Tell us about your Hunting Buddy(ies) and how they get ready for Elk Season?

[joegiglianm@gmail.com]

A solid hunting partner is so SO important. They can be a huge part of your success or not. They can make a tough time a great time. But like you, they have to be prepared.  In this post, tell us about your hunting buddy or buddies and then tell us what they do to get ready for the season.
I'll start:

Leroy Chavez is 10 years my elder and I am 56. I have called him "Chav" so long that it sounds funny to call him Leroy. Chav and I are married to sisters, so we are family and over the years we have become best friends.
I introduced Chav to bowhunting after my first season here in NM. This year will be our 35th elk archery season of hunting together and we have shared a lifetime of memories and laughs. We have had a few scares along the way and things haven't always gone our way, but our triumphs have WAY outnumbered our defeats.A solid hunting buddy is hard to come by. Somebody that works as hard as you do, that loves hunting as much as you do and sometimes,.. is just as nuts as you are. Chav and I have hunted so long together that we can start out on our morning hunt going in opposite directions and it never fails that we will eventually end up in the same area.He may be 65, but he is in no way getting long in the tooth. I would put him up against any 40 year old when it comes to getting after it in the mountains. I am a very aggressive hunter and he has never missed a beat, going right with me step for step.We have hunted together so long that he knows my every move, strategy and technique. Sometimes I think he knows what I am going to do before I do it.Chav is someone to ride the river with...for sure.
So what does he do to get ready?
I have a pic taken this morning. I was on a 5 mile run on one of our country roads and I looked up to see Chav heading back from his 6 to 8 miles that he does every morning.
Talk about dedicated. He works out year round.
Every morning up at 5 or 5:30 am.
Then:
1. Cardio: He changes up his runs or cardio. Always starting with a warm up walk, then he utilizes the following in different mixes; long run, or telephone poles (running hard from one pole to next...recovery walk to the next pole...then hard and so on for so many miles), hiking with weighted pack (sometimes carrying a weight in hand to prep for carrying a bow), to just long walks on recovery days. On bad days he hits the tread or stationary bike.
2. Recovery walk - mile or so
3. Shooting after cardio (more down on his knees than standing)
4. Weight workout - He alternates days and body parts. Chav doesn't work heavy weights. He does more reps and works on endurance (though an increase in weight is a natural progression). He will never be a HEAVY weight guy. He was a collegiate distance runner in his day and still has that antelope frame.

He(we) add hikes and trips into the mountains as well. We live and train at 6500' at the base of the Sangre de Cristos. We can be hiking at 9K to 10k within 30 to 45 minutes.

I have SOOOO many funny, crazy and scary stories from our hunts but that would be a whole different set of posts..lol

Now, tell us about your hunting buddies.

 

[ribo451]

They spend the summer working on there gardens and fishing. Maybe doing maintenance around the house.

Not much in the way of actually preparing to hunt. They will hang a trail camera or two and hike around a bit but not as much as they would like. They are retiring this winter so maybe they will have more time for hunt prep in the future.

They don't kill many elk but they are always right there to help pack one out if I do.

My brother gets ready by smoking and drinking beer and has never killed an elk but he has been there to pack out all of mine but one.

They are the people I hunt with but our hunting together usually means we are in the same general area. I am often alone. The way I prefer it.

 

[DTP]

I could write a novel on what you don?t want in hunting buddies  :haha:

 

[Bowhunter1]

I could write a novel on what you don?t want in hunting buddies  :haha:

You have only Turkey hunted with me Dan but I would make a good hunting partner in the mountains. Now if I could just draw a tag.

My hunting partner works hard every day. He does a lot of running and does situps and push ups to work on his core. He is 8 years younger than me and fit. I work HARD all year long. Busy as heck and have hardly any time to workout which is a good thing. It makes it easier for him to try to keep up with me. :grin:

 

[piperv15]

Well, mu hunting partner is my husband. He introduced to me archery hunting 11 years ago, i always told him i liked archer and wasnt sure about shooting an animal
....thatbwas until i was in the mountains with an 8x8 screaming on the other side of a bush from us, at least it seemed like he was that close. He works rotating 12 hr shifts with 35lbs of gear on, and typically he doesnt need to do much extra work physically to get ready. We have a 4 yr old now so I'm working out pretty hard now, had a hard time getting my mojo for it back. But, we have gone up on every set of days hes had off to clear trail and check cameras whatever we need to do to get animals this year and whatedlver it takes to pack it out... one foot in front of the other, even if it takes extra trips!

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