Just booked a backpack Mountain Goat huntin British Columbia thid September. Part of the reason for booking this hunt was to give me the motivation to drop quite a bit of extra weight and to get in shape. The diet is going well (down 20# to date). What is the best excercise program (if there is such a thing)? I've been hitting the stair stepper and treadmill but its not in any organized manner. Any thoughts or references for an overweight out of shape goat hunting want to be!!

Brian,
Good start. Never quit the regimen whatever your program is. The treadmill I use can be elevated to 15 degrees, which I do at 3 mph for 40 minutes. That will generally get me into the aerobic zone where I run at least 80% of my maximum heart rate. I also find that climbing real stairs ad naseum is more effective than the stair stepper because it is all your own effort. Cycle spinning is a great aerobic workout if you like to group exercise. It's easy on the knees and works the heart an lungs. Unfortuneately, my body works a lot more efficiently at 3000 feet than at 9000 feet or higher. Go git 'em!

I find there is no substitute for strapping on the pack and climbing the mountains. No matter how much I ride my bike, I found that early season day hikes are the best way to get in shape.

I'm starting a bit earlier this year, and have started almost daily climbs up my practice hill, some 400 feet, with some weight on my back(18 lbs now). I have to walk the dog anyway... and the weather is unseasonably nice.

Closer to season I start riding my bike more often (as a way to give the knees a break, and because then the ice is off the roads). As soon as the ice is off the trails (which can be very early on some slopes,), I hit the trails... climb, climb, climb... there is no substitute, at least not for me. But I'm fortunate... I have my training hill behind the house, and I am within an hour's drive of so many mountains that it never gets boring.

Frans

I start(ed) right after New Year's Day, with my Mystery Ranch Deluxe with 35-40 lbs., humping up the steep trails on the North Shore in N.Vancouver.

I carry full emergency camp and water even there and quietly chuckle at the patronizing smirks that many of the local "hikers" give me, a few clicks back from the trailhead when it is pouring icy rain and they are clad in Spandex and MEC Gore-tex. With 50 years of backpacking all over B.C., much of AB, into the NWT and YT, I might actually know what I am doing, but, "city social liberals" REALLY know it all....as the few corpses thereof flown out after being caught overnight without gear demonstrate.......

This activity gets me started on getting into "sheep shape" and the 60-75-90 lb. training packs I use as I harden up do the rest. For this I use my Mystery Ranch BDSB, a "tank" of a pack, designed and built for really skookum loads. I also "tune" my Kifaru hunting packs with training loads before taking them hunting.

You CANNOT be in too good shape for B.C. mountain hunting and you need to get very serious about it as Goats live in extremely rugged country and demand total effort. Good luck on your hunt here.

I found for myself beside the running, packing ,ect if I can get a lot of biking in it really helps get the knees and musles around them into shape for climbing.

In Idaho one should beable to find a Mt. or two to climb

I focus on cardiovascular fitnes and lower body strenth. I like to run/jog at least three times a week. I enjoy running but any other form of workout that gets your heart rate above 130 range for 20 minutes is a good aerobic workout. This serves as a base for my anaerobic and strenth training which I combine.
Other than some light weight training with dumbells, I try to be very specific. That is I put on my pack and walk. I start with 30lbs or so and get out and go. I usually walk trails that have rolling terrain and add steep climbs and stairs to the routine. I increase weight in time. If I am on a flat my heart rate is likely in the aerobic range, when I am going up an incline it is definately in the anaerobic range above 165 or so. This is critical training for me because I find that on a steep slope going "up" I am either huffin and puffin (working anaerobically)then I have to stop and recover. Good training will make or break me here. If I do it right I can usually just plug away at climbing with less breaks, quicker recovery when I do rest and most importantly I can still keep going at day 3-4 when my butt hits the wall.
The only pearls that my limited experience has lead me to so far is:
1)stair climbing with my pack on seems to simulate vertical climbing well. Important for folks who dont have immediate access to parks, trails, etc.
2) Carrying a 5-8lb weight in my right hand while I hike really makes carring a rifle easier on the hunt/hike.
3) My fitness is probably the number one variable affecting the success of the my hunt. Alpine hunting in particular!
Best Regards

Sounds like I'm doing the right things just have to do it all season long. We have a few mountains around but this time of year they are all covered with snow. So unless I buy some snow shoes climbing the hills isn't really practical for several more months.
Biking has never been my strong point but that would easy enough to add to my basement home gym particulary for the winter months.

Hi, while I'm new here, I'd like to suggest that after you get a good physical, you go over this pdf file with your GP.http://www.alpineascents.com/pdf/denali-train.pdf

I have used this plan every year for several years, and it is comprehensive, and fun. Just change all the climbing stuff to hunting stuff.

If you are 75% sucessful with the schedule, you'll be fit and have great recovery up past 15,000 ft. When you see your goat, you'll be very prepared to hit with your first shot.

Phieeuwww

After reading the "Denali" training regime, I feel guilty... I could do a lot more!

Good thing the days are lengthening. I don't like training indoors, and I believe the exposure to the outdoors adds to the training effect. I climb my hill at -20C or +35C, snow or blistering sun. I like to think this hardens me a bit too. It's easy to get soft sitting at a desk all day.

Frans

Brian C,
I'm with you, buddy! I goat hunted in '03 and sheep hunted in '05. The goat hunt motivated me to exercise, but I didn't nearly prepare enough. When the sheep hunt came around last season, I had dropped twenty pounds, and was in the best shape of my adult life, and I loved every minute. I felt like I was trotting up the mountains......a great memory. To be fair, the climbing on the goat hunt was twice as hard (both in terrain and weather....rain!!!) Good luck!
Don

I did a Dall sheep 5 years ago. When I went on that hunt I thought I was in shape. I found out I wasn't. I don't want the same to happen this time. The Denali training program looks like something that I could apply and use to get ready for this hunt. Thanks for the info.

I enjoy using a cross trainer while I watch the news/decompress at night. Not every day, a couple/3X a week. It's the easiest way for me to keep from ruining my joints, keep my gut from getting it's own zip code, and protects my heart.
What she is saying in the Denali trainer is that you can prepare well, and work out a schedule that helps you meet your goal.
Doing less than her is NOT failure. It's doing less.
I always flip it over when someone asks me why I'm doing X or Y at the YMCA. I say, "By training before I get there, I protect my ankles, feet and knees from trip ruining injuries. How'd you like to spend 10 grand on a vacation, and twist your ankle in the parking lot of the lodge?" Seen it happen.
So, anything I do before a trip ( remember I live at 587ft, and it's very flat) has to be contrived. I wish I had a mountain to hike on. All I've got is a highway overpass.

Check out this topic from last year.

Brian C, you're close enough to some good mountain goat country....load up your pack and do some overnight hikes up off the Snake River and Palisades Reservoir. Steep, rocky country, lots of mountain goats, high elevation...that should get your body and mind into the mood!

MG

I'd been thinking about all the training and fitness stuff. No idea why I hadn't thought about a trial run or two this summer into that country. I don't know it too well but it is supposed to have goats. This will be something I have to plan.
The six minute hill sounds interesting. A lot simpler then other programs.

I just came back from a mountain training hike this afternoon and am going again tomorrow, I do 3-4 every week with a complete emergency camp in my pack plus inreasing amounts of H2O to get into shape. It is working, although it is hard work; the increased mobility and endurance in the mountains make the expenditure of time well worth it.

Goats are a really tough hunt and the more you train and tune your bod, the better your chances. I hope to get another draw this year as I have had a string of bad luck with my Goat draws in the past.

quote:

Originally posted by Brian C:
I'd been thinking about all the training and fitness stuff. No idea why I hadn't thought about a trial run or two this summer into that country. I don't know it too well but it is supposed to have goats. This will be something I have to plan.

Brian

In 1985 I got my goat. My partner and I spent months looking for an area with goats. We looked for two basic things as it was a non- guided hunt the first a big goat and two an area where we could recover the animal after we shot it. It doesn't do much good to shot one just to have it go over a cliff 300 feet.

We both had a fitness process in place. I lost about 28 pounds; he's a carpenter and with much more fit than me. So between losing weight and running three miles a day five days a week for two months by the time goat season opened we were ready.

We had found some meadows just below a ridge that were accessible from the other side of the ridge. About a two mile hike on an old washed out logging road. We could observe the goats with a 20 X 60 spotting scope from the meadow side from a road about 900 yards away.

On opening day we came up the back side getting to the ridge a hour before light. We moved through the saddle in the ridge and waited just above the meadows. A half hour after light we spotted the first goat above us. The wind was in our favor blowing form west to east. The goat always appeared on the ridge and meadows west of the saddle.

The goat spotted us and my partner went to an area over looking the ridge and meadows. I moved down a small finger with some small evergreens about 3 to 8 feet tall. As I approached the last of my cover I saw a white patch between the firs in front of me. I kept down and quietly work toward a small opening in the trees. There he was; we'd watched him for two months 75 feet in front of me laying on a large flat rock enjoying the morning sun.

I watched him for awhile he didn't have a clue I was there. He had some nice horns. I'd find out later they were just a little over 10.5 inches and that he was 6.5 years old.

I took aim and the shot rang out. His head dropped to the rock as I chamber my second round I could see him trying to regain his feet. He couldn't do it and rolled off the rock to the side of the hill. What a rush.

He now hangs on my wall. It was a hunt that I'll always remember.

Good luck on your hunt and take care.

Brian C,

The "six minute hill" works well....mix it with good trail work some days and you'll be fine.

Joe