Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Elk camp menu items

We usually go for "easy" but filling, and usually have a variety to choose from.

Breakfast:

Bagels, peanut butter & honey or jam, instant oatmeal, cold cereal, fresh fruit, milk, juice and/or coffee.

Lunch:

Sandwiches, smoked oysters, kippered snacks, hard salami or jerky, string cheese, bagels, crackers, granola bars, candy bars, fresh fruit, pudding packs, etc.

Dinner:

Hamburger Helper or Tuna Helper, canned stew, grilled steaks/chops/fillets, fried spuds, canned veggies, spaghetti w/marinara, garlic bread, tacos or fajitas, rice, Ramen noodles, etc. A lot of times breakfast items are on the diner menu too; ham steaks/sausage/bacon, eggs, hotcakes, hashbrowns, etc.

The worst hunt I ever went on as far as meals went is when I was first married, a buddy and I took his trailer and decided we'd save time and energy and bought TV dinners for every meal (breakfast, lunch and dinner!) I was so tired of those things by the time we got done it wasn't even funny!

Saddlesore

After reading your menu..................How about me throwing in with you guys?

Just kidding. Good food and a comfortable camp is a big part of the hunting experience. I work hard at cooking good hardy meals.

Being Texans we got to have chili, fajitas, red beans, big stews, steaks on the grill, corn on the cob in their shucks grilled, migas, tamales heated on a bed of spanish rice.

If any one connects the meals get more elaborate, but if not our breakfast and lunch is very basic.

We bring a lot of home pre cooked items in seal a meal bags for boiling. No cook ware to clean up and it is fast.

It's not hard to figure out the guys I'd rather go with.

The "recon" thing...been there, done that. Pass the steak platter, please.

We trade off on dinner duty night to night. It means most nights you have it easy, but you have to back at camp a bit early to cook, one or two nights.

My usual dinner is fat Porterhouse steaks, twice-baked potatoes, and a caeser salad. It's good.

Sheesh,
When I hunt elk(usually backpack hunting) I have to get by with gatorade, power bars, and jerky!

Whatever the wife is cooking when I walk back through the house door. I get to hunt a few miles from the house...

Last years elk camp we had a rottiserie prime rib with salad and baked potato, another night was quickly seared fresh Albacore with wasabi and an asian salad, grilled Moose steaks and potatos and onions, etc.

Breakfast is a late affair that usually combines a real braekfast and lunch in one. The usual eggs, taters, onions, ham, bacon sausage, croissants, coffee, tea, juice, water.

Oh and Pendleton....

That is the way the eat/hunt!

Ribeyes ok? I like Coal Miner Spaghetti one nite too.

Tim, oh, I pack all that in. The BBQ is the hard part... <g>.

We typically set up camp at the edge if a wilderness area, and hike in/out every day. I'd love to do a backpack hunt. Considering doing Hells Canyon this fall (on a spike tag) because I'm not at ALL horned up over what the guys are proposing this year...

The weather is the Big Scary Monster when it comes to a backpack hunt in late October... 2-3 feet if snow could mean real trouble. And that happens up there, and quickly too!

Jeff,
Sounds like you have your elk vittles wired, for sure!


Hells Canyon sounds very interesting, have thought about hunting that area myself...

What is coal miner spaghetti?

Big difference in what I eat--depends if I'm backpacking, horse, camper, or cabin camping.........





Casey

We have a big camp and hunt right out of camp or a short drive to a drop off. Our kitchen is a 10' x 20' w/ 4 8" tables around a horseshoe at one end. We share clean up duties and the same guy (HOPSING aka George) has cooked nearly every hot meal in the camp for twenty years, it is his kitchen. We have 4 big burners and an oven out of an RV, a full size smoker and the kitchen box doubles as cabinets. Another table with drying racks for washing dishes. We sleep in 2 big wall tents seperate from the eating/cooking for a variety of reasons. our meals are generally simple but if someone gets the gourmet bug he usually brings it from home.
Buying food for 10 days in the woods for ten+ guys got easier when we decided everyone bring their own lunch stuff enough food for one dinner and one breakfast for as many in camp.
That simplified the process dramatically as we always have more than enough. plenty of variety as well
Once we have Meat on the ground We all pitch in to pack it out and the shooter becomes camp queen/queens and does all camp chores and meal prep but does not cook.plus tending to the meat and fire. This frees up time for the hunter to become a camp queen sooner as well.
also Camp queens assume bartender status at night after the hunt.

We have had every thing from PBJ sandwiches to steak and lobster,Wild Turkey and Wild Boar over the years and I am not sure which one tasted better at the time. As I recall every meal in Elk camp has been a good one.

Don't forget the fresh elk liver,onions and bacon.

About 10 yrs ago we invited a new member to our camp and Eddie suffered thru about 2 days of meals before he asked if he could cook breakfast the next day. Of course all said yes. He took the leftovers and some home made green chili and made breakfast burritos. Almost in unison on the 3rd bite it was decreed that he was the cook and has been ever since. His only flaw is he tries something unique every year and it doesn't always work. The year he tried tripe comes to mind. Eddie's hispanic so almost all meals are hispanic and and the "heat" level is usually pretty high. Another priceless moment was hearing "Arkansas Dave" come over the radio and say "damm you Eddie" as he was trying to put out the grass fire he'd started with his morning constitutional up on the mountain. or so he said.... I do know I smelled it 2 ridges away.

We alternate cooking dinners, so you can hunt late 3/4 days most of the time. And you get back to camp to a hot dinner, be it chili, or steak and potatoes, or a spaghetti dish or.....

A good hot meal is a marvelous reward after a long, hard day elk hunting.

BTW.I tried some of those dried hash browns that Costco carries now. Not too bad. Not quite as good as the frozen ones,but palatable..
They would be good for pack ins, and the later days of a camp when the frozen ones get thawed.

No offense taken Saddlesore. My diet is low in fat, but not devoid of it. While rice, and oatmeal don't have alot of calories, they have some, as does yogurt.
The Power Bars and Cliff Bars I eat, and that's at least six a day, total better than 1500 calores by themselves. With the rest of it, I'm somewhere between 2500-3000 calores a day.
I might mention that my hunting trips are not 7-10 days long as are most. Mine run 7-8 weeks, 49-56 days. E

Coal Miner�s Spaghetti
1 pkg (16 oz) spaghetti
1 clove garlic, finely chopped ( I like 2 or 3)
1 Pound sliced bacon cut into 1 inch pieces
1 Tbsp olive oil
3 eggs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup grated Romano Cheese
2 Tbsp fresh chopped parsely ( I leave this out)
1/2 Tsp pepper
Grated parmesan cheese
Freshly ground pepper

Cook spaghetti as directed. Meanwhile cook and stir garlic and bacon in oil until bacon is crisp; drain. Mix eggs, 1/4 cup parmesan cheese, 1/4 cup romano cheese, parsley (if used) and 1/2 Tsp pepper; reserve.

Drain spaghetti and immediately return to kettle over low heat. Toss spaghetti quickly with egg mixture. Add bacon and olive oil mixture and stir. Top with parmesan cheese, serve with pepper.

Easy, delicious and filling.