Elk Prep: How to train for A backcountry hunting trip (for those with limited time & Resources)
If you clicked on this post, I’m sure you’ve gone down the same rabbit hole that we have when it comes to training for a western hunt. You’ll come across guys like Cam Haynes, David Goggins, and other world class athletes that have awe-inspiring books and videos that will have you so jacked up that you will find yourself push-mowing your 1-acre lawn with a 50 lb pack on in the middle of the summer heat.
If you are human and find yourself in this situation, it is normal to have a mixed bag of emotions ranging from excited to overwhelmed. Our goal from this is not to make you some sort of immortal mountain man who eats nails for breakfast, but to provide you with a simplified approach to training that works.
In this post we are going to talk about two main topics:
When you should begin training.
What type of training you should be doing
When should you start?
The best and most cringeworthy answer is today. It doesn’t have to be anything special, but every extra step you take in preparation will pay dividends on your trip. For our last hunt we started two to three months out and would hit the trail a minimum of 5 days a week. As we got closer to the trip, we were going at it every day and pushing ourselves with tougher workouts and a faster pace.
What type of exercises should you be doing?
Good news, you don’t have to get a gym membership or run a marathon to prepare yourself for this type of hunting.
I’ll preface by saying the style of hunting will dictate who needs to train the most. If you are going on a guided hunt that will use horses or alpacas to carry your gear and harvest out, you won’t need as much work as the individual who is backpacking and carrying the quarters out on their back. If you are going on the guided trip, don’t stop reading here and think that just gave you a free pass to be a lazy ass. Your guide will not be happy with you if you can’t keep up and it can ultimately lead to your failure/success in harvesting an animal.
The end goal of our training routine is to build up enough endurance to walk several miles in a day with a heavy pack.
What's the best way to accomplish this?
It's simple.
Walk as many miles as you can with your frame pack on before the trip. For our last trip we trained by “rucking” daily. We completed a minimum of 2 miles and would occasionally push it to 4 on the weekends when time would allow. At the end of most sessions, we would finish off by hitting a steep sloped hill over and over for 15-20 minutes.
That’s it.
Here are a few tips that we’ve learned along the way
Tip 1: Your frame pack should be your #1 training tool
-This will get your back muscles ready to go. This will also make you more familiar with your pack and how to adjust the pack for optimized comfort.
-Start light and work heavier as time progresses
-Start with just the weight of your pack empty, then build up to the weight you’d be carrying during the trip, finally do your best to simulate the heaviest load you would need to carry.
Photo
Nico carrying his Kifaru frame with a duct-taped 70 lb sandbag
The duct-tape may raise some eyebrows from local law enforcement but does a great job protecting the frame pack.
Tip 2: Think Environment - Low Oxygen, Hills, Rugged Paths, and Heat
If you are from the Midwest your training location is going to be 5,000 to 10,000 ft lower in elevation at a minimum than where you will be hunting (at least most hunting areas in Colorado). That means you are in an oxygen rich environment while training. I bring this up because no matter how much you train here, it’s going to take your lungs and muscles some time to adjust to the dry and low oxygenated mountain air. If you are looking for a way to simulate the mountain air, I suggest checking out altitude training masks. These look crazy but, I feel these are a great tool to add late in the game right before your trip to challenge your lungs.
Hills suck, but there’s not much flat land to hunt in the mountains. That’s why you need to hit them religiously while training for your trip. The steeper and longer the climb the better. We have a nice, mowed hill at a local park that we walk heavily when training. This hill is nowhere near steep enough but it's better than no hill at all. Another important thing to note with hill training is don’t just go straight up and straight back down the hill every single time. Mix it up by traveling the hill at different angles to try and get your ankles used to traversing the difficult landscape. If you are really wanting a challenge, walk in reverse up and down the hill and you’ll feel what I'm talking about in no time.
The heat also sucks but will become your best friend in accelerating progress. For a hunt in September, we are training our hardest in the months of July and August. It's common for 90-to-100-degree temps with high humidity. I’m a personal believer that you want to take advantage of this heat and use it to sweat off as much excess weight as possible. Don’t be stupid and give yourself heat stroke, but also don’t let it keep you indoors in the comfortable A/C all summer long.
Tip 3: Find yourself a training partner.
It may be your spouse, hunting partner or dog. Find someone who isn’t afraid of pushing it and has a competitive edge. This isn’t a competition by any means but having someone with a strong mindset will take you further. This becomes important on those days where you feel like skipping out that your buddy will shoot you a text asking if you want to go for a ruck. It doesn’t have to be anything crazy, but if you can consistently keep each other going, it will build mental toughness for the trip when you are nearing the end of a long pack out.
Extra tip if you are weight training
I hate to be the one to give out lifting advice when I come in at a whopping 165 lbs. soaking wet, but I will tell you that it's in your best interest to focus your sets on high volume with lower weight. Extra bulk in the upper body will not benefit you on this trip. In my opinion, the most important muscle groups to focus on for these trips are the traps, core, quads, and hamstrings. After long pack outs if I'm feeling pain its mostly in my traps and hamstrings. That’s where my time in the gym will be focused for this September’s elk hunt.