Enough Room For Food?

[Rampaige]

I bought a Mystery Ranch Beartooth 80 for a 10-day backcountry elk hunt in SW Colorado September 15-25. I’ve loaded it up and now that I have all my gear I want to be sure it’s a big enough pack. I have never done a hunt like this, but I’m going with a friend who is experienced both backpacking and hunting in the area. From these pictures, does it look like I will have enough room for 10 days of food? That is all I have left to pack. I’ll be dehydrating a lot of my own meals and packaging them as small as possible. The orange line represents the fill line of my gear.

 

[Bailer]

You should be fine. I’ve only done 2-3 day trips in my Beartooth, but had plenty of room left for more food. Also did not bring the lid.

 

[mlgc20]

You will have plenty of room.

 

[ryjack70ss]

I bought a Mystery Ranch Beartooth 80 for a 10-day backcountry elk hunt in SW Colorado September 15-25. I’ve loaded it up and now that I have all my gear I want to be sure it’s a big enough pack. I have never done a hunt like this, but I’m going with a friend who is experienced both backpacking and hunting in the area. From these pictures, does it look like I will have enough room for 10 days of food? That is all I have left to pack. I’ll be dehydrating a lot of my own meals and packaging them as small as possible. The orange line represents the fill line of my gear.

Not helpful but please tell me whoever is in the background is drinking straight out of the jug!!!


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[mtwarden]

Food takes up a lot of volume in a pack on longer trips, the good news is it starts to make room starting on day one.

Most pack manufacturers offer a variety of strap on pockets/pouches, if for some reason you don't have enough room in your pack- look into purchasing some additional volume for it.

 

[JohnB]

For my last 10 day I was able to get 2 days of food crammed into a gallon freezer bag. Peak refuel/Mtn houses, instant oats, trail mix and an assortment of clif bars, honey stingers and other snacks. So I had 5 jammed packed gallon zips at the beginning of the trip.

 

[sneaky]

That's all the room your sleeping bag, pad, shelter, etc takes up? What about your water?

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[Conrad101st]

Week long hunts need 7500 inches to be comfortable.

 

[*zap*]

The fill line looks low to me from here....

 

[Rampaige]

That's all the room your sleeping bag, pad, shelter, etc takes up? What about your water?

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I have a full 3L bladder in there as well. My filter system is in the lid. Bag and pad are in the bottom, shelter (tarp) fits into a pocket on the inside of the bag.

 

[mlgc20]

Week long hunts need 7500 inches to be comfortable.

Everyone is different. I can easily do a week with 4800 cu in.

 

[Wags]

One of the complaints I hear from most guys on extended hunts or even 3-5 day hunts is having to ration food. I'd rather carry the extra lbs of food so I can stay fueled and focus on hunting rather than hunger. I tend to burn a lot when I'm hunting, my wanderlust won't let me sit and glass for too long before I have to see what's on the other side of the ridge. So I bring plenty of food for each day.

 

[Poser]

I eat a lot of food. For a 10 days hunt, I can absolutely stuff full, 2 fifteen liter storage bags with food. That’s going to be 30 liters of volume. You have 80 liters to work with. For the first 3 days, you may need to spread some of that volume around the pack and put some gear on the outside, but I think it’s doable. I predict you’ll be about 20L overfilled when you start out. 80L is a little small for a 10 day hunt for average sized gear.

 

[Rampaige]

I ordered a Marshall. I don’t want to chance it. I actually had the Marshall and Beartooth so that I could pack them both and see which worked best, but I returned the Marshall because it was huge…but again, I didn’t have food packed. I eat like a horse and I don’t want to ration so I’ll get both side by side again and I’ll either return it if I feel the Marshall is too big again, or I’ll sell one of the frames so I can have both bags.

 

[gelton]

Food is one of the hardest things to get dialed in. The altitude kills my appetite and after 10 years of backpack hunting, there has never been a year that I didn't carry food out. If I ever have to ration food I would consider it a success because at least then I would have a baseline.

 

[sneaky]

I have a full 3L bladder in there as well. My filter system is in the lid. Bag and pad are in the bottom, shelter (tarp) fits into a pocket on the inside of the bag.

Stove, fuel, clothes? Looks like you aren't taking much. What sleep setup you using?

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[sneaky]

Food is one of the hardest things to get dialed in. The altitude kills my appetite and after 10 years of backpack hunting, there has never been a year that I didn't carry food out. If I ever have to ration food I would consider it a success because at least then I would have a baseline.

Same here. I don't eat nearly as much on a hunt as I should, but the appetite just isn't there. I've always been like that though. I'm there to hunt, not sit around and snack.

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[Rampaige]

Stove, fuel, clothes? Looks like you aren't taking much. What sleep setup you using?

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I'm using an MSR Pocket Rocket. I'm still trying to figure out how much fuel I'll need to bring. That's going to depend on how much water I'll need to boil for food and coffee.

For clothing I'm bringing a raincoat and pants, puffer jacket, jogger sweatpants to wear as a mid layer, FL fuse base layers (on me), FL Kiln Shirt, extra pair of wool socks in case I get wet, gloves and beanie.

My sleep system is a Nemo Forte 20 degree bag on a Nemo Tensor Insulated Pad. DD 10x10' Tarp, and Klymit Pillow. I did not have the tarp when I did my initial trial packing (and it is a little bigger than I expected), but it fits along the flap pocket in the Beartooth.

 

[WRM]

Same here. I don't eat nearly as much on a hunt as I should, but the appetite just isn't there. I've always been like that though. I'm there to hunt, not sit around and snack.

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x3. But, I think it's highly individualistic. Someone else may truly need much more food to keep from being miserable or, maybe, to even function well. After several years, I'm still trying to figure out just how far back I can cut the food. And, it's further than I surely would have thought on my first trip.

 

[Poser]

Food is one of the hardest things to get dialed in. The altitude kills my appetite and after 10 years of backpack hunting, there has never been a year that I didn't carry food out. If I ever have to ration food I would consider it a success because at least then I would have a baseline.

This is a big advantage to having a partner from low elevations: surplus food!