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Base Camp

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Base Camp

Postby Swede » 01 21, 2021 •  [Post 1]

If you like, please, tell me about your base camp. What do you look for in a good base location? What equipment do you have there, and how much do you use it?

I like a flat place near a clean stream to wash in and clean my dishes. I use carried in water for drinking. If it is going to be cold, I will avoid streams as they are colder than the ridges close by. I like trees around for shade, but watch out that there are no snags (dead trees) leaning over the camp.
I have a good wall tent, tarp, and outside kitchen. I also have a good cot. Everything is brought to camp in large plastic containers with lids. I usually have a clothes line inside the tent, and one outside.
I hunt daily from my base camp, except I may go for a few days to a spike camp and hunt from there. So far I have only hunted about 3 days from a spike camp per season. Spike camp wears me out.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Tigger » 01 22, 2021 •  [Post 2]

I have done the tent thing and mirror what you do for the most part. I have also used my enclosed trailer which is even better. With a generator, I have heat, microwave, phone charging, freezer, etc. I use cots and pads on the cots. A comfy bed is a must for me.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Indian Summer » 01 22, 2021 •  [Post 3]

I take my time picking the exact spot for my tent. Level isn’t quite possible where I’ve been hunting so I do the best I can. I’ll dig the cot legs in a bit to level the cots. A level cot is a must!

I like sunlight. Don’t care for a tent in the shadows. Sun means dryer ground too. I make sure I’m not in any kind of low spot so water doesn’t run into the tent. Obviously no dead trees within reach.

I use horses so that adds more requirements. I need running water. A place close to the water for a hitch rail too. Next time we’re going to run a portable electric corral so we don’t have to water horses.

Inside the tent is truly a place to eat, sleep, dry clothes and gear, and lift the spirits at the dinner table. I usually have 1 drink at night. Tom doesn’t drink until we kill bulls and then he catches up to me real fast. :lol: We have a giant cylinder stove, a propane griddle for the after the kill meals. Also a generator that runs our portable heated shower unit.I have a stainless steel basin with a drain pipe for the base and we hang a shower curtain from the internal tent frame. When you come out of there it’s like starting your hunt all over again. Tent is tarped of course and a mesh floor covers the ground. I could live there year round.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Swede » 01 22, 2021 •  [Post 4]

I.S. You sound like a man that has made or observed all the mistakes there are to make, and have learned what it takes for a good tent operation. I agree with you take on things, especially the good foam pad on the cot. I have been fortunate enough to have a good level area, so I do not have to dig spots to level my cot. My cousin showers in his tent, but I don't. I will take a sponge bath inside, but have my shower somewhere nearby.
I made the mistake of having my tent at the bottom of a bare hillside. You only make that mistake once. It started to pour rain one afternoon. It was something similar to Noah's deluge. Water started flowing overland, down the hill and through the tent. My brother and I had to trench around the tent in the downpour. We survived, no worse for the experience, and we were smarter at the same time. I had never seen water flowing overland, and causing trenches on a hillside until that day. Note: Those trenches and gullies you see on bare hillsides don't all come from heavy or rapid snow melt. They don't all come in the Winter and Spring.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Trumkin the Dwarf » 01 22, 2021 •  [Post 5]

I just sleep in the bed of my truck, with all my extra food, water, cooking, and sleeping gear stowed in a cooler in the back seat. Otherwise I'm in a spike camp...

you guys put me to shame!
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Re: Base Camp

Postby 7mmfan » 01 26, 2021 •  [Post 6]

Base camp can vary year to year. The last few years in Idaho, it's been our wall tent with wood stove, but set up at a RV park where we can have showers, internet, phone, laundry, etc... basic creature comforts that make 10+ days away from home more enjoyable. It was also important to have contact with home, so the phone/internet was a priority. I bought an inreach this year so now I can communicate wherever I am, so that will probably change our basecamp situation. Still will be the wall tent with wood stove, but it will be located closer to our primary hunting area most likely.

Like many others have said, the ideal tent location is important. Flat, away from dead snags, protected from the wind, not in a low spot. Having a few large live trees close by is a plus so we can string clothes lines and meat poles. We have a mobile meat pole setup that works well now, so that's not as much of a priority.

Many times in WA on mule deer hunts, my base camp has been like TD's, the back of my truck. I actually really enjoy those hunts, they're so easy and fast, but only good for a few days.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Lefty » 01 26, 2021 •  [Post 7]

I just lost my second response so these will be shorter when hunting in the desert my camp was small and just me most often I was in the middle of the desert which realistically all of it all of the desert is elk country I would try to set up my camp where others would not see my tent or vehicle my base was very simple I could set up my complete camp in 23 minutes and break down and have it in the vehicle in 22 minutes

Im home, so here are some of my camps
IMG_4724.JPG


Shower setups
2018-09-08 16-05-04.JPG


I bet there was over 90 PSI at this desert hydrant.
I would stand in the back of the pickup on the rubber bed mat , and power wash the desert grime off of me
IMG_4725.JPG
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Lefty » 01 26, 2021 •  [Post 8]

I'm trying to do this from my phone since I started Honey National Forest when I was tent camping or back of the pickup generally my hunting would start just 50-200 yards out of camp, which was oft en under a hundred yards from a forest service road or at the very end of a unused Forest service open trail now that I have a 14-ft toy hauler RV we are camping in a location that for 50 years had been the campsite for other elk hunters The guys of aged out and some of their crew were violating Forest service and wildlife laws and just aren't coming back kind of a neat site unfortunately We don't hunt right from camp for elk but a ATV or vehicle ride to a trailhead access area is a short ride
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Billy Goat » 02 04, 2021 •  [Post 9]

our camp is very similar to swedes in his original post.

do yall all put a tarp floor down? we do. I like that it keeps dirt/grass from getting all over my gear. we still track in a good bit of dirt and debris, but I still think it's cleaner than not having a tarp floor.

the only thing I DONT like about a tarp floor is that it wont let water out, either. so if you have a spill, or condensation inside the tent melts/collects and doesnt have a way out. I think an astroturf type floor would be the best of both worlds, but obviously more bulky than a flat tarp.

better ideas?
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Swede » 02 04, 2021 •  [Post 10]

I use blue or brown tarps on the floor. They get picked up and shaken outside every once in awhile. We also have a tarp outside which we sweep regularly. That way the dirt and debris does not get tracked in as much. I could make a lot more floor space available by building some shelving to stack containers clothes, supplies, etc. in. I am think about doing that this winter or next Spring.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Billy Goat » 02 04, 2021 •  [Post 11]

in our kitchen tent, we stack the folding tables (regular plastic tables) on top of each other to give us WAY more storage space. the 2nd table ends up about shoulder height. we just tie those to each other with ratchet straps to keep them held in place.

I can probably find a picture if that'd help....
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"First teach a child to love God,
teach them second to love their family
and third, teach them to hunt and fish,
and by the time they reach their teens, no dope peddler under the sun will ever teach them anything".

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Re: Base Camp

Postby Swede » 02 05, 2021 •  [Post 12]

Goat, your tent looks like you have figured out a way to keep things organized and handy to get to. I have been stacking bins on top of each other. That keeps things organized, but what I want is always in the bottom bin. I guess it is a similar situation to dropping your slice of toast. It always lands jelly side down. I do not understand your blue tarp. I keep mine on the floor. Are you just drying it out, or is it serving some purpose?
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Re: Base Camp

Postby 7mmfan » 02 05, 2021 •  [Post 13]

My Dad built a shelving unit that bolts to the top of our plywood camp table. We are able to store all our basic camp cooking needs in it. Best part is, it folds in half into the camp kitchen box that holds the stove, lantern, pots/pans, utensils, all the little shelves, some propane and most everything that we keep in it when set up. It's quite handy. I'm a short guy so the look of Billy Goats stacked tables gives me a complex. I'd need a stool to get anything off the top.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Billy Goat » 02 06, 2021 •  [Post 14]

Swede wrote:Goat, your tent looks like you have figured out a way to keep things organized and handy to get to. I have been stacking bins on top of each other. That keeps things organized, but what I want is always in the bottom bin. I guess it is a similar situation to dropping your slice of toast. It always lands jelly side down. I do not understand your blue tarp. I keep mine on the floor. Are you just drying it out, or is it serving some purpose?


Swede,

we run our "floor" tarp partways up the wall. that way any water runoff (rain, snow) that gets under our actual walls, doesnt end up on top of our floor tarp. make sense?
"First teach a child to love God,
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and by the time they reach their teens, no dope peddler under the sun will ever teach them anything".

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Re: Base Camp

Postby Swede » 02 06, 2021 •  [Post 15]

Sure it makes sense. As a summer time camper, I almost never see snow, so I did not think about that.
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Re: Base Camp

Postby Old school » 02 09, 2021 •  [Post 16]

We run a similar camp to Swedes initial post. We also back our enclosed trailer close to the tent where we can get into and out of it as needed in mornings. Depending on how many we have in the tent, we may store our bows and packs in the enclosed trailer at night. We need to get some type of portable shower setup - that’s it... for now.
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