I am starting to acquire gear for a possible 2005 elk hunt (yeah I know that is a long time, but I am starting from scratch). Buying the wall tent first seemed like a logical first choice. I was looking at the Cabels outfitter wall tents. Are they a good value for the money? Or is there a comparable one that is lower in cost without giving up quality? Thanks, NBH
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Hey newboar, if you are planning that far out I would shy away from Cableas and buy a off-season tent from a another tent mfg. Cableas are a good value/tent as far as I' m concerened though.
I bought a 12x14 out of season (early spring) from the colorado tent company 4 years ago and saved about $150. I looked at a bunch of companies and had them all send me there catalogs that fall, but didn' t buy one. Then in the spring I got another " closeout special" catalog from them and bought one.
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I also got a tent from Colorado Tent Co.------ You can get pretty good deals if you buy them during their close out sales. A good place to start is to get the RMEF magizine " Bugle" & check out the ads. Lots of tent makers & web-sites. I strongly recommend that you get a 5' side wall. I made my own frame out of 1" electrial conduit ---- good for strength & using if you truck camp. Hard to back on horse back.
We bought a used GP small (army tent 17x17 octagon) for elk camp this year and it worked great. There were only 2 of us and we had plenty of room. You can also get a GP medium which is bigger than the small and is square like the outfitter tents. We paid about $300 for our tent, poles and the pot belly stove.
Our gang used a canvas wall tent made by Woods for a number of years for moose hunting. It was 14 x 16 when we bought it and heavy as a horse. Darn thing shrank and we couldn' t fit it around our frame after one season. The very first day we set it up a bear tore 3 of 4 corners open and its been downhill from there ever since. However, I will say that nothing beats the sound of rain on its roof while you' re inside warm and dry.
I' ve purchased several over the years, the last one 2 yrs ago. One was used a 12x14 with woodstove and take down tent frame, I payed 250.00 for all, the tent was in good shape but well used, I still have it.
The newsest one is 14x17 it cost 900.00 from Cabelas, the conduit frame poles were also from Cabelas, they were 500.00
Another one I purchased was a 12x14 with tent frame poles and both were around a 1000.00, this was 7 yrs ago. Both tents were 10oz material I believe, which is nice and heavy, they' re very tough and still going strong. They' re waterproof, but I still put a tarp over both of them incase of extreme weather. We put these tents up last week of Aug. and leave them till middle of Oct. and do this every year. So they get a lot of use. 5' walls are a must, but a floor is not. It takes around 10 min. to setup either tent. Whats nice is they' re designed to put on pack animals or just haul with your truck. The frame set is worth its weight in gold because of its ease and compactness. I' ve loaded my truck with the 12x14 tent including all food and hunting gear and hunted 350 miles away for 7 days with no problem, there was 2 of us. It would house 4 if need be. Hope this helps. elknut1
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Have you considered a pyramid tent? They' re much easier to pitch and take down. I got one this year, it is portable enough to use in the summer too. One pole is all you need. Plenty of room. I got tired of tents and stoves that take a whole pack animal to bring in. Gonna get a bigger one this year.
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Wall Tents ?
