June 27, 2015
Last weekend, I competed at the TrainToHunt event in Northern Idaho.
And on the day this podcast is released, I'm competing at a second TrainToHunt event in Southern Idaho.
If you have absolutely no idea what a TrainToHunt event is, then I'd highly recommend you listen in to my previous TrainToHunt podcast with Kenton Clairmont. In it, Kenton and I discuss why bowhunting is probably the most appropriate example of ancestral athleticism and functional fitness that exists, and why I'm personally getting more and more into the bowhunting scene.
I also talk quite a bit about hunting fitness in the episode “How To Build Primal Fitness And Endurance By Hunting: An Interview With A Bowhunting Triathlete.”
Today, I interview Will Bradley (pictured above), fellow podcaster, TrainToHunt director and host of the Natural Born Hunter podcast.
Will was born and raised in upstate New York, where the concept, image, and ideas of hunting are deeply rooted in the culture. Although Will wasn’t “born” into a hunting family, his love for nature and the outdoors has always run through his blood. He spent many hours upland bird hunting and fly fishing with his grandfather in Adirondacks in his youth, and in 2012, Will took this passion for the outdoors to the next level, as he purchased his first bow. Will is a passionate bow hunter, and an avid CrossFit athlete, and as the paths of fitness and bowhunting began to intersect, Train to Hunt became the obvious choice for Will as a way to express and share his appreciation for the sport.
Here's Will's take on being what he calls a “hunter athlete”:
“My whole life, I have always had a desire to take on new challenges and push myself out of my comfort zone. Being a hunter athlete is a never ending challenge, where the word comfort is seldom used. You have to always push yourself past your limits physically and mentally to find success. A hunter athlete must go farther than others have travelled before and push themselves well outside the boundaries of what is thought to be conventional hunting. It is on the edge of these limits that we define our sport. There is no offseason and there are no breaks. Becoming a hunter is one of the best decisions I have made in my life.”
In this episode, you'll discover:
-How a construction worker from upstate New York got into bowhunting…
-Why Will thinks sitting in a tree stand for your hunting still requires a fit body…
-Whether this whole TrainToHunt and hunting fitness thing is a passing fad…
-What Will's workouts look like, and what he eats…
-The biggest mistakes people make when getting ready for something like TrainToHunt…
-The best way to estimate your yardage when shooting…
-How to fill a pack the right way…
-And much more!
Resources we discuss during this episode:
This podcast was brought to you by Onnit, where you can save boatloads of money on things like sandbags, kettlebebells and walnut butter. Do you have questions, comments or feedback about Train To Hunt, hunting fitness, shooting, packing, or any other topic Will and I discuss? If so, leave your thoughts below…
Geesh… Not sure I can make it through this podcast. First I would like to address the comment about there being a higher number of hunters out east. Maybe there are more, but I doubt there is a higher percentage due to the fact that in states like Montana, there are a lot less people but a whole lot of us hunt. And secondly, the comment about wanting to shoot an older animal that’s near the end of it’s life seems crazy. Maybe if you are hunting only for antlers, but if you are hunting for meat I would take a healthy animal in it’s prime any day. Is he trying to assure anti-hunters that we are conservationists?