Giardia.......beware!
Contributors to this thread:Elk
From: shortstop
22-Sep-14
Quick story about this years hunt: Ran into some young guys camped about a mile north of us this fall. Upon second random encounter in the mountains, they relayed how they were all feeling a little sick and that a couple of them were too sick to go hunting. Upon quizing, it appears they were drinking out of the mountain stream....unfiltered. Hope it's not Giardia, but I'm thinking there are 6 guys from Ohio pretty sick right now!
From: Glunt@work
22-Sep-14
In my 20's, I did a backpack trip with little gear. My buddy and I were going to live off the fish we would catch and a little food we brought. End result was two very hungry guys, a case of beaver fever, a week of misery and plenty of throne time rethinking some decisions we made.
From: Rick M
22-Sep-14
A good filter is pretty cheap insurance:)
From: Rock
22-Sep-14
Usually takes 2 weeks for Giardia to set in from my understanding and experience. How long had they been there?
From: Screwball
22-Sep-14
Caught it last year in Montana, Only drank filtered and bottled water but bathed in the river. 29 mile horse ride into camp. Meds and rest. miserable couple weeks.
From: Jaquomo
22-Sep-14
Could have been a cryptosporidium that affected them faster than giardia. I got one once when I was a ranger that hit me 48 hours after drinking. Got so weak and sick I had to have somebody else drive me to the ER when I got down to town. I also once got a bug from gutting an animal and dipping snuff, that wrecked the rest of the hunt. I now carry a series of flagyl all the time, just in case. $5 copay prescription, knocks out any bug pretty quickly.
From: Z Barebow
22-Sep-14
Rocky Mountain weight loss program can come in many forms.
From: R. Hale
22-Sep-14
Tough deal.
From: TD
22-Sep-14
Lou, must have been skoal.... my understanding cope will even kill tapeworms.... =D
From: Hawkeye
22-Sep-14
Had it last year and did seem to occur about 2 weeks after. Definitely could have been another bug. Rx and filters are good idea and what I take with me now.
From: Fulldraw1972
22-Sep-14
I think I caught it this year. It took a couple weeks for it to set in.
From: Thornton
22-Sep-14
I got lost on my first elk hunt 15 years ago and I filled my canteen several times out of a high stream. Never got sick. in fact, it was pretty near the best water I'd ever tasted. After I got down and told some hunting partners what I'd done, they informed me I had lucked out and drank from a stream above where the beavers lived. Streams above treeline are usually safe.
From: Matte
23-Sep-14
Thornton, that is very bad advice as I have seen people get very sick drinking water above tree line. In my younger years I would spend the summers hiking with Venture/Scout groups every week 44 miles per trip and you would always have kids that would take short cuts and drink water straight. Heck my last Elk hunt on the Continental divide in Wyoming one of our party got sick pretty sure it was crypto though. Always use filters and or tablets.
From: Cajunarcher
23-Sep-14
I recently got back from a mountain goat hunt in BC. My cousin , the guide and I drank water from a couple of the flowing lil streams unfiltered and we were fine. Actually it was some of the very best water I've personally drank , guess we got lucky . I was worried at first but the guide said they been drinking water up there for a long time and it was fine.
From: NoWiser
23-Sep-14
I drink water straight out of the lakes we fish in Canada all the time. We just try to stay at least a couple hundred yards from the nearest beaver lodge when we fill up our bottles. Going on 10 years and neither of us has gotten sick yet. Maybe we've just gotten lucky so far. It's amusing to see the little critters' last desperate kicks before they get swallowed. We always figure it's going to be the ones we can't see that get us eventually, though.
From: Z Barebow
23-Sep-14
Z Barebow's Link
I would never drink water unfiltered.
Add up the costs of your hunt, all of the equipment you buy, etc. And you are willing to put all of that at risk drinking directly from a stream? It is tough to hunt from the fetal position.
I use one of these and have never had an issue.
From: Fuzzy
23-Sep-14
Z Barebow x2
From: Jim Leahy
23-Sep-14
On my drop camps 13 miles away from any help- I use a filter and Iodine pills. Its an extra step that only takes a minute to add to the jug of water. I saw a camp two miles up stream from me a few years ago that bragged about how they never filtered the water in ten years because it was a spring- all of them got sick! Its just not worth it when there are precautions to take that take a minute. Boiling is always an option if you dont have the filter or tablets.
From: Surfbow
23-Sep-14
"Streams above treeline are usually safe."
No way, any stream an animal can reach has the potential to get you sick. How many elk, deer, sheep, marmots, squirrels, birds, etc. have you seen above treeline?
From: shortstop
23-Sep-14
Interesting in that they'd been there two weeks and a couple days when we first talked to them. We're going to be there for a couple more days...............maybe!
From: JLS
23-Sep-14
I drank unfiltered water for many years. When (not if) it finally catches up to you, it's not worth it.
Get a filter or tablets and use them. It's miserable.
From: Fulldraw1972
23-Sep-14
I used pills the last two years and still got sick. It sucks living on a toilet for a few days.
From: Tracker
23-Sep-14
Giardis symptoms can start anywhere from 1-3 weeks. And it can start in a week. Don't ask me how I know.
From: Straight —» Arrow
23-Sep-14
people do not realize how badly some of these bugs can hurt you and how long they can last. There are amoebas that can really screw you up and you never really get over them.
From: wild1
23-Sep-14
Another possibility:
Depending on where/elevation, they could of had a case of altitude sickness - happens all the time in the Rockies - especially with guys from Ohio ;)
