Elk hunting mental toughness / Mental conditioning

[americanbwana]

Many blog sites discuss physical training for an elk hunt in detail, but gloss over mental conditioning. What are some things a hunter struggling with mental toughness do to get stronger? :train:

 

[bnsafe]

experience. nothing beats being out here an learning.
believing. you gotta believe you can an will succeed.
hope. if you lose it might as well go home.
for me, mental toughness is harder that physical toughness. when i was younger nothing would stop me from pushing harder, hunting harder than anybody else. now, if i quit having fun im done. if im not having fun then i see no point in being there. an elk hunting is work. i have to push myself thru that.

 

[cohunter14]

Just like Scott said, you have to be prepared to push through and keep on going. It is easy to tell yourself you are going to do it, but once you get there it is very easy to get negative or down in the dumps. You have to remember to stay positive. It is ironic that most people said in another thread that they typically kill elk later on in their hunt, say day 5. But every minute after the opening morning it gets more and more difficult to believe that and to keep pushing on.

One thing I will say that can help this is surround yourself with positive people in camp and do whatever it takes to maintain that postive atmosphere. If one person starts getting negative, it is amazing how that can create a cancer of sorts, bringing everyone down. It is much easier to sit in a warm, dry tent than to get off your butt and go put some miles on the boots. That is something you have to be able to fight through.

 

[elkmtngear]

It is much easier to sit in a warm, dry tent than to get off your butt and go put some miles on the boots. That is something you have to be able to fight through.

This is the reason I left my hunting partner and decided to hunt solo. No matter what the conditions, I want to be out in it.

Sometimes all it takes is a fresh bull track to renew my spirits and get me back in the game mentally. I\'m going to pound the ground until I find that track!

 

[Swede]

I certainly agree with what Scott and Derek have said. They are right on. It is sure true that discouragement is contagious. To me mental conditioning starts with realistic expectations and being prepared to manage what comes your way.

Every year newer hunters post what they think elk hunting is like. They have read some magazine articles and watched some Primos DVDs. On elk forums elk hunting is easy and fun. Big bulls are readily available where we all go. Then someone new asks if they too will get a bull or whatever. He tells everyone, he has a 10 day vacation and will drive 1,000 miles just to get to the hunting area. Then several people pile on, telling him, \"oh yes\" there is a high likelihood of you getting an elk with your new bow. You need to buy this and that and then head right out. They talk like a first time elk hunter, from out of State, and green as can be, has a high probability of killing an elk. The new hunter has been on the elk forum for six months and bought a book from some expert and some DVDs, so he knows exactly how to be the pied piper of elk. Four days into the hunt he is bummed and totally dejected. His muscles are sore and he is tired. He is not hearing elk, nothing is coming to those charming calls. He saw a cow and calf at 100 yards, but could not get any closer. They did not even turn and look when he bugled right at them. etcetera, etcetera. It rained and snowed on day three and everything he has is at least damp including his clothes, the boots are soaked, and he is miserable.

Mental conditioning is managed expectations, patience and perseverance. First learn to enjoy the hunt. Hang in there and prepare for the long haul. If you have a terrible hunt, learn from it and be better prepared the next season. Don\'t give up. Learn all you can and gain experience. You will be standing over dead elk in due time. Until then you may get lucky and enjoy some great elk steaks while on your journey to becoming a lethal predator of elk.

 

[americanbwana]

Just like Scott said, you have to be prepared to push through and keep on going.

So how do you prepare to push on?

I think part of the equation is confidence. You successfully do something, then build on it. Eventually you KNOW you can do it.

For example, during my morning walk this morning I realized that I had gained the confidence to walk 3+ miles with a heavy pack on without killing myself. I KNOW I can carry a 30 lbs pack close to 6 miles with at least a 1,000 elevation change, because I did it.

Another thing that I\'ve learned is not to fight the garbage I can\'t change. It\'s going to rain, skeeters will drive me nuts, other hunters ruining my area, etc.

Instead I try to focus on things I can influence like physical conditioning, equipment, calling proficiency, knowing my area (scouting trips).

AB.

 

[cohunter14]

So how do you prepare to push on?

Confidence is a part of it, and I agree with Swede too, that setting the expectation ahead of time is a big part of it. But truthfully, mental toughness isn\'t something that you can learn overnight. It is something that you earn and learn as you go along. When you can easily quit and go home or sleep in and skip a hunt, what will you do? You can compare that to a lot of things in life. If you go for a run, will you let yourself stop and walk for some of it, or will you push through the pain and keep running, knowing you can do it? It is far easier to quit and justify it in your head than to push on. When the alarm clock goes off at zero dark thirty for the fifth day in a row and you are beat down, sore, and worn out, it is far easier to hit the snooze button or turn the alarm clock off than it is to force your butt out of bed. It is human nature to take the easier route, to sleep in. You have to find it within you to push on.

But I don\'t think you can\'t just decide one day to be mentally tough. It is something that is learned over time. So I guess the long winded answer on how to prepare to push on? Find those moments in life that challenge you like that and choose the road less traveled. Choose to be tough and to push through it instead of taking the easy way out.

 

[elkmtngear]

One thing that really helps with the perseverance for me, is having a plan each day.

Rain or shine, elk can be found and killed. As I\'m walking out in the dark, I\'m developing a plan/ objective for the next day.

Depending upon what the elk are doing, those plans might get shot to hell during the course of the next day...but at least I had a plan!

Every day provides a new opportunity.

 

[elky McElkerson]

enthusiasm.

the last time, when i finally got it thru my thick head to get into shape. i was climbing a mountain. i had crappy hunting gear. big tent, car camping sleep pad, etc. my pack was 73lbs. i had to go up and over 11,000 feet. i was fat and tired.

i sat on a log and i felt \"it\" leave me. my will. i felt the crush..looking at the peak i had to climb waaaay up there. my friend stayed back with me...he told me to get up. i ignored him just then, this giganitic mule deer stands up about 30 yards from us,..looks and trots away.. wide, heavy, many points..my friend says..\"his twins are up there!\"..i got up and trudge the entire way. never got a deer that trip..but my enthusiasm got a tune up.

i bought better gear $$..and got into shape.

i still falter..but i am much better.

 

[cnelk]

Discouragement is contagious - yes.
But so is enthusiasm.

If you hunt with a partner or two, choose them wisely.

If you hunt alone, well... choose wisely

There is nothing wrong with taking a break from the hunt when things get tough.
Go brookie fishing, sleep in one morning, go to town or just do something different if you need to re-charge that enthusiasm.

 

[razorback]

Enjoy reading these comments. I look forward to testing myself this fall. To me it\'s not about the kill (sure I\'m hunting because I want to kill one) but I also want to challenge myself. I want to experience bulls bugling in the mountains, call to them and hopefully get close. I\'m sure I\'ll have plenty of days with inclimate weather and maybe very little elk activity. At least I\'ll still be in the mountains though just not something I get to experience everyday and I want to take it all in. I\'m sure I\'ll see some critters I don\'t get to see in SEMO and I can\'t wait to see those aspen trees. I\'m hoping to take a small sapling back home to see if I can get it to grow in my yard. The only thing that has me worried is the comment about mosquitoes!!! I sometimes hunt in swamps around here and thought I would be getting away from them in the mountains. You\'ve got to be kidding me!!! They\'re out there too!

 

[bnsafe]

razor i would rather fight the mo skeeters. man these things out here should be hunted there so big. i dont have a problem with them during hunting season though, at least i havnt yet. but man last year when i went camping an they ate us up so bad we left very early the next day. its also the only place i have been that my thermacell didnt work. i assume because of the o2 level but not sure. im not sure where your hunting but aspen groves like what you see in the tv shows are few an far between where i hunt. there are a few but ive only found one that was what i thought was classic elk country.
what im sayin is be flexible.

 

[razorback]

Hate to hear about those mosquitoes. That was something I sure hadn\'t planned on. I hunt some rough place around here, my farm is bordered by rice and bean fields with standind water in the timber. I was so looking forward to getting out of the mosquitoes. Did I mention I hate mosquitoes! Oh well I should be used to them.

 

[americanbwana]

Skewers during archery season are hit or miss. It really depends on the weather during summer. If it stays moderate, not to hot or dry, I\'d suspect you may encounter some the first week or so, or until the first good frost.

Now during the summer scouting season will be a different story. I\'m planning on tons of them through mid august. I\'ll know more in a couple weeks when I get to the high country.

But as I stated earlier I can\'t do anything about it but be prepared. I usually wear long sleeves, and pants any way. About the only exposed skin is my head and hands. A little bug juice is about all you can do. But I\'ve only had to do that once or twice during the early season.

Squirrels dropping pine cones on me are more annoying anyway :wtf:

 

[bnsafe]

if youve got flooded rice an bean fields you should be duck hunting instead of deer or elk. its much funner

 

[Bob Frapples]

Only two things can ruin my hunt:
1. My ten days are up.
2. My tag is punched.

This is my mental conditioning

 

[razorback]

I used to duck hunt but took away from my bow hunting and I never could stand the taste of them. How about seed ticks? I\'m used to them too. If you western hunters don\'t have them you\'re missing out.

 

[getemduck]

For me it is hunting with a partner, i am not conditioned to spending a lot of time in the mountains alone the mental pressure would kill me...lol. I hunt the mountains with my dad and it is hard to give up or quit on your dad i don\'t know how many more year he can hunt the mountains but we will go every year that he wants to and he keeps thing positive.

 

[Zpd307]

steve, there are aspen groves where you are hunting. hopefully they will be starting to turn by the time you leave, if you have killed your elk yet our first year out the aspens were in full yellow, it was awesome! that pic i sent you with my buddy looking into the drainage. he took one there that year and it was dotted with yellow aspens. last year all the aspen were still green...... not as pretty. i haven\'t had any problems with mosquitos both years in Colorado, but that was in mid sept.
i believe mental toughness comes from confidence. i was mentally broken last year. i came in confident with a plan. but i broke when my plan wasn\'t working and i had no idea on what to do next. i felt helpless and thought what was the point. i picked up a cold on the 2nd to last day and that was it. i couldn\'t breathe and had no energy. i had to stop every couple of feet.... my buddy had no problems leaving a day early also..... i am super pumped up this year as i feel that i have found the missing piece of the puzzle, elk behavior.

 

[cohunter14]

Bumping this up for everyone to take a peek at before the season. Good reminders in here to stay positive and persevere!