Legal shooting light was less than an hour away, and the woods were still silent— except my buddy’s heavy panting. I decided to take him to a public-land spot where I knew a group of does traveled through right at sunrise, so it was important that we set up well before then. I was fairly confident we could both tag a doe from this spot.

But we had to get there first. Through the darkness, we crossed several hills and hollows, but we had to keep stopping so my buddy could catch his breath. He loves to hunt, but most of his experience is limited to setups where you can practically park at the base of the tree. 

Each stop cost us several minutes. The last time we stopped we were at least 200 yards from where I wanted to set up, but I knew if we kept going at the same sluggish pace, we’d bust the deer before we even made it there. So, we hung back. I let my buddy catch his breath, and we decided to still hunt on our way in. Sure enough, the doe trail was pounded with fresh tracks, and they were probably stuffing their bellies with clover and oats as we tried to figure out how to salvage that morning’s hunt.

If my buddy had been in better shape, there’s a good chance we could have punched two tags that morning. I’ve been working out consistently since I started powerlifting in middle school, and before my time at Outdoor Life, I spent five years as a fitness trainer and instructor at a local CrossFit gym. Workouts have just been an everyday part of my life more, but I know this isn’t the case for everyone. If you’ve been in the same sweaty boots as my buddy, and you want to do something about it, you should consider working out to improve your deer hunting.

Why Deer Hunters Need to Exercise in the Offseason

Unlike backcountry big-game hunting in the West, which requires an obvious amount of fitness, whitetail deer hunting might not seem like much of an endurance sport. And for the most part, you can probably be a successful deer hunter without working out. I know tons of hunters who never lift a weight and kill big deer. But those hunters also have access to sweet, heavily managed private properties where they can load their deer into a side-by-side. Many of us don’t have this opportunity.

But even for private-land hunters, establishing a certain level of fitness can help prevent injuries and heart attacks. While chilling out in the offseason and preserving your energy for those all-day rut sits sounds like a good idea, studies show that an unexpected increase in exertion, like dragging a deer through half a mile of brush after a cold day on the stand, can lead to heart attacks in people who are inactive or at risk of heart failure. This study reveals that hunters who aren’t typically active can spike their heart rates to over 85 percent of their max when dragging a deer. This is equivalent to a high intensity workout. And if you’re not used to this, it can lead to serious problems.

Deer hunters, especially older deer hunters, need to consider muscle and joint related injuries as well. Weight or resistance training is the best form of injury prevention to ensure that you don’t throw out your back when you bend over to field dress your deer or load it into the side-by-side. 

The good news is, it doesn’t take a ton of gear or time to get into deer hunting shape. Here are some things to consider to help get you started.

Basic Equipment and Workout Movements for Deer Hunters

If you think about deer hunting and its physical demands, it usually requires carrying relatively heavy loads over moderate to long distances. This could mean packing your stand into a deep honey hole or dragging a big buck over several hills after a successful hunt. So, if deer hunting were an exercise, it would most closely resemble stuff like farmer’s carry, sled drags, runs with weighted vests, sandbag carries, rucking, etc. And luckily, these exercises can be done in your garage or backyard with minimal equipment and without buying a gym membership.

Kettlebells

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These are relatively inexpensive and highly versatile. You can invest in one kettlebell, and you’ll never exhaust the types of workouts you can do with it.

Rucksack/Backpack

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Chances are, you probably have a backpack lying around that you can use for this, but if not, rucksacks are great for loading up and walking long distances to train for those deer hunts that take you miles from the truck.

Weighted Vest

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Similar to the rucksack, not only does the weighted vest allow you to walk several miles with a heavy load, but it also distributes the weight evenly around your torso, allowing you to run and perform other exercises like weighted pullups, pushups, and air squats.

Sandbags

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Like Kettlebells, sandbags give you a ton of versatility, and they allow you to easily change the weight by simply adding or removing sand.

Workout Movements

Farmer’s Carry

These involve holding weights, usually kettlebells or dumbbells, in each hand down by your sides and walking various distances. The key to farmer’s carries is to have a heavy enough load or long enough walking distance to make them worthwhile, and if you try these out, you’ll quickly see it doesn’t take much for these to be super effective. Farmer’s carries build and work the muscles that you typically use when you’re packing in and out of the woods when you’re loaded with gear, namely your grip strength. Grip strength is important for carrying gear, but also for hanging stands and climbing into them.

Sled Drag/Pull

This one is a no brainer. If you feel like you’re on the verge of a heart attack every time you drag a deer out of the woods, you should add these to your workout routine. Start slowly. You can do these with as little or much equipment as you have.

There are great sled options out there, but chances are you probably have materials lying around your home that you can use. Old tree stand harnesses that are taking up room in your garage will work just fine. You can make a few adjustments and use them to pull a weighted object behind you.

Sandbag Workouts

Whenever I need a change of pace in my workout routine, I’ll shake things up with some sandbag movements. Sandbag workouts can be extremely effective because the weight isn’t evenly distributed like normal barbell or dumbbell workouts. This often forces you to utilize other muscle groups that you don’t tend to activate with standard workout equipment. And if you’ve ever picked up a sandbag, you know it’s just a sack of dead weight.

These translate well to the deer woods if you’re lucky enough to have to pick up and move actual dead weight. Sandbag workouts also give you reps with picking up and carrying uneven loads like packing your stand in and out of the woods with your bowhunting backpack, bow, and extra layers.

Cardio for Deer Hunters

If you’re new to working out or prefer long runs or bikes, cardio is a great way to increase your heart rate (in a good way) and establish a baseline of fitness. It’s also free if you’re just running. But there are also rowing and biking machines that you can easily store in your garage and are more forgiving on your body than pounding the pavement. Studies show that increased cardiovascular fitness isn’t just healthy, it’s a modifiable indicator of long-term mortality (it helps you live longer).

The key to improving your cardiovascular fitness is to eventually build up to threshold workouts. Threshold workouts require you to push the limits of your workout capacity (hence the name) and then keep going, so that you expand your capabilities. These can look quite different depending on whether you’re training your max threshold for speed or looking to expand your mile pace during a marathon. Even if you don’t want to get super technical with it, you can establish your mile pace, and then run interval workouts, depending on how far you’re able to run, at a pace that challenges you but doesn’t completely empty the tank. There are plenty of free running programs or relatively inexpensive ones that can help improve your cardio.

Cardio alone is great, but incorporating some form of weight training has numerous health benefits. And for deer hunters, carrying or picking up weight is inevitable, and you should seriously consider adding it to your regimen if you want to improve your deer hunting.

Tips for Getting Fit for Deer Season

Whether you’re new to workout routines or a fitness guru, here’s a few tips that can help during your pursuit of getting deer fit.

Find Something You Enjoy

I’ve been consistently working out since I was 14, and I’ve found that the key is to make it fun. My workout routines involve a combination of cardio, strength training, and weightlifting. Most of the programs I follow keep it varied, which prevents me from getting bored. I suggest following one of these free fitness programs, though you’ll need to invest in more home gym equipment. If the idea of different, unexpected workouts everyday gives you a panic attack, try following a block weightlifting or cardio program. Nothing will make you want to quit working out faster than doing something you hate.  

Treat It Like a Non-Negotiable

There are things you do every day (whether you realize it or not) that are not negotiable in your routine. For instance, no matter what’s on your schedule, I doubt you go an entire day without eating. You can do the same thing with exercising. Develop exercise as a habit and it won’t just be second nature to your deer hunting program, it’ll become part of your life routine.

Workout on Days When You Don’t Want to

I’ll be honest, I loathe some workout days. They typically happen when I’ve had a busy day at work, my kid goes to bed late, I’m stuffed from binging on takeout, and it’s 8 PM. It’s the perfect storm for skipping a workout. But when I finally muster the will power or stubbornness to walk all the way to my garage and workout, I never regret it, and I always feel better afterward.

I’m also convinced that this is excellent for training your mental fitness for deer season. Working out when you don’t want to helps train your mind. So during the hunting season, you’ll decide to hike into that more promising spot even though it requires you to wake up earlier and walk farther.

Just Do Something

If you’re currently doing nothing, then any exercising is an improvement. Even if you just start walking extra laps around your neighborhood, you’re already on the right track. 

Last Effort

If you’re looking for a missing piece to help you tag more deer, exercising will probably help you more than any new bow or piece of hunting gear. The goal isn’t to win a bodybuilding contest. You just need to incorporate a healthy exercise routine into your deer tactics. Being fitter won’t automatically fill your freezer, but it sure can make it easier.

The post How to Get Into Shape for Deer Hunting (and Avoid Heart Attacks and Injuries This Season) appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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		Garmin Instinct Solar	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Incredibly long battery life.
		Sunnto 9 Peak	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Ultra thin design.
		Garmin Fenix 6S Pro Solar	SEE IT	LEARN MORE	Summary Tons of preloaded topo maps.

Whether you’re exercising at home, hitting the slopes, or using a watch to help you navigate the backcountry, you’ll find that the list of GPS watch capabilities has only grown in recent years. Big name brands in navigation like Garmin are part of this year’s Prime deals. So, if the price of these watches held you back from buying one in the past, this may be the time to finally go for it. Here’s a look at some of the best Prime Day GPS watch deals.

Garmin Instinct Solar

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Key Features

• Solar charging capabilities
• Body battery energy monitoring
• Water Resistance: 100 meters

Product Overview

Garmin is a longtime leader in GPS devices. From selling car navigation equipment to their current increased outdoor focus, this brand has a lot to offer. The Instinct Solar comes with an incredibly long battery life that helps hunters, anglers, and others stay in the backcountry longer.

This durable watch is also a great option for those who value simplicity. You can read this review on a similar Instinct Solar, which details how the watch is easy to navigate and has great accessories, like the ability to track dogs with GPS collars. When it comes to savings, the Garmin Instinct Solar is one of the best deals you’ll find on Prime Day. 

Prime Day Deal

• Price: $199.99
• Savings: 43% off the usual price of $350

Garmin Fenix 6S Pro Solar 

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Key Features

• Preloaded topo maps
• Battery Life: up to 9 days in smartwatch mode
• 32 GB RAM

Product Overview

The Garmin Fenix 6s Pro is one of the most intuitive and durable GPS watches on the market. With a Swiss Army Knife level of accessories, the Fenix has the latest technology for heart rate monitoring, topo maps for the backcountry, and an enhanced battery life.

This watch is particularly popular with skiers who can navigate terrain and different ski resorts around the world thanks to the GPS and preloaded topo maps. The Fenix also has Garmin Pay, which makes it a great tool for when you need to head into town to resupply.

While still a lofty price tag, the discount for this watch at least lowers the entry price for anyone seriously considering a high performance GPS watch.

Prime Day Deal

• Price: $399.99
• Savings: 33% off the usual price of $590

Suunto 9 Peak

Suunto

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Key Features

• Customizable watch face
• Blood oxygen level tracking
• Water Resistance: 100 meters

Product Overview

Suunto is a long time trusted brand for navigation, and the 9 Peak continues that legacy. With great GPS technology and an ultra thin design, this is a great option for runners or bikers looking to train and track their progress.

The watch is also water resistant up to 100 meters and also features music controls that connect to your phone, so you can keep your workout going, making it a great option for extreme adventures or everyday use.

Prime Day Deal

• Price: $555
• Savings: 20% off the usual price of $699

Samsung Galaxy Watch 4

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Key Features

• Body composition analysis
• Google services and apps
• ECG monitoring

Product Overview

The Samsung Galaxy Watch 4 pairs with any phone and is Samsung’s equivalent of the Apple Watch. 

Focused primarily on health, this watch analyzes body composition, tracks your heart rate, and monitors sleep cycles. It also records workouts and allows users to track their health improvements. This is a great deal for anyone more health conscious athletes and adventurers looking to avoid other expensive options.

Prime Day Deal

• Price: $231
• Savings: 30% off of the usual price of $330

The post The Best Garmin and other GPS Watch Deals of Prime Day 2022 appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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I was feeling beaten and broken. With each step, my body screamed in pain, and my legs buckled under the load attached to my back. It wasn’t the pack’s fault. The 3,600-cubic-inch backpack was high quality and fitted and formed to my torso.

I’d trained like a madman throughout the spring and summer months with one goal in mind: Arrow a public-land backcountry bull. Each week, I bumped up my running mileage—many weeks pushing the legs to 70, 80, and 90 cumulative weekly miles. I entered several mountain marathons and even snagged a third-place overall finish in the Grand Mesa 100-Mile Ultra. I was in the best shape of my life. And still, I just barely made it out of the mountains that day. What went wrong?

During my seven-day mountain hunt, I discovered that my legs were solid, and I could hike like crazy. However, my back ached constantly. My backpack tipped the scales at 37 pounds with all my hunting gear, and after toting it around the hills for a few days, my back started to hurt. I hadn’t trained a single day with any pack weight. Other than making sure my pack fit well, I didn’t wear it at all. That was a huge mistake. My shoulders, lats, and lower back were smoked by day five. My legs, which had carried me to ultra-marathon success, weren’t used to toting a load. When I did get that bull down and had to haul hundreds of pounds of meat off the mountain, I paid for it in suffering.

This is a lesson I never need to learn again. The good news is you can train casually this offseason and be ready to conquer a backpack hunt without the pain that I endured. You don’t have to run double-digit miles each week or even hit the gym. All you need is a quality backpack, a 50-pound sandbag, trekking poles, and some dumbbells. The Average Joe’s Backpack Training Program begins now. Here’s how to get started.

Find the Right Pack For The Job

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First, don’t skimp on the backpack you plan to wrap around your shoulders and waist. Spend the money to buy a premium pack. Your backpack will be an extension of your body for the season, and hopefully, for many seasons to come. I have gone the cheap route, and it sucks. Get a pack that has plenty of room to meet the demands of your hunting adventure, and if possible, try that pack on before spending money. Fit and function are essential, and you should look for a top-end western hunting packs that features torso adjustments, plus multiple shoulder and waist belt adjustments. Proper pack fit is where it all starts.  My current go-to is the ALPS Elite Frame + 3800 Pack.

Read Next: 10 Essentials for a Backpack Hunt

Hike With Your Pack

Get a 50-pound bag of sand. This bag will be your new best friend. Heavy-duty canvas bags are available anywhere, and you can purchase sand from a concrete mixing company or landscaping yard. Some folks will tell you to use plated weights, dumbells, and the like, but these items are hard on a pack’s inner contents and don’t ride well.

Clear your pack of all contents, and then take the 50-pound bag of sand and dump 25 pounds out of it into a bucket or other container. Next, tie off the open end of the bag and place the 25-pound bag in your pack or lash it to the pack’s frame. Two or three times per week, lace up your hunting boots and go for a hike. How far and long that hike lasts depends on your current fitness level. You’re not going to exhaustion here.

Start slow and keep the distance mild if you’re at the beginning of getting into hunting shape. The last thing you want is to injure yourself, and one of the best ways to get an injury is going too hard out of the gate. Get your body and muscles used to hauling the weight. I recommend you hike with trekking poles. Trekking poles allow you to engage your arms, provide stability, and help bring rhythm and cadence to each hike. Plus, you’re probably going to be using trekking poles during the packout on a hunt, so it’s worth practicing with them.

As you feel your body getting accustomed to the weight and you’re easily taking on 1/2- and 1-mile hikes, add 5 more pounds of sand, increase your hiking tempo, and extend your distance. When you can tote a 50-pound bag of sand on semi-flat ground at a pace of 17 minutes per mile for three miles, you’re ready for the mountains. The key is not overdoing it. It would be best if you only pushed the pace and hiked with max weight at max tempo once per week. All other hikes should be more casual. Shoot for a pace where you can still have a conversation without gasping for breath.

Train on Hills

You’re rocking now. The legs, back, and body feel great, and you’re full of confidence. Now is the time to start hitting the hills.

I like to find a long, gradual hill that climbs steadily for roughly a mile. I also look for a steep, short climb that’s no more than 1/4-mile. I want a total vert gain between 300 and 500 feet for the long climb. For the short climb, the steeper, the better. For hill climbs, drop pack weight back down to 25 pounds. Do the long climb once per week. Set a good pace as you ascend, and use the descent as recovery. You can make this mile ascent and mile descent trek as many times as you want like, but keep back and leg health in mind. If something starts to hurt, stop.

When it comes to the short climb, I prefer to do this workout a couple of times per week on the heels of an easy-day regular hike. Keep pack weight at 25-pounds, dig those trekking poles in and bomb up the hill. The goal is to get the heart rate up quickly. Push hard on the ascent. Please don’t hold your breath when it starts to hurt. Nasal breathing is excellent for moderate activity, but switch to mouth breathing when you’re pushing the pace. Only work on steep hills once you’ve got a high level of basic fitness. This exercise isn’t the first thing you should do off the couch.

Train With Dumbbells

One of my favorite and most brutal backpack workouts is to do 50-yard walking lunges with a 50-pound pack and 25-pound dumbbells in each hand. I repeat lunges for 50 yards, ditch the pack and weights, and take a one-minute break. Next, I practice putting on a pack that’s loaded down with weight and then lunge another 50 yards. You can repeat this process as much as you would like, and you can easily modify it by reducing pack weight and going with lighter or heavier dumbbells.

Dumbbells aren’t expensive. Scan Facebook or Craigslist, and you can usually find multiple dumbbells for under $100. That’s it—an inexpensive, casual way to get into backpacking shape for the fall. If you follow this program, even if you keep it super casual, you’ll quickly realize that you’re getting into excellent shape, and you’ll likely want to keep pushing for more. Enjoy the ride. Few things have boosted my success in the mountains like going into hunting season in top physical and mental condition.

The post The Average Joe’s Training Program: Get Into Backpacking Shape for Mountain Hunts appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the gyms hunters utilized to stay in shape had to close their doors while the world was forced to shelter-in-place. That caused some of us to gain a few extra pounds, and possibly see a decline in our overall health.

I’m in the unique position of being a strength coach (and have a doctorate in physical therapy) for some elite-level athletes. I am also a hunter, and create workout regimens for outdoorsmen and women through Healthy Hunter which promotes better health and fitness.

Like many hunters, I live in the country, and not close to a gym. So even before COVID began I had set up at-home workouts my wife and children could participate in alongside me. I know many of you are returning to the gym, which is great. But if you want to supplement those workouts with ones at home, or maybe, you just want a more convenient space to sweat, here is a simple program that will keep you in shape. You don’t need to be a pro athlete or even a mountain athlete to benefit from this workout. All you need is your hunting pack and a few common items found in your home to get started.

Rucking

As hunters, we often find ourselves walking with a backpack through the woods. Walking while carrying a loaded pack is commonly referred to as “rucking” and is one of the simplest exercises you can do. Rucking is not just for those prepping for a backcountry hunt. It will help condition any hunter that has to walk. So pheasant hunters, treestand deer hunters that must hike in, and run-and-gun turkey hunters will all benefit from rucking. Hiking at a moderate pace of 3 mph has cardiovascular benefits equal to jogging with less stress and damage to your body.

Day after day of carrying heavy loads for distance helps shed weight too. And those that need to gain muscle will find themselves stronger. To get the strength and cardiovascular benefits of rucking you only need to carry 5 to 10 percent of your bodyweight.

To begin, put on a pack loaded with 5 percent of your bodyweight. For example, it you weigh 200 pounds, that’s 10 pounds. Maintain proper posture while you hike. Stand tall with your head up, shoulders back, and focus on the hips and glutes to provide power during the walk. There’s no need to run, just keep a steady pace. Push yourself and set a goal of a 20-minute mile or 3 miles in an hour of rucking.

Over time, increase your walking distance and time. Completing a one-hour rucking session three times a week will have you primed and ready for most outdoor adventures.

Farmer’s Walk

Have you ever heard the term “farmer strong?” It’s not a myth. They spend years picking up heavy hay bales and throwing them on a truck or into a loft. Their bodies adapt, build muscle, and they can crush your hand inside of theirs when you go to shake it.

The farmer carry or “walk” is a fundamental exercise that I include in every workout program. Standing up tall, hold a small daypack full of the supplies you take afield or a milk jug filled with water in one hand. Walk slow and controlled keeping good posture with the body upright not allowing yourself to lean or waddle to one side or the other. Start by walking 10 feet before turning around and returning to your starting location. Switch hands and repeat the 20-foot round trip walk. Do five rounds of this down and back alternating hands. As your fitness improves, the distance and weight carried should be increased.

Read Next: This Fitness Regimen Will Get You into Elk Hunting Shape

3. Pull and Drag

Many of us rarely exercise our back muscles causing weakness and imbalance, which also leads to poor posture. When we need to use them, like for packing out a deer or elk, it can result in injury. To improve back strength and minimize the chances of hurting yourself, the bag drag is an ideal workout. As a hunter, this exercise is one of the most functional you can add to your program. If you need to drag a deer, or pull a buddy out of a creek bottom, the bag drag will have you ready.

Start by tying a rope or hose to the top of your pack and placing the pack on the ground. Extend the rope away from the bag creating tension in the rope. Squat down as if sitting in a chair and grasp the rope with both hands. With arms extended and the rope tight, pull your hands towards your stomach, dragging the bag closer. Take a step back to tighten the rope and pull the bag close again.

Complete five rounds of 10 reps taking the minimal rest needed to recover between sets. If you are limited on space, eliminate the step back and pull the rope hand over hand to drag the bag closer to you.

Creating your own gym at home will eliminate excuses for not working out. There is also no waiting for others to finish with the equipment and no monthly fees to pay, except for your mortgage. Plus, you can even incorporate shooting your rifle or bow into the activities, so you learn how to shoot when fatigued or under stress. But more importantly, these simple workouts will keep you in good health.

The post Workouts for Hunters: These 3 Exercises Will Help Average Joes and Mountain Athletes appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Elk poured over the ridge in a steady wave, two legal bulls among the herd. My hunter sucked at the high-altitude air, trying to catch his wind. A moment later the elk were gone, and the client emphatically insisting that he was not climbing the ridge after him. I tried to talk him into it, because I knew where those elk had gone. I knew that if only we could crest that ridge, the opportunity he had traveled clear across the Lower 48 for would be waiting. But he would not—perhaps could not—do it.

This story repeats itself multiple times every fall in the rough country elk call home. A few avoidable mistakes cost a lot of hunters a lot of elk, year after year. Don’t be that guy. Here’s how to prepare now for success in the elk woods this fall.

Apply Early for Permits

The best elk hunts are limited draw hunts, awarded by lottery each year. Application periods vary by state from late winter to early spring. Put in your time researching and filling out applications. Unfortunately, due to a supply & demand imbalance, those tags are getting ever-increasingly hard to draw. But it’s worth applying each year, and someday you just might draw the best elk hunt of your life. Good states to apply in are Utah, Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, and Oregon. Meanwhile, develop your skill and experience levels by hunting over the counter (OTC) or easily drawn units. Great easy-draw or OTC hunts can be found in Utah (spike only hunts), Colorado, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, and Wyoming.

Scout from Home

Your next task is to use Google Earth to scout out likely elk honey-holes. Elk need four things: Food, water, cover, and security. Find those four things, and you will find elk. Favored feeding areas include open south-facing grassy slopes, hidden deep-timber meadows, and brush-filled woods – especially if the woods are aspen or oak. A dark, north-facing timbered slope provides ideal bedding cover, and if water lies at the base of the slope or in-between bedding and feeding areas you’ve found a honey-hole. Security, the last requirement, means one thing these days: no people. The harder an area is to get to, the better the hunting will be. Only one caveat applies: If there are wolves in the region, the elk will move erratically in an effort to avoid them.

Get in Shape

More opportunities at elk are lost every year to being out of shape than any other one thing. Elk live in tough, steep terrain with a shortage of highly oxygenated air. Whether you are young, old, or in-between, get in the best physical shape you possibly can. Run, work out with weights, ride a bicycle, and climb hills or stadium stairs with a loaded backpack on. Eat good food and consider a good multi-vitamin or supplement program like MTN OPS. Sign up for a race or two during the summer—setting concrete deadlines will motivate you to work even harder. One word of caution, though: take care of your body. Don’t push so hard that you hurt yourself. Going into your hunt with a strain or injury is a recipe for trouble.

Shoot to Kill

The second most common reason hunters fail to take home an elk is unfamiliarity with their rifle or bow. It is an agonizing thing to watch a big bull walk away because a hunter couldn’t find the elk in their scope, or couldn’t get into an adequate field position. You should spend time with your rifle until your better half becomes jealous—then spend some more. Once it’s sighted in at the range, practice shooting and dry firing from every conceivable field position, and at myriad different targets. I have never been able to find a bench-rest conveniently nearby when I wanted to shoot an elk, but there usually is a rock, log, tree, or backpack just waiting to help out. When the big moment arrives, you should be able to drop into the best available position, instantly find the elk in your scope, and squeeze off a steady shot. Train to immediately rack another cartridge into the chamber and follow up. Elk are tough, so keep sending careful shots until they are down.

Choose Ammo Wisely

Thousands of elk, including some of my own, have been killed with simple cup-and-core bullets, or even cast lead projectiles. They work fine, in lots of cases. But you will up your odds—and your opportunities—if you shoot a bullet that is capable of performing under any circumstances. Regardless if your shot is very close, very far, or severely quartering toward or away, you want a bullet that will succeed in reaching the vitals. Use a premium projectile like Federal’s Edge TLR, Barnes LRX, Nosler Partition or Accubond, or Hornady’s ELD-X. Shoot your chosen ammo until you are thoroughly familiar with it, where it impacts at every range, and how it acts in windy conditions. In my experience most elk are shot at less than 200 yards, but opportunities do occur at much further distances, so prepare accordingly.

Fit Your Footwear

Another common challenge elk hunters face is foot problems. Bad boots or poor preparation can abruptly end the elk hunt you have been dreaming of all year. Prevent that by getting good boots early in the year and wearing them all summer while you work out, hike, or mow the lawn. Some of my favorite boots are Danner Tachyons (a superlight, non-waterproof, early-season tactical kind of boot) and Danner Pronghorns, which are available in an assortment of models. Whatever you get, wear them a lot before the hunt. That way both your feet and your boots will be ready.

Develop a Can’t-Quit Attitude

Most hunters are pretty tough while sitting around at home with a cold beer in hand and buddies to talk elk hunting with. But toughness evaporates at an astonishing rate when you are tired and cold to the bone, and far from home and loved ones. It disappears even faster when elk seem nonexistent, your feet and pack straps hurt so bad that they make your eyes water, and your food is almost gone. You need to prepare now to weather those emotional storms, pull frozen boots onto your sore feet before dawn, and shoulder your pack in search of elk. That’s what successful elk hunters do, and that’s why they kill elk when other hunters fail. Many bulls are killed during the last hour of the last day of the hunt, and you need to be prepared, mentally and physically, to hunt that hour.

Be Prepared to Bivvy

The biggest bulls I have killed, or helped to kill, were all taken during stretches where I was sleeping on the mountain among the elk. Well, not right in the herd, but downwind a few hundred yards. You’ll need special gear to bivy hunt, including a superlight tent, sleeping bag, pad, food, stove, and so on. Research the gear, purchase what you need, and make some practice camping trips during the summer with it. That way you’ll be ready to deploy your camp at night when you are cold and tired, and then pack it before daylight so you can sally forth in pursuit of that bull that bugled your name all night. It’s one of my favorite experiences: sleeping on the mountain, stars overhead, bulls bugling in the distance. And it’s absolutely one of the best ways to kill elk.

Use Good Gear

Cheap gear has no place in elk country. That’s not to say you must have the highest-tech, uber-fancy, and latest-and-greatest gear. Lots of elk have been killed by savvy hunters wearing wool clothing and shooting old wood-and-blued rifles. But cheap boots, inexpensive packs, thin sleeping bags, and bargain binoculars will sabotage your hunt. Don’t use them. Buy the best gear you can afford, and take care of it. Trust me—you’ll thank me when you’re on that mountaintop, closing in on the bull of your dreams.

Learn to Find Elk

The hardest part about elk hunting isn’t the early morning summer runs, the cold frozen boots, or the biting pack straps. In time, an elk hunter will take all those things in stride, and even learn to appreciate them. But finding elk can challenge even the most experienced hunters. All the advice above comes into play while trying to find and actually shoot an elk. Here’s a little more that, if you listen, will tip the odds in your favor.

Use your eyes. You can cover more terrain in a morning of glassing than you ever could in a week of hiking. Find a good high vantage spot (which might also qualify as a good bivy campsite) and glass surrounding mountainsides, canyons, meadows, ridge-top saddles, waterholes, and every place that might hold an elk. If there are elk in the area, and you do your job right, you will find them. They may be miles away, but miles can be covered.

Listen. Elk are vocal animals, and will be talking at least a little during all early-season and mid-season hunts. Learn what elk sound like, and keep your ears open. You should even learn to listen in your sleep: should you find yourself camped on a mountain with a bugling herd of elk passing by, pack your bivy, and follow them until dawn. Then wait downwind for a shot as legal light reaches across the canyons.

Read sign. If you did your armchair scouting properly, you will have potential good spots to look for elk. Ease your way through those areas, looking for fresh dung, muddy wallows, torn-up willows, rubbed trees, and fresh tracks. If you find them, lurk on the downwind side of the area, or on a vantage point overlooking it. If there is snow on the ground, follow the tracks carefully until you come upon the elk. Slow to a snail’s pace once the tracks start to meander aimlessly, and an increase in dung and urine appears. Keep your eyes moving and your thumb near the safety—the elk will be very close by.

Make a Meat-Packing Checklist

Once you have researched, prepared, and executed a successful hunt, you will need to get all that blessed meat cared for and transported to your truck and home. Regardless whether you killed a bull or a cow, elk are big, and considerable work is required. Create a list of items you’ll need for meat care, both in the field and back at base camp. This includes game bags, trash bags, knives, and coolers. Once you have an elk on a ground, remember how time consuming—and grueling—the process of packing meat is. Here’s a quick preview of how to proceed once you get your elk on the ground.

First, get your photos. Try to be efficient, but take what time is necessary.

Read Next: 11 Mistakes Elk Hunters Make, and How to Avoid Them

Next, skin and quarter your elk. Unless you do this regularly each season, be sure to research the best methods for this before hand. (YouTube is handy for this.) Be extremely careful to keep the meat clean and free of dirt and hair. Get all four quarters hung in the shade to cool and develop a thin crust. Hang the backstraps and tenderloins across a clean log or rock, place the neck meat and trim meat in a breathable meat sack and hang it to cool. If the weather is really warm place the meat in contractor-grade trash bags and submerge it in a cold spring or creek, keeping the mouths of the bags tied securely so that water won’t get inside. It will keep quite a few days like that because mountain water is very cold.

Lastly, carry your meat to your vehicle and pack it on ice in your coolers. If you have access to horses, this is an easy task. If not, you will have to backpack your elk to your truck on your own shoulders. If the distance is far, bone out the meat and leave the bones in the backcountry. Hang in there, trip after trip, saving the antlers for the last victory lap. A week later you will be home, wishing you were back in the mountains, listening to elk bugle and packing meat again.

The post 11 Ways to Start Preparing for Your Fall Elk Hunt in the Offseason appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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This is the strangest hunting tactic I’ve ever seen. It’s the first day of archery season, and professional ultrarunner and lifelong hunter Mike Wolfe is racing through a vast stretch of Montana prairie, hopping cactuses and weaving around prairie dog holes. He’s running toward a herd of about 30 pronghorn.

In his right hand is a longbow with the word “Persistence” burned into the riser. The fletchings of three arrows stick out from his makeshift quiver, which also holds water, electrolyte tablets, and his antelope tag. Heat waves wind around his 6-foot, 160-pound frame and distort the herd of antelope beyond him. It’s 80 degrees and getting hotter by the moment.

Wolfe could be at this for hours, half a day even, or so he hopes. He’s trying to run North America’s fastest land mammal to exhaustion on one of the hottest days of the hunting season. Again.

At first the animals look at him with curiosity, but when he closes to within 150 yards, they don’t stick around to find out what he’s up to. The herd bolts. Again.

You could call Wolfe’s tactic of pushing an antelope until it collapses crazy, foolish, or futile. But technically, it’s called “persistence hunting,” and after five years of failed attempts, you could call Wolfe persistent.

Fawns, bucks, and does jockey back and forth in their quick race across the prairie, legs blurred, bodies flowing forward with effortless efficiency. Wolfe turns toward them and keeps a steady pace, his lanky body draped in a threadbare button-down shirt, hands relaxed, legs light, back barely shifting. It’s the tortoise and the hare—two species that both evolved for loco­motion: one for sprinting, the other for endurance. But in this case, if the tortoise wins the race, he kills the hare.

This isn’t some sort of experiment for Wolfe. It’s not even really an athletic pursuit, at least not in the way we think of marathons or big mountain races. This is a personal quest. It’s his way of tapping into some deeper predator-prey relationship.

“I’ve run various antelope long enough to where there was­—it’s like there was a switch. Something changed and the animal and I were suddenly on different terms. I’m not flinging a compound bow at 80 yards. This is the original fight. Who’s going to outlast the other one? It feels primal, but not just to me, also to the antelope.”

Running Down a Dream

Wolfe, 42, grew up in Bozeman, Montana, the son of a blacksmith and farrier. Making horseshoes isn’t as profitable as, say, investment banking, so the Wolfe family spent most of their vacations in the nearby mountains.

Every fall they hunted to fill their freezer. Wolfe shot his first whitetail when he was 12, his first elk when he was 19, and his first bull with a bow in his early 20s. (Trophies have never really been his thing; he’s always been a meat hunter at heart.)

Instead of following the traditional high-school-to-college path, he chose the ski-and-climbing-bum path, which landed him in Jackson, Wyoming, working odd jobs. He started running more seriously to train for climbing.

“I found I really enjoyed the running, and I started doing well in races.”

By “doing well,” he means he finished second in the prestigious Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. It’s the oldest 100-mile race, winding through the Sierra Nevada mountains and requiring competitors to climb a total of 18,000 feet. Anyone who finishes the race in under 24 hours earns a silver belt buckle. Wolfe finished it in 15 hours and 38 minutes. He also took second in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc and won $10,000 by placing first in the North Face’s 50 Mile Endurance Challenge.

The North Face started sponsoring him in 2007 to compete in big races and set records, and he spent 10 years competing and often winning big mountain races around the world. They paid him to compete in the longest, hardest races and running challenges he could find.

That’s how he ended up in northern Brazil on a six-day race down the Amazon River. He spent almost 200 miles dodging massive hornets and fire ants, hopping from downed tree to downed tree, and crossing treacherous rivers with about 100 other racers and nothing but the food he could carry and an occasional water refill.

Another time, he and a buddy went to California to try to set a speed record on the famous John Muir Trail, which runs 211 miles through the Sierra Nevada range. One of the guys scheduled to resupply them ended up leaving before their rendezvous, which meant they spent 45 miles running and hiking with only a couple of energy gels and some beef jerky. His buddy got a bloody nose that lasted for eight hours, so he ran with his head lifted up, pinching his nose. Running on about three hours of sleep, they both began hallucinating. Even after an (unsuccessful) 8-mile detour to find food, they set a new record. But Wolfe was never driven by the accolades that come with breaking big-time records.

“He’s definitely an incredible athlete and very competitive,” says close friend and filmmaker Bobby Jahrig. “But he really doesn’t care about what people think about him at all.”

Wolfe has a penchant for wearing jean shorts and occasionally sports a mullet, but offsets this quirky style with a quiet personality and general dislike for attention. Look him up on social media, and after you realize he’s not Mike Wolfe from History’s American Pickers, you won’t find much. Few people outside his hometown of Bozeman and the niche ultrarunning crowd know who Wolfe is.

Then one day, amid all the running and training, Wolfe’s body quit on him. He was diagnosed with overtraining syndrome, an auto­immune disorder that can be lifelong. Essentially, Wolfe’s hormones failed to function properly, and even the most menial tasks were exhausting. He sat on the couch for months doing nothing other than eating, drinking fluids, and resting. He recovered, went back to run the John Muir Trail, then opened a gym in Bozeman focused on mountain athletes. He got married, had two kids, and then a falling-out with the North Face. Through it all, he was hunting.

When he first heard about the concept of persistence hunting, maybe a decade ago, he figured it would be the perfect combination of his two passions.

Persistent History

If persistence hunting was ever part of human history, it was likely done only occasionally and in groups, not by a lone hunter.

The whole concept became widely recognized in 2009 with Christopher McDougall’s wildly popular book Born to Run, which deals with the notoriously mysterious Rarámuri people of northern Mexico, who have run down deer.

McDougall’s book, an earlier book called Why We Run by Bernd Heinrich, and numerous podcasts, magazine articles, and anthropological papers have all posed the idea that humans evolved to run down game over long distances. The theory holds that this is why we have a more efficient cooling system—sweating­—than most other species, and why we’re capable of trekking for hours with few breaks.

Scientists like ­Daniel Lieberman, a professor of human evolutionary biology at Harvard, suggested that evolution in early humans resulted in traits that allowed us to sweat, giving our ancestors the ability to “combine endurance running and tracking to drive their prey into hyperthermia.”

This is a romantic idea: We human hunters have an innate ability to catch our prey through physical stamina alone. But Lieberman and other experts have recently published papers questioning his earlier theory. Critics say that conditions would have to be so exact for a human to successfully run down a deer or antelope that it seems unlikely persistence hunting was a key part of our evolution.

Scott Creel, a professor at Montana State ­University and a former ultrarunner for the U.S. national team, is one of the skeptics. While ­humans have run down critters like antelope, it’s unlikely that humans evolved specifically to run down prey. We, as a species, are just too slow.

“When you look at the actual distances over which hunts play out in nature, having watched thousands of them, everything is faster than us,” Creel says. “You can’t outrun an African buffalo. You can’t outrun a hippo. And these are things that aren’t built for speed.”

Our success depends much less on our ability to sweat and run for hours and much more on our ability to use our brains, Creel says.

“If we were betting on if he will or won’t succeed, I’d put my money on the antelope,” Creel says. “But if anyone could do it, Mike would be the one to pull it off.”

Leg Days

Even if persistence hunting was never really a big part of our human history, here’s an evolutionary trend that’s not up for debate: There’s a movement among hunters to get their asses in shape.

Wolfe has started a hunter fitness program in which participants do backpack-weighted hiking workouts and a circuit of intervals with archery practice in between. More hunters are interested in hiking farther and preventing injuries.

“If all you want to do is drive around in a truck and road hunt, then you don’t need to be fit,” Wolfe says. “But anyone who is going to do any hiking where you will potentially have to drag or pack something out, then conditioning is super important, if for nothing else than you’ll have a more enjoyable experience.”

Taken to the extreme, this merging of athlete and hunter has been popularized by Instagram influencer Cameron Hanes.

Hanes, 52, is a fitness and archery expert who started bowhunting in his early 20s. Since then, he’s built himself a digital empire. He has more than 1 million followers on Instagram tuning in for his workout videos and inspirational messages. Even if you’re not into cutoff sleeves and long-range bow shooting, it’s impossible to deny Hanes’ impact. In August he hosted a virtual running challenge of ­15 miles per day over five days that attracted more than 8,000 participants.

Hanes doesn’t have dreams of running down an antelope, but he does see his fitness and its associated fame as a means to pursue the biggest, oldest bull elk and be invited into some of the West’s most exclusive mountain hunting destinations. The sponsor money, the signature protein powders, the social media fame, he says, are mostly convenient byproducts.

“It’s not me, it’s more the message,” Hanes says. “[It’s about]working hard and being able to come from nothing.”

Read Next: Has Our Reliance on Technology Made Modern Hunters Less Capable Than Our Ancestors?

Plenty of others are getting in on the action as well. This year, Backcountry Hunters & Anglers hosted a hiking competition digitally, and more than 31,000 people registered, raising almost $61,000 for the organization.

“The really cool thing, the ones who aren’t athletes, it’s literally changing their lives,” says Ty Stubblefield, BHA’s chapter coordinator. He recounts a story of a guy who lost almost 50 pounds and “had the best hunting season of his entire life,” and another who lost 30 pounds for deer season.

Wolfe and Stubblefield both say this is a trend among hunters in their mid-40s and under, and it’s likely here to stay.

“People go to those hill-hike competitions where they put on a weighted pack to hike a trail as a training group. Shit, 10 years ago, can you imagine?” Wolfe says. “People would be like, ‘What?’ and now it’s a thing.”

Do hunters need to compete in ultraraces to kill elk? Hell no. But is it a positive thing that fitness is becoming a more celebrated aspect of our hunting culture? Even the stodgiest old road hunter would probably say yes.

In the Hunt

This is the first day of Wolfe’s fifth year trying to run down a pronghorn. Successful persistence hunting, as far as he can figure out, requires big, open spaces (as flat as possible), antelope (but not too many), and, most importantly, tremendously hot conditions.

He’s in the Montana prairie in a place called Centennial ­Valley, which is undulating sagebrush flats layered with ancient sand dunes bordered on one side by the Centennial Mountains. The elevation is almost 7,000 feet, and the temperature will probably be in the mid-80s today. It’s hot, but probably not hot enough.

“This is prime. This whole chunk is public,” says Wolfe, glasses propped up on his forehead, binocular pinned to his eyes.

“Well, they’re out there,” replies Jahrig, who has spent the past five years filming Wolfe’s various attempts. Jahrig is a runner, though not quite like Wolfe. He goes along as far as he can, then veers off to the vehicles when Wolfe’s enthusiasm spurs his mile times into the six-minute range.

“That’s the group,” Wolfe says. “Let’s see if we can run after them for a bit.”

Wolfe’s face, with his creased eyes, always looks as if he’s smiling, even if he’s not. But when he’s running, I think he probably is. When I ask him what it is he likes about this type of hunt, “It’s fun,” is the most I can get out of him.

But he knows that’s an odd answer. Few runners want to do semicircle loops through dusty scrub brush, risking a rolled ankle or snakebite, all under the blazing sun. Most hunters don’t want to run that much, period.

But to him, of course, the physical challenge is the appeal.

“Even when I’ve had a crazy experience with [calling] elk, I’m still trying to trick them. They don’t know I’m there. But the antelope knows the whole time, and they’re not liking you,” he says. “This is how it was. They see you, you see them, game on—who’s gonna win? The [only] advantage we have is to outlast one.”

Wolfe, Jahrig, and I walk toward a group of 30 or so antelope. We cover close to a mile before the antelope stand, watch, then take off running east. And with that, the chase is on.

Wolfe runs fast enough—eight- to nine-minute miles—to keep them in sight, but slow enough to conserve energy. Pronghorn evolved to outrun the now-extinct North American cheetah, dire wolf, and short-faced bear. They can hit speeds of around 60 mph (a runner clipping along at five-­minute miles is traveling at only 12 mph). Their eyes are as big as an elephant’s, and they can see with 8X magnification. Their primary defense strategy is to keep an eye out for danger, then sprint when something makes them nervous.

Wolfe’s general strategy is this: Run the antelope back and forth until one starts to tire. Single out the tired one, then step up the pace—seven-minute miles, six-minute miles, maybe faster—until that one tired antelope is so overheated and exhausted it can’t run anymore. Once the animal is so tired it can’t get away, Wolfe will walk up to it, take an arrow out of his quiver, and kill the antelope.

Best-case scenario, he figures it could take five to six hours covering 20 or more miles in 100-degree heat through a flat prairie basin. I can’t help but ask him, doesn’t it go against our understanding of an ethical kill?

“It’s a fair question, but the main thing is to have an open mind about it,” Wolfe says. “Think a little bit deeper about it. In terms of an ethical hunt, in my mind, it’s as clean as it gets. You don’t have any advantage.”

If you dive into hunting ethics as deeply as Wolfe has, you start to find paradoxes. For example, using modern gear and technology helps us to be more efficient hunters and kill animals quickly and cleanly. But taken too far, modern tech can give us an unfair advantage over the critters we’re after. If you’re an extremely efficient killer, are you still really hunting? In persistence hunting, Wolfe turns over every advantage to the animal. But if he does manage to kill an antelope this way, it will be a hard death, more similar to a wild predator killing its prey than what we’re used to seeing and experiencing in modern hunting.

On this morning, he runs after a group of 30 or so while they stop and watch. Then at about 150 yards, they sprint. He keeps running, steadily, as they stop, watch, and sprint again. It goes on like this for miles. The point isn’t really to gain on them yet; the point is to start wearing them out. Tracked on a GPS, our path looks like a toddler drawing ovals. After about 7 miles, the antelope decide they’ve had enough.

So they cross a road and bolt up a hill. Wolfe follows them, at one point hollering at them, because why not? But somewhere around 13 miles, even running sub-six-minute miles, he loses them. He blames the lack of heat.

“They could run all day long in this when it’s 80 out, and they’re going to lose you at some point,” he says. “When it’s over 100, I feel like it might just put them over the edge enough where they can’t do their normal thing, and you keep dogging them and dogging them and they really have to push themselves hard, and one of them blows up.”

Back at the truck, Jahrig and I cower in the shade, drinking water. Each one of these efforts is more data, Wolfe says, more information to help figure out the next attempt. Aside from not enough heat, there were also too many antelope. He needs to find one or two pronghorn. A big herd like the one he followed offers too many opportunities for antelope to splinter into smaller groups, then rejoin again. Even if it had been 100 degrees, he likely wouldn’t have been able to separate one from the group.

But he’s not frustrated. As he sits on the ground with a skinned-up knee to cut chunks of cheese and salami with his pocketknife, he looks content. He details each point of the hunt just as any other hunter would. He tells me that even if he is successful one day and somehow runs an antelope to exhaustion before killing it at close range with his bow, he’ll probably keep on persistence hunting.

The sentiment doesn’t surprise me.

The post This Ultra-Runner Is on a Quest to Persistence-Hunt a Pronghorn appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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It’s September 1, and my head is on a swivel, frantically looking in every direction for doves. Finally, I see the flitter of wings. Doves either fly like fighter jets shot out of a cannon or float along through the air, riding the wind. This one is high, but straight up, just cruising. My ass is already sore from sitting on a plastic five-gallon bucket, so I stand quickly to shoot, but fumble the safety. I haven’t clicked one over since spring turkey season, and when I finally push the button, the weight of months spent separated from friends and family fades away. The familiar feeling of a wooden stock to my meaty cheek is comforting. I slap the trigger and a gigantic puff of white feathers plumes from the bird’s chest. The best months of the year are here again, and it’s about damn time.

Like the rest of you, my life looks very different than it did before COVID-19 hit. For weeks in March and April, I only left my house when necessary, sheltering in place with my wife and 6-year-old son. I live in an urban area, but have access to hiking trails and my parent’s farm, so I relied on those places when I needed a break from these challenging times.

I am fortunate to have outdoor spaces to roam. Because many folks in big towns and cities were virtually trapped in their apartments for months, or lived in fear of stepping outside as social unrest led to violence and looting on the streets of major cities across the U.S. It has been stressful and unsettling for us all; more so for people of color and the tens of millions of Americans who are jobless due to the pandemic. We are facing unprecedented challenges in a time when the future of our country remains uncertain.

That’s why I feel so lucky to be a hunter right now. It’s been proven that going outside is good for us. And I plan on doing a lot of it this fall, just like many of you. We can finally get the hell away from the negativity this pandemic has brought with it, and go hunt.

But just getting into the woods isn’t enough for every hunter—myself included—to be happy. This pandemic has made me hyper-cognizant of the importance of my own mental health. A little background: When my son was born almost seven years ago, I hadn’t thought much about how my actions and my frame of mind affect other people and my own wellbeing. I wasn’t prepared for the added responsibilities of parenthood, and my wife encouraged me to seek therapy. I didn’t want to, but eventually I saw that the frustrations and anger caused by the stresses of work and life itself were impacting my family in a bad way. I had to make a change.

I have seen the novel coronavirus magnify the mental anguish some of my friends who hunt were struggling with even before the pandemic hit. And I have had my own breaking points as well. My wife had to quarantine for a week by herself, and all three of us (myself, wife, and son) quarantined together for another week after she was exposed to co-workers who had tested positive for the virus. It was incredibly worrisome wondering if we were all asymptomatic and difficult to remain so isolated. It made me question why in the hell we stayed home and did our best to follow all the CDC guidelines since the start of COVID-19, while many others did not.

Losing connections with those we hold closest is painful, and it can lead to bouts of depression. (I know it did for me.) I have older hunting buddies who have fallen into despair because the pandemic stopped them from going to the gun range or having morning coffee at the town café to commiserate with life-long friends. COVID-19 has taken some of those people away forever. Relationships helped keep their spirits up , but too many folks are alone now, and often too proud to admit they need help.

I think hunters are less inclined to recognize how much the realities of everyday life—not to mention a months-long pandemic that doesn’t seem to have an end in sight—cause us stress. In my experience, hunters—particularly men—seem to think counseling, prescribed medications, or simply talking about how they’re feeling are signs of weakness.

Read Next: Alone Together: A Father and Son Hunting Story

But here’s the reality: All of the above made me a better man and a better father. My wife finds me infinitely more tolerable, even though I still leave all the cupboards open every time I go into the kitchen. If COVID-19 had arrived when I didn’t have the mental fortitude I do now, it could have sent me into a tailspin. Therapy has made life more livable for me: I became more self-aware, and it gave me the tools to deal with the mental hurdles I must face when life starts to suck. If you too are struggling, I encourage you to seek a mental health professional or find someone to talk to whom you trust. Try starting here. It’s not as daunting a task as you think, and it doesn’t mean you’re not a strong person. Don’t ever let your ego prevent you from working to become the best version of yourself.

I am thankful to be an outdoorsman. Getting outside and recharging is important. We all need that connection to wild places. It’s why we do what we do. And I am eager for October to arrive; to be in the marsh, standing next to old friends, and calling to sky-high ducks…hopefully we will trick a few into the decoys.

The post Why Hunting Is More Important Than Ever for Your Mental Health appeared first on Outdoor Life.

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Editor’s Note: This article was originally published by Coffee or Die Magazine on August 15, 2019. For more stories like this, visit www.coffeeordie.com.

There’s no doubt that hunting elk in the Rocky Mountain West is a physical activity. If you don’t live in a state like Colorado, where the average elevation is 6,800 feet above sea level, then you are already going into the season at a disadvantage. One of the most common killers for elk hunting hopefuls is the elevation and rugged terrain elk live in.

Just about every experienced elk hunter will agree that the farther you get from roads and subsequent hunting pressure, the better the quality of your hunt. Physical fitness directly relates to mental fitness. The fitter you are, the more likely you’ll be able to stay on the mountain longer.

Weighted Step-ups

If you’re hunting elk, moving uphill under load is almost inevitable. Aside from loading a pack and humping up and down hills, one of the best exercises for training your legs is weighted step-ups. I do weighted step-ups one to three times a week starting about two months prior to my elk hunting trip and rotating between these three workouts:

• 60 seconds on/30 seconds rest for a total of 20 to 30 reps per interval for 30 minutes
• complete 600 to 800 step-ups
• as many as possible in 30 minutes

This exercise can be easily done in your garage or home. For equipment, you’ll need a box or platform that is 16 inches tall, your hunting pack, and a tally counter (losing count is not fun). I highly recommend wearing your hunting boots while doing this as it will also help you locate trouble spots or potential blister locations, if there are any, that are caused by your boots.

Last season while I was following this workout regimen, my run time vastly improved, and I attribute that to the weighted step-ups.

Running

Cardiovascular endurance can make you or break you out West. From significant elevation gain to the rugged terrain, you need to train your motor (lungs and heart) for the rigors of bow hunting in the mountains. If your fitness level isn’t high, start slowly and work your way up. I generally run two to three times a week in the spring and summer months, increasing my mileage from 1 to 3 miles to 5 to 8 miles as the season nears.

When running, you’re not trying to qualify for the Boston Marathon. We want to get our lungs and heart used to working a little harder for prolonged periods of time. On longer runs, I shoot for an 8- to 9-minute mile pace; on shorter runs, the goal is sub-7-minute miles.

Ruck Marching

In the military, we call pack hikes “ruck marching” or “rucking.” There are many practical benefits to putting some miles in with a pack on your back. First of all, it allows you to get intimate with your pack and figure out its fit and function. If the first time you’re carrying over 70 pounds in your pack is after you have an animal on the ground, you may be in for a rude awakening.

The second benefit is that you can figure out where and how to pack your load, or the weight. As a general rule, the weight in your pack should be centered, evenly balanced, and toward the top — in the middle of your shoulder blades is the best.

The physical benefit is that you’re getting your body used to what you’ll be doing in the field. I generally ruck two to three times a week, varying the weight of the pack and the speed of the walk. One day I will pack lightweight (40 pounds) and walk a brisk 15-minute mile pace; another day I will pack heavyweight (70 pounds) and walk a slower pace. As with running, I increase mileage over time, starting with 2- to 3-mile hikes and working up to 6 to 8 miles.

For the heavyweight/slow-pace days, I don’t target a specific pace. The goal is something I refer to as Time Under Ruck (TUR) — this is purely to get the body used to the inherent suck that is packing out an elk. This is another great time to test out your hunting footwear.

Read Next: Elk Hunting a Secret Public-Land Spot in the Utah Backcountry

Hydration

About a week before my trip, I get serious about hydration, taking in 100 to 130 ounces of water a day minimum. That translates to a little more than three Nalgene bottles. Other than coffee, I cut out all extracurricular beverages — including alcohol and energy drinks. On my two-day drive to the Rocky Mountain West, I continue this trend.

While I’m in the mountains, water availability and physical exertion play a major role in my hydration level. I bring electrolyte drink mixes in addition to my water supply and usually drink one a day. Hydration at elevation is extremely important for performance and should not be taken lightly.

Can you kill an elk without physical preparation? It’s absolutely doable — however, if you’re coming from out of state, you’re going to be competing with resident hunters who are, at a minimum, better acclimated and have a better understanding of the terrain and game they seek.

One major benefit of training to head West is hardening the mind. Tagging an elk with a bow often comes down to who can stay in the field longer and continue to grind. Hiking up and down mountains with a bow and a pack on can be painful and unpleasant. However, if you are fit and have conditioned yourself for it, you’ll be in a better mood and state of mind while embracing the suck, thus you’ll be able to stay out longer and go farther.

When I’m preparing to head West for an archery hunt, I want to give myself every possible advantage and be prepared to do what it takes to put an elk on the ground. Will you be ready this fall?

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Fear activates people. It sells surgical masks and medical gloves. It sells bleach and disinfecting spray. But even more than than selling products, fear drives people to obsessively gobble up social media posts and scroll through traditional media reports. But instead of panicking at the prime time reports, let’s cut through the B.S. and make emergency preparedness a real priority before the coronavirus spreads throughout the country. Here’s how.

What is the Coronavirus?

What is this alarming aliment and where did it come from? Last year, a new virus was discovered in humans and initially named “SARS-CoV-2.” A close relative of SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome), the disease was renamed “coronavirus disease 2019” (which is shortened to “COVID-19”). First detected in Wuhan, China, the disease is now confirmed in some 60 locations internationally, including in the United States. Coronaviruses are nothing new (and that’s why they’re listed on your Lysol can). This huge family of viral organisms is found in people and plenty of “Old World” animals (like bats, camels, cattle, and cats). Initially, the outbreak epicenter involved people who had ties to a major seafood and live animal market in Wuhan, but soon, the disease seemed to spread person-to-person. On January 30, 2020, an emergency committee of the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a “public health emergency of international concern.” Symptoms of COVID-19 infection range from those of a mild respiratory cold, to major flu-like symptoms that require hospitalization.

What Makes a Pandemic So Dangerous?

The two main things that make a pandemic dangerous are communicability and lethality. The definition of a pandemic is an infectious disease that had spread around the globe, and it will only do this when the organism is easy to spread (highly communicable). Diseases that are strictly blood borne are not likely to jump out of a carrier and all over the other passengers at the international airport, for example. Yet something that’s easily spread in the air (by droplets from coughing and sneezing, breath/body fluids, or other close contact), can spread across the globe in a few days (due to the speed of modern international travel). If the wide-spreading ailment is just a common cold, it doesn’t matter too much. But when it is an illness with a higher than normal mortality rate—that’s when things get ugly. So far, COVID-19 isn’t proving to be as fatal as our fears might imagine—but it is very catchy. Some reports are suggesting that people are “reacquiring” the illness, effectively catching the same virus twice.

The Deadliest Pandemic in History

The most lethal pandemic of recent history was the 1918 Spanish Influenza. This worldwide case of the flu killed between 40 million and 100 million people and infected more than 500 million people across the globe. It was an especially deadly form of H1N1 influenza virus that began killing people in January 1918, and continued until December 1920. The Spanish Influenza had all the usual flu symptoms (fever, nausea, diarrhea and body aches), but it also had two unusual factors, a high mortality rate—even among young, healthy adults. In fact, Healthy young adults were the primary fatalities, not the very young and very old (the most common flu victims). In addition to the death toll, there were plenty of non-disease issues during and after the outbreak. For example, the global economy and the supply chain took a major hit. Ports were closed and trade was crippled. Stores weren’t even allowed to have sales, for fear that they’d draw too many people in one place and spread the disease. Some large cities (like Chicago) actually banned funerals since the death toll was so high and people might infect each other at the gathering. Schools and churches were closed.

So is coronavirus another Spanish flu? Certainly not. COVID-19 is much less fatal, and medical care and communications have advanced by leaps and bounds since 1918.

Be Smart About Your Exposure

You may have heard of the Law of Stupid: Don’t do stupid things, with stupid people, in stupid places, at stupid times. I first learned it from Dr. Conrad Bui, in a self-dense class but it applies here too.

Don’t do stupid things, like skipping an aggressive hand washing with hot water and soap after going out in public. Don’t have close contact with people who are, or may be sick, unless you are the one who has to take care of them. Don’t go to stupid places, like crowed public areas where there’s a known outbreak. Don’t go out at stupid times, like during a full blown outbreak, or most importantly, if you are sick.

Supplement these laws of stupid with plain old common sense and courtesy, like covering your coughs and sneezes with a disposable tissue, disinfecting frequently touched surfaces at home and work, and keeping sick relatives isolated from the family. These are all smart moves for your continued health, now and under any conditions.

How to Prepare for the Coronavirus

Now is a good time to preach preparedness. My children’s school system just sent out an email last week stating that we should expect schools to close in the event of a coronavirus outbreak in our area and that we should be prepared for “an interruption in services” that may last for weeks. Even the most adamant anti-prepper folks are being faced with the thought that they might have to rely on their own wits and resources for awhile. This can be scary to most individuals. But it really is a great opportunity for you to talk them out of panic by buying a bunch of junk that they don’t need and talk them into making some smart steps to self-reliance (in the face of a pandemic or any other type of disaster).

Step 1: Set a Financial Back-Up Plan

What would your people (or you) do if you couldn’t work for a few weeks? It may be that you are too sick to report for duty, or you decide to stay home to avoid getting sick. How could you pay your bills without your normal income stream? This is a tough question for many people, as much of the world lives paycheck to paycheck. But now is the time to come up with a plan, not during the crisis. I recommend starting with one month’s mortgage payment as an “emergency fund” and then adding to it as your income allows. Some of this emergency fund should be in the form of cash, allowing you to buy things in the event that banks are closed in a crisis. Make that money now, rather than waiting until later. Sell something you don’t need or take some overtime at work. Get creative and come up with a financial back-up plan.

Step 2: Secure a Water Source

We take water for granted in modern society, but there are occasions when it stops flowing. Figure out where you’ll get water if you can’t get it from the tap, and help your friends and family buy the right supplies and products to make the water safe to drink. This could be water disinfecting tablets for those on a tight budget or water filters. It’s also important to have a stock of stored water on hand. This could be a few cases of bottled water, or larger jugs, or a healthy mix of both. You should NOT drink untreated water.

Read Next: Build The Ultimate Natural Disaster Survival Kit

Step 3: Stock Some Food

So many people live on take-out and delivery, but what if that all stopped? Worse still, what if supply chain interruptions limited the foods on grocery store shelves or you were afraid to hit the grocery store for fear of getting sick? Keeping an edible insurance policy of shelf-stable foods at home is key to all types of emergency planning. Start with a week’s worth of ready-to eat foods that require no cooking. Peanut butter and crackers, canned goods, shakes, snack foods and meal bars are great options to get your food storage started. Just make sure you buy things that you know your family will eat. Then add to your food reserve as finances allow, by buying instant foods, freeze dried food, and staple food items. Things that can be prepared with only boiling water are the best approach for hot meals. Instant oatmeal, pasta and rice are cheap, filling, calorie dense, and easy to cook on a camping stove. And make sure you have extra fuel for that stove, if you’re including hot meals in your emergency planning.

Step 4: Treat the sick

God forbid, you have a family member who is sick. Whether it’s a normal cold or flu, or the virus we’ve been talking about, it’s important to keep them away from healthy family members, especially infants and the elderly. They should be in their own room, with their own bathroom. They should even take their meals in there. Like other coronavirus types, COVID-19 can live outside of a “host” for a long time, and reside on solid and soft surfaces. Have some medical supplies at home and plan for how you might treat sick family members.

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Backcountry, backpack hunting has seen a huge surge in popularity in recent years. More and more people are taking to the hills in pursuit of a more challenging and hopefully fulfilling adventure. It’s become so popular, in fact, that an entire side industry has popped up just for preparing to go hunting. Whether it’s supplements, special workout programs, or hunting fitness competitions, aspiring mountain hunters are bombarded with options and advice about how to get prepared. Much of this messaging is well-intended, but it can turn an already daunting hunt into a seemingly impossible trip.

You Don’t Need to Be a Super Athlete

At the core of it, everyone wants to be prepared for their hunt and have an enjoyable experience, and fitness is an important part of that. However, this subculture of hunting emphasizes the physical fitness side of a backcountry hunt so much that it can leave you thinking you need to be a super athlete to survive a 10-day hunt in the mountains, let alone kill a big ram or bull. There is plenty of marketing and many personalities that are presenting a somewhat exaggerated picture of what it will take to be successful and have fun on a backpack hunt. So how fit do you actually need to be?

Naturally, with mountain hunting being an activity that usually involves very high levels of exertion and discomfort, often for long periods of time, it’s important for a person to be physically prepared. At minimum, you need to be fit enough to not get yourself injured. If you have weak ankles, or an old injury, you need to prepare them. If you can’t walk a mile with a backpack without feeling like you’re going to die, then you’re not ready.

However, a six-pack and gym selfies are not required to do well on a mountain hunt. In my experience, the biggest factor in how well you do and how much you enjoy a hunt sits between your ears. Young men in prime physical condition call it quits while old men march on past them every single season. Mental toughness and an unwillingness to quit are your best assets on the mountain. No matter the shape you are in, it’s going to be hard, and you will suffer. The successful hunters are those who stick it out and keep pushing, regardless of how bad it sucks at times.

It Helps to Be in Good Shape

The amount and type of physical preparation you will have to do is specific to each individual and each mountain hunt, but it often has a direct correlation with experience level. If you’re new to the mountains, work as hard as you can in the offseason. The discipline of preparing yourself physically will help your mental toughness, too. The better shape you are in, the more it will help make up for lack of experience and saltiness.

As you become more experienced, you will know what you can do, and more importantly, you will have a better idea of what to expect, and pace yourself accordingly. You may well find that backing off of the “extremeness,” and slowing down the pace a little bit helps you spot more animals or take more time to enjoy being out there. You may also find that the extra 10 pounds you put on in the offseason gives you a bit more energy on the final pack-out of a brutal hunt (hey, it’s worked for me).

Getting in shape (for any reason) is a good thing, and it will help you enjoy your time in the outdoors. But don’t forget that there’s much more to hunting than just running up a mountain like a wild man. If becoming an elite mountain athlete gets you excited, good for you, but if you just want to hunt and have fun in the mountains, put on your backpack and start hiking. There’s no preparation better than that.

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