Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting Tried out my hammock this weekend!

Well, I must say i will not be using a tent anymore! I got my clack jungle hammock and gave it a whirl this past weekend. The temps went to 30 degree's Friday night and after 20min in the hammock the temp in the hammock was 45 degree's. I used a exped deluxe 7 down mat and a 30 degree sleeping bag as a sheet. I was roasting. The sleep I got was way better than i ever got in a tent. The hammock are so simple to set up and tare down. When in its stuff sack its not much bigger than a camping pillow and at a weight of 3 pounds and some weighing less. I done most of my research at hammockfourms.net. Looking forward to using again!

I like my Clark hammock as well. I got the larger NX-200 for the added width and length. The 5 oz are well worth it for the extra room and sleep comfort. I used a Big Agnes mummy bag with the air core pad but think a light quilt attached to the bottom and eliminating the pad would be better.

Over here Hennesey Hammocks are quite popular. Flysheet and mosquito net built in. Light to carry. I have used one for about three years now and I won't sleep on the ground ever again, unless I am up over the tree line. Can camp on the side of a ridge, not worrying about where to find a decent cmapsite when its gettting late...I even slept suspended over a small creek one time....(I didnt sleep much listenign to the water, but thats not the point.) Most comfortable sleeping Ive done in the bush.

I've often heard of guys saying hammocks are easy to set up right at last light. I am a big hammock fan, but that's not my question.

My question is this: How many guys are quitting the hunt early to set up a camp? Aren't you guys hunting all the way to last light?

I usually hunt till last legal light and don't look for a campsite till then on lightweight mobile hunts, especially the kind where I don't take a sleeping bag or tent. Often don't select a campsite till pitch dark. Other times I have at least a general area in mind to camp, maybe a nearby bench I saw earlier that should have a good bivy spot, and that I can walk to easily once it gets too dark to hunt. And sometimes I am hunting a familiar area and know exactly where I plan to sleep. On light mobile hunts, I don't recall setting up a camp, hunting, and then returning to the camp, though I do that when backpack hunting sometimes, with more gear and more than a minimal bivy camp. It all depends on the terrain, weather, length of hunt, distance from a road, etc.

I.e. there is a place my son and I hunt where we usually camp 7 1/2 miles from the nearest road, and there is ample hunting to keep two guys going for several days within easy walking of that camp site. At that place we usually set up camp in mid day when we reach our camp site, and then hunt till dark. If I hunt the same mountain solo and approach across country without trails from the oppsite end, I have no idea where I will camp till after dark each day, because I just hunt, track and stalk game and sleep within a few feet usually of wherever I am when it gets dark.

If I'm going camping, I camp, sometimes lavishly. If I'm going hunting, I hunt, hard.

Most of the time I hang from the trees. Only the winter cold brings me down.

Where do you keep all your gear if its really ugly?? Like blowing snow sideways??

The hammock thing is appealing, but thats the part that I wonder?

I was leaning hard towards a hammock until some said "bear pinata"

Most of my irrational fears of bears have past but admit Im just not comfortable in a small tent or hammock. I tend to carry the extra pound or two and spread out in luxury in a two man tent.

I tend to share the same fear. For some irrational reason, I'd much rather die while tangled in my mummy bag on the ground, than while tangled in the same bag three feet off the ground. I'm still wrestling with the fear, because I know I'd be more comfortable in a hammock.

Just a matter of time in our neck of the woods.......no hammocks for me!

MtnHtr

You don't have Griz.

A "bear burrito" for you then?

In the end, what's really the difference anyway?

Maybe just a few hours of good sleep before we're doomed?

Just hang it 15 feet up in the air between two appropriately placed trees.

No problem.

I have been sleeping in a Hennessey for almost 5 years and will not go back. No I do not live in grizz country but more state record black bears come out of my county than any other in GA, last season they got one 560#

With a Hennessey the exit is a velcroed shut slit in the bottom and you can literaly hit the ground running by just sitting up, instead of fumbling around tring to get to a zippered shut door. Also in a hammock(my HH, YMMV)you can see what is going on around you, about 170* on each side. I also sleep with a pistol just in case.

I am more concerned with a widowmaker taking me out than I am a bear.

(widowmaker= dead tree branch falling the top of the tree without warning and smacking you on top of the coconut)

Can you sleep flat, or on your side without being kiked up in them? A hammock seems great for a nap, but I goota be able to roll over, and toss and turn.

All the bear burrito and pinata talk reminds me of that far side with the polar bears munching on an igloo, and one says to the other "OH yeah, I love these things, crunchy on the outside with a nice chewy center"

The filament in a light bulb is a very fine strand suspended between 2 posts. When a current passes through it, it gets hot and glows. So, we suspend a filament (hammock) between 2 posts (trees) and apply a current (lightning), do we light up the woods?

No I wouldn't expect bear issues unless you covered the hammock in butter.