Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting water filtering ?

Good article, Brad. Thanks.

Splat,

I'm now wondering if I need my Katadyn Hiker Pro with a coffee filter over the inlet.....

It's still a good idea to filter because you never know what's upstream, like a dead deer or someone peeing in the creek. The coffee filter doesn't take out any bugs, but it can sure protect your real filter from clogging up with crud.

A good case of the GI's can be acquired by not properly washing dishes and is likely the source of many bouts of back country trots. My method is to clean them of all visible food, even using sand sometimes, then sear them with my stove. Nothing can survive direct heat like that.

I've BP'd at least 3,000 miles and have treated water no more than a dozen times.

In some areas and from some sources definitely... but the best filtering device is your head.

And no, I'm not against treating water, just that I think Nanny Nation has taken over rationality...

One time I actually did pull a dead sheep out of a creek. Stunk like hell.

I don't drink out of stock creeks so I suppose the point is moot. If you do, filter by all means.

I know it's an old joke about finding a dead animal in a creek above your camp, but it does happen. Dead sheep, dead deer, dead skunk, it doesn't matter. It does make you think about future long cold drinks right out of the creek, though.

I agree, I filter or treat at or below the treeline. If I can find water boiling or seeping out of rock then its pretty safe at that source. But safe sources are not always available so I carry water treatment tabs at a minimum.

Studies in my neck of the woods show about 45% of the water sources are contaminated with e.coli, mostly from stock, wildlife and humans.

MtnHtr

stopped to reload the platypus on a solo sheep hunt, from a small but decent running clear creek.


sure enough round the bend and there's a winter killed moose laying in the creek.


lotsa hair and bones but guess any bad stuff had floated on by

I don't filter in high country as a rule

on lower elevations I use my own gravity fed system that a pard came up with long before the companies that make filters did same


only ever had giardia one time and my symptoms were mild, I had to drink in a heavy beaver infested river before siwashing for the night after a pard broke my charcoal filter straw.

don't know for certain that it was giardia, but my PA said it's expensive to test, cheap to treat, one pill, that they'd been using in Asia for a long time, but at that time just recent FDA approval for US use.

try to use my head, and use good sources, try & stay clean, I like those little bottles of Purell

I don't sweat water too much except for running out of it.

did that one time, one time too many for my likes

IN an emergency you can purify water with the sun. Just gotta fill up a plastic bottle or even ziplock bag, lay it down on a reflective surface if you have one... such as refelctive metal, a mirror, or glass. If not leave it out double the time as normal. The UV rays kill bacteria and parasites.

If it is a sunny day, leave out for minimum 8 hours.

If there is some clouds leave out for 2 days

From wikipedia:

"At a water temperature of about 30�C (86�F), a threshold solar radiation intensity of at least 500 W/m2 (all spectral light) is required for about 5 hours for SODIS to be efficient. This dose contains energy of 555 Wh/m2 in the range of UV-A and violet light, 350 nm-450 nm, corresponding to about 6 hours of mid-latitude (European) midday summer sunshine.

At water temperatures higher than 45�C (113�F), synergistic effects of UV radiation and temperature further enhance the disinfection efficiency."


So if its winter time of fall or sping leave it out longer

Im jealous of you guys and having the ability to find running water. I know I went to the pur hiker because the idea of running water where I go is not something to count on. There are a couple springs and that is being rather kind with the name. Many times the only water is an inch deep and filled with hoofprints. I keep a medium sized slot screw driver to dig a little depression in the rocks and soil and let that back fill a but then use a coffee filter over the intake valve. I figure I get at least 50-100 gallons per filter this way.

Brad:

That is a good article and everyone who goes into the back country should read it. I learned a lot from reading that article. I think that I was guilty of believing just about all of the myths.

KC

Good article.

I was doing an ultra one time, and had some stomach distress, also all my water bottles had sugary fluid in at one time or another and I couldn't stomach anything that was sugary. It was 9 and 10 miles between aid stations so 19 miles + before I could change out water bottles. I made it essentially that whole distance with nothing but about a cup of water. I felt fine once I changed out my water bottles at another location. I surprised myself.

Now this past weekend I was backpacking in canyonlands and the lack of potable water is downright scary IMO, plus that is just a different type of dry. I could not imagine pulling 20 miles without much water.

A few years ago, the American Hunter ran an article by a guy who'd shot a bighorn in SW Idaho's high desert. That's canyon country out there with many vertical walled canyons several hundred feet deep. It's rough stuff. The article wasn't so much about the hunt, but rather about his packing job getting to it. He'd shot it across a canyon and had to climb down, then up, both ways...and he did it twice. He said he was getting in trouble from dehydration before he got it out.

Well, I know that area and I know that damn fool crossed a river each way. He was so hung up on gut bugs that he wouldn't drink the water he was wading in...and it's clear water although warm that time of year. A doctor can fix a gut bug. He can't fix death by dehydration. If I'm in trouble, I'll drink out of a mud puddle and let the doctor patch me up later.

A big plus 1. The one time I knowingly drank out of a stream with a bunch of beavers in it was back in VA, up in the National Forest. Killed a big 8-point (eastern count) about 3 miles back in and we were carrying it out. Got to the point I was bordering on dehydration and decided to take my chances. Water never tasted so good, and I didn't get sick.

+ 2 If it meant dehydration or death??? I would drink out of a muddy hoof print....

Unless it's life or death, I won't drink water that's untreated - clorox, aqua mira, filtered, boiled - something.

I've had more gastrointestinal distress than I care to remember.

A hot day of hard work in the high desert can dry you out a WHOLE lot. It's a combination of fairly high altitude, low humidity, heat, and a lot of exertion. That's a classic recipe for dehydration.