Physical Training For Mountain Hunts

By Len Backus

I am just an ordinary guy trying to prepare for and to maximize enjoyment of the physical part of my western mountain hunts in altitudes up to 10,000 feet. Over the years that I have been hunting in the west, the degree of my physical conditioning preparedness has varied a lot.

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This article is not intended to give you a sophisticated list of exercises to do. Rather it is to open up discussion of the different practical ways we all choose for ourselves. And it is written in order to make the point that it is more important to actually do some exercise than to debate which is the exact best way. Develop a plan that you like and that you can stick with...and then DO IT!

I am motivated to write this article by how well my most own recent training did for me recently on my June 1, 2014 spot and stalk black bear hunt in the Wyoming Mountains.

I live in a very flat portion of Wisconsin at an elevation of 740 feet. Imagine what it would be like for me to hunt at 8,000 to 10,000 feet in rugged mountains without adequate physical training. Well I can say that I have never gone out for such a hunt without training, but last year on one of my mountain hunts my physical condition was not adequate.

I had hunted deer in mid-September last year in the Wyoming Range with a reasonable but not great amount of training. I got by ok on that hunt. Five weeks later I hunted elk in an even more rugged part of western Wyoming. I did almost no training in the 5 week time between the hunts. My body complained to me on all 5 days of the elk hunt. My guide was gracious enough not to complain about my conditioning but I was disappointed in myself.

So last winter when I knew I had a mountain bear hunt scheduled for June 1, 2014 I committed myself to be in much better shape.

I hate spending time indoors on an exercise machine. I hate doing exercise for the sake of doing exercise. Sometimes I joke that I'd enjoy pounding my thumb repeatedly with a hammer more than I would working indoors on a machine. But I did force myself late last winter to spend time most days on an exercise bike and on an inclined treadmill in my basement. Not a lot of time but enough so that when the snow finally left the ground (it was a very long winter) I was prepared to get outside and do more serious exercise without having to start from scratch.

I have had arthritis in my knees for many years. I had one of my knees scoped about 7 years ago. Most of the meniscus cartilage in one knee was removed at that time. So my right knee is pretty much bone-on-bone with little shock absorbing surface remaining. The left one has an intact meniscus but also lots of arthritis. My orthopedic surgeon is the Green Bay Packers' doctor. He told me I need to strengthen the muscles and tendons around my knees so that the joint is protected with each stride as the leg and foot prepares to strike the ground.

Physical Training ForMountain Hunts

Last spring I realized there was a hilly spot away from my normal travel routes but only 30 miles from my house around the other side of a big lake near me. A long, rocky escarpment parallels the waterfront there, providing 250 feet of very abrupt elevation gain. I determined that number by using Google Earth before I even drove over there for my first training visit.

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In mid-April I began my outdoor training regimen. About 5 days a week until the time of my June 1st hunt I would climb up and down the hills above the lake surface. I'd spend an hour to an hour and a half doing laps up and down. It's a developed hiking trail that is so steep that railroad ties are used for part of it to reduce erosion. Parts of it are steeper than most developed trails in the western national parks. There is also an optional observation tower that I would challenge repeatedly. It has about 60 steps. On wet days it enabled me to continue training when the natural earthen trails were dangerously wet and slippery.

It is a very scenic, pleasant spot to spend an hour or so. I did not find it hard at all to go there day after day. The final two weeks before the bear hunt I wore a 27 pound backpack. I also did some hiking in town on level ground and some biking but the hill climbing was about 90% of my total program in terms of its effectiveness.

Since I was 25 years old horseback riding has been painful for my knees. In the past on horseback hunts my knees would hurt so much after as little as 30 minutes of riding that I would sometimes dismount and hike while others continued to ride. This year on my bear hunt I never once dismounted to favor my knees. I was comfortable 98% of the time astride "Steel", my new favorite horse.

I even remember feeling an unfamiliar, slight muscle soreness developing in my inner, upper thighs. Soon I realized my knees were so comfortable that I was now using my upper legs the way you're supposed to in balancing on horses. I had never had knees that wouldn't scream at me if I had tried doing that before.

I did less hiking and more riding on the hunt than normal, and I killed my bear on the second evening of the 6 day scheduled hunt. So it remains to be seen on my first mountain hunt this fall whether this new training regimen is the magic solution to training effectively. But at this time I am optimistic that it is and I look forward to my fall western states hunting season. I'll be on one guided Wyoming mountain hunt for deer and another for elk with my son Andy. In addition Andy and I will be on a DIY deer hunt together at 4,000 feet on foot in Montana.
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