Well about 2 years ago I had cataract removal surgery on my right eye. The eye specialist I saw was the same one that prescribed glasses to me when I was a teenager ( That makes him in his mid 80's now)...and he is regarded as the top man in his field in NZ.
When I underwent the tests prior to removing the cataract he told me he would insert a lens that would help me with my distance vision.
So, in 2023 I had the cataract removed and ended up with 20/15 vision in my right eye which removed the need to wear glasses. Having a lazy eye still caused problems when I was looking at different angles cos I could see double...( Think Marty Feldman but not quite extreme as his 'look')...but the brain is a wonderful thing and it has over the years compensated for this mostly.....mainly by subconsciously forcing me to turn my head to look at things rather than looking sideways without moving my head.
A few months ago my left eye showed signs of a cataract so I trotted in to see him again. He confirmed its presence and 12 days ago I had it removed and a new lens put in.
Once again he did his magic trick and now I have 20/15 vision in both eyes..
I still have the lazy eye but, as I said, I automatically compensate for it.
Now I can read vehicle number plates, standard letterbox numbers and street signs etc at up to 70-80 metres distance and my 'spotting' distance when hunting is vastly improved.
This change has really pissed Bloodhound off
Was up at the farm a couple of days ago with him and we sat on 'Alecs Knob' overlooking a hilly patch of bush with numerous small clearings to try and spot deer we could stalk in on. After looking for about 5 minutes I asked BH if he could see anything.. and the conversation went like this...
" Can you see anything" ( Me)
" Nope"
"You need to get your eyes checked"
" Bugger off!....What can you see?"
" Well I count at least 12 deer"
" Bull#%& !!"
" OK , see the dead tree to the left of the fence halfway up the hill, there is a fallow buck and 2 does sitting in the shady dark patch about 10 metres to the right of it under the cabbage trees"
After looking at the area for 2 mins, he says " Rubbish"...then lifts his rifle, winds the scope up to 10x and scans the area....then fixes on the deer and says "How the F... did you see them?"
" New eyes"
He then started to discuss how we should stalk in on them.
"What about the other 4 I can see about 100m higher than them to the right in the next gully below the slip"
Dead silence as he looks...then raises his rifle to use the scope.....followed by a whole sentence of seamens language!
It didnt help when I pointed out another 5 deer in ones and twos scattered further through the bush at ranges from 300m to about 800m.
More language followed my disclosure....End result was a successful stalk and 2 meat animals taken.....both falling to my 7mm08 as he missed his shot. (Both doe's, neck shot at 112 and 164 metres respectively)
Off course, not letting the opportunity pass, on the drive home I rubbed salt into the wound and mentioned once or twice (actually about 7-8 times lol) that my 'new ' eyes seemed work well....
It wasnt till we were putting the deer into the chiller that he finally asked me for the name of the Dr I had seen...
All up cost for both operations was in the vicinity of $10400nzd ( $5800usd) but it was worth it as over the last 10 yrs BH has always had the better of it when spotting deer and continually rubbed it in, that according to him, I must be blind and how the hell did I ever manage to spot deer let alone shoot them!
I am going to get a lot of mileage out of this......
Ps: The only downside is that I now need glasses to read and do closeup work....I can live with that!
