Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Best stove for 2-4 day Coues Whitetail Dec.Backpack Hunt

Howdy all,

I am ready to retire my Svea 123 and have been looking at the jetboil, the whisperlite and the pocket-rocket. I am not crazy about specialized fuel and non-recycylable cannisters, so the whisperlite series is looking pretty good - but wanted to check preferences and experience on this forum first. I want something works every time, and is lightweight.

Thanks.

forepaw

WHY!?? I can only guess that you want something lighter? Not that a Svea 123 is heavy. I have a Whisperlite, I bought right before I started using alcohol burners mostly, so I can't give you much input. It is a tad fussy like all MSR's. Play with it A LOT before you take it on a trip, and if I was going any where really remote, I'd take an extra pump. Also rebuild that pump at least every other year or you'll wind up kicking your ball of flame MSR into the creek like a friend of mine did.

Yeah I have seen the ball of fire thing with an MSR. What alcohol burner?

The Svea is not heavy but is fussy, especially when cold.

forepaw

I'm a far cry from an experienced backpacker, but I'm well pleased with my Jetboil stove.

I'm liking my Caldera Cone a lot for just boiling water. If I plan to really cook I take a Bushbuddy. I do remember having to prime a second time before you try to light the SVEA, somewhere around zero IIRC. I live in the southeast now so real cold is a distant memory for me. Locals here go hiking in the Roan Highlands or the Smokies and talk about how brutal the cold was... it was ALMOST zero.

My pocket rocket served me well again this year. Keep thinking about the Jetboil, but the pocket rocket just flat works for me.

A stove that burns Isobutane will work best in that situation because they are extremely lightweight, very reliable, require zero maintenance, compact and so easy to use that they are almost idiot proof. Isobutane does not work well at low temps but you probably won't encounter very low temps on a coues deer hunt. There are many good ones on the market including the MSR Pocket Rocket, Olympus Crux, Snow Peak Giga, and the Coleman F1 Ultralight. One 8 ounce canister of fuel will serve two people for four days.

The Jetboil and the MSR Reactor come with a combination wind screen/pot stand/flue that improves fuel efficiancy. They are more expensive and a little heavier than the others mentioned and a 2 to 4 day trip is not long enough to justify the extra cost, weight and bulk.

When my Boy Scouts ask me what stove to buy I tell them to get the Coleman Peak One Mini-Butane stove because they are pretty cheap at Wal Mart.

I own several Isobutane stoves including a Hummingbird, one made by Coleman that's heavy compared to the others, a Crux and a Pocket Rocket. I will be taking the Crux and one 8 ounce canister of fuel on a four day coues deer backpack hunt, after Thanksgiving. I'll take some tinfoil and use it along with some rocks to build a wind screen.

KC

for the money the coleman is pretty good, but I want to upgrade to the Soto OD-1R Micro Regulator Stove.

Jetboil is so damned convenient..........

A lot depends on your backpack cooking "style." If you're looking for simplest, non-fussy solution for one or two, then Pocket Rocket, Soto or Jet Boil. Jetboil is simple and very easy on the fuel but bulkier than Pocket Rocket and one small pot which is why for short trips I alomost always take the Pocket Rocket. I love my Whisperlight but for a short trip I wouldn't pick it. It works better if you're out longer, cooking for more people or melting snow for water.
The canisters for Jetboil, Soto, or Pocket Rocket are available about anywhere. The mixed fuel works better below freezing and it helps to know some of the cold weather canister cooking tips. The newer regulated canister stoves by Soto have gotten some rave reviews here but I don't have any experience with those yet.If I were in the market for a new stove though, I'd sure look hard at a Soto.
http://www.rei.com/product/785338/soto-od-1r-micro-regulator-stove
I should add, I like the Jetboil but don't own one. I've owned and used the Whisperlight on a regular basis for twenty years now. I own a Pocket Rocket and carry it as a matter of course on short hunting trips.

I don't understand all you Pocket Rocket fans. Doesn't the wind blow where you people live? You can't safely use a windscreen on one of those sit-on-top butane stoves. You are creating a potential bomb when you do it. An MSR Windpro weighs a few ounces more, but has a windscreen that actually works. The added weight will be more than offset by the increased efficiency. Plus, in cold weather, you can invert the cannister on the Windpro. That's a bit hard to do on a Pocket Rocket.

The wind does blow, but I choose to not sit and just hangout in the wind when I am cooking/eating. Rather cook inside my tipi or bivy shelter. Or I also look to find protection from the terrain. If its blowing hard enough for wind to be an issue for running a stove outside I'll find a shelter cubby hole in the rocks or something to get out of it anyways while I am cooking. Just different strokes for different folks. I spend a fair bit of time backpacking in the field and have never felt handicapped with a canister "sit on top" style stove down to single digits. Below that my liquid fuel stove comes out anyways.

+1. I've never had any frustration with the pocket rocket and wind. The mountains I hunt offer plenty of places out of the wind.

There is now way I'm giving up my Snow Peak Lite Max.. Works like a dream.. Lite as a feather. And tough as hell.. Its perfect.

http://www.rei.com/product/768603/snow-peak-litemax-stove

Agree with Alaska Lanche and Calvin, I have no prob finding enough of a wind break. And, I have even tempted fate by using my Pocket Rocket above 10,000 ft and in the cold...

Come to windy, cold Montana. You'll quit your pocket rocket.

Up to a 4 day hunt, I'd go with a Jetboil Sol or Sol Ti. Blows all other canister stoves away.

I used my Soto/Jetboil combo against my buddies SOL Ti head to head for 10 days in Kodiak (its known for getting wind and cold from time to time ) and we both said they were pretty much equal is how fast they boiled.

Just like tents a lot has to do with where you select to use them and how you use them. I'd be hard pressed to go away from the Soto to the SOL Ti right away. Couldn't pan cook deer meat on the SOL Ti to save our lives but putting the pan on the Soto was no biggie as well as it actually can simmer a bit. I know you'd never buy a Jetboil to simmer or cook deer, but heck its nice to have the option to after 8 days of mountain house and looking at tasty backstraps on the meat pole with 3+ days to go.

When it's time to cook meat I go with a fire... but I agree, that's not always an option.

For a week long BP with boil only it's about impossible to beat the Jetboil Sol.

If I wanted a stove that was 35% heavier, less versatile, and with equal fuel consumption and boil times then sure I'd opt for the Jetboil SOL Ti as well.

Splitting hairs at this point though I realize...