[Josh Gray]

first off let me say using the 24 week mountaineering plan was perfect for preparing me for my fall of mountain big game hunting. I was able to harvest a beautiful bull elk with my bow, process him and pack it out (230lbs total in 3 trips with backpacking gear) completely solo. I sent a perfectly placed arrow for a swift ending at the end of a grueling day and I believe I can credit part of my marksmanship on the shot to the big aerobic base the plan helped me build.

I am planning my next mountain hunt this upcoming May in the Selway-Bitterroot mountains in Idaho, which is much more steep and difficult terrain compared to here in CO. I have 28 Weeks to play with and was thinking of mixing up my training blocks for the build up. Here are my two outlines I’ve came up with. Are either of these good plans and which would you believe is more optimal?

8 Weeks Transition/Max
– 2x Gym Max
8 Weeks ME From the UA Big Vert Base Period
– 1x Gym ME 1x Hill Sprints/Mini Max
5 Weeks Max ll
– 1x Hill Sprints 1x Gym Max

7 Weeks ME
– From the 24 Week Plan

vs

8 Weeks Transition/Max

6 Weeks Max II
– 1x Hill Sprint 1x Gym Max

8 Weeks ME From the 24 Week Plan

4 Week Specific/Taper From TFTNA

[eddie]

Hi Josh,

I’m not a hunter, but I really respect your approach to it. It’s something I don’t see much – the practice of skilled marksmanship and field processing – around my training hills.

I don’t have the expertise to comment on your question. But in general, I find it useful to keep in mind Scott’s training philosophy – First, identify the demands of your event, the fundamental qualities to meet those demands, and which qualities that are holding you back. Then design training to elevate those weaknesses and individualized to your needs.

[Josh Gray]

Eddie,

Thanks for the kind words. I hunted some as a youth-probably the not so good kind you’ve experienced- eventually moved on and spent my adult life as a climber/mountain runner and have only just recently returned to hunting. I’ve come full circle now and have a different ethos and respect for the wild places I go and the living things in them. Which really has shaped the style of hunting I gravitate towards and has been an incredibly rewarding and humbling pursuit for me now.

Thank you for the advice, I can get in the weeds pretty easy and miss the big picture. I’ll scrutinize it with Scott’s words going forward 😊

[Scott Johnston]

Josh:

Sorry for the delay in responding. It has been a busy month at Evoke. If you have the terrain for it or access to a stair master, I would recommend doing the ME work by carrying a heavy pack steeply uphill. This is more event-specific.  It sounds like you have done a good job on the aerobic base-building part of your program and couldn’t be too far off your strength and ME training, either.

You might find this article interesting.  https://evokeendurance.com/aerobic-training-for-the-military-athlete/  You will see why our methods are so successful for the military athlete.  Marksmanship is a fine motor skill.  Fine motor skills are the first things to degrade with central nervous system (CNS) fatigue.  Long-duration events like carrying a heavy pack for hours in rough terrain greatly impact the CNS (try threading a needle immediately after a long run).  Improving aerobic endurance is the surest way to improve marksmanship in a fatigued state.  So many of the backcountry hunting fitness programs I see are nothing but CrossFit for hunters and completely ignore the need for a big aerobic base.

I hope this helps.

Scott

[phillip.hare]

Hi Josh,

I would agree that the mountaineering plans are excellent for mountain hunting as the demands are pretty much the same as mountaineering. I’ve used the plans for the same purpose. There is great hunting here in somewhat similar terrain the the Bitteroots – steep, glaciated valleys, and yeah it’s almost not doable without a great aerobic base. Maybe try and calculate the daily average vert you’ll want to cover during the hunt?

I’d also agree with Scott’s recommendation of using steep terrain or the stair master. I live in Utah and using very steep and/or off-trail terrain has been excellent prep for my deer/elk season during the appropriate phases of the mountaineering plans. The StairMaster does allow a lot of control/repeatability though. I’ve enjoyed listening to Scott talk with Jack Kuenzle about doing much of his specific prep indoors. I’ve also gotten back into triathlon after 15 years and have been amazed to find out how much indoor training many folks in that arena now do for the same reasons. In terms of adding in vertical gain through ME workouts, I’ve found a lot of value in combining the guidance from both TftNA and TftUA: while the New Alpinism book discusses slowly adding vert and weight, it really clicked when I looked at the Uphill Athlete book ‘s planning templates for gradually adding vertical gain for trail runners.

Lastly, I like the second option you laid out if only for the specific/taper period. Without a good taper, I carried too much fatigue into my elk hunt this year and regretted it.

 

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