Your minimalist hunting camp!

[sinawalli]

#3508

Let’s hear (or see) about your minimalist hunting camps. I use a tarp, bivy bag/sleeping bag. If I expect nasty weather, I bring out my 4 season Walrus tent. Late season, then it goes from minimalist to wall tent and stove, depending on how cold it gets. Like having the stove late season, especially to help drying out gear.

[Roger Norris]

#20709

Our spike camp (Todd Smith and I) in Idaho this September. Weather was good, no problems.

[William Warren]

#20725

These days minimalist means a tiny Teardrop Camper instead of a fifth wheel. 😀 But really, I do know what you mean and I have camped the way you do, just not in a long long time. Brings back memories of Boy Scouts and sleeping under my homemade bisqueen (plastic sheeting) lean to for a weekend of semi solo camping. We all had to pack in set up and cook for ourselves. Also had one of those 2 part Army pup tents. I would take just one half if it was just me and set it up lean to fashion. I can still smell that canvas. Of course there so many light weight materials out there now for that kind of camping. It is interesting think about.

Also spent a few nights in hammocks which is a very comfortable way to camp.

[David Petersen]

#20731

Good topic, Bill. In younger days my minimalist hunting camp was to scrape up a pile of conifer needles under a big low-limbed spruce or fir, put on all the clothes I had with me including a rainsuit or poncho, lie down and try to sleep. Of course I always choose the best weather for such ventures. I once lasted five days in wilderness with a $3.50 K-Mart plastic tube tent, which was a total bust due to perspiration. (For food I had a pound of elk jerky, a pound of trail mix, a pint of George Dickel and all the cold mountain water I could drink.) These days, when I can manage it, my minimalist camp is my cabin home with warm wifey, woodstove and full refrigerator. The trouble I found with minimalistic camping wasn’t comfort or safety, but that it let me get so far back in that most of the time I realized “I don’t really want to have to hike back in here several times as fast as possible to pack out an animal,” and so I quit hunting and went home. Not to say I won’t do it again. But not tonight at -13. 😛

[paleoman]

#20754

-13! My personal camping record was about that, maybe-15. Can’ t believe my parents let my friend and I even try it but those were the days. We were maybe 10 or 12 yrs old cheap cotton sleeping bags flashlight batts died and we were dumb enough to bring eggs for breakfast…I’ ll never forget throwing them at trees and getting a kick out of them bouncing off. Wally and the Beaver never had so much fun.

[tailfeather]

#20786

Nice set-up, Roger.

I’ve slept in a good many improvised lean-to’s thatched with palmetto or an old tarp, eating squirrels and bream cooked over a lighter’d wood fire (in youth, taste buds seem to not be fully developed). But my most minimal hunting camps were just a greasy sleeping bag thrown out under the stars. I did once camp sans tent on a very small island in the rain the night before goose season. By the time morning was approaching, the island was under a few inches of water…but we got some geese!:D

[Mark Turton]

#21158

This is a subject close to my heart after someone looked at my camp last year and said ‘proper old school’, well it all still works but after checking out what others are using it weighs about twice as much as they were carrying.

Tailfeather, been there, first day of the season bit to keen knee deep in water not sure the dog ever forgave me.

Mark.

[James Harvey]

#21186

One night in north Queensland, which is usually pretty hot I had an Antarctic breeze blow all the way across the continent just for my benefit. I had left my main camp earlier in the day with nothing but trousers, shirt and hat for clothes. In an act of desperation I took my knife and cut a big heap of the long dead grass on the hill and packed it tight into my shirt for insulation. It made me slightly less miserable and took my mind off freezing for a little while at least. There’s nothing worse than being wet and cold, but that dry night with grass stuffed in my shirt always stands out as ‘simple’ 😛

[sinawalli]

#21248

Great replies! Stuffing your shirt full of grass is about as minimalist as one can get!!:)Problem I had back when I still had my “training wheels”, was that I would sometimes forget a vital part of the complicated set up like my release, and have to trek all the way back to my truck and get it!:(:oops: Since switching over to the trad side, I don’t foresee that problem, and it’s waaaaaay lighter!! I do worry a bit about bears (grizzlies), since I hunt in the foothills, but so far (knock on wood), I’ve had no issues! Was entertaining the idea of a tipi. Anyone use a Wyominglostandfound? His setups are quite a bit cheaper than a Kifaru or Seekoutside!! Much prefer a flask of dark rum as well!!:wink:

[Etter1]

#21499

I’ve had three different tent camps since bow season came in back in September.

I usually just throw up my two-man backpacking tent and my sleeping bag. We are usually in a campground of some kind, but next year we are going to save ourselves the 7 miles of hiking every day and just backpack into our bear hunting area.

That’s about as primitive as it gets for me these days.

[Bunyan Morris]

#25221

I’ve done my share if minimal camping and still do when the situation calls for it. But since passing the half century mark, I do find myself preferring the comfort an actual tent and bed pad when backpacking or the luxury a blow up mattress affords when truck camping. 😀

[Etter1]

#25245

Nowadays, tents are too light not to carry. Anybody can be in a one man bivy for less than 3lbs. Better to carry that light burden than risk getting caught in dangerous weather.

I don’t often have a bedroll but down here you can gather up a good bundle of pine straw in no time.

For truck camping, I have the air mattress…..EVERY TIME!

[Author]

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