Training for western hunt

[sodaksooner]

Find the tallest steepest hill in your area, throw some weight in your pack and hike up and down it for an hour a few times per week. I throw on some music and just get after it. It doesn't take long to start getting up and down faster and faster. Mine is relatively short so it's like doing intervals. I can do a full lap in about 3 minutes when i am in decent shape, so just enough time to get the HR back down and then hit it again. funny thing is another guy in town does the same thing and we run into each other occasionally. Fun to have someone to chat with while doing it.

 

[Plainsman79]

@robby denning put together a short article last year talking a little bit about “mental toughness” it’s a pretty good read. Definitely worth your time.

Motivation vs. Self-Discipline

If you're hunting big mule deer, you'll need self-discipline more than motivation. Robby explains the difference in this blog post

www.rokslide.com

 

[robby denning]

@robby denning put together a short article last year talking a little bit about “mental toughness” it’s a pretty good read. Definitely worth your time.

Motivation vs. Self-Discipline

If you're hunting big mule deer, you'll need self-discipline more than motivation. Robby explains the difference in this blog post

www.rokslide.com

Thanks for the share!

OP, I didn’t have time to read the responses above, and there’s probably some good ones, but I’d add/offer that you’re better off than an office dweller, but you could still be prone to injury without good overall flexibility, and weighted squats, probably no more than body weight, are always a good way to prepare the back, hips, and knees and even ankles for the mountain.

And unless you’re the guy on the end of the mud rake, you’re probably not getting your heart rate highenough to duplicate climbing a mountain, which isn’t pure cardio actually, it’s a mix of aerobic and anaerobic training. So I’d mix some of that in there too.

I poured concrete for six years, and it did keep me in good shape, as long as I didn’t order too many donuts at the coffee shop waiting for the mud to set up.

Good luck man! I subscribe to this thread to see what you find out.



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[5MilesBack]

No one comes out of the womb "mentally tough"

I have a different opinion on that. Stubborn may be a better term for it than mental toughness. And I've seen "stubborn" right out of the womb, just like I've seen OCD right out of the womb. A lot of parents probably have seen this too.

I was about as stubborn as they come even as a baby, according to my parents. Some kids you can easily change that. Some kids take a little more work. Some take a lot of work. And others are like me. My motto was "you can beat me, you can punish me, or you can do whatever else you want to try, but if my mind is set......it's set, regardless of the pain, discomfort, or other means to change it". I'm not sold on "enduring pain" or "quitting is never an option" being learned. When my mind is set, then that's what's happening even if it kills me. I don't think I learned that from anyone. That doesn't seem like a trait that most people would want......learned or otherwise. It's a gift, and a curse.

 

[fatlander]

No one goes elk hunting and says, I was in too good of shape for that. It’s physically tough, the mountains are steep, and there’s going to be a lot of suck. Unless you’re on a private ranch or OIL tag, it’s going to be really hard.

Any able bodied person can elk hunt effectively, but pushing through the suck is the great equalizer. Reaching and maintaining a high level of physical fitness translates to grinding through things that aren’t fun for a perceived goal. It doesn’t just translate to elk hunting; it translates to most facets of life.

Killing an elk is the easy part, physically speaking. The real work begins once you’ve got one on the ground.

So to answer your question, you’re physically capable enough right now. But you’ll be more prepared to push over that next ridge, lace up those cold wet boots at 0400 on the last day of tough hunt if you spend the next 7 months doing something you don’t want to do every day than if you are to do nothing at all.

Good luck!


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[ChrisS]

Find the tallest steepest hill in your area, throw some weight in your pack and hike up and down it for an hour a few times per week. I throw on some music and just get after it.

That down part definitely needs to be part of it, too. Going down loose scree or steep slopes with 40-50lbs on your back is harder than people think sometimes.

I've got a loop that I like to do that start and ends in a sand/gravel pit. Up and down twice is a touch over 3 miles and 500 feet of elevation change. My goal is under an hour. I start getting faster, I add a little more weight up to 60 lbs.

 

[jblam]

No one goes elk hunting and says, I was in too good of shape for that. It’s physically tough, the mountains are steep, and there’s going to be a lot of suck. Unless you’re on a private ranch or OIL tag, it’s going to be really hard.

Any able bodied person can elk hunt effectively, but pushing through the suck is the great equalizer. Reaching and maintaining a high level of physical fitness translates to grinding through things that aren’t fun for a perceived goal. It doesn’t just translate to elk hunting; it translates to most facets of life.

Killing an elk is the easy part, physically speaking. The real work begins once you’ve got one on the ground.

So to answer your question, you’re physically capable enough right now. But you’ll be more prepared to push over that next ridge, lace up those cold wet boots at 0400 on the last day of tough hunt if you spend the next 7 months doing something you don’t want to do every day than if you are to do nothing at all.

Good luck!


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I can’t agree with this enough. Go hike with 20 lbs in your pack for 6 hours on a Saturday. Then wake up at 4am and hike till noon with that same 20lbs sunday. Then do it again at the ass crack of dawn on Monday, but with 50+ lbs on your back before work. If you can do that for an hour…you’ll be fine. If you have hot spots all over your feet and your legs are jello, you’ve got some work to do before September!

It’s not day 1 fitness that ruins a hunt, it’s days 3-5..6..7!

 

[Pocoloco]

Not a ton of western hunting experience but what’s worked well on the few trips I’ve gone on is riding a bike consistently, rucking a few times a month, and a solid amount of low intensity cardio. Getting leg endurance and strength with more resistance than just walking on flat land. Losing any extra weight certainly helps. Another factor I dismissed but now realize is super important is what I’m eating during the trip. Made a big difference.


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A mountaineering pro wrote a book, he said best workout was hiking in the mountains, second best riding bike, said it was the constant low grade cardio which is also what you do on a long hike up a mountain

 

[Pocoloco]

First elk hunting season I was in great shape, from scouting and hiking during covid shutdown, my 14 year old daughter struggled to climb a 40-50 degree burn with bulls going crazy on top. She got there and she harvested a nice 5x6. After that we had her work out 4 days a week, she wakes up at 4:30 am and does cardio with light weights.

This year I wasn’t in great shape, day one we climb to 9500, glass tons of elk and they bed in same location we harvested her bull. We drop 1000 and then climb back up 1000 through that 40-50 degree burn. I was sucking wind and our daughter passed us like we were standing still, she literally ran up the same slope that kicked her ass one year prior.

I now take same medicine we dished her last year and do Lift4 cardio weights workout 4 days per week. Next year I hope to hang w our daughter on that same climb.

A pic of our daughter standing below our glassing “hill”. Mountain goat steep and working out pays off

 

[Steven Hendrickson]

I always start incorporating some jogging and the stair climber (the one that looks like actual stairs) 4-5 days a week throughout the summer prior to an Elk hunt.
Not all Elk hunts are created equal though, some are very mild and some are treacherous.


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[S.Clancy]

Read the book "Uphill Athlete" and apply. Also, mental toughness is wayyyy more important. Being fast in the mountains is only useful in certain circumstances. Knowing your limits and being able to suffer are infinitely better. This coming from someone that likes training and exercise.

 

[Paeast]

Lots of great info. I appreciate all the replies and help from you all.

 

[jimh406]

Test yourself out at the highest elevation that is within reasonable distance in what you think is your planned hunting setup. Then adjust. Start early. Even Mule Deer are heavier that most of what you've probably hunted. Elk are huge by comparison and like pretty difficult terrain in most cases.

Of course, if you are hunting private land, it may not matter.

 

[Ngarcia11892]

I think it can be trained. At least in some people. I see people in three categories: 1) People who are mentally tough; 2) People who are not mentally tough; 3) People who are not mentally tough but can become mentally tough. Because mental toughness is in your mind and you can change your mind.

I was in category three in my younger years. Went out for sports in school several times and quit. But served in the Army in Airborne Infantry and now, at age 55, I did another tough pack out this past season.

Maybe in my case I needed to find something I thought was worth being mentally tough for. Football and wrestling wasn’t it. Army was and elk hunting is.

I work as a mental coach for the mlb and I agree with this. I think you can train yourself to be mentally tough by doing hard shit and pushing through, I think some people are born with it but it can be trained to an extent.