Hunting Nutrition: Field Food, Cold-Weather Hydration and Supplements

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Ten o’clock in the stand, the sun finally on your back, and the sandwich in your pocket is the best thing you’ve ever eaten. Or it’s day four of an elk hunt, you’re climbing out of a drainage at 9,000 feet, and you realize you haven’t eaten since breakfast. Food and water on a hunt don’t need to be complicated, but they do matter: they keep you warm, keep your legs going and keep your head clear for good decisions. This page covers hunting nutrition for long days, hydration in the cold, and an honest look at supplements. Short version: real food, eaten often, plenty of water, and very few pills.

General information, not medical or dietary advice. If you have diabetes, heart disease or another condition, or take medicines, talk to your doctor or a registered dietitian. Back to the hunting hub.

How much energy a hunt takes

Hunting covers the whole range. The Compendium of Physical Activities rates sitting in a stand with limited walking at about 2.5 METs (multiples of resting energy use), general hunting at 5.0, big-game hunting at 6.0, hiking with hunting gear at 9.5 and dragging a large carcass at 9.8. So a whitetail sit near the truck needs little more than normal meals, while a backcountry elk or sheep hunt can burn as much as a long day of backpacking. The cold adds to it: shivering and staying warm cost energy, and food is fuel for both.

Field nutrition for long days

Sports nutrition guidelines from the American College of Sports Medicine and sports dietitians scale carbohydrate to how active you are, from about 5 to 7 grams per kg of body weight a day for a moderate training day up to 6 to 10 g/kg for 1 to 3 hours of hard work, with protein around 1.2 to 2.0 g/kg a day. You don’t need to count grams on a hunt. The practical version:

• Breakfast before you go, even very early. The guidelines suggest a meal one to four hours before long exercise; oatmeal, eggs and toast, or a breakfast burrito made the night before.
• Small snacks every hour or two rather than one big lunch: trail mix, nuts, jerky, cheese, tortillas with peanut butter, granola or energy bars, dried fruit, chocolate. Choose things that don’t freeze solid and that you can open quietly with gloves on.
• Something hot helps in the cold: soup or chili in an insulated jar, or a hot drink at midday.
• A real dinner with protein and carbohydrate if you’re going out again tomorrow (see hunting recovery).
• Calorie-dense food for backpack hunts: fat has more than twice the calories per gram of carbohydrate or protein, so nuts, nut butters, olive oil and cheese earn their weight. Freeze-dried meals and tortillas pack well.

Altitude is the exception to “eat when hungry”: the CDC lists loss of appetite among the symptoms of acute mountain sickness, so on high hunts it helps to snack on a schedule. If appetite goes and a headache gets worse, that’s a reason to go down, not to push on (see hunting fitness on altitude).

Hydration in the cold

The cold fools you. In a lab study, cold exposure reduced the feeling of thirst by up to 40%, whether people started out well hydrated or already dehydrated. Meanwhile you lose water sweating on the walk in, breathing cold dry air and, on mountain hunts, working hard at altitude. So:

• Drink on a schedule, a few mouthfuls every time you stop, not only when you’re thirsty.
• Keep water from freezing: carry it inside your pack or jacket, and use an insulated bottle. Warm drinks from a THERMOS Stainless King are easier to sip in the cold.
• Add some salt on long, sweaty days: salty snacks or an electrolyte tablet or mix in one bottle. The National Athletic Trainers’ Association notes sodium matters most for heavy or salty sweaters.
• Treat backcountry water. The CDC says boiling is the most reliable method (one minute, or three minutes above 6,500 feet), and a filter with an absolute pore size of 1 micron or smaller removes parasites like Giardia but not viruses. A light filter like the Sawyer Squeeze is common on backpack hunts.
• Watch your pee: dark and rare means drink more.
• Skip the flask. The CDC warns alcohol raises the risk of hypothermia. Coffee and tea are fine in normal amounts.

Supplements: the honest version

Most hunters don’t need any supplements to hunt well. The International Olympic Committee’s consensus statement on supplements says that a few products have good evidence for some athletes in some situations, that food comes first, and that contamination is a real risk; a UEFA expert group found that about 15% of 634 supplements tested in 13 countries contained undeclared prohormones. Supplements are not approved for safety or effectiveness by the FDA before they’re sold. If you do use something, pick products that are third-party tested (NSF Certified for Sport or Informed Sport/Choice), follow the label, and check with a doctor if you have a heart condition, high blood pressure, are pregnant or take medicines.

• Electrolytes: useful on long, sweaty days; see the products above and our electrolyte guide.
• Protein powder: convenient for camp breakfasts if real food is hard to carry; a third-party tested option like Thorne Whey Protein Isolate (NSF Certified for Sport, 21 g protein per serving). Compare more in best protein powder.
• Caffeine: coffee is part of every hunting camp. Be careful with energy drinks and pills on top: they add up fast, aren’t for everyone (heart conditions, high blood pressure, pregnancy), and the American Academy of Pediatrics says energy drinks have no place in the diets of children and teens.
• Anything promising “stamina”, “fat burning” or “testosterone”: skip it.

For more detail on what athletes eat, see our hiking nutrition page (similar long days) and soccer nutrition for the supplement science. Plan your snacks and water with the hunt day checklist.

Hunting nutrition: FAQs

What are good snacks for a day in the stand?

Quiet, easy-to-open food that doesn’t freeze: trail mix, nuts, jerky, cheese, granola or energy bars, peanut butter tortillas and dried fruit. Eat a little every hour or two, and bring a hot drink or soup in an insulated bottle or jar.

How much water should I drink while hunting in the cold?

There’s no single number; it depends on effort, weather and body size. Because the cold blunts thirst (by up to 40% in one study), drink on a schedule and watch your urine color. Long, sweaty days need more, plus some salt.

How many calories do I need on an elk hunt?

It varies a lot with body size, terrain and pack weight, so we won’t give a number. Hiking with hunting gear is rated at 9.5 METs, higher than the 7.0 the Compendium gives general backpacking, so expect to eat noticeably more than at home and pack calorie-dense food.

Do hunters need supplements?

Usually not. Real food and water cover nearly every hunt. Electrolytes help on long sweaty days and protein powder can be convenient in camp; choose third-party tested products and talk to a doctor or dietitian if you have health conditions.