How do you guys handle not getting too ripe while on extended hunts? I've been on a few, and when you wake up and your water bottle is frozen and your in a little tent, it's hard to summon the motivation to wash up in a freezing cold creek. There aint enough meat on my little guy, and I don't want him freezing solid, breaking off, and floating down the creek!

After two days I'm craving a shower, and after several more, I can't stand the smell of myself. I had no idea feet could smell so damn bad. I've tried baby wipes, which seems to only delay the inevitable. Seems like only soap and water really works.

Is this inevitable, or have any of you found a system or routine that works while out there a couple of weeks? I'm interested in all opinions (not just gunwriters), but thought JB might have some good advice given his time in the field.

Anyone besides me wondering about this one...

Dober

Baby wipes will do for a few days, but soap and water become necessary eventually. If the weather's cold I just make sure there's some metal container in camp that can be filled with water and heated up.

When I'm camping in below-freezing weather I'm often in a wall tent with wood stove. It's easy to heat a panful of water on top of the stove. If the weather's a little warmer one of the solar showers is a good deal. These can be filled with warm water even if the sun's not out.

Yep, I'm thinkin' we'll just wait and let JB "handle" this one........






Ingwe


Oops...too late!

Last Season Alaska - 25 days in the bush, 3 Dall Sheep hunts.
1 Shower after 20 days.

I pretty much stayed upwind of myself those last couple of days.

Baby wipes help keep the peace with the tent sharing client.

Tramp bath.

i brush my teeth daily and change socks every couple days.

That is why I never back pack.I always stay in a bigger tent that I can stand up in.I don't like to stink and won't tolerate others that do.
Warmer hunts, I setup a shower tent. I fixed up a 5 gal gardens prayer with spray nozzle you see in kitchens, and take a shower every other day or so.Colder weather,I heat water and sponge bath from a basin

Wet Ones work pretty well for me for a week or so. Then applying dry powders such as Gold Bond for the feet and crotch, and stick deodorant and baby powder under arms help.

When in a wall tent as JB mentioned, just stip down and give yourself a sponge bath with warm water and soap--- makes you feel just like new again. Of course some modesty by doing this while others are out is usually appreciated.
JMHO
Tim

Baby wipes and gold bond powder, feet and crotch. Got me thru the first 16 days of the war in '03.

I went to a gun show last week and some of the people there smelled a lot riper than anyone I ever hunted with even after 10 days in elk camp.

Dude,

I live out of a backpack for months at a time while overseas. Just wash your nasty butt, brush your teeth, change your socks and underwear. Crotch and foot rot is no joke. You will stay healthier in the field longer and perform better.

Hot or cold, suck it up and pull a little preventative maintenance.

Cheers

I'll run this gauntlet.

If I need a soap and water scrub bad enough in a back pack type hunt, I use a pop top drinking water bottle filled with warm water as the key to my system. In cold weather, I uncover only the portion I am scrubbing at the momment. Wet and soap a cloth, scrub and rinse off with squirts from the squeeze bottle of warm water where possible. Rinse the soapy cloth and use it to rinse off as neccessary. Then towel dry and reclothe that part of the bod again before proceeding to the next section.

In a snowstorm in Idaho once I washed remarkably well and completely with one liter of water. It is amazing how little water it takes if you put it right where most needed.

Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

There are some things, though, that call for backpacks.
Not that I have not wished for a mule at times.

Gotta agree with the foot/crotch maintenance.
Can be 'interesting' to do in very cold conditions, but I feel sooo much better after I clean up!!

Baby wipes..the unscented kind. If they freeze up put them in the bottom of your sleeping bag at nite. A small pack of them in your pack makes for a pretty good "wipe" and keeps things from getting totaly out of control. Of course sometimes it's just good to get really rank!

LC

On a summer hunt, I make a hot water shower.

In winter, I make ... motel reservations.

Three to 5 gallons of water heated on the wood stove.

Yeah foot powder on both feet and crotch is a key to my system as well, I left it off. Baby wipes, even unscented tend to make things worse over time, giving you a really disasterous odor. I use scentlock clothes when I'm around other peeople as a courtesy, I have no delusions that it helps the hunting...

Depends on what I'm doing and where. Have gone skinny dipping many times when the day is warmest. Like has been said, you must keep up the feet and both sides of the butt.
If it's really cold, I go with OK's system. Do a half at a time, and preheat the water.
I insist on doing not only the crotch, and feet, but the pitts and my neck as well.
All in all, the best way to do an extended hunt in really cold werather, like Montana's elk season, is to camp out in a fully equipped RV. A hot shower every night, hot food at breakfast and dinner, and sleeping in clean sheets at night.
Just make sure you get one with a built in generator and has a forced air system that keeps the pipes and holding tanks from freezing. I use a Lance truck camper to this. E

I once dated a girl that didn't have much hygiene in the bush. Whew, won't do that again.

Shaving the bush is much more condusive to good hygiene.

We carry a couple of the wash rags in foil packs, heat them over the pocket rocket stove and wash away.
I often carry stuff thats a bit hard to find these days, I forget where i got it last, but one thing is a clear crystal type stone that is good deodorant and another is a thick paste that you dab(don't wipe or smear) on and lasts for days at at time, even in TX heat if needed. And you wash up with that on and it works more...

But after 4-5 days heated up wipes don't cut it and its like the others said, I try to find and out of the weather place if in a small tent, IE like a ravine/creek etc... and just wash the top off really well, then the bottom and put new clothes on. I have not tried the waterless shampoo yet, but just do a quick shampoo as is. You can clean pretty quick and the last big hunt I did it on, it was below zero when I bathed and was not bad at all as long as you are out of the wind.

I have not thought of a squeeze type bottle of warm water but I'll be searching for the best shortly now that I read that.

We try to not carry much along on backpack hunts but if you keep the crotch clean and swap underwear every other day you are doing good, swap to clean I mean, thats not much extra weight, and we swap liner socks for new ones every day, and swap the outer socks back and forth every other day, letting one pair air out, even if it has to "air" in the sleeping bag...

Works for us.

Jeff

Well I use gold bond powder a lot, and in winter I wipe down with rubbing alcohol, its not perfect, but it works in Cold weather well enough, I can go 50 days this way if need be. Nothing like a hot shower thou. It becomes a problem when you carry all your stuff on your back. I once used a sort of tub on a hunt once, heated up 5 gallons of water, stood in it and gave myself a sort of bath, Got cold never the less, took all night just to warm up. Some of the things I would do to collect an Elk. Now a Lance truck Camper makes a lot of sense as I get older.

I was at a bar and this girl was wearin' scentlock and I thought you know, she's probably alright. no. she wasn't- I mean if you wanted to dip copenhagen and share a tent with another stinky hunter- she was aces. BUT... bush or no bush- hygene becomes pretty critical at a point

yeah...agreed on all points. especially the girl part. lol

Has anyone tried rubbing down with the mineral salt deodorants?

Is this thread for real? Seems like an extension of the men are turning into wussies thread.

Keep your crotch and feet clean and dry, and live with the stench. Your diet has a big effect on how much you stink, so consider what you are eating. Making a sweat logdge and having water to rinse off in would be the ticket.

Our main elk camp in Idaho has a hot spring so we run a pipe line to three bathtubs stair stepped made of 55 gal. barrels, and put a wall tent and wood stove over them..the hot water runs in one side and out the other back into the hot spring..Ingenious if I do say so myself, a good soak, a ceegar, and a some sipp'en whiskey and your ready for a good meal and a good nights sleep..

In Africa of course with have flush toilets, hot showers and sinks with mirrows in every tent, electric lights, those bloody Africaners know how to camp, no doubt about that, but wheres the air conditioning?..

I am always camped by a creek and use it..Keeps the blood running.Warm up a soup(small) pan or two and soap up with one and rinse with the other.Doesn't take all that much water to wash the important places...

I do use creek safe soaps when bathing in the creek..Dr Bronners Peppermint in the summer which is one hell of a skeeter and tick repellent in itself.

Jayco

Baby wipes work well. I bring them into my sleeping bag about 5 minutes before getting up so they'll warm up some. Cold wipes are no more confortable than a cold shower!

Once, at the local Farmer's Union Oil Station, a group of farmers were talking about whether they carried toilet paper,paper towels, or what when out all day in the field. An old farmer (in jest) said he just used a flat rock. It didn't clean you up so well, he said, but it spread it thin enough so it dried fast. He brought the house down with that one.

There is a shower in a bag you an get from some medical supply providers. We have them in the hospital.

Baby wipes.

A cigar will cover up a lot of odor, and some sipp'en whiskey can make me not care about the odor.

I'm curious, how much scent can scent lock clothing contain?

Heat water on stove for a quick wash each evening, feet etc. Dry socks daily, change underwear every six days, turn inside out on third day!

Ya really don't smell worse than some of the critters ya hunt esp bears!

That shower when I get home sure feels good the first hour or so.

Whore's bath. I use a wet rag and I clean my face first than neck, pits, junk and finally feet. Rag always gets washed before re-use.

Powder feet and junk and I'm good for a few more days.

Baby wipes suck, I can't stand them except for at meal time.

That's me-a wuss I guess . In AK I stand nekked in a stream turning blue with skeeters chewing on me and rifle at ready. In bush, a shower bag and/or a very large version of Baby Wipes-not comfortable 'till clean at the end of each day if at all possible and I make as sure as I can it is.

I like to carry those sponge pan scrubbers as the green plastic scrubby side is good for removing ingrained muck...

For warm water, I used to use a metal water bottle as it could be heated directly over a flame and was a lot easier to use than the issue mess tins..

One trick that used to be popular with some of the old sweats was to wash their feet, crotch and pits ect with the still warm dregs out of the tea earn (sans milk and sugar of course)..Usually this was black and strong as the industrial size tea bags would still be in the bottom of the earn..

The reason given was that strong black tea was actually an antispectic/anti bacterial due to the tanin content..I've seen it used for wet shaving too..

I can't stand the dried sweat and stench after a week. I've showered in zero temps - its simple if you're not backpacking.

I use the wipes for a few days, then take some form of water based "shower" on day 3. I've used my sunshower, filled with stove heated water many times. 3 gallons will get 2 guys done if they don't dally. Have also done the douche cleanup using a pan of hot water. I can live with the smell much better than I can crawl into a sleeping bag all sticky from hiking all over the mountain during the day. You can cover stench, sticky dried sweat is a whole nother issue.

BTW: I've showered outside at 20 degrees and bathed in Canadian waters in May. You don't dally under those conditions.

A very wise man indeed!!!

I have reached the point where I ran and jumped in the lake or creek, rolled once came out at a dead run for the heated tent, it ain't that bad, but it ain't good either!

458 Lott, didn't yo mama teach you that cleanlyness is next to Godleyness? :)or to come in outa the rain, and things like that?? :):):)

I have reached the point where I ran and jumped in the lake or creek, rolled once came out at a dead run for the heated tent, it ain't that bad, but it ain't good either!

458 Lott, didn't yo mama teach you that cleanlyness is next to Godleyness? :)or to come in outa the rain, and things like that?? :):):)

But I never drink the water in Mexico, and I never jump in the African rivers!

Been there, done that crap. At age 68 I want my hot shower, warm bed, hot meal and a good bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon at the end of the day. The last really big elk I killed was taken right at dark after a long hard day of hunting. It was near midnight before my brother and I reached the truck. The only thing that kept me going was the hot shower and warm bed waiting for me.

Lot's of good advice. I appreciate the responses!

In our camp we all agree to change underwear daily. I trade with Al, Al exchanges with Mike, Mike passes off to Harv, Harv changes with Clem...
"Hi Gene" is what we say when Gene arrives with fresh undies.

Shucks, if the weather is decent at all, there are many options to wash up if there are any creeks etc. My earlier comment was for those difficult-to-bathe situations such as hunting elk hard in steep country out of a spike camp during a week long snowfall.

I've camped three nights, then gone to a motel for one, back to camping, etc. Big truck stops have showers & towels etc. at low cost, wonderful place to stop on the way home from a long hunt in the bush. Lussier hot springs off a logging road in BC has been a favorite for my elk hunting partners and for me. I love it when snow is falling. Haven't been there in years and I have heard that they have "improved" the natural springs a lot.

Ahhhhh, after three days in deer camp, there is nothing like the essence of the hunting croo.........Hot soappy face cloth, and.... O hell,you guys are oversharing.

That's what we do when hunt around the Hinton AB area. Three-four days in the bush then a supply run to town including a stop at the truck stop for a shower and maybe a bowl of tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich.

scent lock will keep in enough of your stench to keep your buddies off your back. or to worry less about wind IF YOU ARE STAND HUNTING WHITEAILS AND HAVE HAD A SHOWER. I honestly dont mess with it anymore really because on my backsatchelhunts I want lighter warmth, so it only gets used on day trips or overnighters.

I really prefer this way, hot shower, dry bed, air & heat...Got tired of tents long ago.

I use wipes for 2 or 3 days, but then it's time to heat some water and get clean. That's about the limit for the scalp too. To wash the scalp/hair, I stand in a depression and let a partner drizzle hot water on my head to wet and rinse. It doesn't take a lot of water to shampoo really good if the water is hot and the drizzle is slow. Maybe a gallon.

By the way, don't put your dirty wipes in the fire, or wrappers or pop bottles or cigarette butts or anything else other than wood. It smells nasty, and somebody might want to roast a piece of meat on that fire. Thank you.

-

Some have mentioned a clear or white stone deodorant. Probably an Alum stone, I have used this or the commercial unscented deodorants with Alum and they do help. Only problems is after a couple of days you get a crystalline buildup and the pits feel like they are covered in sand paper.

At this point any kind of shower is welcome, so it acts as a motivator to wash regardless of the conveniences available.

Ray, this wouldn't be you, would it?

Some of the best examples of hygienic bush that I know of can be found at the Great Alaska Bush Company in Anchorage, Alaska.

I can personally vouch for and reccomend highly 2 of those specimens.

Wet wipes + occasional whores bath with a quart of hot water + shampoo with snow kept me from getting too rank while above snowline for a couple weeks in temps that would get up to 25 degrees during the day.

Scott

Wet wipes and some round scrubby things that already contain soap. They are dry but when you apply water it gets sudsy. My wife uses them to remove make up I use them to make up with the wife from a hunt.

Plenty of Goldbond or Monkey Butt powder.

When I was stationed in Ft Hood, TX many years ago,
we would often have field exercises lasting 30-90 days.
Anyone not taking care of hygiene would catch heck from
the platoon sargeants. I could take a good shower in less
than a minute. Brushing your teeth made you feel like
a new man.

I spent 3 yrs living in a tent in N. WI in the winter I'd stretch a rope near the fire and hang a sleeping bag from it to the ground. Stand between tthe bag and the fire and bath with hot water from the kettle on the fire. Keep turning every few min. and stayed pretty warm and clean. Summers the lake was my bath tub.

Spent a summer logging in WY out of a tent camp, tried bathing in the trout stream, that's when I started useing the sleeping bag/blanket and fire. That trout stream was cold but the trout were good eating.

erich

for 2-3 days, in cooler weather, i don't need much except enough water to wet my face and hair and to brush my teeth...

for longer i carry a pair of pint squeezable water bottles... i also have a 3rd bottle cap with 3 small holes drilled in it to turn them into a hand held shower...

if i'm not too grubby, i can clean up with one bottle... unless you've got a bunch of hair a little dab of biodegradable shampoo will degrease you enough to feel better...

i sometimes let too much time go by before i see my barber, but if i'm going to be out where i can't shower regularly i get sheared pretty close before i go...

i wear synthetic drawers and wool socks, and i change daily... socks sometimes 2-3 times daily just because it helps my feet feel better...
the socks and drawers both clean up easily and dry quickly...

Yup, you guys are definitely oversharing............

Dr. Scholls Shoe Shots foot powder is a wonderful product. It comes in a bottle with a goose neck so you can "shoot" it into the toe of your shoes. The powder is extra-strength with corn starch and absolutely keeps the stench down.

The best underarm deodorant I've found is Arm-N-Hammer stick. Of course it has baking soda in it. Even the unscented variety works well for a couple days.

Maybe the guys that are uncomfortable with this thread are a bit insecure.

-

Zodi showers are the bomb.....I can shower with less than a gallon of water. And it's as hot as you want it to be.

Definitely baby wipes and use X SCENT http://www.bkkenterprises.com/xscent_products.htm and ScentLok for the hunt!

I call this my "sink station." It's for brushing my teeth and washing my face and hands at camp. Poke a hole in the bottom of the 2-liter bottle and adjust water flow via turning the lid.

I've found the NoRinse products work very well. They were developed shortly after WWII for bedridden hospital patients. There are two products. No Rinse shampoo works by just squirting the stuff into your hair and then working it up into a lather, then like the name implies you just towel your head dry. It works. The body rinse is a little more difficutlt but basically works the same. You put an ounce or two of the stuff in a quart of water, I try to make sure it's warm water. Then with a wash cloth, wash everything that needs washing and towel dry. It works too. I used it on an extended trip to Alaska and it worked great. They sent me a case of each product almost 20 years ago and I've used it ever since. I wish I got money from any of you who give it a try, but I don't. You can get it at REI and Sportsman's Warehouse. This stuff goes on all my backcountry trips. CH

Dr Bronner's liquid soap, squirt a little on a washrag wet with hot water, then scrub yourself piece by piece. No rinsing required, the peppermint makes you smell and feel clean!

Tents aren't so bad if they're set up right. I haven't found staying clean to be a problem when I've hunted in South Africa.


The client accommodations:




The facilities in the rear of the tent with cold and hot water for the sink and shower stall:




The water heater in camp that provided hot water to the tents for the sink and shower:




And the food wasn't bad either! Bushpig hash on the left:




Our camp hostess was gracious and charming:




Also, laundry was done daily with ironed and folded clothes waiting on the bed in the evening. Fresh towels every evening in the tent bathrooms.

Nothing like "roughing it" out in the Bushveld!!

Cheers!
-Bob F.

On the couple of backpack hunts I've done in cold weather, I just used baby wipes and powder, changed socks and underwear every day. I backpack in for a high buck hunt every Sept. but the weather is warm enough then for a sponge bath at a creek.
Most of the hunts any more I bring my camper so I have a hot shower every night. I've hauled my camper all over the west, including AK a couple times.
This was my camp in Alaska for 10 days.

Loaded ready to head out.