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upgrading my hunting camp, seeking advice


Cyrus Cassidy #45437

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For starters, I almost always hunt alone.  The reasons for this are long and boring, so please just accept that is how I do business.  I will have a hunting partner on a rare occasion.

 

I've reached the age that my base camp needs to be a little more comfortable than what I've been doing for most of my life.  Given that I hunt in Colorado, I will still be putting on a rucksack and humping up and down the mountains.  However, it would be nice to come back to a camp with a tent I can stand up in, has a wood burning stove, and a cot to sleep on.  The ground is getting harder and harder every year.

 

Here is what I think I want.  Please let me know what you think:

Tent:  Montana Canvas Range Tent.  The instructional video shows it's easy for one-person setup.  It comes with a vent for a wood burning stove, which Montana Canvas also sells.  https://montanacanvas.com/product/range-tent/

 

Stove:  https://montanacanvas.com/product/cylinder-scout-stove-package/

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Brings back memories.  I haven't slept in a tent since the army, but it looks like fun.  Of course I was stationed in MD at the time and it was spring/summer, but the 2nd Lt. loved to go camping, so we did on a number of occasions.  The OIC had a large tent, big enough for his family and I attached mesh to the entrance so the flies and mosquitos were kept out when he went camping. 

 

If it's just you, or perhaps one other on occasion, the one you referenced would be OK, but I would want one with a bit more head room to move around in.  I looked at this one:  https://www.lifeintents.com/collections/hunting-tents/products/fernweh-canvas-bell-tent-5. It's a bit larger, and with a stove not too much more expensive than the one you listed.  The cot is a good idea. 

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Any kind of permanent or semi- permanent shelter may draw the attention of vandals, squatters, squirrels and porcupines.  We had those problems with our tent camps when I worked on Forest Service trail crews in the Sangre De Cristos. 
 

Sorry to sound negative about the idea.

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I’m partial to this one. Just right for one person, two get crowded in a hurry. Toilet, shower, heat, stove, microwave. I gave up tenting long ago.

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Our moose camp was a bit more primitive but oh so nice when you came in at dark, kicked the snow off your boots and fired up the woodstove.

It started as a portable garage that got extended over the years and was hidden/stashed in the bush after each hunt for many years.

We had double bunks in a U shape that remained in place along with the frame that got covered with tarps.

A good wood stove is a real asset and anyone on P parade at night throws a log in if it's needed.

We took a lot of moose out of the area.

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Those camp tents are amazing, but they’re amazingly heavy as well. Figure you’re going to have to pack in: the tent by itself. Then the corner posts, ropes, ground cloth and stakes. Then the stove and stove pipe. A cot frame would also be a jive addition.
overall, they’re great shelters and definitely beat sleeping in a regular tent or outside. I set one up and then it stays in pace for a month while

i work out of it. 
 

The water tank is an excellent add on and heats up amazingly fast. Nothing nicer than having a source of warm wash water and waking up to coffee-ready water in the opening. Also, make for damn certain that you insulate around the stove pipe and tent canvas very well. I speak from experience.   If you can pack all of this in to your site with relative ease, great. If you have to actually jump it in, you’re talking at least 4-5 trips one way. 

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When I lived out west everyone I knew that brought in a camp tent , stove and all the accessories to go along with it packed it in on horses, if it was some place you couldn’t drive to . Can’t tell you how many hunts I did out of a old VW bus . And if it got stuck it was so light a couple guys could pick it up one end at a time to move it . 

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I operated for years with a popup camper.  They can be had pretty cheap, however, if you want them to last, you have to store them out of the weather.  This is the one we had for 20 years.    It'll keep the rain and snow out and cut the wind but it has the R value of 0.IMG_2023.thumb.JPG.967ffae6373c477ba7c602b4936ac2ac.JPG

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I like your tent choice.

 

One thing I changed is where I sleep. I used to sleep fine on a sleeping pad on the ground in a tent. I went to a large cot and life got better. I place the 3.5" R value inflatable sleeping pad on the cot and use blankets instead of a sleeping bag. Great sleep now.

 

Nothing is worse (figuratively) than trying to get out of a warm sleeping bag in the cold dark off the ground to relieve oneself in the middle of the night. Using blankets and a cot changes that much for the easier/better.

 

A 12'x12' tent will easily accomodate a large cot.

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Before we brought in a wood stove, we tried to "heat" with the Coleman lanterns and the Coleman 3 burner propane gas stove.

Not satisfactory. In addition to the concerns about air quality and safety, everything was damp and never seemed to dry out.

Once we went to the wood stove, those problems went away.

Each year, we cut, split and stacked to dry, enough wood for use the next year.

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