What' s the best spike camp set up?
(Clarification: a temporary camp away from the main road side camp in the heart of ones favorite hunting zone and accessible only by foot or by (1) horse.)

Early season rifle elk -- early October
Colorado @ 9,000 to 10,000'
4 to 6 people and one horse (horse stays outside but is available to carry).
There for 2 to 3 days at a time.
Storm proof with heat.

The Lighter and More Compact The Better!
Don' t want to make multiple trips in to set up or drag out.

If your answer is the default " wall tent" then what are your " minimalist tricks" to keep weight and bulk down and still keep the spike camp a decent refuge?
(poles, floors, air mattresses, stove etc.)

Hoping out of the replies someone has some really slick ideas!

Never Go Under Gunned,
EKM

Well I don' t unnerstand the " horse stays outside" part. Course a horse stays outside. You gonna invite him inside the tent? An' if you mean he don' t go into camp, then you gotta walk out to git him to go back fer yer meat. An' you cain' t fit a whole elk on one horse. So I say, the perfect spike camp is one with at least 3 horses. One saddle hoss an' two pack hosses. I don' t walk with stuff on my back ' cept when I' m carryin' my saddle over to my horse.

Beav,
3 horses would be better, but having to rent them puts a kink in our camp budget. From what I know of your hunting there in Wyoming I think you go WAY further back in than us, so the extra horses makes sense. Our prime hunting zones are 3 to 4 miles from the road -- easily walked -- but sometimes we do feel like we meet ourselves coming and going -- hence the spike camp consideration.

Damned if you do and damned if you don' t. I threw that little diddy about the horse staying outside + the smiley face because as I literally had it written it some " cute" soul might come along and say, " Its going to take a big tent to hold 4-6 hunters AND a horse!"

By the way, what did you figure out for your " cool, clear water" problem?

Never Go Undergunned,
EKM

Don' t remember no problem. Gonna have to go back an' check. So you make your base camp on the road and spike back 4 miles? Shoot, even with two horses, you could take out a whole elk in one trip, but you' d have to walk an' lead. Ain' t nuthin' wrong with walkin' I ' spose. Some say got gave us legs to walk with, but I allays figured if he didn' t mean for us to use ' em to hang onto horses with, he wouldn' t have invented the critter to begin with.

Every year I take a 300 mile ATV trip on a major trail that takes about 5 days to do and I' ve learned a few tricks. I don' t care how light you pack I don' t see how you' d fit gear for 6 people on one horse but you could probably pack gear for 2 or 3 maybe 4 on one horse. Heres what I do on my ATV trip.

1. Leave wall tents at home and get ready for roughing it a little. Pack a light weight, compact run of the mill camping tent. You can get a big dome tent for relatively cheap and it' ll sleep 6-8, not to mention a relatively light and small size.

2. Get backpacking stoves and a mess kit. Very small but can heat water and canned meals quickly. They also double as heaters.

3. Take your water filter cause you' ll save a ton in weight if you can do that.

4. What kind of food you take will be a big part of how much weight you save. I take a lot of MRE' s for lunches or midday meals. Take one or two canned meals like chili or something else so you don' t run your partners out of the tent at night. The key though is take the smallest protion you can. Jerky is great as well as small treats like hard candy and rice crispy treats. Take a small cooler and pack some eggs and meats for dinner and a breakfast or two. In the cooler take some of the good stuff like milk, butter, salsa, ketchup and things like that but keep the portions small. I like to keep condiment packets from Mcdonalds and places like that. You know the little ketchup, mustard and mayo packets they have. If you look around you can get all kinds of stuff like honey, relish, butter, salt, pepper and bar-b-que sauce. KFC usually has lots of stuff like that. You can also take 4 or 5 slices of bread by putting it in a appropriately sized tupperware dish.

5. Get a " stuff bag" for your sleeping bag. Its a bag with straps on it that you tighten and makes your sleeping bag about half the size. For a little comfort you usually have room for a self inflating pad for under the bag.

As far as clothes you' re on your own to pack light but you can save a lot of space there too if you do it right. Remember buy everything small from your water kettle(mine was $2) to your tube of toothpaste(99 cents at the grocery store). The amazing thing is that it really is not very expensive to stock up on " the little things" .

I forgot one thing. Take a large tarp, when its folded it hardly takes up any room but it will storm proof your tent pretty good. I' ve spent a few leak-free but rainy nights in mine.

Forget the wall tent and wood stove . Find a light weight 8 person tent for gear and 6 people, have one person carry it and all his personal gear like cloths and sleeping bag, pad , rain gear. Everyone needs a pack frame since every body will help pack out the elk. A water purifier is a must but if no water is near by pack it in some way, mabey a week earlyer. Split up the rest of the cooking gear and food.
There' s a lot of space wasted on MRE' s so take them apart and take only the main food. You can save money if you go to a surplus store and buy the main meals seperate. Dry foods always leave me hungry an hour later like chinese food so I dont even consider takeing it along . The only perishable food I take is potatoes and bannanas.
If you have logging roads or a good trail, use a game cart to get extra gear in and out.

MREs? No tent or stove? Backpacking gear?

Hunting in ' sposed to be fun. I' ll stick to my hosses. Sure, its a big production, but hell, you wait all year to do it, might as well be comfortable. No canned chili fer this ol' coon.