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Hunters!

Among those of you who camp in Elk country during your hunt (we all do, right?), any of you use a Whelen Lean To?

This year's hunt for me is mid october, 7000' elevation, so not bad weather unless it rains, but reportedly Col Whelen claims with a fire built out front, reflecting heat off the canvas onto the occupant, this "tent" is comfortable down to -20 degrees.

Here's mine set up in the back yard...



I got this from:
http://beckelcanvas.com/products/whelen-lean-to-canvas/

What are the rest of you sleeping under?

Poole

I reckon 'comfortable' means different thing to different folks..... I like my smoke to go out a pipe.

That's actually pretty cool

I have a nylon version that I made about 40 years ago. I never used it much but it does work. It rolls up to about 3" diameter and 8" long. I never did use it in cold weather to need to build a fire in front of it. Being nylon, I was always nervous about melting it. I think it was in American Hunter where I saw the plans.

to me the only way it would be comfortable sleeping at -20 would be with it totally enclosed and a wood stove inside.

Built a nylon Whelen from plans in Whelen's book. It was surpisingly heavy. Upgraded to a Campfire tent designed by Bill Mason and sewn by Duluth Pack. It was really heavy. Ended up with a Kifaru tipi and folding stove. Very lightweight and totally comfortable. Far superior. I am with Tom338 and Huntsman22 - smoke up a stovepipe.

When Whelen designed it, there were no tipis, etc. on the market. The backpacking shelter market was pretty small back then. The lean-to has a surprising amount of fabric in it, a lot more than you'd think, and more than many tents. There are lots of modern tents out there now that work a lot better and are MUCH easier to set up. The Whelen needs you to cut supports and tie it all together. You can set up a tent and have supper done in less time than it takes to set up the lean-to. That's largely the reason that I've never used my home made one much. Tents are just easier to deal with.

Looking at the picture, we'd have serious problems with wind and with wind-blown rain here. At 7000 feet in elk season here, rain/snow and 70 mph winds are not out of the question. I have a Cabela's XPG Expedition 4-season, 4 person tent for elk hunting.

I think the Whelen lean-to should be good under dry, calm conditions ... with a fire, in those conditions, it might be surprisingly comfortable even in pretty serious cold. I'd try it!

Tom

Agreed.. pretty danged cool. Would rather have nylon but it looks nice for the early fall.

For calm winds and warm, dry weather it does look pretty cool.

Maybe you can predict those conditions in Arizona.

I'd be worried in Wyoming in just about any month.

I’m thinking you might be talking around Flagstaff. In the trees there’s not much wind and -20
Is quite unlikely, 20 maybe. Little chance of rain, snow maybe.

At any rate, I think you’ll be in warmer climate than me. Good luck.

I admire your enthusiasm for the Whelen tent. I too was enamored with one after reading an article by John Jobson of Sports Afield. Insects, wind and smoke led me to abandon it. A Baker tent would have been a better choice for me at the time.

Report back with your experience.

Wayne

I've pitched nylon tarps in the Whelan fashion. It's an nice roomy setup if the wind isn't bad.

For me solo I use an Integral Designs Sil shelter or my Ti Goat shelter. If I really want to go light I just use my 8x10' Integral design Sil Tarp at around 16oz.

I like canvas around the open fire and that's the domain of the Whelan. Cool stuff

I've used them twice on outfitted hunts in BC. They worked great. I liked the openness. Canvas preferred because of the fire. Just reach over and throw another log on if need be. Be aware of the breeze when you set it up. In really cold temps you can set it up with a boulder reflector in front or build a log one. I liked it a lot. If you're moving every day it's better than a tent.

Major points for style Bill!

I'll be cramped in a Hilleberg Akto at 9700' starting tomorrow night...

Is the No. 1 the 9.3?

The one in the pic is the .300 H&H, but the 9.3x74R is zeroed and ready too.

for the rest of the readers, higher elevation Arizona is pretty comfortable in october. In december I have woken up to find my 6 gallon water jug completely frozen solid.

I never have a problem with bugs once I turn off the lantern.

I often sleep under the stars. But my 2015 hunt it rained every day, so I needed a tent and had to hang a tarp over it since it leaked. The cheap zipper was broke but the rain never came in thru the door and it was very pleasant having an open door, especially when you have to get up at midnight to take a leak, its nice not having to mess with a zipper...

This one is canvas, it just seems right. I could have gotten a nylon Whelen for half the price. and of course the concern about fire near nylon.

for those of you curious in AZ, the hunt will be 6A rifle cow.

Poole

Too open for me. I like to be warm sitting by the stove.

If memory serves, the original Whelen tent as mfg'd by Abercrombie and Fitch was made of very lightweight Egyptian cotton. It would shrink when wet and make itself waterproof. I went looking for that material when I tried to do a Whelen for myself in the early 90's and found out it was ridiculously expensive. I had a swatch mailed to me and it was very close to the material used in my custom shirts. Lightweight? Wonderfully so. Completely impractical. Imagine wearing a $80 dress shirt camping and then start multiplying by the required yardage.

The Whelen is a cool design. I used to run into them at festivals and places like the Friendship IN shoots. However, I tried camping in a poly-tarp mockup and found that it was not suitable for most of the places I was camping. With a bug net, it would have been fine for the Boundary Waters in summer, but truthfully the Eureka Timberline 4 man I have was more comfortable. I tried the mockup on a couple of weekend car camping trips in the fall and found that I could not keep the fly from getting scorched. Paying that much for the cotton material, I was never going to subject it to fire.

The other thing about the Whelen is that it is meant for a highly consumptive form of camping. You have to be way out in the boonies or on your own property anymore to be cutting poles and such everytime you make camp. You can make and carry your own, but now you've got all this extra kit. Otherwise you have to look for just the right site with just the right limbs at just the right height, at just the right. . .

Anyone thinking about using a Whelen should experiment first with a plain tarp mockup, and make sure this is the right rig.

One source of high count cotton is from sheets. 600 count are availble on line at reasonable prices. The redevous reenactors use them for making cotton tarps. Waterproofing is with diluted linseed oil.

Tentsmiths still offers some Eqyptian cotton tents. Least they were last time I checked their website.

I have stayed dry many a night is some pretty driving rain in a makeshift 9 x 9 canvas tent awning fashioned into a lean-to. I especially remember some Alabama and Georgia deluges! Currently I have a 12 x 12 diamond fly that works well. Also a
9' canvas wedge tent.

Whelen looks good Bill! Well done!!