Yoder wrote:I'm 49. I try to get the lightest gear that I think is reasonable to make my life easier. I have a LW sit and climb and a LW Assault 2 with some garbage Hawk Helium sticks. Even with that, I'm looking at 30-40lbs with stand, steps, harness, bow, clothes if it's cold. Even if my setup was half the weight, if I was out of shape I couldn't carry it where I want to hunt anyway. Last year I lost 30 lbs before the season. I spend about 90 min a week on the stair climber, do some weight training and whenever I hike I wear a 40lb weight vest. That vest reminds me of how of how fat I was. By doing all this, it made hunting no factor this past season. For the first time in years, I didn't have to worry if I could make it up a hill or carry all my gear in. I hope to be one of those guys that can still drag out a deer in his 70's.
If you aren’t allowed to pack them out deer carts are your friend. When i was in my late 20s i was fit as a fiddle and drug a mature 10 pointer 1.6 miles on dry ground with no snow. It was in the kettle moraine so up and down hills and valleys too. The buck had no hair left on the side dragging on the ground. NEVER AGAIN, even young and fit that was brutal and just plain stupid when you can use a cart.
