Well here I am 7 weeks from my annual wilderness elk hunt in Gunnison. I love this week, I live for this week every year. I have just started to get back on the treadmill again, I can't get in great shape in that time frame but I can get far enough along I wont shock the hell out of my system on opening morning.

So I am hell bent on killing a elk with a iron sighted revolver. I will probably pack a rifle into camp but I don't intend to hunt with it. If I have to track a wounded elk, ether mine or someone elses it will probably be in my hands but that is the only way I see it getting carried.

So last year after 4 years of trying I finally got a shot at a elk, and as some of you know I pulled the shot high on a BIG bull. I don't intend to miss again and I am on final countdown to season. I would like to say I can get out and burn one or two cylinders everyday but this is real life and that is not going to happen.

So I purchased a Crossman air pistol to practice with in the garage. I am shooting from 15 to 50 shots each day concentrating on perfect form and perfect sight pictures for every single shot.

I hope to get to the range 3 to 5 times between now and the middle of October to shoot my big gun. I am taking the FA 480 again and I am going to shoot only my elk load, a 375gr LFN at 1050fps, not a superheavy load for sure but one that will sure do the job when the time comes. I am going to set up one of my steel plate racks and set up a 8" and a 12" steel gong on it. I am going to try and shoot a box of ammo each time out (64 rounds) and shoot 85% from real field positions. Shoot from 5 yards to 150 yards, but concentrating on shooting 50 to 100 yard shots. If you can hit a 12" gong at 100 yards 95% of the time then a 35 yard shot will be a slam dunk in camp. As it stand now I am 100% confident at 60 yards and comfortable with the right circumstances to 85 yards. I am ok with this but I would like to stretch this to 100 yards plus, time will tell.

So assuming you have a big, dedicated handgun hunt coming up, how would you tune up?

how old and out of shape are you. not to be disrespectfull. Just trying to give Im 34 was 5 8 205 and dropped 25 lb in 6 weeks doing the INSANITY DVD'S 3 days a week and greatly increased my cardio tolerance

If you hit the treadmill hard and eat right you can make huge gains in 7 weeks, practice as much as you can with your hunting revolver. I would combine weight training with cardio, i have been lifting on and off for two years and you would be amazed at what you can accomplish in a short period of time.

Johnny

I would get a set of snap caps and practice dry-firing each day over the air gun option. If you practice a lot with the air gun and the triggers are vastly different you can cause yourself some problems when it's go time on an elk.

+1 on dry firing. Concentrate on form and a steady muzzle, and dont practice in front of a mirror, that causes shooters more problems

I am 37, 6'3" and 208lbs, to me being in shape is running a 15:30 5K like I did in college. But with a 2 and a 6 year old at home I am really limited in time for working out. Getting on the treadmill and set it on hill intervals at just short of running speed (my knees dont like running and were why I stopped running years ago) will get things going. As season get close I will put a 40 ound pack on my back and it add a WHOLE new demintion to the work out.

I do have snap caps and use them a lot. I will click two or three cylinders off everyday with them. Yes dry fireing works and I am a big proponent of it but I like the feedback of holes on paper as well knowing that a good sight picture and trigger sqeeze resulted in a good hit.

I know why I missed the elk last year, I A: over thought the shot instead of just shooting and B: was focused on the elk when the gun went off instead of the front sight, I knew better. We all learn and get better as life goes along but you prep for all you can so when the moment is at hand you dont booger it again.

How do you guys practice for the hunt shooting wise. I find paper sight ins only teach so much, but you have to get out and actually shoot from field positions. I have shot a pile of ground squirrels this year and they teach you really quick that you must get very basic and proper with your trigger squeeze or you will pull the shot. They are smaller than a soda can and hitting one at 75 yards is a tough but doable thing for sure...

I personally do a lot of offhand shooting out to 100 yards. When I start consistently hitting my intended targets out to that range, I know I'm in pretty good shape. I will shoot objects like cans and a pig silouette but not paper. Before deer season I will get in a stand and we will set up various targets (again, cans and such) at a variety of distances around the stand and try and shoot all of the targets unsupported (the stand has no shooting rail).

I run 12-15 miles a week which takes care of the cardio part.

I will also say that sight picture is every bit as important as sight alignment. With an open sighted gun you need consistent sight alignment but also need to recognize where to hold on the animal at varying distances. Obviously the smaller the target the larger the latter issue becomes.

This is all great advice.

I have bagged 3 Copperheads and one Cotton Mouth Water Moccasin in the last month with my 480 Ruger. That was pretty good practice. The 400 grain LFN over 7.0 grains of Unique (800 FPS from the 9.5 SRH) has worked very well on the last 2 Copperheads.
I have my 12" X 12" steel plate set up in the pasture to start practicing on. I can shoot at it all the way back to 100 yards where it is setting at the moment, infront of my impact berm.