Will you be prepared physically? 14 weeks

[Joshua Lee]

To get in bow shape I accidentally made a bow that weighs in at 71#'s.  I have never been so motivated to increase strength in my back muscles.  I recommend overbow yourself, swimming and running (in case you wound a dangerous animal and need to run or swim to saftey).  Nothing like potential embarrassment at elk camp to get you off the couch.
Josh

[Ground Hunter]

Like Joshua Lee, I've found no better motivation than working up to a heaver bow.  I may not hunt with it, but its a great way to make your "normal" bows easy to shoot.  Of course, the rest of the body needs work too.  You "kill" with your arms and back - you "hunt" with your legs.  H

[K.S.TRAPPER]

Man you guys are doing great    
The Triathlon training must be paying off or they got my time wrong    

Been shooting my bow almost every day getting ready for turkey season this week.  :D  

Tracy

[Muleman027]

ran 4.5 miles tonight,very windy,but hung in there and did it,ran my second 5k this past weekend,running is not like hunting,theres a fine line between love and hate,and when the weathers not good i lean the wrong way,but i know those elk are in shape so i better be,its only 5 months away,if your not training you got time,if you are keep it up.peace out Mule.

[jhg]

Test your stamina.

Do strenuous workouts, especially legs, every day for seven days. This will tell you how fast you are recovering, if your stamina needs to go to the next level, or you need more strength.

The sign you need to work on stamina is after the third day your output is dropping. And it might drop  rapidly if you are older. The idea is to workout to failure. Then do it again tomorrow.  If you are older, it takes a lot longer to build the kind of stamina that gets tested in the mountains. So try to push your threashold every couple weeks and then recover, train regularly, then do it again. You will see improvement.

This will mimic what it is like hiking the elk woods if that is the  benchmark. You don't have a lot of time to recover there. Not days anyway.

Joshua

[buckster]

Nice weather here in Central AR today.  I set out to do a 5-miler.  But with the beautiful weather and my own stubborness, I ended up with a 10K run, but I was slap dab wore plum out! My pace was kinda slow at 9 minutes or so.

I am trying to shead about 10 pounds for an upcoming CO Wilderness Elk hunt so I am trying to run 3-4 days per week and a couple days of weight training as well.

Finally, I am trying to hike some with my pack/gear of our local "Mountains", course these be hills when comparing them with CO and 9500 feet that we will be hunting in.

Really good comments and thread!

[JOE HARROD]

I AM 65 DO NOT DO ALL THOSE THINGS.I JUST HIKE AN SCOUT YEAR ROUND.THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS SHOOTING MY BOWS EVERY DAY.KEEPS ME SHARP AN KEEPS ME IN SHAPE.WHEN I HIKE UP STEEP HILLS OUNCE OR TWICE A WEEK.I AM READY FOR BOW SEASON.HAVE FUN BE HAPPY DO NOT WORRY DEER SEASON WILL SOON BE HERE.

[jhg]

Originally posted by JOE HARROD:

I AM 65 ...SHOOTING MY BOWS EVERY DAY.KEEPS ME SHARP ...HAVE FUN BE HAPPY...

[jhg]

Spring is here.
I start my scouting/mountain conditioning next weekend. May still be a lot of snow up there but its fading.
To augment my workout I will be in elk country at least one day a weekend,  hiking and learning more territory. Pretty psyched just to be out in the timber and seeing what is on the ground, finding new wallows from last fall and in general stumping my way  to a better shot. All while smelling the flowers.

I get to hone my gear kit too- pack, caloric needs (early weather is cooler and a good way  to find out what your body needs to stay strong and WARM), bivy camp routine/gear and new ideas on water supply. By fall it will be all ironed out. I plan to use either a tent or a tarp. No bivy sacks for me.

Joshua, always surprised how big the world becomes when you start to walk it.

[jhg]

ttt

[adkmountainken]

i have allways been blessed with being strong, at 39 i am jut now starting to feel a couple aches and pains. my wife got me in to running and i have NEVER felt better in my life, my cardio right now is very, very good. i try to run atleast 20 miles a week with must of it done on the weekends. my down fall is i love to eat and am fond of beer! this July i will run my first marathon. i need to start dieting more without a doubt as i am not a small guy at 201. running is not as hard as many wouldlike to believe and use as an excuse, yes the first dozen times feels like your going to die and you will hack up and spit of stuff ya didn't know ya had in you!! THEN you will start to love it and want more of it. gradually you will increase distance, time and will power. helps you focus and keeps you sharp. its nice to know when your in the woods if something happened and you had to help someone you could pretty much go all day. i use to be a gym rat in school and that felt good but for me NOTHING gets you in better shape then running and dieting.

[jhg]

Whats the latest John?

On my own end I have started hitting t he trail with pack.

[Ground Hunter]

Well I've been shooting the 70#ers I have every day.  At least 50 to 75 times, plus some lighter weight (55# -60#s) to work on form.  Might have to order a 75#der to put some more hump into it!    :D    Nothing, I mean nothing improves shooting a bow more than strength!!!  Its not - no pain, no gain.  Its - no brain, no gain!!!  You want increased preformance - shoot a heaver bow.  Put in the time and effort - well worth it.     H

[twitchstick]

Well spring is here and it's been nice, it sure helps me with motivation. I have been hiking after turkeys with a full load on. I have had the pack full with decoys and some trips the pop-up. I have not been worried about weight so the pack has been quite heavy at times. Most days on the mountian I've been doing 4 to 10 miles in soft snow and soft mud,and with the pop-up in the pack it's a workout. I have pulled out the bike and been riding  when I can. Surprisingly I feel pretty good for how lazy I got this winter. Some of you guys are animals with your workouts,keep it up.

[jhg]

ttt

[jhg]

One last time to top.

I'd be interested to hear some more about autumnarcher's progress. He had made some serious changes and lost a lot of pounds his last post.

J-

[Greg Gilliland]

TTT I have been hitting the gym and swimming as time allows.

[gudspelr]

I finally took the plunge...  I ended up drawing a fantastic elk tag, but it's in Hell's Canyon.  A buddy who hunted there last year said it's so steep it'll put muscles in my terds.

I decided to try and help myself out, so tonight after work, I did it.  Loaded my pack with a 35 pound plate, warmed up by walking a quarter mile on the treadmill, then did 15 minutes on the stairclimber.  The machine said I made it 40 "floors" during that time and I'm relatively certain I'm going to be feeling it in the next few days...

Now just gotta stick with it for 8 more weeks   .


Jeremy

[Bonecracker]

Congrats on the great elk tag! I just switched from my road bike (120 miles a week) to doing stadium stairs. Not many hills in my area and the HS football stadium is the only hills I have to work with. I am doing around 4,320 steps per work out (got boarded and did the math) and will be adding my 25lb pack during the second week. I am going every other day rite now so that gives my legs a day to rest! I am still doing my morning workouts at the jym but now it is time to increase the cardio! Legs really feel fresh from all my road work the last 6 months!

[wapiti792]

Doing a 600yd lake swim and a 2 mile run this evening. I have a triathlon in 5 weeks then 2 weeks to walk/train for my WY mule deer/cow elk hunt...I am lucky. My hunts usually are at 11,000 ft. This one is just gonna be about 8,000 ft. Keep training dudes