Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Cold Camp

I see videos about freeze dried food and small stoves. My question is why not have a cold camp. I understand that a hot cup of coffeeis great. However if its just for cooking why do you need a fire. Why not just eat jerky, trail mix, or protein bars? y

Because one can get quite a bit more enjoyment out of a hot meal. At least I can. Chewing down a meal's worth of jerky several times a day for up to a week is not at all appealing. If it works for you, more power to ya.

It can certainly be done. There is a mental aspect to eating a hot meal that is very appealing. After a few days, that becomes a bigger deal.

Also, trail mix and protein bars don't always pencil out in calories/lb when compared to packing freeze dried food and locally sourcing water. At least that's what I tell myself.

Those items are "snacks" not a meal.

Also, when it's cold, a hot meal and hot beverage are sometimes life-saving.

Unless there is wildfire danger, or no fuel, why NOT have a fire?

A fire is very primal, and satisfying to the soul. Separates us from the beasts.

I am often so damn tired by the time I get back to camp all I want to do is go to sleep so I scarf down a shïtload of snack food and hit the hay. No time, desire or energy to make a fire. Sometimes I'll heat up a can of stew real quick, but often times do not.

A fire is nice, but when it's wet out one can be hard to light. Easier for me to crawl in my bag and get warm. This does normally require having some dry cloths, especially socks available for the morning though. I spent 7 days in a tent in Alaska last year without a fire. I ringed my socks out and hung them on the small tent vestibule created by the rain fly pole to "dry" each night and rotated between two pairs for the duration of the hunt. I had a third pair I only slept in so they stayed dry. It wasn't the most comfortable 7 days ever, but it wasn't THAT bad, and I still got a good 'bou.

I did have a jet boil for hot mountain house in the evenings though. I would have been fine without it though.

Under most circumstances would agree. Snowstorms, getting wet, getting wet or possibly getting wet and am glad to have a fire or a stove. Here, they don't allow fires at timberline or above, so stove allows purification of water and then...hot coffee!

Sometimes it's just nor practical, or worth the effort.

Sometimes a campfire in a can, in a cone,

When the temps will be below 20F I like to fill my belly full of warm food, crawl into my bed roll and hope I don't have to pee during the night. Also, when you're cold and wet hot food can do a lot to lift your spirits.

Oh, and then there's coffee in the morning.

It's a good way to get out of a warm sleeping bag in the morning too.

No wood to burn where I camp so fires aren’t an option. I don’t like coming home smelling like wood smoke anyway. A warm meal or hot drink makes the wilderness more relaxing. Creature comforts make it more enjoyable.

Depends on how long the trip is. When I plan an overnight bivouac, I use all no-cook foods, and eliminate the weight of the stove, pots and fuel. But no-cook foods are heavy and that adds up if you plan on being out for more than a couple of days. These are the no-cook foods on my list.

Fresh Fruit
Breakfast Cereal (in ZipLok) & Milk (dehydrated)
Salmon (foil pouch)
Jerky
Granola Bars
Sandwich Crackers
Trail Mix
Candy Bars
Baby Bell Cheese
Cookies

Tang
EmergenC

If I'm doing a bivouac, I usually want to be quiet and unseen, so no campfire.

KC

typically no campfires for me either, unless it’s some kind of emergency

small stove on the other hand; I did a long adventure race with no stove to save some weight and some time, the next year I went back to a small stove, the minimal additional weight and time was well worth it

Typically my hiking / backpack hunting are from mid summer through early fall. That's fire season here and campfires are banned outright in the wilderness areas I hike/hunt in.

Tradeoff between small stove + freeze dried food -vs- cold camp food tips about the 2nd night in favor of the stove and freeze dried food. Trail mix, cheese, salami, dried fruit, etc are pretty heavy and add up fast. It does not take very long before they outweighs a stove, fuel, and freeze dried food for the same number of days. For me, "cold camp" food only makes sense for trips so short I'm getting by on jerky and granola bars ... basically fast 'n' light overnighters. Moreover, it doesn't make any sense on fishing trips because with camp fires banned, I need the stove to cook fish anyway.

Tom

I've done it cold often. Really, Via in cold water is fine for me. I've also used tea bags and made sun tea while I'm sleeping in my tent and the sun is rising. Sometimes, I also like to make bacon and eggs.

It depends

I agree, on every long distance adventures race I've been on, I carried a stove. And a sleeping bag, cot, wall tent....

I’ve got to find one of those races!

If a water source is available, freeze dried and small stove save a lot of weight. I often prefer my hot meal mid day.

I've killed enough deer and elk so that I go for the hunt, not the kill. The hunt includes some camp comfort. It's not an endurance event.