I hear people recommend such things but looking back on my 27 years of hunting Colorado big game, such antics bear no similarity to the hunting I have done. There is not a single instance that comes to mind where running even a short distance would have yielded a shot I couldn�t get with a more sedate approach.
The other side of the coin is that when shots are long you often have much more time to set up. These days my favorite targets are 400 yard clay pigeons and the steel gongs at 500 and 600 yards. 500 yards just isn�t very long any more, although I have still not taken game (or attempted it) past 350 yards.
I think it depends on the type of hunting you do. When I guide caribou hunters, for example, we're constantly running around because we're hunting an animal that is always feeding, and they travel while they feed. So you play spot and stalk, but it's more like spot and try-and-cut-off. Even walking over the tundra, they can move faster than a man jogging. If they're headed away from you, you don't even bother.
I've also hunted deer and elk that were traveling and unaware of my presence when I've had to run to get into position before the animal arrived where they were going.
Being in good physical shape is never a bad idea.
