5 Night bivy elk hunt

[Bob Frapples]

5 night bivy elk bow trip list your food items you'd pack.
Assuming water is plentiful and you have jet boil or equivalent.

Looking for ideas

 

[nclonghunter]

Bob, I have done 3 days for elk and 5 just backpacking. I do not like making/cooking breakfast so I pack a variety of granola bars for a quick breakfast. Lunch is not real exciting either. Snickers bars, protein bars and trail mix nuts. Mountain House is for dinner. I take coffee tea bags for my coffee which you could do for breakfast if so inclined. Also hot chocolate is a bed time winner for me. A handful of Werthers or Creme Saver hard candy is nice to have.
I will mention that I can eat the 2 serving size MH with no problem.

 

[cnelk]

When I did my 10 day fly-in Alaska moose hunt, I used both Mtn House and APack MREs - as we were limited on weight.


https://readymeal.com/


The APack has a variety of food items, including a self heater. The foil entree pouches can be heated in hot water, and then drink the water with the meal.



I put 1 Mtn House with 1 APack with 2 small snickers bars for each day. Each vacuum sealed weighed ~1lb


General rule of thumb is about 1lb of food / day to keep up with calories burned

 

[ILbowhntr]

Hey Brad, the instructions say not to drink the water :-o . Just sayin?

 

[cnelk]

I guess I didnt explain myself clearly.

The Apacks come with their own heater, which is activated by a small tube of salt water you pour into the heater pouch.

The heater packs suck. Only gets the food luke warm.

I like to put some drinking water a small metal container, place the entree in THAT water, heat the water and the entree.

Then drink THAT water with your meal.

This should clear any confusion about what water to drink or not drink

 

[backcountry_hunter]

Here's a pretty common breakdown of what I do, solo backpacking in so I don't have the ability to share weight with someone else.

breakfast:
10 instant oatmeals (2 per day)
5 instant coffee
5 multivitamins



Lunch:
5 cliff bars
5 tuna packets
5 bagels


Dinner:
5 mtn houses


This is if you're dropping a spike camp "X" miles in and hunting. If you're doing a true bivy and hunting with everything on your back, I'd likely modify my lunch a little as bagels and tuna tend to weigh a fair amount to drag around all day. Probably go to the small single complimentary peanut butter and also honey packs hotels give out at breakfasts on dry natural valley bars has a high calorie to weight count. Not much for carbs though which is why I tend to bring bagels if I can afford the weight.

 

[Ivar88]

Here's a pretty common breakdown of what I do, solo backpacking in so I don't have the ability to share weight with someone else.

breakfast:
10 instant oatmeals (2 per day)
5 instant coffee
5 multivitamins



Lunch:
5 cliff bars
5 tuna packets
5 bagels


Dinner:
5 mtn houses


This is if you're dropping a spike camp "X" miles in and hunting. If you're doing a true bivy and hunting with everything on your back, I'd likely modify my lunch a little as bagels and tuna tend to weigh a fair amount to drag around all day. Probably go to the small single complimentary peanut butter and also honey packs hotels give out at breakfasts on dry natural valley bars has a high calorie to weight count. Not much for carbs though which is why I tend to bring bagels if I can afford the weight.

This ^ That oatmeal will be the winner hands down. Only substitute I would make is trail mix for the cliff far.

 

[WW]

To me, when I eat is just as important as what I eat. When I get up in the morning, I grab my bow and go hunt. Then around 9:30 or 10:00, after things have settled down, I eat breakfast. Lunch time is somewhere around 2:00 or so. and my evening meal is just before bed time while I'm doing camp chores and getting everything ready for the next days hunt. One advantage to this is I get an extra 1/2 hour or so of sleep in the AM instead of wasting time preparing breakfast.

Another thing I like to do instead of cooking a meal, I just heat water and pour it in a zip lock freezer bag with what ever I'm going to eat and place it in a cozy. WA LA! no dishes to clean.

 

[Bull_Fighter]

For breakfast I have 5 pre-mixed baggies containing protein powder, peanut butter powder, chocolate powder, ground hemp seed, ground quick oats, ground chia seeds. Mix with water in my mixer bottle and chug it down. This will grow on ya.

For lunch I have protein wraps (like a tortilla) with bacon, peanut butter and honey (they are amazing!). I buy the pre-cooked bacon and bring little peanut butter packets and I take a handful of honey packets from Starbucks. Super fast to make and everything keeps well.

For dinners I do mostly mountain house, but like to mix it up with some tuna + ramen, or instant mashed potatoes with bacon bits. Whatever I can come up with for variety.

In between meals, I have some snickers and granola bars.

 

[Bob Frapples]

Awesome that gives me some stuff to try out over the summer months.


When i got ready to go to NM I spent july and august dehydrating lots different deer jerky flavors and fruits which worked out well with the exception that the ones that turned out really good, i forgot the recipe. 


thanks guys

 

[Lark Bunting]

My son and I did our first backpacking hunting trip this year and learned a lot. The #1 thing we will do to reduce weight this year (if we backpack in again) is to do different foods. I made the b-hole sandwiches with peanut butter, honey, bacon on a bagel and they each weighed 16 oz. I made 2 each, per day, that was 8 pounds of food right there. My son had the bright idea of packing some capri-sun drinks into his food bags...heavy AF! We also had enough food to survive 8 days...but only planned on four. Our food bag was ridiculous.


After the experience we had though (killed a bull within an hour of setting up camp) he decided we should just pack salt and pepper this year.  :shh:




On a serious note, thank you all for the suggestions in this thread. It'll help us make better choices next time we backpack into a spot.

 

[backcountry_hunter]

^^^ first time I ever backpack hunted I had a pair of boxers and a pair of sox for each day, about 14 days worth of food for a 7 day hunt, etc...


I should mention with my list it eliminates dishes except for a fork, coffee cup and a spoon which is a big part of why I've decided to eat the way I have out there.


I also know some prefer things like jerky and trail mix. I don't like it from a personal standpoint as if I get hungry early in the hunt I don't ration it like I should. When things are individually packaged like a cliff bar, tuna, etc.... I can set the mental parameter not to exceed exactly what I intended to eat that day.

 

[Bull_Fighter]

In regards to bringing too much stuff in the backpack, I like to be prepared with extra food, clothes, treats, release, arrows whatever... but keep that stuff in the truck and then in case of emergency, or for a moral boost, take a hike back to the truck. However, the last thing I want to do is go back to the truck, so it's truly only for emergency.

 

[Boom]

Here's a pretty common breakdown of what I do, solo backpacking in so I don't have the ability to share weight with someone else.

breakfast:
10 instant oatmeals (2 per day)
5 instant coffee
5 multivitamins



Lunch:
5 cliff bars
5 tuna packets
5 bagels


Dinner:
5 mtn houses


This is if you're dropping a spike camp "X" miles in and hunting. If you're doing a true bivy and hunting with everything on your back, I'd likely modify my lunch a little as bagels and tuna tend to weigh a fair amount to drag around all day. Probably go to the small single complimentary peanut butter and also honey packs hotels give out at breakfasts on dry natural valley bars has a high calorie to weight count. Not much for carbs though which is why I tend to bring bagels if I can afford the weight.

my list is very similar.  i dont pack bagels.  i pack flour tortillas instead.  i also "cut" the MH meals with something from the grocery store.  for example, i might do the beef stew MH meal with idahoan potatos.  (i typically share food weight with one other)..or some curry freezed dried, and add instant couscous.  add crystal light lemonaide to cut the monotony of water..and add some candy.  hard candy or jelly beans.

i dont MRE.  the litter a MRE generates is staggering to me.

 

[BrentLaBere]

For me the biggest weight factors are food and water packed. Water is back there so bring a good filter and you're set. I tried counting calories and bring enough for each day for multiple days spiking out. I never eat all of the food and some of it just isnt appetizing. Backpackers pantry, mountain house and other meals like this are a go to for me mid day. I dont eat breakfast, like ww, I wait until the morning settles down. Maybe have some honey stinger energy chews or a 5 hour energy to kick start the morning. Jerky, nuts and dried fruit for snacking during the day. In thicker bear country I tend not to have my big meal before I go to bed at night ( why i have my mountain house during the day). Easier not having to worry hanging food and smelling extra tasty. Peace of mind for the most part.
Basically what I am saying, and what has worked for me, is find healthy snacks that you will like at home. Protein bars and the other bars like it dont appeal to me in the "back country".
Im also lazy when it comes to food and cleaning. I hate cleaning dishes when Im backpacking.
I saw someone else post about instant coffee. I like that after my nap or while glassing. Another good light weight item.
I just looked back on my list of things. Green belly bars are pretty good. I tried those last year for the first time.

 

[82ndreddevil]

Haven?t seen all the replies so forgive me if a say the same as somebody else did. For snack I like snickers king size having 270 cal per bar. 1 MRE a day for the calories then mountain house for the 2 other meals. The main idea is caloric density. To sleep in I like a poncho liner and a bivy sack. Saves room over a sleeping bag. I?ve never backpacked for a hunt but that?s what I used for backpacking