I’ve often heard sheep hunting described as a spiritual experience. Sometimes, I think it’s because hunters underfuel so much that they go delirious and have visions. That’s because they take old school, outdated advice on how to eat during a backpack sheep hunt. It causes them to be overconcerned about the wrong things while neglecting the right things—like eating enough carbs.

Let’s clean that up right quick and in a hurry. We’ll start by slaying weight-to-calorie ratio as the most important thing, and we’ll move on to build a daily nutrition plan that keeps you fueled and feeling good while you grind it out in the mountains.

Weight-to-Calorie Ratio is Over Sold

Thems fightin’ words, huh?

Well, let’s fight about it. 

Before we fight, know that I’m not about to say that weight doesn’t matter. Of course, it does. What I’ll tell you is that trying to optimize for weight to calorie will leave you under fueled because you’ll bias your food choices towards fat, which is a mistake.

A sheep hunt has gnarly fueling demands. You’re climbing. You’re busting brush. You’re slipping, sliding, and stumbling on shale. And you’re doing this all day, with weight on your back, for 10 to 15 days. This is a lot of sustained effort over time. You need carbs to support all of this work. 

I know this flies in the face of tradition. However, it’s right in line with human physiology. Carbs are more readily available than fat as fuel. That goes for the carbs stored in your body as glycogen and the carbs you eat. Carrying weight on terrain also increases your body’s carbohydrate demand. You suck them right out of your muscles and liver while only having about half a day’s worth stored in your body—when you’re well-fed. Deplete those stores and you’re gonna have a bad time. You’ll bonk on climbs and you won’t recover overnight. By day three, you’ll start making comfort-based decisions instead of hunting how you ought to.

On top of that, your body preferentially burns the carbs you eat. Having carbs in your belly keeps you from burning through your glycogen stores. That leaves resources in the tank so you can recover between hard hikes and while you rest in camp. 

Also, you have plenty of fat stored in your body. Unlike carbs, your fat stores are huge, even if you’re lean. You have plenty onboard to carry you through. Piling on more just to optimize your weight to calorie ratio just has you carrying extra, unhelpful calories.

Instead of thinking about weight-to-calorie ratio, think, fuel-to-calorie ratio. That means how much usable fuel you are carrying. It will be smaller than an optimized fuel-to-calorie ratio, but it sets you up for success.

Most recommendations offer up a ratio of 120 to 140 calories per ounce. But you have to carry a lot of fat to hit that. A fuel-to-calorie ratio will set you up somewhere between 100 and 110 calories per ounce. That’s because carbs have a smaller total energy load than fats. But they serve you far better. 

Now, I’m not saying don’t bring any fat sources with you. They help round out your total caloric intake. Just make them secondary to carbs. We’ll talk about how to do that in just a bit.

Total Food Weight

If you do this right, you’ll carry between 15 and 20 total pounds of food. That’ll set you up for somewhere between 3,000 and 3,500 calories per day. You will be in a deficit, but you have no choice in the matter unless you want to carry 30 pounds of food and burn yourself out by carrying your calories. (Remember, you have fat stores to draw on.)

Meal and Nutrient Timing

I’ll give you a simple rule then expand on it:

Carbs while moving. Protein and fat while sitting still.

Fats take the longest to digest and protein requires the most energy for digestion. Save them for when you’re parked on your tuchus glassing, eating lunch, or resting in camp. 

You’ll eat most of your carbs while moving for readily available fuel and energy. Now, these are simple, fast-digesting carbs. We’re talking about dried fruit, gummy candy, energy gels, and the like. Save your slower digesting carbs for your meals in camp. 

Here’s what it looks like throughout the day:

Breakfast in Camp:

A moderate meal of protein, fat, and carbs

While Moving Throughout the Day:

Snacking on fast-digesting carbs

Lunch While Glassing:

A small meal of protein, fat, and carbs

Dinner in Camp:

A large meal of protein, fat, and carbs

It’s also helpful to time your snacks based on what you’re doing. For example, eating a high-energy, fast-digesting carb snack before or during a big climb. I’ll teach you how to make that easy in the section on constructing your snack bags.

Macronutrient Breakdown

Protein, fat, and carbs are the macronutrients. We eat them in different ratios based on our needs. When you’re at home, you’ll likely bump up the protein and fat in comparison to a backpack sheep hunt. But when you’re in the mountains, you have to eat like you’re in the mountains—heavy on the carbs, lighter on the protein and fat.

We’ll set our aim at 3,000 to 3,500 calories per day. Here’s a macronutrient breakdown that hits it while appropriately fueling you for a sheep hunt:

Protein: ~100g/day

Fat: ~50-70g/day

Carbs: ~500g/day

A Food Plan That Meets Demands

Alright, now that we have all that lined out, let’s demonstrate how to put it into practice. In doing that, we’ll lay out a day’s worth of eating and how to build your fuel bags for easy snacking throughout the day.

Building Your Fuel Bags

You’ll want 9 or 10 fuel bags for each day, that way you can snack just about every hour. However, there’s no need to overcomplicate this and make 30 different fuel bags. You’ll build three and rotate them throughout the day to give yourself a little variety and to eat the right fuel at the right times. You want your fuel bags to total somewhere between 150 and 300 calories. Below are three example fuel bags.

Fuel Bag A: Steady Fueling (220 calories, 40g/carbs, 2oz):

-Honey Stinger Waffle

-1 small pack of Welch’s Fruit Snacks

Fuel Bag B: Climbing Fuel (210 calories, 50g/carbs, ~2oz):

-Honey Stinger Energy Chews

-Small portion of Skittles (I like the sour jobbies.)

Fuel Bag C: Variety (290 calories, 58g/carbs, 2.7oz):

-2 Nature’s Bakery Fig Bars

-Small handful of dried tart cherries

Rotating those throughout the day, you’ll get around 1,800 calories.

Now, let’s add breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A Full Day of Sheep Hunt Nutrition

Eating all of this will get you in the ballpark of 3,500 calories.

Breakfast:

-Fuel My Day Foods dehydrated meal (500 calories, 35g/protein, 17g/fat, 59g/carbs, 4.4oz)

-Skratch Labs High Carb Drink Packet (200 calories, 50g/carbs, 1.8oz)...you can drink this as you start walking

Fuel Bags: Every hour or so, tailored to your activity.

Lunch:

-2oz beef jerky (~20g to 25g of protein)

-1-2oz dried fruit (~40g to 45g of carbs)

-A couple of Babybel cheese wheels (10g protein, 10g fat)

Dinner:

Peak Refuel Freeze-Dried Meal

These vary in terms of macronutrient breakdown and weight. But they are mostly between 800 and 1,000 calories per meal. 

If you need the extra calories, you could also carry some olive oil packets and drop them into your freeze-dried. 

You Might Not Eat all of This

Hard work and elevation can kill your appetite. It might be hard to eat all of this food, but it’s important to give it the ol’ college try. If anything, skip lunch and get as many fuel bags in as you can. If you know you’ll have a hard time eating, carry extra drinkable carbs like the Skratch drink I mentioned above. Force your gaht dang breakfast and dinner into your head.

Hydration

You’ll need somewhere in the ballpark of 4 to 6 liters of water per day to stay hydrated. However, it’s important to avoid slamming big drinks all at once. Drink consistently throughout the day, a handful of ounces at a time.

Electrolytes will also be super helpful. Your freeze-dried meal provides a lot of sodium, but getting a bit more from electrolyte packets will keep you hydrated and help prevent cramping. LMNT and Liquid IV are both good options, although LMNT provides twice the sodium (LMNT: 1000mg, Liquid IV: 500mg). Dropping a packet or two into your water bottle throughout the day could pay huge dividends, especially if you’re a heavy, salty sweater.

Eat for the Sheep

Sheep hunt nutrition is about fueling and recovery. That means it’s necessary to ditch the archaic advice about weight-to-calorie ratios and cramming nuts down your gullet. Build your fuel bags, eat your carbs, and don’t skip breakfast or dinner. Drink consistently and you’ll take care of your body so it can take you to where the rams are waiting.