A lot of you older guys have commented on eye issues. I can relate. 2 years ago, right about this time, I had an eye exam. My eyes were "not too bad" not much change, and certainly, I was managing the vision tests (with prescription glasses) well enough. Not much change from last year should be good enough, although shooting iron sights (front and rear apertures) at turkeys and rams (385 & 500 meters, respectively) and paper bulls at 1000 yds was getting to be difficult in the previous few shooting seasons.
And then 2 months later, I picked up one of my rifles and sighted across the basement at a white wall. There was a clump of fuzz in the middle of the aperture. Obviously, some gun case lint. So I blew through it and looked again. Still there. Pretty odd. Pipe cleaners would not dislodge either and that was making me start to panic. I grabbed another rifle and the same thing - and the clump had exactly the same shape. I tried to shoot as I was in the summer of '23, and managed to shoot the lowest 1-day score ever made by a master class shooter at Nationals. It was so bad that withdrew from rest of the match. I could not see the targets or I would see this strange diffraction/double image thing, and not know where to aim.
I went back to the doc and we had long chat, this time I made it clear, my shooting career is over unless I get this fixed. The long and short is that because shooting is a major life activity for me and has been for years, what would not normally qualify as serious enough for insurance-covered cataract surgery, would, in fact, quality for me. I got my right eye lens replaced. The simple standard, no extra charge lens was the best for my purposes, and off I went to shoot in 2024. That same event I withdrew from last year, I won hands down with a national record score in '24. Last to first. Eyeballs matter.
My point in all of this is, if your eyes are not cutting it for you, talk to the doc. Emphasize that your vision requirements extend considerably beyond the normal need to see the television and drive a car or read a newspaper (like anyone does that anymore). If you say the right things and make it clear that your lifestyle demands more, then more can and will be done sooner, rather than later. Don't miss out on a few good, maybe excellent years, because your hairy-eyeball is too hairy.
