Sleeping Arrangements While Sasquatching

[Huntster]

I love the backpacking tents I'm seeing in the pics on this thread. I haven't had one for many years. Here in Alaska, we travel into the bush with vehicles of some kind (airplane, boat, swamp buggy, ATV, etc), so can carry larger tents and more gear. I'm a bit old for backpacking again, but I'm not giving up on the idea if I spend more time in the Lower 48 (if I can't motorcycle camp on forest service roads). 

 

The tents I use might differ from what many of you might use, but here goes:

 

First is the heavy duty Dude: the Arctic Oven, built at Alaska Tent and Tarp in Anchorage. It's kinda' heavy at @ 38 lbs, without additional canvas floor protecting tarp and stove. The very heavy duty pole set is put together, the inner tent(a heavy, breathing polyproplene material) is suspended from the pole frame, and the heavy duty nylon outer is thrown over the pole frame and staked and guyed down. All my guy ropes on all my tents are attached to the tent with a bungie ring which acts as a shock buffer, preventing wind and gusts from ripping the attachments off the tent. It works GREAT! You can buy bungie cord at the hardware store in bulk, cut it, tie it into a ring on the tent attachment, then attach your cord to that. This tent can fit two full size cots with the stove between them and still plenty of room between the two cots for a man to stand and dress, as well as room under the cots and at the head or foot for gear. I have both a folding wood stove or a propane stove. The propane stove is incredibly convenient and easy! This tent is good for insanely cold temps. One can sleep in this tent in temps that a camper/motorhome can't deal with. 

 

The green tent in the pic is an ice fishing tent. I use it year round. In spring/summer/fall, it's a kitchen or latrine.

 

[Huntster]

Sometimes I go "light". This trip was a caribou hunt, mostly out of my camper off a secondary dirt highway, but I wanted to explore a trail I'd seen. I took the ice fishing tent, a folding table, folding chair, small folding cot, pad, sleeping bag, single burner lantern, single burner stove, and just a little food. I traveled back @ 20 miles and pitched camp. As I was pitching camp I heard gunfire, then a couple guys went out on ATVs carrying a caribou bull on the hoof! Didn't even bother field dressing it! The next morning a grizzly sow with two cubs from that spring were grazing not far away on the left as you're looking at the pic..........@ 900 yards away.

 

These ice fishing tents have the poles attached and pop open like an umbrella. No floor. Kinda' big when folded up, but they set up literally in seconds.This one is as small as they get, and I can't even get a full length, narrow cot set up in it, but I have a really small cot that works great. It's only a bit over 6' square at the bottom, but a bit wider at the waist. I've actually slept in one at -25 degrees with the wind blowing like a Cat 1 hurricane. I use a single Mr. Heater propane heater in my ice fishing tents when actually on the ice, and it keeps them nice and toasty, even my larger tents of the same type.

[Huntster]

When I can't go up into the hills (like when rain has the rivers too swollen to cross), I'll hunt off the side of a certain highway. This is quite comfortable! The bears are still around, though. Right near this spot I saw two grizzlies within a week cross the road. One was a very mature boar.

 

While a cabover camper is not much more than a glorified tent in terms of size, it's perfect for one guy or an intimate couple. It even has a potty for the lady.

 

I commonly drag that enclosed trailer on my trips. It allows me to haul the Argo, motorcycle, or small boat, and it serves as a shop, storage area, and windbreak at the site. This particular site is windy, but I can sit inside the trailer and glass for game through the door in perfect comfort.

[Huntster]

My main 3-seasons tent is the Cabela's Alaska Guide model 6-man tent (6'3" tall in the center). I've also used the Timberline 6-man tent, and I really like it because it sets up lots easier (the Cabela's tent is nearly impossible to do alone in wind), but it can't stand up to wind after erected. The Timberline collapsed on me in stiff winds twice. Once set up, the Cabela's tent is almost bomb proof. I set up a full sixe cot with pad and huge sleeping bag rated to -5 degrees. Before stripping down for bed in the evening or getting out of the bag in the morning, I warm the inside of the tent with a propane lantern for a few minutes.

[Huntster]

Here's the Timberline 6-man tent. I love this tent! Two full size Army cots fit, one on each side, and room in between for dressing and what not. In the middle between the cots we would have a propane tank with a lantern on a plenum post for light and heat. There's room under the cots as well as at either the head or foot for gear. It's easy to set up and take down, even for one man. It just can't handle strong wind. If you're in a forest, it's a great tent.

[Huntster]

One of the nice aspects of a cabover camper is that you can drop it onto stands and drive your truck around without it. You can set up a nice camp around it, too. Granted, you won't be doing that on a weekend trip, but when staying for a week or more and would like your truck to range out, it's wonderful. 

[Madison5716]

Very nice set ups, hunster!

[hiflier]

Images 1-4 look similar as far as location. Different seasons or did you just get a dusting of snow. And you're right about being able to drop a cabover or slide-in as some folks call. 'em. We looked at those but a Lance was running around 30 grand. And when we got in to check it out with the dog well......as you say it was pretty tight. My truck at the time was too light anyway being only a 1/2 ton. We looked at the rig we have now, loved it, and so we.....um......upgraded the truck....um.....to celebrate. Yeah, that's it  

 

Either way it went though it would have had the same result of freeing up the truck for 'splorin'. I will say that the current rig is a cinch to detach and reattach even with the anti-sway which does make it easy for weekends. And after YEARS in tents? allow me to tell you what we think of indoor plumbing in the pouring rain at 3:00 am   

Edited April 21, 2019 by hiflier

[Huntster]

1 hour ago, hiflier said:

Images 1-4 look similar as far as location. Different seasons or did you just get a dusting of snow..........

 

Same location, same week. I got no caribou, but it was a nice week. If you notice by the rear starboard tire of the trailer, my little charcoal bbq is there. I eat well out there; bbq ribeye, bbq pork ribs, bbq chicken, oven roasted chicken, bbq sockeye salmon.........did I mention frosty beer out of the fridge? I used to eat almost like that tent camping, too. I'd build a bbq pit out if a rock lined hole, set my grill up over it, and cook away. Beer was floating in a rock lined dam in the ice cold creek. Coffee & Irish creme in the morning with my scrambled egg jambalaya...........mmmmmmmm!

 

 

........allow me to tell you what we think of indoor plumbing in the pouring rain at 3:00 am 

  

 

Yeah, my camper has a hot water heater, too. Fridge, oven, heater, bluetooth stereo...........but no video unless I'm in cell coverage. I rarely use the toilet. That's for Mrs. Huntster, who rarely goes anymore. I use a garbage lined potty bucket in the trailer or the tree. 

 

As nice as the camper is, I still prefer the tenting for my caribou hunts in order to get away from the road hunters. Spring bear hunts can be a short walk from a camp near the road, and I still have one good moose hunting area just 13 miles off the highway, but I've got to get in there a couple days before the season opens in order to lay claim to my spot. I haven't gone moose hunting for years. I'd love to, though. 

 

Fish camp is camper stuff, and camp doubles as a fish processing facility, complete with a small propane chest freezer. One table (outside) is for fileting the fish, and a table inside the trailer has cellophane and freezer paper rolls mounted on it for wrapping the fish.

[norseman]

6 hours ago, Huntster said:

 

In my opinion, the very best precaution is a kitchen area no less than 100' away (if possible). A cheap and easy way to do this for government campground dwellers is a 12'x12' or 16'x16' tarp over the campsite picnic table.........the one Yogi and BooBoo are already well familiar with, and already smells interesting. That is where all your cooking and stored food is, unless you lock that in your vehicle. A rifle or shotgun in your tent along with your handgun/light combo completes the package. If/when Yogi (or Patti the sasquatch) shows up, he's going to be focused on the kitchen, which gives you ample time to zip open, shove the muzzle out, rack the bolt, and prescribe the proper medicine.

 

My brother had his daughter and her cousin (both about 7 or 8 years old) in a tent in a federal campground in central California some years ago. The shotgun was in the tent with them, and the food was locked in the car (legal food storage). During the night his daughter threw up. He got up and cleaned the mess by flashlight. Took a while. Just as he was finishing up, here comes Yogi. Walks right up the the car a few yards away and begins tearing his way in. 

 

WTF?! He thought that was justification for a warning shot, and he popped one off. Yogi leaves, brother goes to bed (never slept well, anyway, and that event guaranteed a sleepless night). 

 

The next morning the campground host shows up inquiring what happened. Brother explains. "Oh. Thanks". 

 

An hour later, here comes Mr. Useless........the federal park cop. Gives brother a citation for unlawful discharge of a firearm, and made no offer to pay for the damage his bear did to the vehicle. This document caused brother another 500 mile round trip for an appearance in court. Had there been no damage to the vehicle, he likely would have lost his 2nd Amendment rights for life and ended up with Ahmed in Gitmo. Costed him just $150 in the form of a fine I think, plus repairs to the window and window frame of his vehicle. (Federal non-felonious crime is a funny thing that I've never understood).

 

Here in Alaska, when I tent camp, I carry an ice fishing tent for my "kitchen". If a bear wakes me up in the middle of the night tearing into my stuff, he's dead. It's literally open season here year round, and even though I'm not much interested in eating bear meat, I'll kill him just on principle.

 

 

 

 

I've never heard of lions tearing into tents at night, but I suppose it's possible. I don't think they're difficult to kill or deter. One round from a 38 Special into the boiler room would likely send a big tom running off to die somewhere out in the brush. 

 

Thats why you do NOT camp in established camp grounds.... NPS, NFS, State, etc. What a bunch of horse manure.... I will sneak in to use the outhouse on occasion though.

 

Cougars are not hard to kill. But Cougars can be damn hard to detect. And if they think they got the upper hand? Yer dog or kid could be gone in a flash. They are the supreme ambush predator. And pound for pound the strongest cat in the world. A 180 lbs Tom is no joke.

 

 

 

 

[norseman]

4 hours ago, Huntster said:

One of the nice aspects of a cabover camper is that you can drop it onto stands and drive your truck around without it. You can set up a nice camp around it, too. Granted, you won't be doing that on a weekend trip, but when staying for a week or more and would like your truck to range out, it's wonderful. 

 

Nice setups to go explore the last frontier!

[Huntster]

10 hours ago, norseman said:

Thats why you do NOT camp in established camp grounds.... NPS, NFS, State, etc. What a bunch of horse manure..........

 

Yeah, they're often jerks, they've been extending their BS to lesser regulated lands, and it's likely to get worse. Even if you have a rig or livestock to escape their tightest grip, you still have to park your initial vehicle at a trailhead or boat launch, and they even screw with you there. They just suck.

 

.........Cougars are not hard to kill. But Cougars can be damn hard to detect. And if they think they got the upper hand? Yer dog or kid could be gone in a flash. They are the supreme ambush predator. And pound for pound the strongest cat in the world. A 180 lbs Tom is no joke.

 

Agreed to all that. I'm thankful that our lions don't weigh 500 lbs like the African lions. Then I'd be personally afraid. But even a 380 in my pocket makes me stronger than a cougar. I've read of an older man in BC who killed an attacking cougar with his pocket knife. But if I had my grandkids out there? Yeah..........I'd be pretty anxious.

 

My worse bear encounter was with a mature black bear boar who wanted my dog. Had I killed him, the killing would have been legal, but I would have broken the law afterwards, because I would have been required to salvage both the hide and meat. I was a 13.5 mile hike out without a packframe. No way. That bear came close to being wasted in the purest definition of the word.

[Huntster]

18 hours ago, Huntster said:

.......Fish camp is camper stuff, and camp doubles as a fish processing facility, complete with a small propane chest freezer........

 

Here's a pic of the two way (electric/propane) freezer inside the trailer. It's @ 3 cubic feet in interior size, and will freeze @ 25 processed sockeye salmon, which is @ half my seasonal limit set netting from the beach (my limit is 45 salmon, including sockeye, pink, and chinook). It uses less than a single 5 gallon propane tank for the 3 weeks I'm there, including the time before I'm even catching fish, but have steaks, pork, and chicken in it for me and my visitors to eat. When the freezer gets full, I transfer the processed and wrapped meat to a large ice chest which I bring to a nearby town @ 25 miles away where there are businesses that rent space in big commercial freezers. I start all over again filling my own freezer until the season ends, then pick up my ice chest on my way home. This allows me to stay on site and not have to run around like everybody else looking for ice (@ $5 per bag) to keep my fish cold, and it allows me to process on site. When I get home, all I have to do is put the fish in my upright freezers at home. In late fall, when hunting season is over and I've winterized my home and vehicles, I thaw what I don't think we'll cook and smoke/can it. Canned fish will keep for 2-4 years. Old cans are great doggie treats, but we're really good about eating them up, or giving them to folks way before they're old.

[hiflier]

Um, I would like your generator. I've actually been researching small quiet ones. Off-brands are pretty cheap but got my heart set on a Honda. Maybe next year. 

[NatFoot]

On 4/21/2019 at 9:50 PM, hiflier said:

Um, I would like your generator. I've actually been researching small quiet ones. Off-brands are pretty cheap but got my heart set on a Honda. Maybe next year. 

 

Get the Energizer one. They knocked off the Honda design. Mine works great for two years for running water pump when we are not plugged in. Does a great job charging the batteries as well.