Gett'n old

[azpackhorse]

Ok boys and girls, I know I can't be the only one that has to work my tail off to keep from being a lazy slob so I am curious as to what you all do in the off season to keep those rough Coues hills from kick'n your *ss.

I came about 2 milimeters away from losing the ability to walk 6 years ago and it has inspired me to never take my health for granted.

This time of year always kicks the exercising into high gear for me, the anticipation of possible upcoming hunts, and the heat....yep, the heat. I absolutely love to run in the beautiful, extreme Arizona heat! My wife claims that this odd attraction to extreme heat has a lot to do with my mental stability..or lack thereof

So how do you all stay fit and ready for the hills? Or am I the only 40 something person that has to really work at it?

[Guest Ernesto C]

I wish I could do more exercise but I got surgerys on both of my knees,so at least two months before my deer season this is what I do:

Monday(s),Wednesday(s) and Friday(s) -heavy walking sometimes with my backpack with all the gear on it(binos,tripod,water etc etc.)

Tuesday(s) and Thursday(s) Swiming. Saturdays and Sundays .....Family

 

I start slow or easy the first week then I start increasing my excercise little by litle and sometimes I change the walking or swiming for bicycling depending how my knees feel. It is important to start low and work on your diet and cardiovascular system (resistance).

 

I use to run many miles in this Az.heat like you but now............I stil can run but only a few feet at the time You take care and God bless.

 

Ernesto C

[firstcoueswas80]

seeings as how i am only 19, almost 20 i am naturally in better shape then you OLD farts but seriously i am a tub o goo, one tub o goo who happens to be 6'3 275 and strong as an ox(maybe thats why they call me ox at work???) i used to keep in shape with football, baseball and wrestling but since those high school days are over i have to change it. as it is, i lift a lot and walk prolly 10+ miles a day at work but when it comes deer season, it depends on the tag for some reason.

i usually run 2-3 miles a day, usually with my dog and usually in 110+ heat in tucson ( i too love running in the sun, i love to see how disgustingly sweaty i can be!) but not that i am in flag, it is even better! i get to traing at 7,000 feet and hunt around 3500-4000. i will start runnin hills, and just plain ole runnin with my pup here in about june. lifting weights also helps for sure, makes it easier to pack out the 130" im gonna shoot this year. last year, when i was in the dorms, i would load up my backpack with all of my books and run all 7 flights of stairs, that sure helped! ya know what, i think im gonna go for a run right now! gott go.

[Benbrown]

I ran regularly for over 35 years, but last summer ( a few months after my 61st birthday) my knees made me quit. I did a little strength training and a lot of walking getting ready for hunting season last fall, but my bad knee gave out on me about noon on the fourth day of the five-day New Mexico season. I brooded about it most of the winter.

 

We left the ranch and moved to "town" (Animas, New Mexico, population maybe 200 and elevation about 4,500 ft) in December. In early March, my wife insisted that I take the mountain bikes that we have ridden off and on for the last 7-8 years and get them ready to ride again. She started riding the first week in March and I broke down and joined her about ten days later. We have a route that runs up a pipeline to the old Lordsburg road and then up into the footlhills of the Pyramid mountains.

 

After two months of this, my cardiovascular fitness has returned and my legs are stronger than all of the years that I was running. Best of all, my knees are happy. I am betting that my Colorado elk hunt and my New Mexico and Arizona Coues hunts (I'm sure that I will draw the tags!) will be more fun and less of a slog this year. If my planned trip to Namibia and Botswana for late summer actually comes off, I will be ready to tackle the wilds of Africa, as well.

 

I dearly loved to run, but for aging knees, the bike is probably better.

[billrquimby]

BenBrown:

 

I'm seven years older than you, and I can tell you things don't improve with age. My knees are still OK, it's my feet. A one-mile walk makes them so painful it hurts with every step. Although I stopped smoking after my heart attack three years ago, fifty years of puffing obviously affected my lungs.

 

Getting old isn't for wimps.

[az4life]

Getting old IS not for wimps!

 

I know what you mean. 44 and counting! Anyway, I hate health clubs and my knees do not take running on pavement since 3 years ago, so For me, Summer time is Cheap golf and the Bargain rates and hot temps keep me sweating on the course a lot of the summer. I think the exposure really helps tune me up gradually for the season.

I just got in from playing 27 holes and feel great.

 

My Serious Deer season prep for me starts about 2-3 months before heading out. I try to combine my serious prep with serious scouting.

 

I am not be the guy in the best shape but on the hunt I can keep up with most other hunters. Still looking for that magic pill that keeps me in top shape without moving a muscle!

[billrquimby]

If my planned trip to Namibia and Botswana for late summer actually comes off, I will be ready to tackle the wilds of Africa, as well.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

BenBrown: Where in Namibia and Botswana will you be hunting? I've hunted Namibia twice and Bots once. Although these aren't my favorite countries, I fell hopelessly in love with that continent after my first trip to Zimbabwe in 1983. There's a saying that once you've tasted the waters of the Zambezi you must return. It must be true because I returned 21 times and hunted in five countries after that first trip. I'd be returning to taste the waters this year, too, if I weren't going to Argentina in August for a brocket deer.

 

Bill Quimby

[stanley]

I run 2-3 times per week, year round. Might crank it up a month or so prior to a big hunt. Other than that, my life/work/kids/hobbies take up too much time to do much else.

 

S.

 

[fatfootdoc]

I have this really good training regimen. I wake up at 0500 and get into my work out clothes and then sit on the couch and think really hard about running. One time I almost broke a sweat!. For some reason my pants are alot smaller than I remember them being though. Which is funny because I feel like I am in great shape. It only takes me 5 - 10 minutes to catch my breath after climbing the stairs in the hospital and when I am wrestling with my kids I usually can last about 2-3 minutes before getting a head rush. I cant wait until my black river trip this year. It should only take me 3-4 hours to hike out, I really like to feel the burn in my quads, you know like there is a blow torch on them., if I am really lucky I will blow chunks. That is my all time favorite thing about the shape I am in , you can purge on command.

Maybe that is why I dont see any deer anymore, I am huffing and puffing so hard that they hear me from a mile away!!.

On a more serious note, anyone who goes into the season without making some effort to get into shape is putting themselves at a huge risk for heart attacks, hyperthermia, sprains, breaks and etc. Once the old body is fatigued nothing good can happen!! AG

[ScottAdams]

At 41, I mostly run to keep in shape for the hunts. I run anywhere from 3 to 5 days a week. Usually 3 or 4 miles but I did 6 this morning. I try to get in a trail run every couple of weeks too. I go in on some of the trails I hike in to Coues hunt. Trail running is a lot tougher than I thought it would be. Probably because most of the trails that take you into good Coues habitat are near vertical one way or another. Even so they say the best way to get in shape for hunt is to do what you do on your hunt, which would be to strap the pack on and start hiking those hills.

 

Scott

 

I don't know how much longer I'll packing out deer like this!!

 

 

[azpackhorse]

I hear ya! This packout trip resulted in knee surgery 6 months later but this year I did the same thing, I was by myself so there aren't any pictures.

 

 

 

This was about 3 miles from the border.

[az4life]

Scott

Looks like you got a pretty good "lean" going on there. The one good thing about hiking UP intoi yoru hunt zrea is that you have a lot of DOWN once you fill the tag!

Like Brian suggested, the downhill is hard on the knees so there is a trade off.

 

I look at it this way, My health insurance is so bad that I have to do my own cardio test while I am out hunting deer. If Make it up that big hill inless than an hour, keeping my pulse under 180 and not passing out or blowing chunks... that means I pass!

 

I always think about the stories when guys get injured while hunting alone so I try to keep myself out of those situations. Decent shape an dknowing your limitations is key.

 

I am surprised no one has said they stay in shape by climbing mountains in th off season. Afterall that is the way most of my coues trips turn out. 50% hunting, 50% glassing, 50% mountain climbing, 50% glassing, 50% mountain climbing, 50% glassing, 50% mountain climbing, 50% glassing, 50% mountain climbing....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brian, The

[billrquimby]

Years ago we didn't have pack frames. There were World War !! military surplus packboards that some people used but they weighed nearly as much as a deer. Mostly we carried our deer out without packframes.

 

We would cut part way through a buck's knees, then strip down the sinew, leaving the front legs attached. We'd then make slits in the gambrels and run the front legs through them. If done right, the front legs formed "Ts" that "tied" the four legs together.

 

We'd then stick our arms between the "straps" formed by the legs and stand up with the buck's tail in the air and its head down.

 

If we did things right, all of the buck's weight was on our shoulders, cushioned by the meaty part of the deer's rear legs. As we walked out we would grab the deer's antlers to steady the load.

 

We'd get bloody, of course, but it worked.

 

Does anyone still do this?

 

Bill Quimby

[bullwidgeon]

I just tuck them under one arm and jog back to the truck, then do some push ups and jumping jacks once I get there if I feel I still need a little more excercise . These are coues were talking about, not elk or bears or something really hard to pack out .

 

Bret M.

[Guest Ernesto C]

Hey az4life,believet or not I always loose weight when hunting so hunting keeps me in good shape I lost more than 6 lbs on a elk hunt about 3 years ago to bad hunting is not a year round thing or at least I whish I can hunt Alaska,Canada,Africa all over U.S. and of course Mexico too