Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Looks to be a sweet deal on a down bag......

Really glad you posted this. I was thinking about getting a Caribou sleeping bag for myself but was a little skeptical of the quilted construction and how warm it would keep me.

I have a couple 40 year old down rectangular bags that are still in excellent shape. I can stay warm down to 20 IF I can get the tops pulled tight enough to keep the cold air from coming down around my shoulders. Years ago the designs weren't what they are today and the drawstrings are difficult to use. Needless to say, I need to upgrade to a mummy of some kind if I plan to keep on sleeping in a tent during hunting season...which I do.

One of the best things we ever did was get a dog that needs to get his runs in. Three or four times a week we go on a 2-hour hike off-trail. I always carry a day pack, and in the summer switch over to a bigger pack and progressively load it up. That, and a few "tune-up" overhight fishing trips in the mountains, with a scouting trip or two thrown in seem to work well.

You'd have gotten a bigger elk if you'd have done more burpees!

I do the "thing" 3 days/week, but what ever works for you works.

Oh, I hit the gym too.

What is "the thing?"

Crossfit. Funny part, is that I found out about it here from a former poster, John Frazier (I think that first name is right). I meet a group at the Y on M-W-F at 5 am.

Gym or not, what works, works.

Yup.

Sounds much like what I WAS doing at a local gym, near my humble old home here, but, had to quit as I had to stay home because my wife was unable to get from bed to bathroom alone.

One can and I usually have hardened up by local hiking and now the running track/bleachers, but, were I see a real benefit for we "well seasoned" guys in being able to backpack hunt by doing "CF" is in maintaining and improving joint flexibility and strength.

So, later around Christmas, I am going to buy a six month deal at the one in Vancity, operated by a guy I have met and I think that it will help me a lot.

The other thing is to REALLY watch one's diet and I LOVE cheeses, "Haagen Daz" and all the stuff one should NOT eat if he is built more like a beer keg than the concrete block I resembled in the "good old days"....life is NOT "fair"!

The bolded portion is very important and since you are focusing on that I think you'll be fine. Many ways to get there as long as you get there. A suggestion, start getting a bit more active between now and when you start. Do stuff you know you can do, just more of it and at a faster pace. It'll help the learning curve and prevent some of the soreness. You will be sore after certain workouts. Lots of the exercises can be done at home with just your bodyweight.

I'm still fat, and will probably remain so, after 18mos of pretty consistent workouts. Mostly because I eat like crap on the weekends. That said, I can move and do things now I couldn't do or as easily when I started.