DIY backpack elk hunting food?

[Rob W.]

What is everyone taking? Last year I packed for 9 days. Those meals consisted of A few mountainhouse, ramen, oatmeal, cheese, landjaeger, clif gels, stinger waffles, nut butters/ tortillas, pudding with powdered whole milk, and coffee.

This year I need to pack for 13 days. Coffee hasn't agreed with me much lately  so I'm going with dark chocolate cocoa and powdered whole milk for the calories.

I usually just use a GSI kettle and a optimus crux stove for everything but there are trout in the area this go around.

What do you guys and gals like to take?

[Michael Pfander]

Trail mix I make myself, oatmeal, freeze dried.  Use a kelly kettle.
MAP

[oldrubline]

I'm new to this, so learning.  I have a food dehydrater and so made my own meals for the Montana spring bear hunt I went on in May.  I cut lots of steak up thin and dried it, as well as, carrots, potatoes, etc.  I made my own soup mixes using the dried meat and veggies plus adding in pasta or rice.  It was ok but I ended up eating the same dang thing every day and it got a bit old. I will probably do some of the meals plus purchase others for variety.  I also took some fig/protein bars that had chocolate.  I took coffee and enjoyed that once a day with my main meal at around 1 pm.  My breakfast and late day snack were pemmican.  I made it by drying good quality beef and then pounding it up with the back of my axe head against a rock. the stuff was about the size of rice up to about pea size. Then I melted rendered tallow and mixed it in and made it into bars that I wrapped individually. On the way out to do the morning or evening hunt I would drop my bear proof food bag out of the tree by the light of my headlamp, load up my pack with a few bars, and go off to hunt. To replace the morning coffee I brought chocolate covered toasted coffee beans.

I need to probably get a stove.  My wife has one thats an old Coleman but its pretty heavy. I was gonna take it but just used a hot fire of small pine twigs which worked well.

-Dan

[PeteA]

While backpacking I've taken summer sausage, hard cheese, Jerky which can be rehydrate and mixed with your raman or idaho instant mashed potatoes.

I've also made moose goo, it's a mix of peanut butter, honey and cornstarch. Very good and high in calories. I put it on tortillas.

Another nice meal consists of stove top stuffing, crasins and chicken in those foil pouches. It's like thanksgiving on the trail!

Knorr sides are also a good substitute.

Good luck and be safe on the hunt.

[fisherick]

Check out "Freezer Bag Cooking" on the internet.
Besides the Mountain house, try foil packages of tuna, salmon, chicken or spam. Mix them with ramen noodles, Knorr rice or pasta mixes, or Idaho mashed potatoes, just put mixes in a freezer bag, add hot water and squeeze to mix. Then add meats and eat from bag, no clean up. Also use jerky or summer sausage, stick cheese with tortillas or flat bread for lunch. Breakfast is usually oatmeal or granola mixed with powder milk or protein powder. Snacks are PB crackers, granola bars, trail mix etc. Starbucks Via instant coffee in morning and Emergen-c drink mix in evening. Or Crown Royal nip to celebrate.

[old_goat2]

We did some high calorie MRE style breakfast bars, beef jerky, hard salami on the hunt and mountain house in the evening, oh and we take triscuits to eat with the salami. The local military surplus has little packs of dried fruit and sugar cookies, brownies etc in real durable MRE packaging as well as the breakfast bars I mentioned above. We only usually do four or so day hunts and go home for a day or so and then back up

[twitchstick]

If you can haul in a food cash prior to the hunt it can make things nice. Even if its half way in can help. I like to stash comfort foods and heavy MRE's,  canned meats, water if possible. 13 days is hard to keep your fat intake on just freeze died stuff for me. I have always had to hike out and get restocked or have a cash of goodies close by. This is coming form a guy that dosen't count ounces and has been know to take forzen steaks in for the first night with potateos, onions form the food cash hauled in before hand.

[chinook907]

Rob - along with a similar list to yours some bagels or hard rolls, and summer sausage, to go with the cheese.

Some Carnation Instant breakfast. And maybe some pop tarts.

Vacuum sealed smoked salmon.

Powdered Gatorade or better yet some p90x recovery drink.

[SEMO_HUNTER]

If there are trout I'd definitely carry a take down fly outfit, and carry some Andy's seasoning, a bit of oil to fry them up. Otherwise, I'd just go with the 2.50 pre made Hormel meals off the shelf at Walmart. They are decent warm or cold.

[dringge]

What ever you want to take give it a good trial run here at home before the trip. Sure you can live on anything but you shouldnt have to. I also supplement with vitamins to be safe while on a long hunt.

[calgarychef]

13 days is a long time to carry your food for.  Wow.  I like a can of sardines in oil for my lunch but 10 cans alone woud be heavy.   Two packages of oatmeal for breakfast is 26 bags!

 I like halwa (made of ground sesame, cashews) it keeps perfectly well, tastes great and is fat, protein and carbs.  The Romans made it and it's the perfect food.  

I made pemmican a couple years ago real pemmican, pounded dry meat and fat mixed in.  It's also the perfect food a piece the size of a walnut will keep you feeling satisfied for a few hours.

That kind of trip needs close attention to every detail, sounds like fun!

[PistolPete]

A couple things that haven't yet been mentioned:

FISH OIL. I take 10-15 a day in the mountains. They are extremely calorically dense (200+ cal/oz) and keep your joints moving noticeably better, cutting way down on soreness. Essential.

For a stove - I won't go back to hauling fuel and a Jetboil. I use a $1 wood burning stove I made from a baked bean can, and bring vaseline-soaked cotton balls to get it started. Find a big can and make your cutouts, and you're ready.
 

I think Mountain House meals are a ripoff, even when I get a deal on them at $4 each. They are all noodles, with barely a hint of meat and vegetables in them. I make my own freezer bag meals, either from bulk freeze-dried ingredients (Emergency Essentials) or Knorr sides, plus my own dehydrated meat and veggies. Saves a ton of money and is better on top.

Also, I add healthy portions of parmesan cheese to most of my dinners, and powdered whole milk (Nido from Walmart) and vanilla protein powder for breakfasts. If you don't, then you end up eating all carbs and no meat/fat/good stuff. That gets tough after a few days. Gotta find a way to get plenty of real protein (coming from something that had a face on it) and vegetables.

[monterey]

Pistol Pete, is that a titanium cup?  If so, how does it do when heated?

[PistolPete]

Yes, it is, and it does great. Gets covered in creosote though.

[PistolPete]

One more tip I forgot - if there are trout around, take a tenkara rod. Mine weighs 2 ounces and cost $35.

[FoCoBlackWidow]

Don't forget some sort of comfort food for a treat now and then. A Snickers bar does the trick for me and delivers some nice calories.

[Rob W.]

I've been really happy with my stove/kettle setup the last few years. I got 9 days out of a small canister last year heating meals and coffee for 2 people.

 

I really think this year may require a trip back to the truck for food resupply. Last year I killed an elk on day 4 so resupply wouldn't have been an issue.    

[two4hooking]

Another one... instead of using Vaseline soaked cotton balls, soak them in refined coconut oil.  They are solid below 70 something degrees but warm into an oil with body temp.  They light just as easy as Vaseline and you can use it to cook with (fry fish), eat, and it is antibiotic in nature.  Doesn't smell either (refined version).

You think you have it rough...I just found out I am gluten, wheat, egg, and milk allergic.  Planning this year's meals will be a challenge!

[newhouse114]

When I was doing solo dall sheep hunts, I would take equal weights of hard smoked/dried salmon (higher in calories than dried moose), peanuts and almonds, and dried fruit. The meals were boring as all get out but it kept you going until you ran out. Biggest problem was rationing your food for the number of days you were going to be out.

[ozy clint]

here's my list for 12 day tahr hunts

total weight including minimised packaging is 4kg total, 333.33grams/day (8.8 pounds total)

breakfast-
1/day 35gram sachet of quick oats

lunch-
a portion of camembert or brie cheese.
2x 125gr wheels for the 12 days.

'vita wheat' biscuits
2x 250gr packets for 12 days

half a stick of salami
pack of 6 for 12days (168grams)

1/day museli/nut bar

portion of jerky
150grams for 12 days

1/day fun size mars or snickers bar

1/day powdered sports drink sachet

dinner-
1/day absolute wilderness freeze dry meal.

misc-
15 tea bags
coffee, chocolate drink sachets from motels