Re-Blogged from my good friend, and my hunting partner for Wyoming 2018, from Thom’s site Trad Bow Safaris
Thom is writing these as he would write an email to me but posting as a blog post so that others might benefit from his research. Enjoy.
Hello Steve,
Well since my last letter/blog post I’ve had a bunch going on. I bought a house and started the move, and at the same time took several out-of-state business trips. One wiped out a fair bit of my bank account, and the other soaked up a lot of my time. Knowing our hunt is coming up I figured it best to re-prioritize my preparations accordingly.
Since my “one hour per day” preparation plan has been taking place mostly from hotel wifi, I’ve focused on buying a few small things I wouldn’t have to be home to sign for and building up knowledge I will need to tap into for later.
First up is my stove setup. You know I’ve got that wood burning Solo Stove Lite and the Pot 900 I planned to bring. I found out they released an Alcohol Burner that I can add into that and provide me a dual-fuel setup.
After I ordered the burner I did a ton of research on different fuels to burn and I purchased several to test myself. After lighting them all off fire steel and boiling water indoors, I think Everclear 190 proof is what I will carry for my fuel. I got a little light headed and had to air the house out with a few fuels, and some left a ton of soot on my pot. I am calculating approximately 18 ounces needed for 6 days in the back country for me. I have a 24 ounce stainless steel water container, I think that is what I will carry just to have a little extra fuel. Good thing in my deal is that I can drop back into wood sticks if needed and save us both fuel if we want to spend the time.
Next bit of research took me into pot cozies. I learned a ton and did some experimenting with these too. This could save us a ton of fuel. I assume you will be taking your Vargo Bot, why don’t you bring it up when you come to Michigan and we will build you a cozy for it as there is a significant amount of surplus in materials.
Once the cooking part was figured out, I started looking into food. You know with my diet I need to be very careful about things like Mountain House or MREs. I stumbled into a YouTube Channel where a guy prepares all sorts of things I can dehydrate and vacuum seal with the eqiupment I already have. I especially like his ground meat setup. My plan is to do a bunch of tests through Feb and Mar preparing lots of vegetables, meats, minute rice, and spices into single serving pouches and then rehydrating and eating them using my Solo setup. I will give you an update as I get these dialed in. Should be pennies on the dollar and plenty light and healthy.
Last thing food wise, you know I love my coffee in the morning. I fell in love with these in Africa and I ordered a bunch of unsweetened cappuccino packets to give a test run with. I can always drop back to Nescafe or VIA packets, but I might take some of these instead. Sometimes when it’s extra crappy out, a little comfort like these can go a long way for morale.
Feb 22 we get our draw results for bucks and bulls, I’m crossing my fingers for us! Will get you another update as I finish my move and make progress on my pack and arrow setup.
Thom
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