If you don’t want to use one of the filtration systems, then there are two ways that I have used (aside from boiling) to purify water.
The first way (and my preferred) are iodine tablets. What I use is called
AquaPure. I suspect there are other brands out there, but this one is pretty common. Typically the instructions are on the bottle, but if they aren’t its still pretty simple. You use one or two tablets per quart of water. You let it sit. Then you drink. See I told you it was simple. The time you let the tablet sit and the number of tablets you use probably depends on which brand you use, usually its about half an hour to an hour. You can also purchase tablets that minimize the iodine taste. If you’re like me, the taste is no biggie, but if you’re like most other people those “taste” tablets would probably be worth it. Iodine does leave a distinctive taste.
There is another method called
Polar Pure. It is small bottle of iodine crystals that you fill with water and let sit for something like 20 min. Then pour a certain number of capfuls of the treated water into a certain amount of untreated water and let it all sit again. You can get a head start on the first 20 minute wait by filling the bottle before you need it. Then you can just pour in however many capfuls you need whenever you are ready to purify your water. For some reason, people that can’t stand the taste of iodine tablets don’t seem to mind the crystals as much. I have no idea why.
There is one thing that is critical for using these two methods. You have to be able to at least estimate the size of your water receptacle.
for the long term, it's better to boil it for 5 minutes (full boil -- may take 10-15minutes total depending on altitude and air temp.)
Sure you can boil water, but if you want either a large amount or don’t want to sit there and tend a fire (or keep an eye on a stove) then purification/filtration systems are
the way to go. Another point that probably doesn’t apply for a hunting camp, but bears mentioning anyway. Boiling water takes lots of fuel. If you are concerned
at all about conserving fuel usage, then boiling everything you want to drink probably isn’t the way to go. Even if you use a fire, you have to gather all the wood for the fire, and that can get old in a real hurry. Obviously preference is going to play a major factor here, but I’ve used Aqua Pure in Wyoming, Montana, Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, and even here in Texas and it has always worked just fine for me.