576 | Backcountry Insights from the Best Ranger

The Hunt Backcountry Podcast

by Exo Mtn Gear

Sports:wilderness, Sports, Wilderness, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In this episode of the Hunt Backcountry Podcast, Vince Paikowski, a former Army Ranger and winner of the Best Ranger Competition, joins us to discuss the intersection of elite military conditioning and backcountry hunting. Vince discusses his work as a coach with Evoke Endurance, where he helps develop specialized training plans for rugged mountain environments. We discuss… The Best Ranger Competition: Insights into the grueling 60-hour endurance event that tests the physical and cognitive limits of two-man Ranger teams. Rucking Mechanics: Why walking fast is more efficient than running under load and how to build "ruck economy" through progressive weight increases. Shooting Under Fatigue: A breakdown of military studies showing how high aerobic fitness preserves marksmanship and cognitive decision-making during physical stress. Training Without Mountains: Practical strategies for flat-land athletes, including hill sprints, plyometric complexes, and using "stress inoculation" to prepare for the mental challenges of a hunt. The Evolution of the Ranger: A historical look at how soldier size and training requirements have shifted from WWII to the modern era, and the potential costs of prioritizing muscle mass over aerobic capacity. Whether you are preparing for a 10-day mountain hunt or looking to improve your overall resilience, this conversation will provide insights to help you become a more capable backcountry athlete. THE TRAINING PLANS... Use code EXO before 04/30/26 to save on the training plans... 20 Week Training Plan: https://evokeendurance.com/training-plans/backcountry-hunting-20-week-training-plan/ 28 Week Training Plan: https://evokeendurance.com/training-plans/backcountry-hunting-training-plan/ LINKS FOR THIS EPISODE... Episode 574 | "Building the Mountain Hunter: Physiology, Foundations, and the 20-Week Training Plan": https://exomtngear.com/blogs/podcast/574 Episode 475 | "Proven Training Methods for the Mountain Hunter": https://the-experience-project.com/proven-training-for-mountain-hunting/ Data on Rucking Fitness & Shooting Ability: https://evokeendurance.com/resources/aerobic-training-for-the-military-athlete/ Additional Free Resources from Evoke: https://evokeendurance.com/resources/ The Hunt Backcountry Podcast is brought to you by Exo Mtn Gear: https://exomtngear.com/ Email Sign-up: https://exomtngear.com/newsletter Contact Us: podcast@exomtngear.com Leave A Message: https://speakpipe.com/huntbackcountry Podcast Episode Archive: https://exomtngear.com/podcast

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome to the Huntback Country podcast. This is episode number 576.
0:20.0	And today our guest, Vince, joins us to talk about his experience
0:24.7	as an Army Ranger, a winner of the Best Ranger competition, and a coach for Best Ranger
0:31.5	Competition participants. Vince is a coach with Evoke Endurance, which we've recently had John from Evoke on the podcast,
0:40.4	and they developed a 20-week and 28-week backcountry hunting training plan,
0:46.9	which we talked with John about in our recent podcast.
0:50.1	And just a quick reminder, they did give us an exclusive discount code to share with you guys.
0:55.5	If you're interested in that plan, the code is valid just in this month of April 26.
1:02.0	So if you're interested in that, check it out.
1:05.0	All those details will be in the show description.
1:07.6	And if it's past April and you haven't used the code, you can still get the plan.
1:11.9	That's for sure. And even at full price, it is very affordable. I also want to say up front,
1:16.8	just to always be clear, we don't have any incentives, any partnerships, any affiliates,
1:22.6	or anything like that with this podcast. So there's no benefit for us sharing Evoke or the training plan or the
1:30.9	discount code or anything like that. There's no under the table money. There's no partnership.
1:36.0	There's no incentive. We just think it's a great product. It's a great training plan. It is
1:41.4	purpose built for backcountry hunting. We believe in it, so we're sharing
1:45.2	it. That's it. In today's conversation with Vince, we do talk a bit about training, but a whole
1:51.0	lot more. We get into some pretty fascinating insights, and again, there'll be links to dive
1:56.8	further into this if you'd like to learn more on why things like your conditioning, your
2:02.6	aerobic performance, could actually tie into shooting performance. And that comes from some
2:08.6	studies within the military community. We also speak with events about rucking. And there is
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