What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle season?

[Willys]

Don't laugh but I have been using the same Eureka Apex tent since 1997. It isn't the lightest but it is durable and dependable. Never leaks and bouces right back if overloaded with snow. I bought a Diamond 2 person for a hunt with my cousin coming up this year. Outside of winter and fall I get by nicely with a 10x10 tarp and ground sheet.

Use the same eureka tent !!!

 

[Idahohoho]

And you are the guy I hate to see when I'm out hunting Elk with a Bow and I have just spent a hour or two sneaking in on a herd and you come driving by and scary them off!!! It's happened to me 3 time so far in 8 years!!!

Agreed 200%!!!!!!!!!!!
Had a guy last year fly by me in the dark on a quad one morning knowing full well I had parked at the base of the mountain to walk the trail past the forest service gate that was a half mile past where I parked, only one way into the area……he parked his quad at the gate and had to of literally jumped off his machine and ran up the trail ahead of me. I came really close to taking a big dump in his gas tank! Unless you're handicapped I see no reason to use one, I hunt for the peace and quiet and solitude - leave my machines parked at the house. If someone is hunting an area. REGARDLESS of my plans, I move on to another spot and respect the fact that they were there before me. There's plenty of room for everyone so don't be a jack….

 

[Jeffrey Van Zandt]

Bivy
Tarp
Bivy/Tarp combo
3 season double wall tent
3 season single wall tent
4 season tent
Tipi

tarp

 

[QuietTexan]

Just got a new 4-Season Hennessy Hammock for a bike trip in CO this summer. Have high hopes for it, my regular tent hammock has been good in Arkansas but wanted a little more warmth, planning on being 10,000 ft+ in it for a few nights.

 

[WYO300RUM]

That sounds doable if your hunting squirrels 100 yards from the truck. The only bones I carry are skulls with antlers and I still need the frame pack even for does and cows. Maybe I am just old.

Correct Quintus.
A sack with straps with weight is asking for pain...
A good pack frame can't be beat. I carried 95 lbs. last year out of the mountains counting deer meat and gear. That was just pack. Not counting rifle, binos, pistol in shoulder holster, rangefinder, radio, etc.. 3 months later had knee replacement. It was still painful with two trekking poles and offloader knee brace. Probably can see it on my face. Hopefully this year won't hurt . Two weeks later made 3 trips with frame to get cow elk to truck. Was lucky. No mtns. I use an old solo backpack tent made in USA by Walrus I've had for probably 35 years. Weighs 2.5 pds. and a small tarp if planning on bad weather.

 

[QuietTexan]

Once you convert to the gutless method, you don't need a frame pack. Any old sack with straps will work just fine. It makes no sense to me to carry out bones. I've never found a good recipe for them. Of course sometimes we work extra hard just for the exercise and to stay in shape.

Do you mean you don't need a large external frame pack with a base shelf to carry quarters?

Cause yeah I can get on board with internal frame packs and carrying meat bags instead of using a large external frame pack. At point you're shuffling weight around and it could be meat, water, food, or anything getting carried. Couple of ultra-flex trash bags and good to go.

Or do you literally mean no frame at all? Like an old Jansport daypack with two straps on a bag of nylon?

I can't image carrying any type of weight with absolutely no frame at all. I don't know how I survived school with a Jansport, other than by using textbooks as a crappy internal back panel. Even Hyperlite Gear Dyneema packs for the crazy-ultra-light hiking crowd typically have two aluminum stays that act as a frame to transfer load to the belt. Those guys skin out at barely 30#s and still have some kind of frame.

I do have a couple of the GoRuck brand backpacks that are unframed, very heavy duty, no waist belt, but I have a plastic stiffener in the one that doesn't have a plate in it because otherwise they're unformed lumps of things that poke me. I work out with a 35# plate in one pack to get ready for backpacking season over the winter, if it wasn't a steel plate that pack would a lot to carry.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Do you mean you don't need a large external frame pack with a base shelf to carry quarters?

Cause yeah I can get on board with internal frame packs and carrying meat bags instead of using a large external frame pack. At point you're shuffling weight around and it could be meat, water, food, or anything getting carried. Couple of ultra-flex trash bags and good to go.

Or do you literally mean no frame at all? Like an old Jansport daypack with two straps on a bag of nylon?

I can't image carrying any type of weight with absolutely no frame at all. I don't know how I survived school with a Jansport, other than by using textbooks as a crappy internal back panel. Even Hyperlite Gear Dyneema packs for the crazy-ultra-light hiking crowd typically have two aluminum stays that act as a frame to transfer load to the belt. Those guys skin out at barely 30#s and still have some kind of frame.

I do have a couple of the GoRuck brand backpacks that are unframed, very heavy duty, no waist belt, but I have a plastic stiffener in the one that doesn't have a plate in it because otherwise they're unformed lumps of things that poke me. I work out with a 35# plate in one pack to get ready for backpacking season over the winter, if it wasn't a steel plate that pack would a lot to carry.

I use a Alps Outdoor packframe. Has shelf. 3 straps for load. Great padded shoulder and waist straps. I strap on or bungee my Badlands pack with everything I need in it. Them I'm free to hunt with just pack or pack and frame. I take game bags and extra bungies. Put meat in bags. Strap to frame. Bungie pack on top of them. Works for me. Oh wait ! This thread is about tents and such. Oh well.

 

[AFmaryland]

I really enjoy the 3 season ultralight tents (like the kuiu) for weight, but I have a big Agnes 4 season mountaineering tent and that thing has saved my butt too many times to count so when the weather is questionable I pack the weight.

 

[DNADave]

I use an old solo backpack tent made in USA by Walrus I've had for probably 35 years. Weighs 2.5 pds. and a small tarp if planning on bad weather.

Your Walrus look something like this?

 

[WYO300RUM]

Your Walrus look something like this?

View attachment 475941

Yes . But green. The top (poles) are more rounded though . Been an awesome solo tent. Don't use much anymore. I'm guessing only weighs Maybe 2 pds.

 

[WYO300RUM]

Your Walrus look something like this?

View attachment 475941

Dave,
The more I look at it , it might be the same tent. Like I think I said, I bought it in mid 1980's though. I haven't used it in about 6 years. Now I want to

 

[DNADave]

Dave,
The more I look at it , it might be the same tent. Like I think I said, I bought it in mid 1980's though. I haven't used it in about 6 years. Now I want to

That picture was from about two years ago. I was reminiscing about my old tent and brought it out for an October hunt in Northern Washington. It handled the snow, but there was a bit of a sag in the middle every morning until I could push the snow off.

MSR bought Walrus, so some of those old designs live on in the Zoid series tents from MSR.

 

[WYO300RUM]

That picture was from about two years ago. I was reminiscing about my old tent and brought it out for an October hunt in Northern Washington. It handled the snow, but there was a bit of a sag in the middle every morning until I could push the snow off.

MSR bought Walrus, so some of those old designs live on in the Zoid series tents from MSR.

I've had to push snow off about every tent I've owned at some point. What does MSR stand for in name ? And Zoid ? I'm old

 

[3chester]

Got a little gas stove, MSR on it means Mountain Safety Research, they make backpack gear too.