Is There an Easy Way to Improve My Fitness For Hunting Season?
Many hunters will be heading to the forests and plains this spring for bear, turkey and many other game animals, but very few will be in the kind of condition they need to be in for safety. Every year there are many hunters who have heart attacks while hunting in the woods, which is a very bad place to have a heart attack due to the lack of any immediate assistance. The responsible thing to do would be to get into good shape before the season. That way, not only are the odds of you experiencing a heart attack reduced, but so are the odds of many other health hazards.
Improved fitness helps in many facets of hunting, a primary example is increased agility. Hunters who are in a higher state of fitness have better balance, which is crucial when walking in terrain many of us hunt in. This increased balance and agility can prevent many severe accidents. Each year there are at least a few bow hunters who fall on their own arrow or knife while climbing in or out of their tree stands. It only takes about 1 pound of pressure to drive a razor sharp broad-head right through any muscle tissue it comes in contact with, so the potential for disaster is tremendous. On one of my own hunting trips with a friend of mine, we were walking across a meadow in central Idaho trying to locate a herd of elk to pursue. My partner was pretty new to archery hunting and he insisted on walking with an arrow knocked on his string. As we trudged across a meadow he sort of fell in line behind me and we headed out, not even thinking of the risk his knocked arrow could pose. Parting the grass we made our way across the meadow, which was about a half mile across, and near the edge I felt the razor sharp tip of his broad-head scrape across the back of my pant leg. If he had been any closer, he may have severed my Achilles tendon and we would have been in a bad situation.
Another benefit of improved fitness for hunters is the higher degree of efficiency that our cardiovascular system works with. As our heart and lungs process oxygen more efficiently, our performance will increase and the ground we can cover will too. Not only that, but we will be able to climb the steep terrain easier as well. An added benefit of improving your cardiovascular fitness is that you reduce you risk for heart attack, not only in the field but overall. Imagine you are back in the woods at one of your favorite hunting spots, and you experience something as completely immobilizing as a minor heart attack. It may take hours or even days before any medical help can reach you. This is an occasion that a half an ounce of prevention is worth the pound of cure.
The best way to approach fitness for hunters is to be proactive and participate in a professionally designed workout plan for hunters. As with any workout regimen, consult a doctor before starting and make sure that you are as ready as you can be when you hit the field.Whether it is right in your own backyard, or 30 miles into the back country, hunting fitness may be the deciding factor between life and death.