Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tent hunting experience...Yay or Nay?

Does anyone have experience hunting out of a Cabela's Ultimate Alaknak tent? Or similar tent.....

Are tents damp, hard to heat during winter? Do they hold up to wind and rain well?

Share your overall experiences hunting out of a tent. I'd love to know because a couple of friends are wanting to buy one to hunt out of in Alabama this deer season.

You must be from Florida. I don't know about that particular tent but there will be several answers to each question. They can be damp but usually not. They can be heated ok but they won't hold any heat when the heater is turned off or the stove burns out. If you use a propane heater, it will leave lots of condensation on the tent. A good wood stove will keep it nice and dry.
Since you're talking AL, that's a lot different from ID or MT. How cold does it get there during hunting season? If you just need a heater to take the chill off, a Big Buddy heater will work fine. If it's below freezing, I highly recommend a wood stove. It'll be a lot more comfortable although it's more work to keep it fed.

Yep, from Florida.

I appreciate the input very much!

When I was a lot younger I slep on the ground near the camp fire. Also spent several nights in the bed of a pickup.
A tent for me was a big step up. Spent several hunting seasons sleeping in tents. Set up permanent in camp. You can make it work. Hasbeen

I prefer trucks with camper shells for sleeping in more urbanized areas. If you have to hump it in, then it doesn't matter what they are or aren't, it's your best choice.

I was hunting in Montana by myself. In a cotton canvas tent made by Kodiak Canvas. Some other hunters showed up and set up camp right on top of me... three of those monster Cabela's Ultimate Alaknak tents... I was ok with it because I really didn't want them to be camped all over the landscape... so I was cool with it. I would get back at night and drop by over by their camp fire to ask how they did every day.... there were like 9-10 guys that made up that camp.

None of those guys really liked their tent. It would not hold heat and was cold.

In defense of that tent, it is big and roomy. There is a lot of cubic feet inside that needs to be warmed up. You need a really big heat source to heat all those cubic feet.

I once had a 12X14 canvas wall tent... i got rid of it because I just could not get enough BTU's to get it nice and warm. But, I hunt in cold weather... anywhere from -5 to 45 degrees

Tent camped with Cabelas dome, Northface domes, and wall tents for 50+ seasons. A Coleman lantern will warm up the smaller domes, and a small wood stove the wall tents. Never had any dampness issues (and it can flat out rain for days in Alsaka), but all of the domes had excellent rain flys installed and a form fitted plastic floor liner placed on the inside. Typically use the wall tents when outings are 7 to 14+ day events with two or more hunters/fishermen.

I prefer tent camping to the use of our 26 ft Winnebago Minnie travel trailer. The trailer's like living at home with all the attending chores and constant cleanup of the interior.

In this camp we sleep in the trailer solely because that's where the bed is. All of the waking hours, cooking, and entertaining of up to 6 or 7 visitors takes place in the wood stove - Coleman lantern - 3 burner propane equipped wall tent. If the trailer stays at home, we will take a dome tent for sleeping quarters. On pack in trips we'll sleep up to 4 in the wall tent, but gear has to be rolled/stowed for day use activities. We will cook on the wood stove on those trips.



We have kept the wall tent comfortable down to about -25° with plenty of room to hang gear that's gotten wet or damp. This setup gets about a month's worth of use each fall from mid Oct to near mid Nov. We tarp the wall tent if there's potential for significant snow. Heavy accumulations will not slide off canvas and can collapse an unattended camp. The addition of the plastic tarp lets the snow slip.

A buddy has one of the Alaknak tents, and we typically use it solely for sleeping. My wall tent will be off to the side for most of the daily camp functions. My sole criticism of the Alacknak is the integrated floor. One can't charge back in with wet, snow covered or muddy boots if he forgets some item. The wall tent (below images) has no floor, so spilled coffee, tossed peanut shells, dropped food, sawdust/bark from firewood, lawn chair/sleeping cot/or wood stove coasters are not needed, and muddy boots are non-issues. The wall tent also goes up and down a lot quicker with an internal frame.

The con to not having an integrated floor is that a raiding raccoon/skunk can slip beneath the edge of the wall tent and toss the place. Coons will climb everwhere/everything, tip over, and try every container/cooler.



Skunks are neat and quiet and pretty much confine their rummaging to what's on the ground.


Bear will ignore an open door, rip open a side for entry, and add another rip to the back as an exit.

Where shooting the little beasties in not allowed (like tended campgrounds), the edibles have to be stowed in critter proof tubs. Around most hunting camps, a 38 slug can rectify that issue if one can catch them on the way in.

They are a terrific way to get away from other hunters on public land. Out west then yeah, more guys with a larger tent and a wood stove. My philosophy of getting a good buck on public land is to do what other hunters are not doing. A small tent in a WI. deer season is kind of chilly, but I shot nice bucks when ever I did that. Get a very good sleeping bag.

Cool picture!!!

On the pic - Thanks. That's Cookie's camp for her mule deer photo run during the rut each fall. If a doe will come in, the bucks will follow. Last year, I was off helping a deer hunting friend for two weeks with my two-man dome tent and the car while she lived the high life with all the gear and an F350 crew cab While hunting, we did not see any equivalents or shoot anything.

We've been using a Sportman's Guide Gear 10x12' Canvas Wall Tent, for the last 7 or 8 years during Missouri's rifle deer season in mid-November. Temperature ranges have been from below zero to high 40's. Wind, rain, snow - it's held up well to all weather (never experienced any "dampness").

We sleep 4 in it, with a small wood stove, and let me tell you, it gets hotter than a Turkish sauna in there.

The Cabela's bunk beds are great.

I am not familiar with Alabama weather during deer season, the temperatures or how much rain? Any possibility of snow?

Most quality tents will come with a rainfly to help waterproof the inside. Spray the seams with a waterproofing spray which will help. With smaller tents a propane heater with adequate ventilation can be run before bed and when you first wake up to take the chill out of the air. I dont run those all night so make sure you have a good bag. Along those lines, I find a good cot way better than sleeping on the ground, both methods using a pad.

If several of you will be hunting together out of one tent, consider a canvas wall tent. We get carpet remnants to use as our floor, except for the entry and area of the wood burning stove. Buy a larger size than you think you will need, 4 guys and gear takes up a lot of room. We tarp the roof with overhangs on the sides to help cover our firewood.

A good wood stove will blow you out of there with warmth. With ours, we made a grate out of expanded metal above the floor of the stove a bit, and when preparing for sleep, we throw several chunks of coal into the stove. The coal burns slow and puts out heat, so in the morning it is still warm and easier to stoke up for morning warmth and coffee.

A good canvas wall tent properly set up makes for a very comfortable place to stay and is my choice.

Regards,
Manny

The newer Cabelas tents are not the same quality as in years past. A nice wall tent would probably serve you better or a Kodiak canvas tent.
A wall tent with a rain fly and some extra side walls, we hang canvas drop cloths along the walls, will hold in heat pretty well.

My Alaknak was set up and used for the fall bow season. Left it up and waited for rifle. A few days before the opener it deposited feet of snow in the mountains. The tent collapsed from the weight. bending the center poles inside and half of the side poles. it took up a couple of days to even get to it to dig it out. Tent was ripped in multiple places where it hit the equipment inside. cots, stove, table... Cut the top off and salvaged the bottom and foot print for tarps. Don't trust the aluminum poles. I had a10x12 wall tent in another meadow a few miles away the survived. It took two more days to get to it. log pole frame.

If you want to use a wood stove in a tent with a floor, do some searching for Nomex fabric. They make stuff like welding shirts out of it. A piece of it under the stove will protect the floor without having to cut hole in it.

If you're able to drive to where you're going to camp, skip the alaknak tent and any other nylon tent.

A big canvas will last much longer and be warmer. Cover the roof w/a heavy tarp and use a big woodstove, have your firewood precut.

FYI western/northern folks, it can get deathly cold in the deep south, 25* and windy along with high humidity = COLD. The type cold that you can't seem to get warm in, or it could be 80*.



Nice set-up Skeen, it does appear those bunkbeds would work well.

After several years of using a wall tent for gun deer hunting in Wisconsin and ID, MT and Wy, I use a different style tent for bow hunting in those states. Typically, I experience milder weather during bow season and like adjustable ventilation, bug screening and sewn in floor.

A 10x10 Kodiak Canvas tent and a propane heater with 20# tank has been working for me.

Started with nylon type dome tents, stepped up to pop up camper, now use a Kodiak canvas tent for last 20 years.
Propane lantern or buddy heater for warm when needed.

Thanks for the input guys!

Finally moved out of a tent for hunting/living in when I turned 60. I spent 3 years living in a wall tent in N. WI and ran traplines all over WI and MN in a wall tent. Catalytic heaters are damp but fine for a day or two. Any extended stays a vented propane heater, wood stove or even a fuel oil space heater(everything smells like fuel oil as you have to fill the tank inside) work well, I've used them all. One thing nice about propane and fuel oil you don't have to get up in the night and add wood to the stove.