Exo Journal — Fitness & Nutrition

The food you pack for a multi-day backpack hunt significantly impacts your energy, performance, and overall enjoyment. Putting together your backcountry menu is part science, part preference. You need the right amount of calories, the ratio of macronutrients that fuel you best, and foods that are palatable enough that you don’t have to force yourself to eat something that doesn’t sound good or sit well in your gut. The purpose of this article isn’t to dig into the science behind “food as fuel” or to share a complete example of everything we pack on backpack hunts. While we have covered...

In this kickoff to our brand-new 2026 Expert Roundtable series, we are diving deep into the practical aspects of hunt preparation. When you step into the mountains, you enter a world of endless variables. You can't control the weather or the wildlife — but you can control many things that will prepare you for the unknown. To break down exactly what it takes to build unwavering confidence before a hunt, we asked four incredibly experienced and successful backcountry hunters how they prepare for their personal hunts. The Expert Guests Nate Simmons (Producer & Co-Host of Western Hunter TV) breaks down...

Discover the 5 physical training keys for backcountry hunting, from strength and aerobic capacity to injury prevention, backed by data from 1,500+ hunters.

The food you take on a multi-day backpack hunt is an important aspect of your ability to hunt effectively. The food you bring provides the energy you need to hike, hour after hour, and day after day. As you begin to extend a hunt duration, your food also becomes the heaviest and bulkiest item(s) in your pack. In this video, Steve Speck, owner and founder of Exo Mtn Gear, shares an example of how he plans and packs the foods he takes on backpack hunts.