Potable water while sheep hunting bottles or water filter?

[V45 sabre]

Wondering what people's thoughts are on what filtration system to buy or if people try to bring enough drinking water with them.

[Full Curl Earl]

Can't carry enough water unless your doing a one day hunt. You need water for dehydrated food as well as drinking. I use Katydyn(?) pump, and have for years, but the water filter game has come a long way since I purchased mine.

[cowboyhunter]

Never have used a filtration system in the mountains. I think that there is no better water on the planet than mountain water . Lots of people do use something like pills or filters , simplest and lightest the best.

[elkhunter1234]

I must be old school, can't say as I've ever pack water on a sheep hunt, just an empty 1 liter pop bottle and keep it full with good clean mountain water.

Jim..

[guywiththemule]

Originally Posted by elkhunter1234

I must be old school, can't say as I've ever pack water on a sheep hunt, just an empty 1 liter pop bottle and keep it full with good clean mountain water.

Jim..

Yep same here. 46 years chasing big horns and no water packed, but maybe another liquid or two !

[elkhunter11]

I have never packed water or used a filter on a sheep hunt. Good drinking water is always easy to find where I hunt.

[Luckwell]

Usually I am straight into the platypus bag from the creek. I used to pack a MSR filter. Not sure why. Anyone want to buy and MSR filter? Ha


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[Remi3006]

You could throw one of those survival straws in your bag. I haven't used one, but they are light and compact... Couldn't hurt to have it in your bag. Good luck and play safe!

[sillyak]

Most fast flowing mountain water is safe to drink untreated. I've never had a problem. I do pack tablets though in case I need to use a source I am skeptical about for some reason. The ones I have have no taste (seriously, zero taste) and essentially weigh nothing. Enough tablets for 50 liters weigh 0.2 ounce. Why would anyone take a filter?

The only place a filter is useful is if you need to suck out of a seep that is not deep enough to dip a bottle into.

If you know the water sources in an area and you know you will be close, carry as little water as possible. Water is heavy!

[Lr1000]

Get beaver fever once and you'll clean your water. I got it bad 3 days into a 10 day hunt. I was literally ****ting every 10 mins. Even through the night in the rain. Not a fun 7 days and 20km pack out..... I use a gravity feed water system or tablets.

[bdub]

I went to a Steripen in the last few years. Used to either filter or boil water previously. Up high you probably don't need to worry to much about the water, in those high basins where the water is coming out of the ground close by type thing. I will drink the water untreated in places like this. If you are travelling up a low valley during your sheep hunt where there is horse, moose, elk and probably people crap getting into the creek water is where I worry the most. Speaking from experience I can tell you that beaver fever is a bad deal that is not worth the risk for me. Been there done that. Steripen or a filter, well worth the weight and effort imo.

[nimrod]

I use my jet boil to purify my water, I carry 2 or 3 a very light metal bottle, pure hot water in bottle at night, cold in the morning, hot water bottle if you need it also at night.

I use a 1.8 lt titanium jet boil to get hot water for, meals, drink and wash up, always extra for the hot water bottle, you can't beat a trickle off a snow drift for clean water where ever you find it, though

[Battle Rat]

Originally Posted by Lr1000

Get beaver fever once and you'll clean your water. I got it bad 3 days into a 10 day hunt. I was literally ****ting every 10 mins. Even through the night in the rain. Not a fun 7 days and 20km pack out..... I use a gravity feed water system or tablets.

This.
Not worth screwing up a hunt for the weight of a filter.
Happened to a buddy of mine too.

[calgarychef]

I use a filter when I'm down low, it helps to get the crud out of the water. A steripen is a great option though and I treat all my water. Friend of mine got Gardia and hem was messed up for a long time.

[albertabighorn]

Originally Posted by Full Curl Earl

Can't carry enough water unless your doing a one day hunt. You need water for dehydrated food as well as drinking. I use Katydyn(?) pump, and have for years, but the water filter game has come a long way since I purchased mine.

X2 no bever fever for me. I know of a few people who have had it.

[teledogs]

I got giardia once high in the alpine... I carry little water but I do carry a filter and use it as I need water. Most filters are less weight than a bottle of water anyways.

If there are any animals upstream of where you drink then you have a chance of getting it. Usually kicks in after you are home unless your trip is longer.

[BackPackHunter]

90% of the time I don't filter, the pills kills what's in the water but you still drink it ,
This is what's in my pack

https://sawyer.com/products/sawyer-mini-filter/


With the rains and high waters we have been having , I'd be filtering the water in the valleys .

[Jayhad]

if using a filter be aware that most filters are garbage if you let them freeze. the filtering material cracks and allows all the watery goodness to flow through with out being filtered.

Pills are pretty fool proof

[Mateo]

The latest and greatest for water treatment where the water is clear and tastes fine is the special blue light. You can get water bottles with the light in the lid. Fill it up, hit the light button, wait a minute, then drink away. I have a light want that just a bit smaller than the life straw or steri-pen. I can put it in any bottle or bag and turn it on. It's the same technology used it waste treatment plants. It's worked wonders in Africa. You can do thousands of litres on a single charge.

[nekred]

When I was always outdoors working I drank from many clean streams, unfiltered and I believe I built up a resistance.

One day my work partner drank from a stream (I had full water bladder from an earlier stream) I thought might have been iffy and almost ended up packing him out when he got giardia as he was so dehydrated and wore out from the explosive diarrhea. On the way out he basically tied his coat around himself like a kilt because there was no warning or time. It took himn almost a year to recover and get his bowels working right again...

Now that I have been citified and drinking city water that is completely sterile because of the chlorine/fluorine, my system has zero resistance so I use pills or boil water only now. I drank from clear mountain lakes and end up with the skits.

[mgvande]

Sawyer filter. It's like an once and the size of 2 d batteries. Don't let it freeze.

[Jeron Kahyar]

I Cary a filter myself. No sense in risking giardia. Most streams high in the mountains likely are safe (I have tested a number of them over the years) but a filter is worth the weight.

[fast_pass88]

I wish i had got beaver feaver already, I'm pretty sure once you've had it once you can't get it again, similar to chicken pox. then I'd never have to carry a filter!

I use a steri pen. Filters are no good, you have to have a very fine micron filter to get out giardia (most filter's aren't that fine) and you generally don't need to filter it to get clean water. I always just keep an extra battery for the steri pen and it works great

[jaked2ca]

I use the platypus gravity works 4.0L system as I typically backpack in small groups alot during the summer to get in shape. I have to say the gravity works system is slick. No pumping, just scoop up your 4 liters and in 3-6 mins you've got 4 liters of water. Even boiled water one night and hung it for an impromptu shower.

If I had the choice again I would buy the smaller 2.0L system they make now for sake of weight/pack space.

[IronNoggin]

Originally Posted by Lr1000

Get beaver fever once and you'll clean your water.

Got Giardia & Cryptosporidium at the same time. This from a clear, free-running high mountain stream which was spring fed. Damn few people ever make it there. Made for a damn tough time. Ended up losing over 40 pounds, and damn near my life...

Originally Posted by fast_pass88

I wish i had got beaver feaver already, I'm pretty sure once you've had it once you can't get it again, similar to chicken pox.

Completely WRONG. You can / will get it when exposed again. Not worth the risk for me.

I carry two types of filters (and at times the pills). First is a canteen with filter top. Second is Life Straw's personal water bottle with internal filter. Both are more than sufficient in filtering out Giardia, Crypto etc etc.

And I use them. Religiously.

Cheers,
Nog

[nekred]

Originally Posted by fast_pass88

I wish i had got beaver feaver already, I'm pretty sure once you've had it once you can't get it again, similar to chicken pox. then I'd never have to carry a filter!

X2 Wrong!.... these are bacterial infections not viral like chicken pox....

bacterial infections actually can actually worsen each time you get it. There is a difference between resistance and being immune....

I actually got a touch of giardia on recent vacation and fortunately am on meds before it became full blown or "blown out"....

now to eat lots of yogurt.....

[beerhunter]

Check this out.

I am sure there may be others like it.

https://youtu.be/A6bVCXdBuD0

[Okotokian]

Originally Posted by guywiththemule

Yep same here. 46 years chasing big horns and no water packed, but maybe another liquid or two !

The drawback with packing bottled water is that it's alcohol content is to low.

[Donny Bear]

Jet boil

[BackPackHunter]

Originally Posted by Donny Bear

Jet boil

The Soto Mico regulator stove makes a jet boil look like a ugly red head step child that you keep in the basement n feed fish heads too


Soto with snow peaks ti pots