Backcountry Nutrition for Women Hunters: How Many Calories Do You Need to Hunt Elk?

Okay.

So I'm a hunter, a female hunter in the backcountry.

I'm covering 7 to 10 miles per day, going up and down the mountains, chasing elk.

How do I calculate, how many calories do I need? How much fuel? What does that look like?

Yeah, a valid question.

So for me, just so you guys know what I'm calculating it, I am about 150 pounds, 20-pound pack.

We cover about seven miles a day, elevations between your 7,500 to 10,000.

I'm typically burning between 2,500 and 3,000 calories.

That's probably also what you're burning if you have everything on your back and you are just chasing the elk where they go.

Guess your full expenditure is about 3,000 calories a day, which is a lot.

Now, if you're packing out, just increase that.

Just eat everything in your pack that you can possibly find, right? Fuel.

And go grab a cheeseburger afterwards.

[laughs]

Exactly, guys.

A couple things that are really interesting data for those data number people.

On average, you burn about 160 calories per mile.

For every 1,000 feet of elevation gain on top of it, add another 100 to 250 per mile, depending on just the level, right? The less oxygen in the air, so if you are hunting in Colorado or Montana or Idaho in that higher elevation, the less oxygen in the air, the less efficient you are at burning calories, right? So assume another 5 to 10% increase in calories, and that's why those numbers are so high.

Now, most people are gonna underestimate this.

I know it blows our minds, right? If you're only eating 1,800 to 2,200 calories a day, you are digging yourself a hole.

One day is fine.

Yeah, two days, you'll be fine.

Three days, four days, energy, your recovery, the morale, your decision-making is gonna start to go.

And guys, the first thing your body is going to break down as fuel is your muscle.

It is not going straight to fat, ladies.