Theory Crafting: Cooking efficiently

[Blankshield]

I'll admit I still don't really see much benefit to cooking while harvesting; the downsides seem to me outweigh the benefits:

You lose a *lot* of storage time if you cook meat that isn't 50% or lower.  
You have to haul a stack of firewood around while hunting (or take  time from hunting to collect wood). 
You're leaving a fire ring in the middle of nowhere (may not matter to some, but it really bugs me to litter the landscape with those)

vs:

You accumulate less scent
You're being efficient with firewood/starter
No wolf interruptions
No freezing while harvesting
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If I'm harvesting a deer (or two, or something bigger), my scent bar will be full whether I cook the meat or not.  Better to harvest some little chunks of meat, or some guts to use as decoys.
It's even more efficient to just not have the fire at all.  ; ) 
It might be different on interloper; I don't usually play up  there, but on lower levels I've not had much problem with weather/wolves while hunting.  Unless I'm already in poor shape (in which case, why am I out hunting?), then even if the temperature drops rapidly, I'm not starting to lose condition until most of the way through a deer, and wolf attacks while harvesting are very rare, as long as you're familiar with the map and their general patterns.

The first stretch of a new run, or when you're in unfamiliar territory, then yeah, might be worth hauling a fire around with you just as a precaution, but beyond that... to me it's just wasted weight.  And even then, unless my stockpile is running very thin, I usually won't cook the meat.  You just lose too much storage time by not letting the condition drop while raw.