Can Fitness Make You a Better Whitetail Hunter?

Several aspects of whitetail hunting can be physically demanding, especially if you’re hunting alone. Physical fitness can make operations such as retrieving your deer easier to tackle. Realtree photo.

Fitness is ultra-popular among Western hunters, and rightly so. I’ve hunted elk and mule deer enough to know that the mountains often demand everything a hunter can give and more. Fitness/hunting personalities and supplements branded and specially formulated for hunters have further fueled the popularity of fitness among sportsmen.

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But although the Western wilds practically require physical fitness, have you considered whether fitness could make you a better whitetail hunter? Hitting the gym daily or every other day won’t put a monster buck broadside at 20 yards, but it will make some whitetail hunting tasks easier to tackle. Consider these.

Hiking Deep Into Public Lands

With modern mapping apps, deer hunters are getting better at uncovering every little nook and cranny. Years ago, you could hike a half-mile and have a spot to yourself. Those days are finished, and it’s because people don’t necessarily set up on the first deer sign they find. Many deer hunters head to a specific spot they’ve scouted on their phone apps. Essentially, they’re willing to walk farther because they more or less know what awaits them.

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This makes it more crucial than ever to seek the deepest reaches of public parcels. You might not lose all of the other hunters when you hike a mile, but if you double that distance, you’re bound to lose most — if not all — of them. Not many people have the determination, drive, or stamina to lug their tree-stand gear 2 miles each way, nor would they invite the challenge of getting a deer 2 miles back to the vehicle.

Fitness can give you the ability and drive to outhunt other hunters and reach places where deer aren’t pressured so hard. Photo courtesy of Becca McDougal.

This is often the price required to increase your odds of hunting a mature deer no one else is pestering. The good thing is that you probably won’t be huffing, puffing, and whining like a baby if you’ve worked hard at the gym and gotten into great shape before attempting such a task. Outworking most other hunters is a great way to find routine success, and fitness makes the hard work suck just a little bit less.

Hanging Stands

The monkey-like antics of hanging tree sticks and tree stands require a good amount of full-body strength, and especially core strength. Most able-bodied hunters can hang a stand or two without too much trouble, but if you do a lot of hang-and-hunt setups, it can be taxing to haul the gear in and out, set it up, and take it back down during every outing. The difficulty compounds when dealing with a crooked or otherwise challenging tree. A weekly fitness regimen can greatly increase your strength for hanging stands, even in awkward positions. Do the work up front, and setting up and taking down tree-stand gear won’t crush you.

Retrieving Your Deer

It’s great when a buddy or two can assist with retrieving your deer, but many of us shoot deer when help isn’t available. Case in point: In December 2022, I killed a buck when the temps were minus 20 (not including the wind chill). I was hunting 600 yards from the road. Given the deep snowdrifts and biting-cold temps, just reaching my blind was challenging. I arrowed the buck, and he ran 100 yards farther from the road and tipped over. I was hunting out of state and alone.

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I dragged that big, mature buck 700 yards through deep drifted snow. I flirted with exhaustion and hypothermia, but I got the deer all the way out and loaded him into my pickup bed. Had I not been in shape, I don’t believe it would have been possible given the severity of the conditions and how exhausted I was.

I’ve loaded my share of mature bucks into my pickup bed alone, and it’s always difficult, but the arm, shoulder, back, and core strength I’ve developed through fitness make the awkward maneuver highly doable.

Conclusion

Fitness makes operations such as these much easier to tackle, and developing good form at the gym will also decrease the chances of incurring an injury — pulling a muscle, or throwing your back out — while performing them. As mentioned, fitness will not give you a chip shot at a bruiser buck, but it will make the physically demanding aspects of deer hunting easier to accomplish, thus making you a better deer hunter.