Favourite Style Of Hunting Camp
03-11-2018, 06:57 PM
#1
Spike
Thread Starter
Join Date: Mar 2018
Posts: 1
Favourite Style Of Hunting Camp
Hey guys so I am curious to what everyone’s favourite style of a hunting camp is. I am considering buying a outfitters tent instead of using my fifth wheel due to being unable to bring the quads to get game out of the bush. I am also considering buying a smaller bumper pull trailer and hauling a quad in the box of my truck. Please list the pros and cons of your favourite style of camp
03-11-2018, 08:00 PM
#3
Nontypical Buck
Join Date: Apr 2008
Location: Michigan
Posts: 3,952
Wall tent for me. Dogs ride in the back of the truck and all of the gear goes in the trailer. You could load your 4 wheeler in the trailer or in the back of your truck assuming you either don't have a cap or your cap allows this. I think my tent is a 10x14 and I usually put a 6' table along the back and cots on either side. The clothes etc. go in those plastic lockable trunks and get stored under the cots. I stand in one of them to catch the water when I sponge bathe and then toss it out. In the cold weather all the water gets stored in the tent so that it doesn't freeze, and I usually heat with a kerosene heater. What I like about it is it puts out enough heat, and 2 gallons last around 10-12 hours. The heat seems to settle about cot height and things can be stored on the ground and kept cold. I do cook in the tent but with the dogs the bears only come around at night and they never seem to get into any mischief. Needless to say a gun is always handy.
I think the tent while it's carried in the truck allows me to camp in a greater variety of locations. Back packing tents, would pretty much open the world to you as long as you can hike to it.
Good luck and good hunting whatever you decide.
I think the tent while it's carried in the truck allows me to camp in a greater variety of locations. Back packing tents, would pretty much open the world to you as long as you can hike to it.
Good luck and good hunting whatever you decide.
03-12-2018, 09:18 AM
#4
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: IL
Posts: 6,575
its funny my dad and I have hunted out of a pickup most of our hunts,
when we've camped in semi improved campgrounds, it's funny all the guys pulling up with multiple trailers, campers, wall tents etc...
in some ways it's simpler better, of course the grass is probably greener on both sides of the fence.
never left us needing anything really though.
when we've camped in semi improved campgrounds, it's funny all the guys pulling up with multiple trailers, campers, wall tents etc...
in some ways it's simpler better, of course the grass is probably greener on both sides of the fence.
never left us needing anything really though.
03-12-2018, 03:38 PM
#5
Typical Buck
Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: SW Montana
Posts: 550
My favorite camps were when I had horses and packed in camps with my wall tent. Big advantages of the wall tent is the ample room to move around and the heat from the wood stove for warm and to dry wet cloths.
I also had some great backpack camps for sheep hunts but we had to pack the camps in and the sheep out on our backs.
I also used my wall tent on drive-to camps for many pronghorn antelope hunts. After I got my slide-in truck camper I still took my wall tent on group hunts for a cook tent.
I also had some great backpack camps for sheep hunts but we had to pack the camps in and the sheep out on our backs.
I also used my wall tent on drive-to camps for many pronghorn antelope hunts. After I got my slide-in truck camper I still took my wall tent on group hunts for a cook tent.
03-12-2018, 07:14 PM
#7
Fork Horn
Join Date: Dec 2017
Posts: 130
Favorite Style Camp
Personally, I love the old cabins/camps powered by propane, gas lamps, woodstove, have an outhouse with a metal coffee can over the cr8p tickets, built in Bunks with the old striped mattresses (no bed-springs), carvings in the hand hew'n log walls from past hunts, perhaps a hint of mothballs to keep the little critters at bay during the off season, cedar shingles...
I remember them from 9 years old... some LONG years ago, when I just tagged along. You had to bring your own water, heat it on the wood stove when necessary, they always had the game pole outside that was permanently mounted, I am pretty sure Jack or Jim always accompanied for the early evening hours when stories were told, while the clothes dried on racks, knives were resharpened, and weapons were quite often sprayed with WD-40 and then wiped dry while the .270/'06 debate always accompanied the conversation. Typically, not too far from a clean stream/creek/lake.
Anyone remember this kinda thing? If you've never been there? Sorry, there aren't many left any more!
REM7600
I remember them from 9 years old... some LONG years ago, when I just tagged along. You had to bring your own water, heat it on the wood stove when necessary, they always had the game pole outside that was permanently mounted, I am pretty sure Jack or Jim always accompanied for the early evening hours when stories were told, while the clothes dried on racks, knives were resharpened, and weapons were quite often sprayed with WD-40 and then wiped dry while the .270/'06 debate always accompanied the conversation. Typically, not too far from a clean stream/creek/lake.
Anyone remember this kinda thing? If you've never been there? Sorry, there aren't many left any more!
REM7600
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03-19-2018, 10:12 AM
#9
Giant Nontypical
Join Date: Jul 2004
Location:
Posts: 6,357
(Reader's Digest Version of my answer) A canvas wall tent heated with a wood burning stove is my preferred arrangement.
(Longer answer) My first elk hunt I hunted on my own and slept in a backpacking tent pitched on a snow field. This was cold and not very cheerful. When I ate, I had to sweep off a snowy log and sit outside in the cold. Maybe this is OK if you have a partner to cheer up the mood. Also, it is probably important to NOT pitch your tent on top of snow -- to take the trouble to clear the ground of snow. I had a thermal pad under my sleeping bag, but it was still really cold.
When I went deer hunting, I stayed at a relative's house and drove 30 minutes to the hunting location. This was not a bad arrangement, but it really wasn't "camping out" either. When I hunted pronghorn in 2004, we stayed in a hotel in Gillette Wyoming and drove out to hunt from the hotel. Again, not camping.
I had the good fortune to be invited to share the established elk hunting camp of my current camp leader in 2009. His outfit is a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent with 5' sidewalls and a 7' ridge. This is big enough to stand up in. He has a wood stove that sits to the side in the front half of the tent. We put a small table in the front half of the tent opposite the wood stove where we put food and matches and hot chocolate packets etc. We put our camp chairs in that front half of the tent between the stove and the table. We illuminate the tent with a dual mantle propane lantern. We set up cots and put sleeping bags on the cots. This is very comfortable and beats the heck out of the backpacking camp I established.
Besides being comfortable, this wall tent arrangement adds elements to the hunt which constitute a kind of magic and delectable pleasure in the hunt that is independent of mere practical serviceability. There is a haunting magic that I feel sitting in that tent, smelling a gentle whiff of wood smoke, hearing the wood crackle and snap as it burns, sitting in my chair talking with my hunting partners. It is great to be inside knowing it is cold outside. It is great being inside that tent thinking about opening day being tomorrow -- a scant 7 hours from that moment being the time when the alarm will go off at 4 AM to wake us and stir us to dress and go out to our hunting spots. It is even BETTER being in that tent after someone has killed an elk, perhaps best of all when that someone includes me. It is nice returning to that tent after dark at the end of the day coming back in from hunting. All the long walk back through the dark I'm looking forwards to the warmth and light of the tent and talking with my hunting partners.
Part of this picture is also that our elk camp is at 11500 feet elevation. This adds a dimension of satisfaction to this camp and the hunting. Maybe this is irrelevant to folks who live in the mountains already. But I live in North Texas at about 600 foot above sea level. Knowing I'm in the mountains on this hunt, in this tent, is an extra dash of seasoning to the whole thing.
I like laying in my sleeping bag at night, the lantern extinguished, hearing the burning wood snap and crackle, to hear the draft rushing into the stove to feed oxygen to the fire, to smell that light wisp of wood smoke, and to see the dim dancing light of the fire -- the light escaping from the air inlet valve -- on the inside of the tent walls.
(Longer answer) My first elk hunt I hunted on my own and slept in a backpacking tent pitched on a snow field. This was cold and not very cheerful. When I ate, I had to sweep off a snowy log and sit outside in the cold. Maybe this is OK if you have a partner to cheer up the mood. Also, it is probably important to NOT pitch your tent on top of snow -- to take the trouble to clear the ground of snow. I had a thermal pad under my sleeping bag, but it was still really cold.
When I went deer hunting, I stayed at a relative's house and drove 30 minutes to the hunting location. This was not a bad arrangement, but it really wasn't "camping out" either. When I hunted pronghorn in 2004, we stayed in a hotel in Gillette Wyoming and drove out to hunt from the hotel. Again, not camping.
I had the good fortune to be invited to share the established elk hunting camp of my current camp leader in 2009. His outfit is a 12' x 14' canvas wall tent with 5' sidewalls and a 7' ridge. This is big enough to stand up in. He has a wood stove that sits to the side in the front half of the tent. We put a small table in the front half of the tent opposite the wood stove where we put food and matches and hot chocolate packets etc. We put our camp chairs in that front half of the tent between the stove and the table. We illuminate the tent with a dual mantle propane lantern. We set up cots and put sleeping bags on the cots. This is very comfortable and beats the heck out of the backpacking camp I established.
Besides being comfortable, this wall tent arrangement adds elements to the hunt which constitute a kind of magic and delectable pleasure in the hunt that is independent of mere practical serviceability. There is a haunting magic that I feel sitting in that tent, smelling a gentle whiff of wood smoke, hearing the wood crackle and snap as it burns, sitting in my chair talking with my hunting partners. It is great to be inside knowing it is cold outside. It is great being inside that tent thinking about opening day being tomorrow -- a scant 7 hours from that moment being the time when the alarm will go off at 4 AM to wake us and stir us to dress and go out to our hunting spots. It is even BETTER being in that tent after someone has killed an elk, perhaps best of all when that someone includes me. It is nice returning to that tent after dark at the end of the day coming back in from hunting. All the long walk back through the dark I'm looking forwards to the warmth and light of the tent and talking with my hunting partners.
Part of this picture is also that our elk camp is at 11500 feet elevation. This adds a dimension of satisfaction to this camp and the hunting. Maybe this is irrelevant to folks who live in the mountains already. But I live in North Texas at about 600 foot above sea level. Knowing I'm in the mountains on this hunt, in this tent, is an extra dash of seasoning to the whole thing.
I like laying in my sleeping bag at night, the lantern extinguished, hearing the burning wood snap and crackle, to hear the draft rushing into the stove to feed oxygen to the fire, to smell that light wisp of wood smoke, and to see the dim dancing light of the fire -- the light escaping from the air inlet valve -- on the inside of the tent walls.
