Food Ideas for Archery Elk Hunt

[Badger_55]

Its getting close! Anyways I am heading out to Montana at the beginning of Sept. We are trying a new area this year, with grizzlies of course. My goal this year is to stay as mobile as we can at basecamp and try to locate elk and move in on them. Being prepared to go in and camp for 3 nights when finding elk and heading back out to resupply. That being said, in the past we have been able to have a nice kitchen set up outside the trailer, food totes set out and the whole comforts of a home kitchen it seems. Also my group has became a fan of using the crock pot for pre-made meals to cook while we were out hunting in the evening. I have bought a bunch of dehydrated meals so far. I have plan to buy more energy bars. Dehydrate some fruit and jerky, buy some nuts to make some trail mix. Maybe supplement the spendy dehydrated meals with some Roman Noodles, or something like that. Overall I am trying to avoid being anchored in one spot so we can pack up and move when we need and also avoid being a high risk for bear attractant even by following the designated grizzly area regs. I am curious what you all have done in the past for group meals while keeping a mobile basecamp out elk hunting?
Thanks for your time.

 

[KipCarson]

If your base camp is by the truck, the sky is the limit with food and I would not change much other than food storage since you are in grizz country. As far as base Camp I really don’t have any advice.
I have done a good bit of backpack hunting, up to nine days stretch without going back to the truck. That type of hunting me and my buddies never did any group meals. It was every man for himself to carried as much or as little as they were willing to get by with. The guy who packed in the snickers and Hershey bars could have traded them for gold by the end of it LOL! Personally on the backpack part I only allowed myself one freeze dried meal a day, mainly because I am a tightwad And paying that much for food that is of that low quality goes against my grain! What I found that I like for that type trip was the individual bags of Idahoan instant mashed potatoes. They come in about 10 different flavors and all it takes is some hot water and there is no lengthy rehydration time. The bags pack into small odd shaped spaces better than blocks of ramen and they break the 100 calorie per ounce mark to make them worth packing. Some people get extremely technical and over think backpack food imo but if you only plan to be out 3 days at a time you can get by without a lot.

 

[LCH]

Hunting from a base camp, I eat my breakfast and lunch foods throughout the day as I get hungry. I pack a gallon-sized Ziploc for each day that usually has some jerky, protein bars, nuts, an apple or something similar, maybe some bacon and/or cheese.

For supper (after dark), I always grill up something good, burgers, chicken breast, pork chops, steak, etc. Sometimes I precook these items at home and reheat on the camp stove, just depends how much time I expect to have in camp each evening.

When in grizzly county (not often), I just cook on the tailgate or hitch basket, eat in the truck, and store all food and cooking equipment in the vehicle.

 

[TrickyTross]

We are doing our first "off your back" elk archery hunt this year. Last year, we had a basecamp and would go back to it daily. We did what Kip recommended for our breakfast and lunch, but we are gonna try something different this year. Like I said, breakfast and lunch will be on our own, but each one of us will be packing in a group dinner. Nothing fancy, my 3 meals (assuming we stay for 8 days) consist of Pro-packs, Ramen noodles and the Idahoan Mashed potatoes. We are going to pack in for 3-3.5 days and then go back to re-fuel at the truck. We have 3 in our party, so its not too shabby. My gameplan is to offer my dinner the first night so I can go ahead and have the lighter pack

 

[Badger_55]

Nice.. yeah I was thinking the same with breakfast and lunch for sure. As for suppers we used to each bring 3 premade dinners. Each would take turn thawing it and throwing into a slow cooker. I am hoping we can come to agreement with doing group dinners while we are at basecamp and pack our own dinners when we are packing in for 3 nights, something tasty but yet can be easily cooked with easy clean up for our group dinners. I will be sleeping in my horse trailer, with the front half of the stock trailer as my storage and food leaving the back part open for the ponies. The other guys will be sleeping in a trailer so we can just hook up and move whenever we need. So far good plans from you guys. For sure will help me plan as I am less than a month from hunting!

 

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[Werty]

I'm doing this for myself this year!
Everything I'm taking can be used for different meals. Like
ground burger- tacos- spaghetti- taco salad
Shaved steak- fajitas- philly cheese
Chili- chili- fritos pie- chili & spaghetti
Most of my lunch veggies can be used for my dinners as well. Good luck

 

[NV_ARCH3R]

My brother and I usually hunt together out of a Base camp, we're both past the pack it in on your backs stage. Breakfast is coffee, Take snacks, trail mix, jerky, water for the day hunting. Last few years we split a 2.5 serving of mountain house supplemented with bread\butter for supper. Usually have at least one night we grill burgers, or sometimes a steak. have to have something to actually chew on now and again. We only have to hold out for a week.

 

[kmott]

fresh elk backstraps

 

[Badger_55]

Good things on here. Thanks. I am definitely hoping for backstraps! Packing some seasoning for that!

 

[BRP]

I like to use flavored tuna in the foil pouches along with small tortillas, snack bars, cheese sticks, peanut butter-bacon sandwiches w/ honey(on English muffins), Fritos and a mountain house for dinner each night to warm up. Some other small thing I’m forgetting now but I stuff a days ration in a gallon zip lock and grab one each day from camp. Grouse fills in gaps when I get so lucky!! If you wrap the sandwiches in foil you can warm them by the fire and it’s delicious! Especially in Grizz country