Life Support, Nutrition for Backcountry Hunting

Life Support

When life support comes up ambulances and hospitals always come to mind, but I like to look at these things as preventative measures rather than consequences. This category of gear is the stuff that not only keeps us alive in the backcountry, but the stuff that allows us to thrive. Within there are three categories, food, water and shelter. Of course, for legal reasons, these are guidelines, it’s your job to further investigate, and if you choose to hunt like a wild man you do so at your own risk – be it of adventure or peril.

Nutrition for Backcountry Hunting

Food, one would think, is pretty self explanatory, but there are a lot of pieces to the equation. If they are put together right, a hunter can go hard for an extended period with minimum weight loss and maximum efficiency, and it doesn’t have to taste bad either. Within this category I break my food into the following sub-categories: meals, trail snacks, and supplements.

Meals, for me, are generally breakfast and dinner, then I graze throughout the day on my trail snacks to keep hunger at bay and keep the influx of calories up for energy. Early on, heavy foods should be eaten first, both for weight savings and they help the transition into prepared foods from a regular urbanized diet. I am a big fan of meats like salami that don’t always require refrigeration- read the packets closely, and make sure they don’t need to be kept cold. These go oddly well with a blue berry bagel, as they both are packed with the crucial resource the body needs- calories. I am not a big breakfast eater, and prefer something light to start out on, so I will generally start with a granola bar for some quick calories then get going to where I want to hunt. When I set up and my heart rate starts to fall, I will bask in the goodness of the salamied bagel while I glass.

Another good alternate for a breakfast is grits or oatmeal, the grits don’t work as fast on the digestive track as oatmeal, and are a little easier to swallow when I’m a little dehydrated. Throw in some single serve fast food syrup for some flavor and a calorie boost.

For dinner, I pretty much always eat Mountain House, the food is consistently good- I had a friend try their stuff before coming on a hunt and he liked their beef stroganoff so much he ate everything he purchased for a backpack trip at home, forcing a second trip to the shop before coming out. I always recommend trying them out to get a feel for the preparation and taste so there are no surprises in the field.

Throughout the day, I am grazing on high calorie foods, I normally find myself with a package of peanut M&Ms or trail mix, two cliff bars or Wilderness Athlete bars and a couple Wilderness Athlete gels to keep the energy level up and support good body function. I look at them each for different purposes. The candy or trail mix I eat one or two pieces at a time, like a slow calorie drip. The bars are something to chew on in the slower points of the day, and the gels provide a quick energy source when major fatigue is looming ahead.

Supplements are relatively new to this kind of travel, but in my own experience they make all the difference. I have been exclusively using wilderness athlete supplements for almost three years now and they always have a place in my pack. I like to mix their Hydrate and Recover with Energy and Focus to make what they call a superman. The energy and focus is a good addition for a morning jumpstart, and helps keep the head on straight when the days start to grind on. Hydrate and Recover plays a more important role in day-to-day body function- when the body becomes dehydrated its ability to recuperate slows dramatically. When I feel my calves or quads trying to spasm or tighten up, I drink the hydrate and recover and feel the problem abate quickly. I have had my legs try to spasm on a stalk, and trying not to move when you desperately need to walk off a charlie horse just plane sucks. They also offer altitude advantage, which helps the body deal with acclimatization to elevation.

The body performs very differently in the backcountry only limited respite is available from the elements. High protein foods take more to process and slightly increase body temperature – a good thing to consume before bed or when the cold sets in. The activity undertaken in the backcountry means the body burns more calories, requiring increased consumption. In addition, the body needs to repair itself, and quality food hastens the process. A good rule of thumb for a backcountry hunter is to aim for 4500-5000 calories per day to maintain body condition. It may appear easy, but the amount of food required can be daunting, and when it’s all done I find myself in line at Jack in the Box with an overwhelming need for any combination of bacon and cheese I can get my hands on.