americanbwana
New member
- Sep 3, 2017
- 396
After researching what food to bring to my spike camp this year, I have come to the conclusion that it really isn\'t talked about that much in detail :downthumb: . Most hunting sites only briefly talk about an elk hunter nutritional needs. In fact most simply say to just bring high calorie foods, with at least 100 per oz. But lots of calories do not a balanced hunting diet make. 
Ok, here is the scenario. Day 1, you show up at camp, get everything up and running, do a little scouting, and hit the sack. But by the end of Day 2 you are almost exhausted, or close to ?hitting the wall?. What has happened is you have burned your reserve carbs, stored as glycogen. This has been stored in your liver or skeletal muscles. Many people blame the altitude, but this is only part of the problem. Over the next few days, you hit the wall earlier and earlier every day. You are not getting enough carbs.
Fat is stored energy. You start burning that when you run out of carbohydrates. This you may think is a good thing, but did you know that it is slow to burn, and is limited by the thin air at elevation. Eating lots of high fat calories may actually hinder your ability to hunt. :shock:
An average 150 lbs. hunter is going to burn about 430 calories an hour. A 200 pound person can burn well over 600 per hour. Let?s say you hunt 10 hours a day, this means you need from 4000 ? 6000 plus calories a day.
Many experts talk about bringing about 2 ? 2.5 pounds of food per day. This will provide about 3000 ? 4000 calories. Since most of us have some extra fat, we can allow this deficit to consume the extra fat in our bodies. This is where we get the weight loss from. A 1000 calorie deficit equals 2 pounds of weight loss per week. Losing 10 pounds in one week sounds great. This equals 35,000 calories. Yes 35,000 calories, or 3,500 calories per day :!: . I?m not a doctor, but that does\'t sound to healthy to me :ill: .
So what is my take away? Loose weight before the hunting trip! :train: Eat adequately during the day, breakfast ? pre-dinner snack, you need lots of frequently consumed complex carbs, with some fat. Oatmeal, clif bars, pro-meals, GORP. Lunch can still be your favorite sandwich, but be consider adding some additional carbs to it. Dinner is where you can add the fat and protein. Your body needs protein to repair itself, and the fat can be stored/processed while you sleep.
As for me, I?m happy with a 1,000 a day deficit, or losing 2 pounds a week. What does this mean in terms of food? 5,000 calories is about 3.1 lbs. of food a day. So I?ll 21 lbs. of food for a week. Thankfully, I?m close enough to the trail head where I can restock mid trip.
Ok, here is the scenario. Day 1, you show up at camp, get everything up and running, do a little scouting, and hit the sack. But by the end of Day 2 you are almost exhausted, or close to ?hitting the wall?. What has happened is you have burned your reserve carbs, stored as glycogen. This has been stored in your liver or skeletal muscles. Many people blame the altitude, but this is only part of the problem. Over the next few days, you hit the wall earlier and earlier every day. You are not getting enough carbs.
Fat is stored energy. You start burning that when you run out of carbohydrates. This you may think is a good thing, but did you know that it is slow to burn, and is limited by the thin air at elevation. Eating lots of high fat calories may actually hinder your ability to hunt. :shock:
An average 150 lbs. hunter is going to burn about 430 calories an hour. A 200 pound person can burn well over 600 per hour. Let?s say you hunt 10 hours a day, this means you need from 4000 ? 6000 plus calories a day.
Many experts talk about bringing about 2 ? 2.5 pounds of food per day. This will provide about 3000 ? 4000 calories. Since most of us have some extra fat, we can allow this deficit to consume the extra fat in our bodies. This is where we get the weight loss from. A 1000 calorie deficit equals 2 pounds of weight loss per week. Losing 10 pounds in one week sounds great. This equals 35,000 calories. Yes 35,000 calories, or 3,500 calories per day :!: . I?m not a doctor, but that does\'t sound to healthy to me :ill: .
So what is my take away? Loose weight before the hunting trip! :train: Eat adequately during the day, breakfast ? pre-dinner snack, you need lots of frequently consumed complex carbs, with some fat. Oatmeal, clif bars, pro-meals, GORP. Lunch can still be your favorite sandwich, but be consider adding some additional carbs to it. Dinner is where you can add the fat and protein. Your body needs protein to repair itself, and the fat can be stored/processed while you sleep.
As for me, I?m happy with a 1,000 a day deficit, or losing 2 pounds a week. What does this mean in terms of food? 5,000 calories is about 3.1 lbs. of food a day. So I?ll 21 lbs. of food for a week. Thankfully, I?m close enough to the trail head where I can restock mid trip.
