First off being in shape is always better than not being in shape, it's just good health to work on heart rate, bp, etc. also great stress relief.

You also will recover from injury and avoid injury better.

that said, us eastern hunters, in general, don't know what hunting excertion is like, ok, the Benoits in VT are a different story, but if you are stand hunting, you aren't doing the same level of work as a western hunter. Even with a 1+ mile walk to a treestand, not that big of a deal, take your time etc. Now dragging one out, that's different....

Out west, where the norm is to hike, hike, keep hiking til you find the animals, and they actually have REAL MOUNTAINS which by they seem to trade for not having any oxygen in the air, that's a different world. I can hunt New England and not worry about bring in shape, try following a Western Elk guide around, run up down, across over things, then shoot. Oh, you can't breath any more? Hmm bummer, there goes that bull of a life time.