Anybody try to diet and exercise to get ready for the season?
I'm trying to knock off a few pounds. Walking in with climber on the back and dragging a dead, limp deer is getting harder.

deer season, not so much. always try to start walking and cutting back a bit before turkey season though.

I exercise year round, but it never seems to prepare me for the walks I end up taking during deer season.

exactly

Been practicing my beer drinking and football watching. Hope I'm ready in time.

Yup going to the gym 3-4 times a week doing cardio (which I hate) and lifting with lots of squats, trying to get ready for the hill climbing....

I walk a few miles a week with a 100 lbs in my backpack.

Ya'll gotta get in shape to go ride your 4 wheeler to your stand and sit on your backside for hours?

Dang, y'all are some out of shape goobers.

Just curious, how far is your average walk to get to your hunting spot?

If I'm on private land it may not be super far, but if I'm on public land it's sometimes over a mile.

Good Grief...........I love deer meat, but not enough for that. Knowing my luck, that'd be the time I'd kill a 200# monster, then have to drag the big sumbich a mile back....Nope.

Been walking 1.5 miles most morning, do a few push-ups at night. Added some dumbbell curls last night and rode the exercise bike while watching hunting on tv.

I've been trying to drink enough beer to stay hydrated during those long walks or dragging a deer out and been having sex alot to keep me in shape.

I carry a back pack full of tools around everyday. Alot of times up and down flights of stairs in multiple story houses during 100 degree weather.. Deer season is a breeze.

My wife wanted me to get one of those fit bits to see who took more steps in a day, I told her that I didn't want to embarass her.

Usually during deer season I may have about a mile or less of a 4wheeler ride and then usually a half mile or less of a walk with about half of that being a side of a mountain.

With all of that said. I need to get in better shape nonetheless. I plan to start working out once the summer winds down. My main issue during deer season is that I tend to get in to much of a hurry at times and may pull a muscle randomly somehow or another in my neck/back. I'm gonna try to build those muscles up.

Hell no. I'm fattening up for winter

I've lost 21 lbs. in last 2 months and exercise a good bit. Not necessarily for hunting but life in general.

Sitting in the lazy boy and watching TV gets me ready for the 100
yard walk and 4 hour sit in the shooting house. I'm ready!

perzactly......

Doubling my reps starting Labor Day,.... on 12 ounce lifts.

I�ve been walking a couple miles each morning with the dogs. They spend most of the time chasing field mice and each other so they�re getting exercised too in preparation for the season. I�ve got to knock off a few beer lbs before tracking season gets here or my arse will be seriously dragging come Oct. Tracking requires an insane amount of walking�..it�s not uncommon to end up walking 3 or 4+ miles or more on a track by the time you make it back to the truck...and there's times when you'll do that twice a day.

I can honestly say that I never hunted anywhere in Alabama that I needed to be in shape, that's why I asked the question of how far you guys walk. Our elk season starts the end of August so, I gotta get some hiking and biking in. On our day hunts, we bike/hike anywhere from 2 to 16 miles, depending on if/where/when we get on the elk. The pack out if we kill one is what's killer.

Knowing how easy it is to clean an animal in the field, I'll never drag another deer. I clean and pack on the spot, 100% easier to get them out. Mother nature gets the scraps. Unless there's a club rule I gotta get the whole thing out I guess.

Here's how I get ready for the hillbilly huntin!

Yeah, I'd think that would be a must if you were hunting somewhere you couldn't get an atv/utv within 100yds or so of where you were hunting

It depends on where and how i will be hunting, if I am just sitting in a shooting house then I might only walk a hundred yards but if I am using my climber I might have to walk a 1/2 to 1 mile up and down some BIG hills which in and of it's self is not the problem it's having to drag a deer out of where I am and up the hills so it can be loaded up..

Hunting private land, not very far. It's usually just half a mile to my short spots. My long spots are only about a mile with a little pirogue paddling at about the half way mark.

Y'all really want to make some changes, sign up for a High Intensity Interval Training session at a local gym for about 6-8 weeks and stick with it and the diet change. 2-3 days a week along with walking, stretching and losing weight, and you'll see some difference.

Two years ago I killed a large doe high up on a ridge in Little Coon. I drug her down through 6-8 year cutover (below), nasty thickets, rocks, etc ... everything you would expect to see up there. GPS showed the drag was 1294 yards long, 920 feet elevation drop. I enjoyed every minute of the 3 hours and 15 minutes it took me to get her to my truck!

I guess I'm quite a bit madder at em than most but then again I'm just now entering my 4th season



This is why I try to stay in shape for it ..

Yep and HIIT has proven to be a much better weight loss tool than long distance cardio

I have been sitting in my chair for 5-6 hours at a time, trying to get my ass accustomed to not moving.

I don�t know about the rest of you, but it�s food that I have an issue with more than exercise. It�s not hard for me to get motivated to walk or excercise but leaving the doughnuts alone is a whole nuther test in will power. BTW�.if you�ve never tried the little wheel with handles on each side where you get on your knees and roll out and back��it�s a very simple but very, very effective exercise. You�ll feel your abs start sucking back in with a quickness if you do it every day.

You and that doe look like you may have gotten a little to intimate on the trail home based on the well you are cuddling with her.

If you stay ready you won't have to get ready. Easier said than done.

I've found this to be true, too, along with nearly eliminating terrible foods, pounding the water, and doing cardio that makes me feel well. If I want to walk 3 miles, I walk 3 miles. If I want to walk 2 miles and jog three, I do that. I may do a 10-mile bike ride through our 'hood, or a trail run with the local group. But being absolutely rigid, depriving myself of some pizza or Doritos, that doesn't work for me.

The HIIT more interesting and engaging than "OK, going for a run" on the same route, too.

The last two seasons have been far less taxing walking in, climbing, etc.

Don't forget to get something to simulate a tree trunk in front so you can lean forward with your head and practice cat napping.

I hear ya' on that one. I'm trying to eat more salads but all that does is make me get the shakes for some red meat.

I was gonna say they look like they are sharing a tender moment.

I would've loaded her up in a backpack and walked out. That's what I do when I hunt public land. The days of me dragging one out are over.

You definitely earned it. If you hunt like that a lot, do yourself a favor and buy a frame pack. Makes that stuff a lot easier.

I�m good for the first half of the day�.but from about 5-10 in the evening, I start feeling hungry as a hostage. Sweets just compound the desire to eat too. It triggers something in the brain to make you want to eat more. Sugar has to be the first to go for me. I�ve been trying to drink more water ever since Clem mentioned it in PF thread. I was knocking down a gallon a day for a while but I find it kind of hard to keep just consciously drinking large amounts of water without intense outside work and sweating to go along with it. It feels like I�m just chugging water and pissing all day long. I�m trying my best to stick with it though because I know that�s likely one of the best things you could do for your body is to keep it hydrated.

Everyone's different but here's what I've discovered about sweets and my faves, like Doritos Nacho Cheese (the greatest chip ever in the world): If you continually deprive yourself AND don't have some snacks throughout the day, you'll give in and demolish 2-3 honey buns or a big bag of Doritos or order two large fries at Chic-Fil-A along with a peach milkshake.

We buy the little lunch-size bags of baked chips, mixed nuts, bananas, oranges and other fruit, cheese, celery-carrots, and so forth. We still buy white bread for mater sammiches and PBJ but usually have whole grain bread. Our son has lost 40+ pounds since last October by working out and eating well, and he's been a great positive influence, too.

Throughout the day I'll eat a little something every couple of hours. Cheese, handful of nuts, slice of whole grain bread, banana. Jerky is expensive but you can make a bunch of it during deer season and vacuum seal it. We've switched honey for sugar, but still have sugar for baking. Definitely staying hydrated. The more I go without eating something the hangrier I get and then want to gorge. This isn't anything new, of course; grazing during the day has been recommended for years. The "eat 3 meals a day, don't snack!" mantra is idiotic bullshit IMO. Be active, graze, eat smartly and make changes.

These kind of things are good during hunting season, too. I love a Freshley's honey bun but damnation, that's 570 calories and 28 grams of fat in one of them. Not to mention the spike of sugar. Eating that first thing in the morning, your body's going to divert blood to digest it (and any other breakfast food). So you get a little sleepy in the stand, which isn't safe and you also may miss a deer. It may not be as tasty but a granola bar or handful of granola, some nuts and cheese, or good ol' ham-eggs-toast, would be better.

I try to not go off the rails on the weekend but it's tougher. So I don't fret about it. A few weeks ago we went to the farmer's market here and stopped by Krispy Kreme. The HOT sign was on!

I exercise all year. I try to stay ready for deer season.

My daughter just called and invited me to meet her for lunch at a Mexican restaurant. I just have to give in. I am weak.

Easier to stay in shape than to get in shape.

I typically run about half the steps I take in a day. I have a tower on my back veranda where I do a lot of pullups/dips/pushups/knee and leg lifts with and without weights and I have a few weights laying around.

Old injuries prevent from doing some exercises but I do what I can. Typically every other day will see about three to five sets of 8-10 reps with free weights (each set to exhaustion), 5 sets of 7-10 pullups and a few less reversed, a couple hundred pushups and a couple hundred unweighted squats. I usually walk/run/walk the dog a little over a mile in the evenings. He's really fat and needs all the running he can get.

I'm inadvertently getting ready for hunting season by training for the upcoming rugby season. I play for a men's team here in Charlotte and I put a good bit of focus on cardio, with weights mixed in. I find the better cardio I have the easier it is to walk to the stand and not sweat like a whore in church (except during the September bow season, ain't no way not to sweat). I also hunt public ground which means long walks and long drags. If the deer is small I'll carry it out on my back. If it's larger than 100-110lbs field dressed, I'll hike back and snag my deer cart. Haven't been lucky enough to be forced to use the cart yet.

The biggest thing I do is interval training and running hills. Distance running is great but you will drop weight and up your stamina by running intervals. Got to start small and build up, and be realistic in your training. It takes months to get into decent shape if you aren't in shape and haven't been running. Got to be patient.

Ditto on the backpack. Dragging is crazy hard work.

I've been doing that for about 10yrs now. I take a backpack with a collapsible gambrel and a skinning knife. I can get 90% of what the processor can get and I don't have to drag except to the closest strong limb.

I'm on week 7 of the Couch to 5k thing. I've dropped about 15 lbs since March. Also switched to water only in March. No cokes, tea, juice, etc. I let myself have 1 beer per week. Other than that, water only to drink. Definitely feel way better. I just struggle balancing everything out. If I focus on cardio then my lifting takes a hit. When I lift a bunch then I don't do enough cardio. Just need to be more disciplined.

Anyone who has never gotten the opportunity to drag the hide off of a deer is missing out on one of the finer aspects of hunting. It'll dang sure make you appreciate the easy ones.

That was my perspective too ... I wanted to experience it for myself and I was glad that I did. I felt an incredible sense of accomplishment when I got her to my truck.

Last season my knee was in such bad shape that I couldn't do it but with the new knee I'm ready to hit it again this season. Like I wrote earlier I guess I'm just madder at them then most ...

ive been toting bags of corn around, to get ready.

I should be covered this yr if I kill a deer. Jeremy still owes me for helping drag his big ol buck deer last yr

I hope to put his ass to work this yr

Too old for that. Although I know the older I get, the more I need to exercise. Just can't get motivated to do any extra.

Last year on April 15th I weighed 263 lbs. By Nov. 1st I was down to 211... lost 52 lbs. By going to the gym 5-6 days/week and eating healthy. Once gun season got going I quit the gym and ate what I wanted. Realistically, I probably went to the gym 3 times over the entire gun season. Added 20 lbs back too. I've now lost 13 of that 20, and am headed back towards 211. This coming season I plan to hit the gym more during gun season so I don't put 20 lbs. back on again. Losing that 52 lbs. last year sure made a world of difference.

Wow, good for you. I know that kind of weight difference had a huge impact on your overall enjoyment of hunting

I've made the wrong movement. Went from 180 to 191.

I run 5-8 miles at least twice a week and throw in an occasional 10 miler.

It only gets worse. You will be forty one day.

I hit the stair stepper and jacobs ladder one day a week. The other days I do normal weights.

Round blob is a shape.

I do palates.

Don't believe I'd a told it.