Hunting Camp Beds: Thoughts, Methods

[Stomper]

Exactly ours has boot dryers welded around the base and when you get up to pee you throw a log on !

I a$$-u-me that you mean a wood log, yeah?!

 

[Stomper]

I was in Germany when someone got ran over but believe it was a M1 Abrams 86-87ish from that time on there were a lot of chem sticks deployed .

WTAH?!! It's not like you can't hear an Abrams coming up on you, even dead bodies look up and say, WTH is THAT?!


Hey, BTW…. the liquid in them chem sticks tastes AWFUL, and will give you a migraine to remember!

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

WTAH?!! It's not like you can't hear an Abrams coming up on you, even dead bodies look up and say, WTH is THAT?!


Hey, BTW…. the liquid in them chem sticks tastes AWFUL, and will give you a migraine to remember!

So will the charges from the mortars and they make your heart race and comes the migraine you only do it once !

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I a$$-u-me that you mean a wood log, yeah?!

No actual rebar welded to the stove around the base on the sides works well but you can also have melted boots

 

[PORSCHE928S4]

I a$$-u-me that you mean a wood log, yeah?!

LOL not that kinda log geeezeeeee !

 

[Bobbygun]

in truck bed with a canopy

The coldest I can ever remember being was in my truck bed with canopy in Starkey during elk season. If that bed roll can keep a guy warm there, it's earning its keep. Like an ice box.

I went to the Ellis website. Those bedrolls ain't for the faint of wallet. The large one with pad costs nearly as much as my 10X14 canvas tent. They certainly look heavy duty.

 

[Koda]

A zero degree rated down mountaineering bag and a thermarest and your good for most any cold weather camping in Oregon, plus they roll up a fraction of the size of traditional bedrolls. Even vehicle camping its good to travel light. The Buddy Heater is nice to take the edge off going to bed or waking up but its off at night. I find one green can will last a 5 day elk hunt maybe two if we hang out in the tent instead of the campfire a night or two. The trick is to convince your buddy to turn the heater on 30 minutes before its time to get up....

 

[Unicykle]

Seeoutside has some real nice quality tents. I've been using the cimaron for several years now and it's super light, pretty durable, packs small and has a stove jack. They are floorless And I recommend a half nest with the Cimarron as it gives you a bit of a mud room and then a clean sleeping area with Bugnets. A buddy of mine has the red Cliff Which is a much larger version but it's big enough if your backpacking it's sometimes tough to find a spot to set it up. I like the Kifaru ultralight stoves better than the seekoutside Since they have swinging doors instead of sliding doors and channels that always seem to fill with debris and fight you opening and closing adding wood.

 

[DLS]

A troop that did that in my brigade got ran over across his stomach by an M113 while sleeping. Didn't even leave a bruise, just scratches, but he found Jeezuz. Soft ground for the win.

Sounds like a smashing good time for the ol' chap!

 

[Member 34319]

Is the bed of a truck with a canopy considered a RV? If not I'd say that is the ultimate hunting bed. Stays warmer than a tent. Of the ground. Can turn on truck and plumb heat into it and the exhaust heats you up from underneath. Can lay down a ton of insulation or foam mattress to keep in heat and add comfort.

As for beds. It's insulation that matters. Without an external heat source, you are the heat source. The less insulation you have to hold in your heat the more your body works to produce it, which is hard for it to do when it is asleep. While there is some level of self regulation, that is done at whatever temp you sleep at normally. Sleep in a nice warm house 99% the time, your body only works so hard to keep itself warm while you sleep. Sleep 100% in the Alaskan tundra, your body might be more accustomed to cold.

I used to hike a lot with a hammock for a bed. It was miserable the first couple of times as there is zero insulation on the underside. Only after getting a hammock quilt did it produce better sleep. Sleeping in hammocks is extremely comfortable position wise, but they provide almost no insulation.

Cots are similar. They do take you off the cold floor of the woods or desert, or wherever you are hunting, but unless you insulate the bottom, they can also be quite cold to sleep on. Your mattress at home is a huge insulator compared to a cot.

I've slept on cots, I use the same quilt for my hammock on them. It just slips over it like a sock, well at least on mine, I've seen other types of bottom insulators for cots. That's where you'll lose most of your heat. It doesn't need a lot, you could buy one of those packable down quilts and just wrap it around the body portion of the cot as many times as it will allow, or get some cheap harbor freight clamps and clamp it on the underside. Bonus points if it is folded to fit the underside, essentially doubling the insulation.

Sleeping on the ground. Before you lay your tent, pack a ton of leaves or whatever you can under the thing. Most folks will be kicking everything away from their tent site to be "comfortable" but that's not this steps purpose. It's meant to act as insulation. If your worried about comfort, get a pad for your sleeping bag, it will help with that stick you missed in the leaves poking you from underneath. The ground sucks you heat away more than air can. No section of Forest will be warmer than the next, especially at night. Maybe in the summer a portion of an area might get a ton of sun and heat the earth enough to hold enough heat through the night to keep you warm, but I've never experienced this. Even in parts of the Nevada desert in the middle of the summer. Most places in NV get blistering cold at night, no clouds to hold in heat, it can drop below zero at night and be 100+ in the day.

Moral of my post. Insulation.

 

[Spitpatch]

Is the bed of a truck with a canopy considered a RV? If not I'd say that is the ultimate hunting bed. Stays warmer than a tent. Of the ground. Can turn on truck and plumb heat into it and the exhaust heats you up from underneath. Can lay down a ton of insulation or foam mattress to keep in heat and add comfort.

As for beds. It's insulation that matters. Without an external heat source, you are the heat source. The less insulation you have to hold in your heat the more your body works to produce it, which is hard for it to do when it is asleep. While there is some level of self regulation, that is done at whatever temp you sleep at normally. Sleep in a nice warm house 99% the time, your body only works so hard to keep itself warm while you sleep. Sleep 100% in the Alaskan tundra, your body might be more accustomed to cold.

I used to hike a lot with a hammock for a bed. It was miserable the first couple of times as there is zero insulation on the underside. Only after getting a hammock quilt did it produce better sleep. Sleeping in hammocks is extremely comfortable position wise, but they provide almost no insulation.

Cots are similar. They do take you off the cold floor of the woods or desert, or wherever you are hunting, but unless you insulate the bottom, they can also be quite cold to sleep on. Your mattress at home is a huge insulator compared to a cot.

I've slept on cots, I use the same quilt for my hammock on them. It just slips over it like a sock, well at least on mine, I've seen other types of bottom insulators for cots. That's where you'll lose most of your heat. It doesn't need a lot, you could buy one of those packable down quilts and just wrap it around the body portion of the cot as many times as it will allow, or get some cheap harbor freight clamps and clamp it on the underside. Bonus points if it is folded to fit the underside, essentially doubling the insulation.

Sleeping on the ground. Before you lay your tent, pack a ton of leaves or whatever you can under the thing. Most folks will be kicking everything away from their tent site to be "comfortable" but that's not this steps purpose. It's meant to act as insulation. If your worried about comfort, get a pad for your sleeping bag, it will help with that stick you missed in the leaves poking you from underneath. The ground sucks you heat away more than air can. No section of Forest will be warmer than the next, especially at night. Maybe in the summer a portion of an area might get a ton of sun and heat the earth enough to hold enough heat through the night to keep you warm, but I've never experienced this. Even in parts of the Nevada desert in the middle of the summer. Most places in NV get blistering cold at night, no clouds to hold in heat, it can drop below zero at night and be 100+ in the day.

Moral of my post. Insulation.

Told ya. The experts at this have slept cold before and ain't afraid to admit it as a "learning experience".

 

[orygun]

I've slept cold, sometimes even inside of a not heated trailer! I've woke up with my covers frozen to the wall. I've tossed and turned all night because I couldn't get warm. At this point I should excuse myself, because this is now my sleeping quarters when hunting.

 

[Spitpatch]

I've slept cold, sometimes even inside of a not heated trailer! I've woke up with my covers frozen to the wall. I've tossed and turned all night because I couldn't get warm. At this point I should excuse myself, because this is now my sleeping quarters when hunting.

View attachment 1399870

"Oh, Father! The SHAME of it all! What will I tell the boys in Troop Twelve?"

 

[pdxjimbo]

Throw a couple of these in the bottom of your sleeping bag. Will keep you toasty warm all night. Kept me warm the winter of 90/91 sleeping in the desert.

 

[Hueco]

Your guys's tents look like the Taj Mahal. I don't hunt, so my experience is limited to walking up mountains.

Get the smallest tent you need - more tent == more air space to suck up heat. If it's just you and the dog, get a 1 or 2 person tent, max (definitely recommend the dog, they're portable space heaters). Something rated for winter would be great, with a good rain fly and large vestibule area.

1 layer of closed cell foam on the ground. On top of that, an insulated air mattress (no, not the queen size one your wife wants; the couple inch thick one that packs down to near nothing). I sleep cold so use bags rated under ambient (something around -10 rated for 0 degree weather, for example). I only bother with synthetics on kayak trips, otherwise down for the pack-ability.

Silk liner for inside the bag if it's real cold. Use middle layer top for a pillow. Parka and insulated pants under the sleeping bag for more ground separation as necessary.

 

[Bobbygun]

Get the smallest tent you need

Uh, no. A decade plus back when I was nearing 50, I was headed into the Hell's Canyon area with a couple of buddies for an elk hunt on mountain bikes pulling Burley trailers. I bought a bivy tent and thought that would be the ticket. Fortunately, I set it up in my living room using books instead of stakes to hold it in place. Man, that thing was like a slightly oversized coffin. I bailed on the idea at the last minute and put my 7' X 8' "3-man" (yeah, right) tent in my trailer instead. Wow, was that extra weight worth it. We encountered snow, rain, hail, thunder and lightning, etc. It was nice having the extra space to keep me and my gear dry. That coffin would have been miserable, even though it was probably all I needed to survive. I sold it not long after I got back to a teenage girl.

Now that I'm older, I don't poke so much fun at the guys with the Taj Mahal. Two years ago, a buddy of mine asked me to help find him a mulie buck on Hart Mountain. He had the same tag my son had last year (see post #2) and we took his large travel trailer and his newish Toyota Tundra with heated seats. It was a different trip than the one pictured/described in the second post, but it was still a good time and I appreciated being invited along.

Compared to what you described, our Kodiak canvas tent is a miniature Taj Mahal. When I was younger, I was a lot less fussy, didn't have any money and made due with whatever I had. Now, I try to avoid discomfort when I can, but don't mind a little hardship if there is a good reason for it - like packing elk.

 

[Hueco]

Uh, no. A decade plus back when I was nearing 50, I was headed into the Hell's Canyon area with a couple of buddies for an elk hunt on mountain bikes pulling Burley trailers. I bought a bivy tent and thought that would be the ticket. Fortunately, I set it up in my living room using books instead of stakes to hold it in place. Man, that thing was like a slightly oversized coffin. I bailed on the idea at the last minute and put my 7' X 8' "3-man" (yeah, right) tent in my trailer instead. Wow, was that extra weight worth it. We encountered snow, rain, hail, thunder and lightning, etc. It was nice having the extra space to keep me and my gear dry. That coffin would have been miserable, even though it was probably all I needed to survive. I sold it not long after I got back to a teenage girl.

Now that I'm older, I don't poke so much fun at the guys with the Taj Mahal. Two years ago, a buddy of mine asked me to help find him a mulie buck on Hart Mountain. He had the same tag my son had last year (see post #2) and we took his large travel trailer and his newish Toyota Tundra with heated seats. It was a different trip than the one pictured/described in the second post, but it was still a good time and I appreciated being invited along.

Compared to what you described, our Kodiak canvas tent is a miniature Taj Mahal. When I was younger, I was a lot less fussy, didn't have any money and made due with whatever I had. Now, I try to avoid discomfort when I can, but don't mind a little hardship if there is a good reason for it - like packing elk.

To each their own. Like I said, I don't hunt - I walk up mountains. A tent is just a place to crash or wait out bad weather - and I do it conserving as much heat, weight, and space as possible.

Also…7x8 and how tall? That ain't a 3man…more like a 6-10 man tent. The non-vestibule size of my 2man is ~92"x64" (40sqft, ~38" tall, 12sqft of vestibule space).

I broke my back long ago. What you call a little hardship I call a trip ending back ache. I'll take my super lights over all else until the end of time.

 

[Bobbygun]

To each their own. Like I said, I don't hunt - I walk up mountains. A tent is just a place to crash or wait out bad weather - and I do it conserving as much heat, weight, and space as possible.

Also…7x8 and how tall? That ain't a 3man…more like a 6-10 man tent. The non-vestibule size of my 2man is ~92"x64" (40sqft, ~38" tall, 12sqft of vestibule space).

I broke me back long ago. What you call a little hardship I call a trip ending back ache. I'll take me super lights over all else until the end of time.

I'm sure not packing that Kodiak canvas tent very far. It weighs about 80 pounds.

Back when I used to backpack, I tried to keep my pack around 60 pounds. My backpacking tent was pretty small, but not a "bivy" tent. Usually we had two people per tent (typically my wife). It has probably been 25 years since I actually went backpacking. Taking a mountain bike with trailer affords the ability to carry a little more weight. I haven't even done that in the last 10 years. Now that my son is grown up and moved out on his own, he has shown more interest in fishing than I've had for quite some time. I may accept an invitation to go backpacking/fishing in some high lakes with him. I'm afraid my backpacking equipment is old and somewhat obsolete, so we may end up roughing it a bit. I have an old Bluet backpacker stove that you can no longer get butane canisters for. I may have to break down and get some new/better stuff.

Mostly we hunt out of camp and return in the light of a headlamp after dark. I'm old and can't afford to arrow an old bull five miles from the road anymore. The meat might spoil before I got it back to camp.

I think that 7x8 tent was actually advertised as a 4-man, but if you had 3 guys in it, things got crowded. It was about 4' high when set up. There was no vestibule. I'm not sure how you can say that is a 6-10 man tent when it is only 56 square feet. ???

As you say, "to each their own". The thread was initiated as "Hunting Camp Beds". I really wasn't try to start an argument with you. Mostly my response was intended to be humorous. I'm not claustrophobic, but when I crawled into that bivy tent... well... yuck!

 

[foxmeadow]

I've noticed that a lot of newer tents are packaged with a diagram illustrating how 4 people fit into a 4 man tent. That's a 2 man tent for me...

 

[orygun]

(definitely recommend the dog, they're portable space heaters).

No doubt about that! I have a small Army pup tent that's pretty good when the vents are tied closed. An 80 lb dog could keep my tent really warm. He just might be a little stinky.