you. I have a titanium cage and fusion done to my C5 and C6 vertebrae. Although mine was a work accident. Great advice though bro. I’ve always boned out all my animals in the bush. Still makes for a heavy pack though 🤪🤪

These days its only back steaks and a rump or two if the going is easy .I dont think the human body is made to work like a horse.

And bud that's a real pretty 12 on ya wall. Any story??

hello i am 20 years old from the USA, from learning more about the world as a youngster makes me believe my country doesn’t have a bright future with possible world crises that may come, the crime here and poverty, the american dream is dead in this age. i personally don’t like city living in suburbia here, i don’t think city dwelling is healthy for anybody. after tons of research i found iceland, alaska, yukon canada, chile patagonia argentina, and north west usa are the only places that have the sustenance i need. i came across disease from poor eating when i was 14-17, auto immune disease and rosecea i now cured with organic eating i was vegan for 1 year came into nutritional deficiencies and finally fully healed everything with a carnivore diet. carpaccio and steak tartare have been super healing to my body, my cells regenerate and i don’t feel bloated like i do with high fiber. the carnivore diet here in the usa is super popular. i know the value of organic food now which is my motive for trying to learn to hunt, i was originally going to learn here but buying land and everything here is too expensive for me, i want to immidetely get into this, not wait decades later to start after i get into the corporate world which will take too many years to achieve. when i ate first light farms venison from NZ, i can tell you right now i have never in my life felt that phenomenal after eating grass fed red meat, no other grass fed organic company can compare. that’s what sparked my curiosity for the country if it wasn’t for that i wouldent of began my research. i am looking to be welcomed to your country in 2028-2029. before then i’m saving up all my money working minimum wage to make settling less stressful, i’m likely not going to college as i think it’s pointless unless your in law or medicine, which i don’t like either. any insight and friendly welcoming would be great as i’m learning!! i really don’t have a lot of insight on new zealand at all im just winging it and hope i don’t land on my goals the wrong way. joe rogan did some videos on why hunting is sustainable, lots of talks with him and another elk hunter cameron hanes from oregon. the healthy organic meat at the stores is outrageously pricey, wild meat is more organic, and one animal can last for months!! the collagen in animal products are healing for spinal injuries, especially the collagen present in meat. plus i’m sure in NZ they don’t have any predators like they usually do in the usa like wolves and bears. the issue for me is it’s too cold here. thanks for these videos please keep them up it is unbelievably inspiring to me!! take care and have a wonderful day...... and yes carrying whole animal loads are probably not a good idea, there’s all types of methods to cut up the portions and haul it out, what about dragging it? i heard in alaska they drag their animals on the snow on sleighs and haul it with ropes, less tension on the back and they are not carrying it on their back. hunters should be working on lower back exercises and safe lifting to create a muscular lower back, that’s where the most tension is not the upper back, upper back is more for arm stability. any physical therapy helps id bet. anyways, you have no clue how inspiring these videos are to me i deeply appreciate it.