Tent for Base Camp

[GoGriz1234]

I am planning on a 9 day hunt to open the season in SW Montana this year and am trying to figure out what sort of tent would be best for a base camp. This will be my first season spending multiple nights in the field and I am trying to wrap my head around what I need. Base camp won't be more than a mile from the car so weight should be too much of a problem. Is a wall tent that much better than say a 4 person camping tent? Anyone have a favorite shelter or pointers on what to look out for? Thanks for any input/ insight.

[Indian Summer]

A wall tent compared to anything else is like elk hunting versus small game. A wall tent is like a house. Bedrooms in the corners. Kitchen in the front and dining room in the center. A wood stove in the other corner. Cord along the walls or ridge for drying clothes. I have back packed my 10 by 12 a mile or two to have all the comforts of home away from the road.

Look no further than the Wall Tent Shop banner up above. Really nice tents and you will NOT find a better price.

[Indian Summer]

GoGriz??? Are you in Missoula or nearby?

[pointysticks]

i have no clue how big my buddies wall tent is..pretty big.

the canvas portion is huge!! IIRC it is as big as a human body. and that bundle of poles..another body. i wouldnt carry one in for a mile..not up any grades. that's two trips already. ice chests, duffels, stoves..sheesh. i'm a city boy wuss..i'd die. now if i had a few horses..that changes everything.

i have slept 10 days in a REI six man tent. put a cot in there and it felt like a palace.

[blackwolf]

Springbar and Kodiak Flex tents are simple and much more weather resistant than your average tent. They work great for 1-2 people. The Kodiak 10 by 14 would be great for 3-4 people.
I use a Springbar 8 by 8. Perfect one man and good enough for 2. Much easier than putting up a wall-tent. I have used mine in Nov with a Buddy Heater and stayed toasted.

[Indian Summer]

I'd ver carry the pole frame. Way heavier and more cumbersome than the tent. I'd never pack a tent bigger than 10 by 12 either. I would pack the stove though if it was cold out because it's worth it's weight in gold. of course I'd use a good frame pack like my Barneys Freighter to do that.

BUT... my question is why pack any of it anywhere if camp is less than a mile in? I think I'd opt just to camp at the truck, live like a king, and hike 20 minutes more each day.

[GoGriz1234]

GoGriz??? Are you in Missoula or nearby?

I went to college in Missoula many moons ago and now spend about 10 weeks a year in the Stevensville area.

Thanks for the replies. You make a good point about setting up camp by the car and hiking the extra distance. I plan to do a decent amount of scouting his summer so I'll have to find a nice base camp area. I'll definantly check out the mentioned tents.

[Elkduds]

I was writing my reply when Summer posted, basically quoted me word for word. Great minds and all that...

Shouldn't be snow @ start of season, so no sleds. If you have to carry loads of more than 80 lb or that are too bulky for 1 to carry, here are a few ideas.

When I worked on a Park Service trail crew in the Black Canyon of CO, we had to move heavy stuff over steep terrain on little or no trails, often w big altitude gain/loss/gain. Some ideas were ill-conceived, like tying 2 bridge logs, 12 feet long x 16 inch diameter, on 2 sides of a raft and trying to row it all down the Gunnison river. Some better methods were: A big wheelbarrow with some tow lines tied to the frame ahead of the front axle. The pusher held up the load by the handles. 2-3 pullers use the tow lines to propel it forward and lift the tire over obstacles. That handled over 240 lb of sackrete. A game cart w handles for 2 and brakes would be better, I think. Litters carried between 2 people can go where wheels can't. The guy in back cannot see where he is stepping, unless the handles are long. Heavy nylon cargo straps w loop handles can carry long, heavy loads w a person on each side of the load holding one of the loop handles, 4-8 guys for those big bridge logs after we got them out of the river. Difficult on narrow trails, impossible on sidehills. We had a crew of eight 20-something trailheads, and it was still brutal. Wouldn't try any of that today.

[AlexG]

The tents we use for our Base Camp are the Cabela's Ultimate Alaknak 10' x 10' and the 12' x 24' and they were great while were elk hunting for over 10 days, and they have built in floors and windows unlike most canvas wall tents and they weigh considerably less than the canvas tents.

[Indian Summer]

An Alaknak is a decent tent. I've stayed in them. I don't really like a sewn in floor. It's a dirt and water trap. I was in one in 2012 after a really wet rainy snowy bow season and the water in one corner was 4 inches deep. I pulled out my knife and perforated the damn thing about 15 times to drain it. There was dirt and mud everywhere in there too. Yuk. Short side walls too. I would call an Alaknak a 3 season tent not 4. If I was a bow only guy I might consider one. But for gun season it falls short in my opinion.

Speaking of tent floors I saw the other day that Harbor Freight has mesh tarps at a good price. They never had those before. Nearly identical to my Big Sky floor. Keeps the dirt down and you can walk on it barefoot or in socks but it lets dirt and water fall through.

[mtelkkiller]

Early season I wouldn't go with a heavy canvas tent. You will roast alive in those if you're there for the first two weeks of sept.

If you're going to go canvas, check out the bigsky tents in Bozeman

[Indian Summer]

Huh... is that the same Big Sky as in Missoula? Kahn the Asian guy?

The tents from the Wall Tent Shop come with a free screened rear window which is awesome for ventilation if you need it. I open it when I'm cooking in bow season sometimes. But at night I don't think being too warm is ever an issue in the mountains. Now if you are inside your tent during the day when you should be out hunting you deserve to be cooked alive!

[elk.addict]

Speaking of tent floors I saw the other day that Harbor Freight has mesh tarps at a good price. They never had those before. Nearly identical to my Big Sky floor. Keeps the dirt down and you can walk on it barefoot or in socks but it lets dirt and water fall through.

I'm going to have to try that. Headed to town this weekend, hopefully Harbor Freight has one in stock

[Huntmaster]

I went with the Wall tent shop 12x14 last year and couldn't have been happier. I decked it out with the internal frame, floor and fly. It was a palace for the two of us.

[Lefty]

Are you hunting alone or with partners>?
I had a two man tent that we spent a few hundred nights in and in some of the toughest weather conditions. It was a 39.00 tent .
That tent died. I bought a 4 man dome List for 169 bought for under $80. The first 50 mile an hour wind broke two poles. Ill still use it but it may only make 100 nights before its done
Im also a scoutmaster. Our troop has 7 spring bars of different sizes. Certainly a nicer tent, and can withstand 50 plus mile winds,.. but the pipes really play a tune withstands heavy snows Ans some are tall enough to stand inside
A decent tent and a large fly works great for cooking and other gear storage

For a longer duration hunt I would consider a wall tent with a stove if practical

Pic of a 3 man Spring-bar similar to the Kodiak

IMG_5594 (Small).JPG (128.83 KiB) Viewed 11052 times

[Lefty]

. It was a palace for the two of us.

A couple fellows from Minnesota use to hunt with our camp.
Their wall tent looked like grandma did all the decorating. About as homy as a wall tent could ever be,.. home made quilts in the beds, even pics of the family on the wall

[CurlyTail]

I have been impressed with this tent in the 12x12 size. Of course it is not an 8 man tent, more like 2 (perfect), 3 (pretty good) for base camp elk hunting.

http://www.cabelas.com/product/Camping/Tents-Shelters/View-All-Tents|/pc/104795280/c/104779080/sc/105517980/Cabelas-Outback-Lodge-Tent-150-12-x-12/1570907.uts?destination=%2Fcatalog%2Fbrowse%2Fview-all-tents%2F_%2FN-1102375%2FNs-CATEGORY_SEQ_105517980%3FWTz_l%3Dundefined%253Bcat104795280%253Bcat104779080&WTz_l=undefined%3Bcat104795280%3Bcat104779080%3Bcat105517980


Cabelas Outback Lodge - Inexpensive. Roomy and comfortable. Cots fit perfect in this size. Super easy to set up and take down. Waterproof and stands up in the wind. Only concerns: very dependant upon stakes and guy ropes - if the ground is too rocky or too sandy to get secure stakes in the ground it would not work well. I would only use for a week or so, doubt it would hold up for a month of continuous use. Way lighter, less bulky, and less expensive than a wall tent. Not sure how the waterproofing will hold up over time - so far so good for 3 years!

[Indian Summer]

That tent has really short sidewalls which minimize the usable space. But the kicker is it costs $500 which is knocking on the door of a wall tent from the Wall Tent Shop which is a serious investment. The original poster said "base camp" so I'll assume weight isn't a major consideration.