How to Hunt or Camp in a Toyota Prius

If you are a displaced country boy living in the city, but willing to sacrifice some suspension over an SUV to accomplish such patriotic savings, the Toyota Prius will allow you to car camp or enjoy an extended hunt, even in the cold of winter, for pennies in fuel, in great comfort, with only a little creativity and forethought.

Steps

1. 1 Leave the giant trail backpack at home and pack a traditional carry on luggage suitcase or other tall storage device (like a cheap plastic chest of drawers). Use this to pack food supplies (I use: 5 min rice, potato flakes, canned refried beans, canned chicken, steri-packed $2 Indian food pouches, PB&J, jerky, trail mix/granola w/dried fruit, fast oatmeal, any of the cream/sugar inclusive cheap instant coffees pouches exported from Vietnam, raisins, lots of apples & bananas, tea bags, and raisins.)
2. 2 Underneath everything in the back slip the lid of the largest sterilite storage tub you can get your hands on to catch spills when you're hauling the deer home (the tub of which you can use to store hunting gear in the garage at home). On the side, slip a bone saw and hanging triangle with rope (if you own a battery powered sawz-all this can save some time when splitting the spine and quartering).
3. 3 If there's not a decent water source at your destination, or you're disinclined to use precious time purifying it, stock up on used 1-2 L gatorade, soda or large fruit juice plastic bottles. They hold a lot and still fit in the bottle sleeve on the gear you already carry when out hunting, plus you can tuck them all over the car wherever they'll fit to use up unused crannies and under-seat storage. Platypus & Nalgene roll-up 2L bottles with a drinking hose also work well. Always pack more water than you think you'll use, as you will want to rinse gear that gets bloody when you get a deer and rinse blood from the body cavity when dressing (do towel up the extra moisture inside before hauling or you'll be risking bacterial growth).
4. 4 Buy a bicyclist's double toddler cart that connects to your mountain bike from Craigslist (used ones are under $35, though new they're $200). This will be both your deer cart and the way you haul your field gear and bow or rifle into the back-country when access roads beyond the campsites are still bike or hike only (especially in bow season). Ask your ranger; they'll help you be sure to follow the rules that aren't posted and are in your favor on a bike. These carts have great vertical and lateral suspension and are over-engineered to protect children. As a result, they'll haul a good sized field-dressed deer, your $30 climbing tree stand from craigslist, airtight hunting clothes bag, daypack with supplies, and a bow or rifle without even flinching.
5. 5 Pack your unscented hunting clothes and field-only boots/shoes in an airtight soft case. The bag that a bedding set came in: sturdy zipper, thick clear plastic, and gotten freely from many friends/family is a great tool for this job. Pack this bag in the shoe well of the bike cart, then place the cart in the back of the Prius with seats folded down.  
6. 6 Keep your scent sprays and wafers inside the bag (I boil down a gallon of leaves/needles/detritus from within 1000 yards of the space I'll be hunting, strain with a coffee filter, sterilize with rubbing alcohol and use it for a scent spray). When you make your own scent spray you can afford to really liberally apply it to everything you have on you. You'll need about 1 liter per trip. Store it in a jug in the fridge.
7. 7Pack your sleeping bag/light sheet, Thermarest mattress/camp chair, comfy pillow, and your choice of contemplative or devotional reading materials under the cart in the trunk.
8. 8 You should be able to carefully set your deer stand in the front seat (use your towel if you foresee serious scratches occurring). This will take a little finagling to get a right fit, so be patient while you learn how to do it.
9. 9Pack your daypack and tuck it in the nested climbing tree stand in the front seat (a typical student backpack that you hoist on a paracord into your stand) with your deer field dress kit, airtight snack/lunch bag, a gym sock with 1 cup baking soda inside then knotted shut and stored in a zip lock bag (you tap it to see which way gentle wind's blowing and dab your sweat with it to crystallize it and prevent it from drifting as badly), first aid kit with water purification tablets, bandanna, climbing safety harness, headlamp, freezer bag with folding trowel & travel TP roll inside, deer call/antlers, reflective tacks, yardage flag tags for your shooting lanes in bow season, mosquito mesh hooded jacket, CO2 bike pump/tire patch kit for quick flat repairs, bear spray in bear country, handgun in coyote country if permissible, a $2 AA powered USB cell charger to recharge your cell/gps battery on cold days, and a cheap fast-starting superzoom point/shoot camera (more useful IMO than binoculars with these 15-30x optical zooms nowadays).
10. 10 Pack your bow or rifle. (bow should fit on top of the deer cart or rifle beside it) Take care to separate ammunition per your state's laws.
11. 11 Now set your chest of drawers in the hatchback last of all on the right side and put your cook kit and backpack stove with fuel can in the gallon milk jug well on the Prius' left side. If you have any extraneous gear to squeeze in, you can put it in the expansive storage space under the trunk. It's a great place to put a roadside emergency kit, jumper cables, 1 gal fuel jug, tow rope, DC air compressor, etc.
12. 12 Mount your mountain bike on the bike rack on the back of Prius and hit the road (or if your hunting spot is within a mile or so of the campsite, just use the gear cart in 'push' mode and hike it in and out). You can climb a pretty nasty mountain trail with these little $30 kiddie carts, so prepare to be pleased!
13. 13 Once you arrive at your destination, slide your driver seat all the way forward and move your chest of drawers to the footwell behind it. It should now create a full 7' bed for one onto which you can unroll your bedding. Chain your deer/gear cart and bike together next to your car, and if you really have concerns about theft, secure it to one of the tow loops under the Prius. Since you're on public land, you may need to chain your bike/cart to a tree once near your hunting spot and walking your stand into position.) You'll be leaving your biking clothes and shoes in the cart, but folks don't tend to steal that!
14. 14Line your gear up on the opposite side of the back of the Prius and leave yourself a nice kitchen space at the tail on your Sterilite lid.
15. 15 At night, enjoy a small campfire and read in your camp chair, then unfold it to make your bedroll and hit the hay. If your shoulder blades are having trouble with the joint between the car seat and top of the chest of drawers, lay that Sterilite lid underneath the Thermarest for better support.
16. 16 There you go! Now in the morning you can gear up, heat a pot of water which will warm your hands too and pour some in your oatmeal bowl and some in your coffee cup, and leave a little to rinse stuff when you're done and brush your teeth (You can brush with baking soda for bow hunting mornings). Since your food is in a sealed car, you don't have to worry about bear bags or trash bag issues.
17. 17 Now here is the magic part of using a Prius: If the night is excruciatingly hot or well below freezing, you can actually leave the Prius running with the A/C or heat at a reasonable temperature and it will only burn about 1 gal a night. The car should remain off until the electric battery runs down and then the internal combustion engine will come on for about 1 minute every 45 minutes to recharge itself. Even if gas is $4/gallon, you've saved so much by getting 50mpg on your drive out that you've got nothing to complain about! If you haven't done the 'charge while off' hack to your Prius, the added bonus of leaving it running is that you can charge your phone/gps that night too.
18. 18 For airflow issues on a hot summer's night, you can pack a small tent to camp next to your car or you can just crack the windows and put mosquito mesh over them (search online for tips on this technique). A lot of mosquito mesh can be had on eBay for $5 with free shipping.
19. 19 Once you get a deer:
    • Use the steel triangle on a rope to hoist the deer when you get back to the car, then go ahead and skin and quarter it at the nearest tree.
    • Skin with a fresh box knife razor or a scalpel, just can't top that for precise work (plan to use up 2 blades). You can usually fit the whole quartered up deer in a double bagged 60 gallon trash bag set on the lid of the large sterilite tub (to catch leaks). Hit your nearest gas station on the way home to set some ice bags on top if needed (don't put it in the meat and make it wet though!).
20. 20 Finish processing your deer, as soon as you get home, on a sterile backyard table with your sawz-all and proper cutting implements; then pack each cut in freezer bags and label with a sharpie before storing in the deep freeze (don't pack several steaks together as you'll never get them apart again!). If you can't afford a full strength grinder that can handle deer meat, take any grind cuts to your local deer processor to make ground and sausage, however is your custom.
21. 21Relish in the knowledge that you have offset many dollars spent on your hunting gear in fuel savings, also a savings which you can re-invest in your local community rather than sending it to pad the pillows of someone's custom yacht.