Here in Pennsylvania we’re less than a month away from the official start of the statewide whitetail archery hunt. It’s at about this time that hunters will be desperately getting in their target practice with a bow that many have not touched since late archery season or even before the regular firearms season of last year’s hunt.
I don’t advocate for cramming in all of your out-of-season target work last-minute, however there are realities to this. But regardless of if you’ve been maintaining your skills with the bow or not, you can use this time more effectively to fine-tune your bow skills while simultaneously enhancing your physical capabilities and hunting endurance.
Many east-coast hunters will be locked-in to their tree stands for the months of September and October, but even this is not without physical struggle. Likewise, many big-game western hunters will quickly recognize the necessity of physical preparation for the hunt, as the terrain and elevation of the west can end your hunt—or even your life—without adequate preparation.
Though your cardiovascular endurance may have quickly dissipated after the end of last-season’s hunt, it can return almost as quickly (this rapid degradation and development is unique to cardiovascular endurance, unlike the capacity of strength, which shows a much slower return of improvements as well as decrements).
Though not ideal, you still have time to become relatively prepared for the demands of the hunt.
And by doubling-up conditioning work with bow practice, this can be done in half the time, while allowing you to train with the bow in a fatigued state—as you may find yourself when faced with a deer, elk, or other game animal.
Here’s just one of the workouts we recommend to our hunters. The limit to this workout is that you need space, lots of empty space where you can safely target practice and run down range… Therefore, this only works on private property or empty public land…
To start, pick 3 distances that you’re most likely to shoot at, for me, with my fixed-pin set-up, I use 10, 20, and 30 yards. For my training, I also use an uphill with a medium grade.
Start by taking 10 warm-up shots at 10 yards, followed by 5 trips to the target while it sits at 10 yards. Each run should be progressively faster, starting with a brisk walk, ending with a sprint.
Do this yet again with a target at 20 yards… 10 shots, 5 trips.
Guess what you’re doing at 30 yards? Same thing. 10 shots, 5 trips.
As you become more accustomed to this, you can begin to add in more trips, up to 10 sprints at each target range. I don’t recommend running with the bow—some may view this as ‘sport-specific’ but can lead to more asymmetries than necessary. The more variables, like running with the bow, that you add in, the more complicated the process becomes; we’re simply looking for getting you in-shape and target-ready in the most efficient means possible.
After you’ve built yourself up to 10 sprints and 10 shots at all three designated distances, scale back down to 5 trips, but now begin timing each sprint and recording rest. By improving your time on each sprint and maintaining or reducing rest, you’re improving your overall cardiorespiratory endurance across all three primary energy systems (30 yards is by no stretch of the imagination a feat of cardiovascular endurance, but the accumulation of fatigue over the course of all sprints will certainly have beneficial effects on glycolysis, respiratory, and cardiovascular function.
Want to learn more or improve your readiness for the hunt? Email us at info@RuthlessPerformance.com and ask about our Physical Preparation for Big Game Hunters Program.