LAST EDITED ON Jun-06-13 AT 10:55PM (MST)[p]
I've never drawn a sheep tag but have been getting more serious about my mountain training,in the last several years, I'll add a couple things. I definitely believe in practice like you play. I climb stairs for an hour with 50-70 lbs of sandbags in my frame pack 1-2 times a week and if you can crank that out at a decent pace with small breaks, you are getting there.
The single best exercise you can do to get your legs in shape for going up mountains, other than actually going up the mountains, is walking lunges. If you can get to where you are doing a significant amount of reps with weight on, your legs wont be the thing getting tired. I like to do 4-5 sets of 40 reps with weight, some guys I've talked to do quarter miles with weight.
Core work was mentioned, I'll skip that, but the second piece for mountain hunting other than strength/endurance is cardio. There are two components to mention here.
First I have found that the best thing to get my cardio up is high intensity interval training. Lots of different methods here, but I like to run uphill on a treadmill or a hill at maximum exertion for a quarter mile or two minutes, rest an equal time, and repeat. Do this for 30 minutes or 8 reps and you will start to notice you have more air within a week, its amazing how well it works. You have to really punish yourself on the intensity portion, the harder you are on yourself the quicker you will notice results.
The third thing I've come to realize is that you can't really train for altitude when you aren't at altitude. I know vacation is precious, but you need to exercise at altitude to get your body to create more red blood cells. So as painful as it is, if you can schedule a two or three day hike at 12,000 feet plus a week or two before the actual hunt, it will pay off in spades when you get there. Any time you can spend in the mountains will help your body get ready.
I haven't gotten serious enough to diet yet, I enjoy craft beer and green chili cheeseburgers with a fried egg on top way too much to start that.
I will get a sheep tag one day, I just hope I'm not in the nursing home by the time it happens!