Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting sleeping in wall tents

hey guys. wondering what type of sleeping bag I'll need for my late season muledeer hunt!! I'll be in a wall tent. nov 1-18 could be lots of snow.

what degree bag? Any suggestions on type and or brand?

Thanks

Wall tents are very nice but they can still get very cold if the fire in the stove goes out.

I'd get one that is very warm (-15 degrees minimum) as I find the rating always seem to be very optimistic. I'd also take a light bag or blankets in case the weather is warm.

I much prefer a large rectangular bag over a mummy- the bag I use when "vehicle" camping is an old Cabelas 15 degree with Qualofil. I don't doubt but what I have spent over 500 nights in it. I have to supplement it with a wool blanket now if it is colder than about 25. If you are in a wall tent with a heater, you should be able to regulate the heat so that a bag such as this will work fine. If you are looking to buy one, I think they have one called the Elk hunter which can be had to minus 20 or so. If it is too hot, I just unzip mine and let the draft in and regulate with a blanket.

A big roomy bag with synthetic fill is the best bet.

I like tent camping and even though we have an Artic Fox trailer we still do quite a bit of it.

I have two Big Agnes Park Series bags, a -20 degree and a +20 degree which my wife uses at times in the summer and I intended to use when it was very cold. She doesn't go elk hunting with me.

I found the -20 pretty warm for most camping so I bought a +20.

Home for elk and deer is a 12x14 wall tent. Wood stove morning and evening. Get up and stoke it if you want, otherwise we use a Mr Heater to warm the tent enough to get up and get one started in the morning.

We elk hunt at about 4,000 feet in the Wallowa Mountains and have had seven or so inches of snow three different seasons since I got the bags. I have as yet to use the heavier bag. I do use a poncho liner inside the bag when it is cold. I have had two of my cold sleeping friends use the heavier bag and they loved it.

If I was going to do it over I would have bought a zero degree bag and called it good.

FWIW we just bought two sets of bags for two of our married kids. The gals got zero degree bags and the guys got 20 degree bags.

Try Sportsmans Warehouse or Campsaver.

+1. And a cot with a thick pad to match. Cabelas sells both. A zero degree bag should be OK, just bring a lighter bag or a blanket along to put over it if it's colder than that.

Rating a sleeping bag is a rather dubious affair in my experience and I also find that the rating of a bag or the onres I've had anyway has been rather optmistic; either that or I have a much more tender body than most.

When hunting the mountains in late fall or winter with snow and calling a canvas wall tent home, I've finally found comfort with a high quality, down bag "rated" to -40. My feeling is if "over-bagged" you can always unzip or throw a leg out for air conditioning. However, if "underbagged", there is little you can do but wear as much as possible and then shiver the night away. I've hunted with 16" of snow on the ground and -20 degrees which is possible about anywhere in the mountain west during the fall or early winter.

If packing in with vehicle or horses, weight is seldom an issue so a heavy, syn bag is fine as long as it's warm enough and you can "cocoon" with two lighter bags also; it works. But remember the big rectangular bags with a large volume are harder to stay warmer in also.

Bottom line, as with boots and optics, this is not a place or time to skimp on quality as you'll spend a third of your time in it and if it's not restful neither will your hunt be enjoyable or maybe productive.

There are many good brands and for conditions like you describe - cold and dry - I'd go with a high quality down which is not inexpensive. And, as mentioned, go for a "highly rated" (for low temps) bag. And then in warmer conditions, I take this same bag open the zipper and bivalve the thing over me or use it as a large fluffy comforter. You can alo get water-proof jackets or coverings for a down bag use in wetter conditions the one big disadvantage to down being you must not get it wet. If that's possibility a syn bag is probably better and there are good ones in that category too but they are rarely as light or compressible if that's important as a good down bag.

By the way it's hard to regulate the heat in a wall tent so that it's the same comfy temp at 4 a.m. as it was when you turned in at 10 p.m. And no one wants to get up and start the fire at 4 a.m. so prepare for the coldest conditions you could possibly experience.

A cot is a very good addition but especially an air-cell/foam insulating mattress which come in varying weights and sizes.

Gdv

Buy the lowest temp rated bag you can in a rectangular bag. Get a fleece liner for it and a canvas cowboy type bed roll cover. Then get a good quality air bed. Place a heavy blanket bewteen the air bed and your bag. Every morning roll back your bag to let the body moisture dry out of the haavy blanket.
A wall tent should be sized to give you a comfortable camp and an extra comfortable bed. The bed is one thing you don't want to skimp on. YOu can always fold back the bag if it is too warm, but it sure is hard to fix if it isn't warm enough. This is one area where " Good enough" just isn't

a wiggys wide/long, a cabelas big cot and a thermarest ridgerest in between. lots of room, not a lot of weight or bulk, a lifetime guarentee, you will have plenty of room and never be cold and you can be asleep in no time.

do it right once, it is cheaper in the long run.

wiggy's guarentees against filler going flat, zipper and seam failure.....that just about covers everything I have ever screwed up, and with #10 zippers you aint gonna bust one.....wish I could say that about my north face bag.

I rarely go through a night but what I don't get up at least once. I drink a lot of water in the evenings as I tend to get cramps hiking and sweating the next day if I don't. When I get up for the nature call, I throw another log in the wood stove. Properly stoked, a stove will last 5-6 hours. It will still take the chill off during the night. During last year's elk hunt one of us would get up 20 minutes early and start the propane portable heater. Then when we got up to get dressed, it was 50-60 degrees inside and easy to dress and grab some grub.

If you are camping in a wall tent, your bag won't need to be as "high quality" as if you were on an expedition. A good Coleman bag (I think they have one called the Elk Hunter as well) will last you for many years. I really like the flannel lining. The reason the high end bags don't have these features is that they are bulky and heavy.

I won't argue that down isn't the best insulator but it has two big drawbacks for this type of use: first, it is unnecessarily expensive for a dry environment and second, it requires special care (removed from stuff sack, stored hanging up etc)

It is true that a big rectangular bag is hard to keep warm but that is why you fudge just a little on the rating to get the room to move around. I bought a Big Cot and with a 3" foam pad on top, I can sleep pretty dang good.

Another suggestion is that I take sleeping pills and the first couple of nights, I will take one to help me sleep as it is hard to get used to a new bed sometimes.

Along with the bag good insulation is needed. I have a 4 inch foam pad on top of my cot it works really well. I would make sure you have a good foam pad as well and I would leave the air matress at home...

Since I can drive to my campsite and have lots of cargo space, I load a twin matress. With plywood flooring in the tent, a fitted sheet and a nice soft pillow all I need are a couple of medium weight sleeping bags unzipped and tossed on the matress.
I sleep a well and as warm in camp as I do at home.
Then I have a good breakfast and go out looking for something to kill.

I concur heartily.

My first year, I took my Marmot down/goretex mummy bag and a thermarest. That is a mountaineering-level, very high-quality bag and was the wrong choice. I was warm, plenty warm, but it's far from ideal. It's just not that comfortable and you'll be TIRED. Mummy bags are too restrictive to be comfortable on a night-after-night basis.

The way to go, in my opinion, is as follows. Get an oversize cot from REI or Cabelas or whomever. Get a thick thermarest, like their car-camping version. Get one of those $10 dimple-foam mattress pads. Get the ginormous Coleman sleeping bag that's flannel-lined, weighs about 30 lbs, and is relatively cheap. They are rated to -20F or something like that.

Now THAT is a bed that you can come back to camp and be truly comfortable in!

-jeff

The boys and I always go for a couple of day for the opener at the end of a road and with a 16x20 wall tent.

We've got a hearty bunch of snorers so for years I've always taken a smallish 3 man tent for me to sleep in. Trust me you want me sleeping well or else my evil twin "Mark Dark" comes to camp...grins

I use a good ground pad and then I have an old mummy bag that I put inside a fairly inexpensive rectangular bag and over all of that I have a bag my buds call the "burrito bag". It is a big canvas cover that has some nifty snaps on it. Once down in this I sleep real comfy and never a worry and or a care.

More than a few nights the boyz in the wall tent get a bit chilly however.

We also take a big kerosene stove that we can sit in the middle of the floor and let run all night if things get really western.

Make it your best day!

Dober

I forgot I've got one of those white, canvas "burrito" bags too and the last trip to Wyo it was warm and I layed in my good bag with it open and the whole works in the canvas bag. Mine closes with velcro and I can't remember where I got it now but it gives another layer, keeps your main bag clean, and adds a little versatility depending on temps.
Obviously, it's not a back pack item however.

George

Is this similiar to the canvas bedrolls that you can get in some saddle shops or from western horseman magazine?

Strayperro-that be the one, it is an awesome thing to own and I wouldn't be without it. It really helps to regulate temp for me.

Dober

I was on an outfitted trip back in the 70's and one of the guides was a working ranch cowboy. He was telling me he slept outdoors practically year around. He had a coat of scotch guard on the canvas and a cover that came up over his head when it was raining.

It evidently is the cat's meow because he was sleeping on the ground outside the tents and it was near zero at nights. All he had inside it were two wool blankets.

Yepper the "burrito" is a wonder bag for sure. I've slept in some very interesting weather in mine.

Dober

I do the same thing Mark. Due to the snoring and the temperature fluctuating from 0-90 degrees(the same guy man's the stove every year) I started bringing my own two man tent to sleep in and have been sleeping better and more comfortably since.