Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Backpack Hunting what tents do you guys use

If I am trying to save some weight, I will go with a tipi shelter. Either a homemade pyramid, or a Golite Shangri-La 2. If I want easy to set up and foolproof when bugs are a problem, I bring a Big Agness Copper Spur UL1. It has alot more room than your normal 1 man tent. I am 6'3" and it has plenty of space for me and a large vestibule also.

As far as bags. I started with a 15 degree synthetic. It worked OK, but was 3.5 pounds. I then used a Western Mountaineering Badger for one season and it was awesome. Since then, I have used a Western mountaineering megalight. It is a 30 degree bag, but I only hunt bow season in CO. I can always put on my jacket and pants if it gets down into the 20's.

I was hesitant to spend the cash on that nice of a bag, but in the end it was well worth it.

Go-Lite Shangri-la 3. One of the best pieces of gear I've bought.


Travis

You are welcome

Ha! Thanks for sure Ed.

I just used it to see the Chinese Wall this weekend. Used your old Giga titanium stove too. Thanks all around I guess...


Travis

I just bought a Seekoutside 8 man and large titanium stove a couple weeks ago, and I'm looking forward to finally camping in comfort. Goodbye to the old Eureka tent, and hello tipi living.

Question about tipis. How do they do with ground bugs? The last two places I've camped had major ant issues, both carpenter ants and "regular" ants, on top of the mosquitos.

First off, tents floors both suck and blow. If it is warm enough for bugs, it is warm enough for a hammock (if there are trees available). If it is too cold for a hammock (much below freezing for me) then it is cold enough for a floorless shelter with a wood burning stove. Neither of my prefered "tents" have PITA floors.

I've stayed in places that have lots of ants. Never had problems with them as night fell.

Bugs have never been an issue for me with a floorless. If I was in rattler country, I might reconsider. Maybe. But right now, I am sold on the floorless tents.


Travis

Wife and I have a 6 man Kifaru, but don't backpack it. Just a bit too much for 2 of us backpacking in...

I used Gossamer Gears "The One" last weekend and will use a Tarptent Rainbow this weekend. I used a bivy last year and I miss the simplicity of it, being able to sleep almost anywhere is very handy. I will use a bivy at some point this year as still have 2 of them in my "quiver" of shelters.

Big W (and other SL users)

I purchased a SL2 last year for solo late season deer hunt. when pitch as designed, I got quite a breeze moving through the tent (normally would not mind, but it was single digits at night and would have preferred to keep the breeze to a minimum). Due to the breeze, I then pitched the tent by trenching around it with the pole ends in the trench and thereby lowered the fly close to the ground and significantly reduced the breeze. The problem was that it then created too much condensation and I got the fly "rain" in the morning. Normally, I would vent the tent using the zippered fly, but to vent the fly at the top opened the fly directly above my head and exposed it to precip at night. What has been your experience with the SL3 and have you found a better solution to cut the breeze and the condensation simultaneously?

I'm currently running a GoLite SL4 though I would like to trade up to a Kifaru Sawtooth or similar with stand up head room. Picked up a Tarptent Contrail and will likely experiment with it a little this fall before the weather gets real cold.

I use an Ozark Trail Just kidding !!!!! I use an assortment of tipi's and tarps depending on the situation.

I usually prefer floor less.

Don't underestimate the versatility of a good sized tarp. A 9x12 can provide a lot of shelter pitched as an A-frame, diamond, or lean-to or if the weather is bad as a half-pyramid. I've found my ideal size is 12x16 so that I can pitch a half-pyramid that I can stand in.

There's a great resource on many different ways to pitch tarps at http://www.equipped.com/tarp-shelters.htm

--thumper338

It better be a "shaped" tarp like a Kifaru if you plan to use it above timber line.

Kifaru Paratipi and stove. Also Paratarp. I've owned a 4 and one of the first 6 man's. I would like to get a 8 man someday.

Go-Light SL3

For a decade now I have gotten by with just a Cabelas bivy sack.

This year, getting older but also having more time to dedicate to my trips, I am about to give a Kifaru 4-man a try. It should feel like a hotel room.

Rab mountain bivy, Integral Designs MKIII and Golite utopia 4...Used all three on Kodiak for a billy goat hunt last week in the worst weather possible.

They all shined.
The GoLite at 3lbs for a four man rocks as a 'weather' tent.

Good tent choices for that trip.

I agree on the GL Utopia 4-- just a great lightweight floorless tent. I really like and usually prefer tipi style ones- but for the weight and ease of set up- I agree, the Utopia "rocks".

I am going to do a winter project and put a stove jack in the Utopia 4. I got the inspiration from a fellow 'fire member who put one in a Utopia 2.