Water Bladders

freu1chr

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Joined
Apr 5, 2018
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157
Location
Jordan, Minnesota
How much water do your guys bring in your backpack when you go on a hunt in November and camp a couple miles in? Another question what do you guys do with your water bladder if it will be below freezing so the bladder doesn't break.
 
Between a liter and 2 liters depending on how long I’ll be out and if I plan on filtering, never pack hunted in sustained below freezing conditions
 
Depends on availability of water, but assuming there will be a water source I just carry my standard 3L bladder. It has to be really really cold before you have to work about a bladder freezing, at about 20 degrees water in the hose is going to freeze and you will just have to use the bladder as a bottle. One way of getting around this is to blow into the hose every time you take a drink so that you purge the hose. Big containers of water like bladders/ bottles are unlikely to freeze or will take a long time to do so, the main thing your have to worry about are hoses.

As I'm thinking about it even on ski tours I don't think I've ever had a bladder freezer, so I would say you are probably good to 5-10 degrees before you have to worry about it freezing in your pack, just make sure you take it out at night.

One think to keep in mind is gravity as well as traditional filters are very susceptible to damage in below freezing conditions, make sure you take measures to get the water out of them after use and that you use your body heat to keep them from freezing at night. Boiling snow/ water is often the better route once you get below 20 degrees.
 
Can't help you much on the freezing part as I haven't done a lot of really cold hunts but no matter where I go I do at least a 3L bladder so I have to worry about finding water less.
 
I use a 2L badlands bladder and carry around a small filter. It's really nice to not have to carry around so much water.
If its below freezing I try to blow the water back into the bladder but usually the mouthpiece still freezes so I've just been putting it inside my jacket to thaw, but I've never had the bladder freeze before.
 

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