Speaking of, I thought about you when I was in good ol' Groesbeck the other day.... passing through to Lake Limestone.

Well give a shout next time and we'll eat a steak and swap huntin stories

I finally took my balls outta my momma's purse and pulled the trigger on a

Stone Glacier EVO 40/56 Backpack w/Krux Evo Frame

Load Cell Dry Bag

2 Accessory Pockets

Evo Lid

Bring it!

Now load it up w sand and tote it around for a couple months.

2-5 days for shipping

LEJ said:

---

I finally took my balls outta my momma's purse and pulled the trigger on a

Stone Glacier EVO 40/56 Backpack w/Krux Evo Frame

Load Cell Dry Bag

2 Accessory Pockets

Evo Lid

Bring it!

---

Nice. I plan on upgrading soon too. Either a Stone Glacier or Kifaru.

Nice.

Although as I scanned your post I kept reading Evo as Exo.

BurrOak said:

---

LEJ said:

---

I finally took my balls outta my momma's purse and pulled the trigger on a

Stone Glacier EVO 40/56 Backpack w/Krux Evo Frame

Load Cell Dry Bag

2 Accessory Pockets

Evo Lid

Bring it!

---

Nice. I plan on upgrading soon too. Either a Stone Glacier or Kifaru.

---

It was down to these 2. Don't think you can go wrong either way. I'm trying to stick to a "minimalist mind set" and Stone Glacier got the vote, by a slim margin.

Were you able to try on either one or did you just do it blind?

I haven't tried on either one. I've researched both packs and companies for over a year and finally decided I needed to make a decision. Stone Glacier has a 30 day money back guarantee so if it doesn't feel right, you can send it back. I'm sure Kifaru has a similar policy.

Wyoming Draw Results are available for Deer, Elk, and Antelope.

We were successfully drawn for any antelope in Area 38, just east and northeast of Laramie.

Nice, I've scoped that one out online. How many points/did you do special or regular draw?

Congrats

We applied as a party for two different tags.

• Nonresident antelope w/ Preference Point (just 1), for areas 38, 44, then 43. We got our 1st choice even with just the 1 preference point.
• Nonresident doe/fawn without a preference point- areas 38, then 44. We did not get drawn for that.

I'll check tomorrow to see if there are any leftover doe/fawn antelope tags somehow, or if there are any leftover doe/fawn deer tags to redraw for.

Next step will be to try and draw for some of the limited access land within 38, but if not there is plenty of accessible land.

This will be my first time hunting anything but coyotes in Wyoming. The only other out-of-state hunting I have done was in NW Nebraska (also a good, affordable trip).


Today is a good day.

To shift the topic just a fuzz...

In my quest to kill an elk with archery gear solo and diy on public land, I recognize that fitness has been my biggest limitation, so I've been focusing on it as my top priority.

I was listening to The Rich Outdoors podcast with a guest, Dustin Diefenderfer, who has a training program called Mountain Tough (mtntough.com). The discussion was initially about mental toughness but soon focused on "The 22's".

"The 22's" is his training regimen which is meant to be sort of a test of your current "mountain fitness level".

The 22's - This is a timed test... object is to finish as fast as you can.

1.) 1/2 mile sprint

2.) 20 lunge jumps followed by 2 push ups... then
18-4 (lunge jumps, then push ups, till you work your way down to 2 lunge jumps and 20 push ups)
16-6
14-8
12-10
10-12
8-14
6-16
4-18
2-20

3.) 2nd 1/2 mile sprint

4.) 20 squat jumps followed by 2 renegade rows (had to look this one up)
18-4 (squat jumps, then renegade rows, till you work your way down the ladder again)
16-6
14-8
12-10
10-12
8-14
6-16
4-18
2-20

(Note: on renegade rows, beginner can use NO weights / advanced - 20# dumb bells)

5.) 3rd 1/2 mile sprint

Finish time categories...

< 25 minutes - ELITE
25-30 minutes - a badass, but a little room to improve
30-40 minutes - ?
40-50minutes - ?

Even though I am focusing more on fitness, I'm not sure I even want to try this "test" until I'm a little farther down the road. I've been biking about an hour a day lately and hiking stairs with a 35# pack for about 30 minutes each day, but this would hit another level for me.

I've normally been 95% focused on cardio in the past but this guy believes weight training is critical to really getting an edge on training for mountain hunting.

So, just outta curiosity....

Is there anyone on the OB who thinks they could complete this in under 30?

Hmm... I'd like to give it a try. I think 30 minutes is pretty ambitious though.

Do it and report back, so I know what time to beat.

In 22 days, I will. It's on my calendar for Friday the 13th of July. What could possibly go wrong? Til then, I'm training for this test. I doubt I have the athletic ability and/or current level of fitness to break 40 minutes (prob not in 22 days either), but that will be the goal.

I'll have to give that test a try. I'm not sure how long the ladders would take me.

One of my favorite HIC sessions is:

1 minute of Kettebell swings (~30 swings w/ 50#)
800 meter run
Rest 1-2 Minutes
Repeat for 5 circuits.

My 800 meter run is in a sloping pasture so the first half is down hill and the end is back up. This usually takes somewhere around 25 minutes (maybe 30 minutes including a quick warm-up). It makes for a great HIC session if you don't have much time to spare.

That's pretty impressive time on your circuit - 800m runs in 3 minutes or less in order to do 5 circuits in 25 minutes.

LEJ said:

---

In 22 days, I will. It's on my calendar for Friday the 13th of July. What could possibly go wrong? Til then, I'm training for this test. I doubt I have the athletic ability and/or current level of fitness to break 40 minutes (prob not in 22 days either), but that will be the goal.

---

You outta do it now, and see how you have improved over those 22 days.

I've been fairly lazy and the last few weeks have only been on the row machine and humping sand on the stair machine

I live @ 8,000', and spend quite a bit of time going up and down these mountains. I can tell you, fitness really does make all the difference.

I HIGHLY doubt I could do all of this in 30 mins. *Maybe* if I tried it a couple times up here, and then went back down to sea level- ha ha!!! I'll give it a shot and report back. Probably next week- as I am going to try and do a solo-summit in the am.

- I think just as important as all of this is being able to focus when you are stressed & gassed. I love to shoot next to a steep elevation change- run the hill with my pack, then see how fast I can settle and get an accurate shot off. I can tell you- after some training you CAN influence your heart and breathing (temporarily). I can usually get myself to settle and steady for about 20-30 seconds, before it starts catching back up to me. If you are thinking about shot opportunities, I believe this mental aspect is something most people overlook.

Also, everyone needs to push themselves physically a couple of times- both in terms of weight and distance. These mountains will chew you up and spit you out if you don't know your limits. Most people can actually go farther than they think- because they don't actually know their body's limits as they have never pushed past that first "wall". This is important as you can better know when you can push on, or the warning signs that you are about to be spent. Knowing your body's limits can mean the difference between taking 2 minute breather and powering up that next hill just in time for a shot- or winding up gassed 50 yards short of the ridge as your opportunity passes by.

TwoMarksHand said:

---

LEJ said:

---

In 22 days, I will. It's on my calendar for Friday the 13th of July. What could possibly go wrong? Til then, I'm training for this test. I doubt I have the athletic ability and/or current level of fitness to break 40 minutes (prob not in 22 days either), but that will be the goal.

---

You outta do it now, and see how you have improved over those 22 days.

---

I didn't even know what the hell a "renegade row" was until yesterday. I'm gonna put a little pre-practice in before I do this. There will be a 2nd test in early August.

I might try it Sunday after a weekend at the lake if I get ambitious...

AgEng06 said:

---

I might try it Sunday after a weekend at the lake if I get ambitious...

---

Perfect Toadies Possum Kingdom reference: "Do you wanna die?"

AgEng06 said:

---

I might try it Sunday after a weekend at the lake if I get ambitious...

---

Please take video!

My training would be quite a bit different if I lived at 8,000 feet in the mountains. Back when I did, it consisted of snow skiing, hiking with dogs, and maybe a push-up now and then.

Prepping for a goat hunt in Texas is more difficult. I've taken my fitness pretty serious over the last year, hopefully I don't hold up those Canadian boys too much.

So.

I sprinted a lap (a measley 400m). Went hard through the lunges. Started on the next lap. Petered out big time after jogging 400.

I think for fat boys we better start w just running a lap versus sprinting.

My anaerobic threshold is about even with the floor

Baby steps grasshoppa