Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Wall tent question

I am planning on getting a new Davis wall tent 14X16. I was thinking of getting a window in back wall but then I thought maybe I should get a zipper door in back wall. I have heard people say oneis better than another. What say you???

Just my 2 cent's worth, but we usually put the cots against the back wall so the wood stove can be near the entrance and we can put a table w/chairs in the middle for eating or just sitting around playing cards or visiting at night. With this layout, we can sleep four, have a wood stove, and a 3' x 6' folding table with 4-6 chairs and be pretty darned comfortable.

With a door in the other end, usually means you need to keep an aisle available to use either end of the tent for exit or entrance, which I've never found necessary in this size tent. And this way, 2 large cots fit across the back of the tent perfectly or 3 cots perpendicular to the back wall and one on the side away from the stove.

I prefer the window so I can cool the tent during warmer weather hunting and close or open the windows at night if I choose.

Are you planning on getting a frame?

BTW, 14 x 16 is the perfect sized tent for 3-4 guys, especially if you use another tent for cooking and storing food, cook stoves, utensils, camp kitchen, etc.... We have a 14 x 16 for our sleeping/eating tent and a 10 x 12 for our cook tent. Works great.

Have you shopped at walltentshop.com yet? Great site, lots of great information, and great prices and service. I've been extremely happy with their tents and the service we've received from them.

I like the zipper in the end over the window. Works real good if you want to put a second tent up against it to use as sleeping area. You can more than double the number of people in camp and keep cot's out of the eating area.
Just my two cents.

I like the two doors. If too hot,you can unzip and fold back,better than a window. Not necessary to leave an aisle if it is not being used. If your one zipper goes bad,you don't have to spend $150 to get another intsalled. Just tie the old door closed with the bad zipper.The two doors work great, as stated to tandem two tents. In an emergency,you have that back door to get out.

You can always use the extra door as a window,,but it's darn hard to use a window a a door. If you just want to see out,put a window on one side of a door opening.

+1000

Two doors are better to let out the fart smell.

3-4 guys will be perfect. Have a 14x16 with 5' walls. For moose camp we have had up to 7 guys (I built an L-shaped bunk) worked great. But with more guys in camp now we got a 16x20. Worked great 4-5 guys

Anyhow we had a large zippered inside window at the back along with one on each wall - worked great for air flow if needed.

Our new tent has the diesel heater is centred along the back wall but has lagre window there also. The side walls have 2 windows each.

I can see the view for 2 doors if you have a 2nd tent and want to attach it.

Us, we prefer to have the cookshack away from the sleeping quarters. This way keeps food smell out of sleeping area. We are clean in camp, but you never know. I have had black bears walk right along my side of the wall tent where I sleep a couple times...funny story for our rookie in camp that year (3 of us in camp the last couple days). Lets just say I reached down below my cot for the Defender and my other buddy has reaching down for the other, and the rookie saying loud "whats that noise" and we both whipsered "go back to sleep". We didnt need him freaking out on the bear....he wasnt that outdoor savy and we didnt need him scared. We told him in the morning.


IMO, the aluminum internal frame is the only way to go!

To give us even more room in our newer tent, we started to buy the bunk-cots. Frees up floor space for gear or helps with 2 men on one bunk cot setup.

I have been looking at Davis tents but the walltent shop looks good. Has anyone got one of their tents, any problems. I want to do this once so I want to do it right. I have a line on a used tent but do not know much about it. I will talk to the guy and see wha he has to say. Happy new year thanks for the info

I have two doors on my tent. My tent is 14X17 with 5 foot side walls, I would not want it any smaller.

A friend of mine has the same size tent with two doors as well, sometimes we hook them together. Cook and eat on one end and sleep on the other. Makes a nice camp for 4-6 guys.
Most of the time we don't hook them up, becouse, size of camp area or the location of camp with the possibilities of un-wanted guest.
Heat: we would have two wood stoves plus the heat from the kitchen.

Frame: We use the aluminum internal frame.

We have two of thewalltenshop tents and I've been very impressed with their tents so far. Our 14 x 16 has been in use for 3 years so far and our 10 x 12 cook tent replaced our old 8 x 10 cook tent this year and was a great addition.
I like how they reinforce all the stress points like the ridges and corners with double fabric and sew in the heavy strapping material at the attachment points for the tie down ropes. My other tents never had that and they always wore and came apart at those points.
Definitely get the tent frame angles and build a frame from their instructions. It makes it much easier to set up the tent and take it down.
Once you get the tent you will start looking at all the cool amenities you can get to make the tent more comfortable. The wood stove goes without saying, but we also bought a couple of the heavy canvas storage units that hang from the frame and it makes it a great way to store snacks, pies, and other food items we keep in the main tent up off the floor so small critters can't get into them. Also, makes more floor space for other items like cots, etc...

Good cots make all the difference, IMHO. Don't skimp out on a good cot. We tried a bunch of them and I used old army cots for many years but I couldn't get a good night's sleep on them any more. Finally checked around on websites and with other hunting buddies and settled on the Slumberjack large cots with the Cabela's deluxe guide pads. I sleep as well in camp as I do at home now so it was worth every penny they cost.

Another thing we did that really makes a huge difference in comfort in cold camping was to get a remnant piece of carpet the size of the tent to lay down before putting down all the cots and other stuff. Having a nice warm floor to put your feet on in the morning really helps to get you going and makes the whole tent seem more comfortable. A tarp under the carpet keeps the dew from coming up from the ground so the carpet stays dry and warm.

You'll find it will take a couple years of camping in a good tent to decide what you want to add to make it more comfortable and enjoyable for you and your hunting partners. There are tons of add-ons that will help, like a camp kitchen, storage boxes, folding tables for food preparation/dish washing, hooks and other devices to hang your clothes and lanterns from the tent frame, etc.....I wouldn't hunt any other way now. All those years I spent in my travel trailer were really uncomfortable compared to our tent camp now.

Sorry so long winded- I had to learn a lot of this stuff the hard way over a long period of time. Hopefully some of the info you get from this thread will help you cut down on the learning curve of wall tent camping.

Bob

I would go with the zippered window option and stick with your good Davis tent choice.
I have seen a variety of other tent manufactures. I have one of the lesser qualities and wish I went with the Davis.
The 14�X16� will work great for three persons assuming everyone keeps things organized.

Bitterroot

I have a 14x16 Davis and would recommend them highly. Have know Roy and Art for many years.Great people to do business with!!!

I purchased a 14'x16' davis and it's a great tent. I spent about 4 weeks in this fall/winter and haven't had any problems. I went with a window in the back and wouldn't change a thing. As others have mentioned, we typically put cots against the back wall anyway so there's no point in having a door there.

Davis is having a pretty good sale on a 14'x16'. Pretty much get the frame angles and a tent bag for free....

I have stayed in wall tents for 40+ years. Thelast three years about 4 weeks every fall counting muzzle loader and rifle season.

I can never remember ever having the need for a window. My tent is at least 30 years old.I think it has one pin hole in a side wall.

The first thing that is going to go is that plastic in the window. It is either going to crack in th ecold when folding or unfolding the tent, or suffer UV damage.

So you put cots up aginst the back wall.You don't HAVE to use the door,but it's there if you need it.

Use one in the hot summer and you will be glad that you can open both doors and let a breeze wisp thru.

I also agree that Davis Tents are the best way to go. I have several Davis tents, none of them have a window, I have never needed one. We have a couple of them with two doors and they have come in real handy more than once. You can always leave them shut, but they are right there when you need them.

I too like the internal frames. The ridge sleeves on a Davis Tent are great too, you dont have to pack any poles at all.

Just my own opinion

I like the window at the back, if you want more room get the Cook Shack addition for it, that is what I have on mine, it works out Great. jmo

Kevin

Lots of great ideas and thigs to think about.

I had the same debate last year and ended up going with a screened door in the back. As someone said, you can use a screened door as a window, but you can't use a window as a screened door.

Another option instead of end windows, if you're having the tent built to your specs, is to get the biggest honkin' 2-way zippers you can get, installed for the doors. That way, you can unzip from the top to peek out, or to vent, without reaching to the bottom and unzipping all the way up. It can even be propped open with a stick.......

I retired my old wall tent got a Davis and since there is only two that use I got the 12x14. Instead of using the trailer for archery season used the Davis and I only one Colorado door put in. End of Nov dropped it off a Davis for rear Colorado door plus screens front/rear also two side window. couple times archery could of use rear door not sure about the windows but since it was up there just had them put in. I also got rain-fly.

Wife and I use it this summer.