Water How much?

[nimrod1984]

So me and a buddy are heading west to chase elk and muleys the first full week of November this fall and are trying to answer this question ourselves but I figured the experts here can help some!

#1- How much do we need to take? 2 guys 8 days hunting from a base camp?

#2- I have 3 different sprayer type poly tanks that have only been used for fresh potable water never chemicals, will water stay good in them for 8 days or will we need to treat it some how? 30,50,110 gallon tanks

#3- Do I haul water from home for an 18 hour drive or fill up a tank or jugs closer to our destination?

All insight will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

 

[wannakillabigbull]

I feel like you're going to get a million different answers from different people. But here's what we've done for years, and it pretty well matches research for high exertion hiking: 4 quarts (equal to one gallon) a day, per person. That's about the most I'll drink when backpack hunting. I use Nalgenes, so 4 full Nalgenes are in my pack every day when I leave camp. I almost always end up with water left over, but that's probably because I tend to not kill a bull and end up back at camp at a reasonable time....but you've gotta plan to kill a bull late and be packing out all night or you may run out of water, which isn't good.

A quart is 32 ounces, so for 2 people over 8 days I would bring 2048 ounces of water/Gatorade/whatever you drink. That's 16 gallons. And that's minimum what I would bring for drinking water only.

Hope that helps and good luck!

 

[JBS]

For a base camp at the truck you will want to bring more than just what you want to drink. Depending on what you cook you will want 2 gallons a day for drinking as outlined by Wannabull above but also water for dishes, cooking (boiling noodles takes a lot) washing hands etc. keeping your water from freezing could be an issue depending on temperatures. I like to use the 7 gallon square tanks (56 lbs) as more than that is difficult to move to keep in tent at night. It is handy to have a 1 gallon jug to refill for ease of pouring. I would bring at least 30 gallons for your trip and would not think 50 gallons is excessive. I would bring the water from home so you are not spending time filling jugs while on your trip. potable water stored in clean plastic will be fine for much longer than you will have it.

 

[Majja]

Pretty much what JBS said. I would also not that here in Utah most of the water is turned off well prior to the first of October so finding water to fill your jugs could be difficult. If you are transporting the jugs you might as well have them full. Water is kind of like money or ammo it never hurts to have extra. Make sure your jugs are also in the sun in the day to warm as that will help with trying to keep them form freezing. I would also leave some head space just in case they do freeze a bit it has room to expand upward and not burst the container.

The flip side is take a few small containers a good water filter and just camp by a stream or lake. Not sure where you are headed so this may or may not be an issue.

 

[esracerx]

Here's my rig. It's a 65 gallon tank that we use for showering and cleaning only. We fill up at the town closest to camp. I dont trust water from someone elses well. Potable water would keep just fine in the poly tanks, we just dont use it for that. If you're bringing coolers with food that needs to stay cool id say freeze water in milk jugs and you can use that for spare water. I also like the 7 gallon square tanks. Easier to travel with.

On another note. We just got 8.5 inches of rain in the last 24 hours in northern Illinois. I dont wanna talk about water any more.

 

[MooseCaboose]

I use Nalgenes, so 4 full Nalgenes are in my pack every day when I leave camp.

Do you carry 8.5 pounds worth of water every day? That's different than how I do it. I usually take 32 ounces. I drink a lot in the morning before I head out and then get rehydrated at the end of the day when I get back. That might be pushing it though, but I have gotten to know my body pretty well. And if things get hairy I have the purification tablets and a filtration straw stored in my bag as well.

 

[elkduds]

Potable water in poly jugs will easily stay good for the duration of your hunt. Rather than haul all that water I'd contact a grocery store or park/recreation office in the town nearest your base camp, ask if you can fill up w drinking water there when you arrive. You may want to come to town one day in the middle of your hunt, you could refill then.

 

[jryoung]

So me and a buddy are heading west to chase elk and muleys the first full week of November

Where will you be and is there potential for a deep freeze? Gallon or 2.5 gallon jugs might be a better option to be able to put in a truck or near a fire/warmth to keep them from freezing. We did a 50 gallon barrel one year, and temps got into the single digits and it became a PITA.

 

[WapitiBob]

Go to Walmart and get two 5 gal blue water jugs. Fill up and toss in the trailer or whatever and go hunt.

 

[Deleted member 18333]

Go to Walmart and get two 5 gal blue water jugs. Fill up and toss in the trailer or whatever and go hunt.

^This. Don't over-complicate things.

 

[wannakillabigbull]

Do you carry 8.5 pounds worth of water every day? That's different than how I do it. I usually take 32 ounces. I drink a lot in the morning before I head out and then get rehydrated at the end of the day when I get back. That might be pushing it though, but I have gotten to know my body pretty well. And if things get hairy I have the purification tablets and a filtration straw stored in my bag as well.

Yep, 8 and a half pounds. But I also hunt in Arizona where it's dang hot and dry, and high country Colorado. Finding water to purify isn't often an option out here. 3 nalgenes are adequate for most days but I always prepare for the worst. Can you imagine tripping and breaking your leg and having only been carrying 32 ounces of water? Sounds like a recipe for disaster. To me it's worth carrying the extra weight for safety reasons.

 

[SwampLander]

I would go with 50. Well over what you can drink but you can keep sanitary also and in case of cold temps more water takes longer to freeze. Counter to that is its also hard to thaw. I am going to Colorado same time and i am worrying about my water freezing. My experience is in much warmer climates.

 

[nimrod1984]

Thank you for all of your input. Looking at the past 15 years of weather history for where we are headed it has been as hot as 71 and as cold as -5 so I am hoping to miss a real hard freeze of any sort. We want to make as few if any trips to town through the whole trip so definitely looking to take all that we need before we hit gravel.

Thanks and look forward to more input it all helps.

 

[LandDiver]

I drink a lot of water daily as it is. I get a gallon down by lunch, and then another gallon by dinner. After that I just sip when I feel thirsty. It's really hard for me to not kill my water when I'm out and about in the mountains. I've ran out of water twice on day trips, and it's really making me think about how I'm going to prepare going into my first September.

 

[Redman]

Maybe I missed your location but if you are going to Colorado, I would not get water just have a water filter bag that does a lot of water at one time. If you are going to AZ or the like and water might be hard to come by then I would go to Walmart or the like and they sale water in large containers, like the ones you use for water coolers. Just buy those already filled when you get there, save space, weight, and when your done turn them in, or recycle them before you head for home. Cheaper and less hassle than buying the big heavy reusable ones that you still have to fill.

 

[rlmmatt]

In ky during deer camp we use a black 55 gallon plastic tank. The sun heats it in the day and keeps it from freezing