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