No Bladder Hydration System

[COJoe]

I've only hunted in first season rifle in Colorado but have experienced temps in the low teens but nothing below 10 so far. Saying that, I use a 32 oz. Nalgene hardsided bottle in a Stone Glacier water bottle holder on my pack belt so I can easily access it while walking or stopped. I quit carrying my water bladder this year because I thought it took up too much space in my pack. For a water filter I chose the Platypus Quickdraw system that you fill a dirty bag in a stream then screw the filter element onto it then you can squeeze it to quickly fill a 2 L Platypus water bag or directly into your Nalgene bottle. the filter element can be easily flushed out at home by flushing from the clean filter side through and out the dirty side and it's supposed to last a long time (relevant to how dirty your water source is I guess). I have two Platypus 2L bottles which I fill up near camp and leave there for meal prep and coffee. I carry the filter and the 2 L dirty bag with me two fill up as needed. There's plenty of water in my elk hunting area but not my mule deer area so I've carried everything in full which is about 13 pounds but I have no choice.
One advantage I like with the Platypus 2 L bottles is I can roll them up when they are empty and they weight almost nothing. They have frozen over night but thaw out with no harm done to them.

 

[CEG017]

I've only hunted in first season rifle in Colorado but have experienced temps in the low teens but nothing below 10 so far. Saying that, I use a 32 oz. Nalgene hardsided bottle in a Stone Glacier water bottle holder on my pack belt so I can easily access it while walking or stopped. I quit carrying my water bladder this year because I thought it took up too much space in my pack. For a water filter I chose the Platypus Quickdraw system that you fill a dirty bag in a stream then screw the filter element onto it then you can squeeze it to quickly fill a 2 L Platypus water bag or directly into your Nalgene bottle. the filter element can be easily flushed out at home by flushing from the clean filter side through and out the dirty side and it's supposed to last a long time (relevant to how dirty your water source is I guess). I have two Platypus 2L bottles which I fill up near camp and leave there for meal prep and coffee. I carry the filter and the 2 L dirty bag with me two fill up as needed. There's plenty of water in my elk hunting area but not my mule deer area so I've carried everything in full which is about 13 pounds but I have no choice.
One advantage I like with the Platypus 2 L bottles is I can roll them up when they are empty and they weight almost nothing. They have frozen over night but thaw out with no harm done.

I'm curious where in your pack do you keep your extra 2l bottles when they are full?

 

[COJoe]

Platypus calls them bottles but they are softsided plastic, pretty tough though, at least so far. I have an older Stone Glacier Evo 40/56 backpack that has a spotter pocket on the left side so normally I'll keep one or both in there if there's room and they are easy to access, if not, it's about halfway down my pack to better distribute the weight. I haven't carried them full to far though as my mule deer hunt base camp is less than 1 1/2 miles from my truck. Elk hunts I don't have to carry too much water as it's plentiful. Mainly, I try to keep them near my back and midpack because of the weight.

 

[steelheadmike]

I ditched the bladder this year. Nalgene on the K4 hipbelt with a smartwater bottle or two in the pack. Befree filter and a 2L hydrapak. I could theoretically carry 5L of water (I have a 4L MSR drom bag if I want more).

I really enjoyed not having to screw around with a bladder this year.

 

[CEG017]

I ditched the bladder this year. Nalgene on the K4 hipbelt with a smartwater bottle or two in the pack. Befree filter and a 2L hydrapak. I could theoretically carry 5L of water (I have a 4L MSR drom bag if I want more).

I really enjoyed not having to screw around with a bladder this year.

Some when you come across water did you just fill up the Nalgene and your hydrapak? Or does it depend on availability of water?

 

[steelheadmike]

Some when you come across water did you just fill up the Nalgene and your hydrapak? Or does it depend on availability of water?

It was pretty variable. Just depends on how much water is around. Typically, I'll fill the nalgene/smart water bottles throughout the day but then fill up the hydrapak towards the end of the day if I'm not going to have water near camp. The hydrapak acts as a dirty bag, if that helps explain it better.