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

[one crazy kid]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

Us army gortex bivy cover.

 

[solitude]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I use a single wall 4-season tent (Integral Designs MK 2 Lite). Bomber shelter, and weighs less than 5 lbs.

 

[berdanscout]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

8'x10' tarp

or

Go-lite Shangri-la 3 tepee tent (outer shell only)

 

[mad mountain mike]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I'm not sure what you would call this thing, a tipi or a tent but it has worked well for me the last few years

 

[MNhunter86]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

This is my go to tent currently I really like how well it holds up and the large vestibule is very nice. I use a chunk of Tyvec for under it.

 

[longrangehuntr]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I have been using tarps with an inner shell of those insulated reflective survival blankets. I have 2 army wool blankets for ground cover which protect against conduction.

 

[hardtack]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

We use an Asolo hawk for the rainy season, a basha/ bivie for the times we are mobile (i.e. mountain hunting), and make a lean-to when winter hunting.
The Asolo is a light three person/three season tent which seems to hold up in bad conditions. Had it for ten years and still going strong. weighs about 4 pounds all in. We split it up between us and barely notice it's there.

 

[ragsflh]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

got to be light weight.2 to 3lb

 

[Sheep hunt Alaska Rod]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

Mountain hardware 4 season tent ! There durable , light , warm and can withstand the harsh Alaskan climate

 

[Pdvdh]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

One-person tents for one-two night spike camps while sheep hunting. They're a bit heavier than a pure bivy, but they afford a little elbow room and air space between the sleeping bag and the single-wall breathable tent fabric. Less claustrophobia too.

 

[BackpackHunter]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

Currently using a bivy/tarp combo. It's worked pretty well for me up here in the Pacific Northwest. My only planned change is to use a lighter material for the tarp.

 

[bearcat2]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I didn't vote because you don't have the best shelter, a hammock. The older I get the more I appreciate not sleeping on the ground, or should i say on a rock. If I'm not in base camp with a wall tent and a cot, I'm in a hammock. Most comfortable light weight outdoor shelter there is. And this comes from a person with a lot of experience as all my hunting is done while camping and backpacking.

???

I don't consider a hammock shelter, what exactly is it sheltering you from? Certianly not rain or snow, nor skeeters. Now I could see a tarp hammock combo, in which case you could have voted for just tarp. Otherwise I would consider a hammock unsheltered (which isn't a choice either and should have been) I have spent some time 'unsheltered' although never with a hammock. Usually this involved being either under a tree or a rock overhang and building a fire, also usually without the benefit of a sleeping bag. As I get older those nights get less pleasant . Frankly my most common shelter hunting has been a sleeping bag/front seat of my truck, combo. But the question was about backpack hunting, so that is right out. That is also getting less comfortable for more than a night or so as I get older also, so last year I broke down and bought an enclosed cargo trailer with a ramp rear door. I put a propane cookstove and light in it, and a propane heater, then built a fold down bunk and a fold down table. I can load my fourwheeler or snowmobile in it, drive to wherever I am going to be hunting, unload the ATV or snowmobile, flop down the bunk and table, and camp is set. I am going to put a wood stove in it because I far prefer wood heat over propane, you just can't dry wet clothes satisfactorily with propane.

 

[wpwarren]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I have used 4 season tents, even really nice ones, but find them too heavy to use for backpacking unless they are absolutely necessary. I now use a 3 season tent from rei. It is a 3 pole design and is very sturdy while still staying very lightweight. I can also set up the fly and poles without the tent body to save even more weight, but it is not as stable so not a good option if it is snowing heavily or it is really windy. I like bivvy sacks as an emergency shelter for those days when I am really far from the jeep, but don't plan on sleeping out. I will get 10 miles from the car and if you get lost or stuck out there, you could be in trouble. They can also add a few degrees of warmth to a sleeping bag that can't quite keep you warm enough.

I haven't found tarps to be a good shelter option. They don't protect enough for the weight in the pack. I do use them for motorcycle camping and times when I don't mind the extra weight. I use them for giving myself a warm dry place to sit though, not a shelter to sleep under.

 

[mnoland30]

Re: What type of shelter do you use most often for backpack hunting during rifle seas

I have a Kifaru 6 man tipi. Just right for two hunters, wood stove, firewood, and gear. We got 6 inches of snow one time, and everyone was in our tent for the heat from the stove. The poor guy with the tarp was sleeping in a snowdrift in the morning. His bag was soaked. The guy in the enclosed tent was just cold. In southern NM we have wet snow, if we get any at all.

On Barbary sheep hunts, I'll throw in a GoLite Lair (13 oz.), three sided tarp, and set the front up against a juniper or pinon tree to block the wind and the drifting or blowing rain and snow. I can spend the night for about 7 lbs. extra weight. My alcohol stove with cup and lid weighs under 6 oz. and my polarguard Northface bag weighs 3 lbs. I don't go when the weather looks bad.

I like the idea of a fully enclosed tent, and so I bought an Appy Trails tent on eBay. Inexpensive and very serviceable tent. It weighg about 20 oz., but if you expect rain or snow, it would be worth it.

If you haven't read Ray Jardin's Beyond Backpacking, I suggest you pick up a copy. It changed the way I backpack. My buddy has a Golite Jam he uses as his hunting pack. It weighs about a pound. It is only rated for 30 lbs., but we've overloaded it many times with elk meat. We bone our eik so we only carry meat. I like a pack that will hold 75 lbs. for hunting, but my summer backpack weighs one pound. I've had 3 camo hunting packs, and I've had to sew all of them up to reinforce them when carrying heavy loads. Most hunting packs have 50 features that make them weigh 4 to 5 lbs. Silly.