Running Out Of Food

[Wandering Daisy]

My brother and I would always pack one pound each of dry dog food as emergency rations.
Reuben

LOL. I used to carry a 30-pound of dry dog food in the trunk of my car (along with all camping gear needed for warmth) during the winter when I lived in Wyoming. Also served as weight in the trunk to add traction to the back wheels. I think dog food is more of a psychological placebo, since one pound would not likely make much survival difference for two people. But it sure will determine which begging backpacker is truely starving! My youngest daughter teethed on pupply chow - it was her first solid food. Did not seem to do any harm- now that she is grown up, she does not bark either.

[Harlen]

Daisy wrote:

My youngest daughter teethed on pupply chow - it was her first solid food. Did not seem to do any harm.

You were real poor eh? We are poor too. Lizzie wants to know what brand your daughter ate, and if Puppychow is suitable for teenagers. She's afraid rlown is going to report us for eating to much roadkill, so we need a new staple.

[rlown]

I only report for very egregious errors when method of take is violated. For instance, when some other party comes into a shared duck blind late and gets too close. That report changed the rules at one refuge. Remember, we're all armed in that situation.

I'll add this: https://californiaoutdoorsqas.com/2008/ ... -roadkill/

[Wandering Daisy]

Oh, we ate roadkill too (no joke). Poor by choice back then. Remember the 70's back to earth/nature movement? See how long you can live without a real job. No season or limits on coot and carp, so we ate that too. Seriously, hunting, fishing, gardens and cheap bulk flour from the local mills what kept us alive. Even tried rattlesnake- too much work for what little you get. Some friends were much more committed than us, they actually homesteaded in the Northwest Territories.

The puppy chow was the generic local sold at Farmers CoOp. Did you see that scene in the movie "Prince of Tides" where the wife fed her husband dog food with a lot of tabasco, and he said it was the best meal she ever cooked. Just do the puppy chow for your teens with a lot of cheese and tabasco on it. Not sure if the dog food would actually be better than some of the FD meals out there.

[Harlen]

What if we start calling it "wild-harvested venison?" Might DFG ignore that Russ? Seriously, we need a new name for it anyway. Many of our friends will turn their noses up, and avoid our dinner parties that feature "roadkill." What's wrong with them?!

As a more serious point, there is a good purpose for removing animal bodies from the roadways. If the animal is alive (a few dogs, and one barn owl) then they go straight to the vet or bird rehab. center, and if dead, at least they will no longer attract scavenger species to their subsequent doom. Who hasn't seen "bicatch" dead alongside the original deer? Raccoons, skunks, fox, coyote, and possibly even mountain lion will scavenge fresh dead meat. In Australia it is considered a responsible action to stop for dead "roos," wallabys and wombats to drag them from the road. They are road hazards for vehicles, and ecologically, roadkill left on the road leads to more death- there, it is often the great wedge-tailed eagles that are killed. Such a giant eagle cannot always take off in time to avoid cars.

[Cloudy]

The target of the mooch is not always a truely "consenting" party. There is an obligation to help out a fellow backpacker if he REALLY needs it. Since I seldom go back with extra food, this puts me in a bind. Giving any away is a sacrafice on my part, perhaps I will have to cut my own trip short. A "moral" mooch would word this clearly as an option, for example, "if you have any extra food you do not want to lug around, I would be willing to take it off your hands - if not that's totally OK." There needs to be NO pressure, overt or implied. Mooching is an art, if done well. I really think it is better if the person with too much makes the offer.

I agree with this. I am ALWAYS willing to help someone else out IF they truly need it regardless of the consequences to me. I always end up with some extra food anyway because of the fact that I usually get altitude sickness for the first day or two and never regain my appetite regardless of how long the trip lasts (13 days has been the longest so far). This makes elaborate meals rather pointless so I don't eat very much and trips are an exercise (literally) in weight loss for me.

[richlong8]

One nine day trip, I cut it too close, and nursed 1/2 a Cliff bar, and 2 pieces of jerkey on the last day, 15 miles out to the trailhead. Was I thinking of food I was going to eat when I reached civilization? You bet! Now, I seem to be gravitating to the other extreme, having way too much food left over.

[longri]

My brother and I would always pack one pound each of dry dog food as emergency rations.
Reuben

LOL. I used to carry a 30-pound of dry dog food in the trunk of my car (along with all camping gear needed for warmth) during the winter when I lived in Wyoming.

Dog food! That's too funny. There is plenty of backpacking food that is retch-inducing without having to resort to that. Sheesh, even cat food would be a better choice.

I knew a guy who carried a bar of condensed mince meat pie filling as emergency food. I know because I was with him once and suffering for lack of food. That condensed filling is an excellent source of carbohydrates. It's basically like an energy bar but with a whole lot of cloves added. It perked me right up but I tasted cloves for a couple of days afterward. There's no way I'd eat it for fun. But it's still way better than dog food.

[bobby49]

Carry a Kendal Mint Cake. The theory is that you will never run out of food as long as you have a Kendal Mint Cake. That is partly because you can never force yourself to eat it.

[longri]

"Kendal Mint Cake"

I had to look that one up. It's basically the same thing as the condensed mince meat bar. Lots of sugar but "denatured" with some sort of powerful, overwhelming flavor.

But both suffer from one flaw. They are kind of low in terms of calorie density at just 3 Cal/g. You can do better and still have something that will pick you up when needed but is unlikely to tempt you to eat in any other circumstance.

I nominate pretty much any flavor of Clif bar as emergency food. It's closer to 4 Cal/g and completely unappealing; vomitous, even. In fact, I think I'd be more tempted by cat food, especially the fancy kind.