RE: Tent question.
bugs,
I'd never discourage someone from a wall tent as I love them; however, it is an expensive step up and the "more you do it right" the more it costs.
I have hunted elk when we did NOT use a luxury wall tent camp. There are cheap comfortable options out there but they require strict adherence to the rules!
One winter we used a 7x9 dome tent, three season, with a large vestbule and a fly that went all the way to the ground.
One 15" wide table side ways on the the short dimension between two cots against the walls on the long dimension. A 25 # propane bottle with a REGULAR Mr. Heater within a foot of the table. Sleep with ones head at the table end and feet at the door end.
In the evening, open the door and a vent on the opposite end and run the Mr. Heater on low and it will leave you warm and toasty --- no condensation. Get ready for bedtime, close the vent and the door opening (18") hop in the sleeping bag and reach out and shut off the Mr. Heater. Sleep in a cold tent --- no problem. In the morning, alarm goes off, work your arms out of the bag and reach over and turn on the Mr. Heater and in 5 minutes (you absolutely cannot go back to sleep). it is warm as toast, get up open the door a little open the vent a little and get dressed, shut off theMr. Heaterand you are off.
In the evening hours, say 6 to 9 we ran the heat all the time, had a smallfolder table in the tent and ate between the cots while sitting on the cots. Warmth, relaxation, recharge.
The only downside being that you are holding your life in your hands all the time.... no room to screw up. We kept a carbon monoxide detector in the tent. We tested it before we left. It never went off while we were up there. Again, as mentioned earlier, I find the Buddy heater to be totally unreliable as a heat source at higher altitudes as the "low oxygen" switch gets confused by high altitude.
The two of us had a suburban that we had a tarp lean to on the side and did the cooking there and used the back of the suburban as a pantry/storage area.
No Problems.
Pinch hit, cheap solution.