Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Elk Hunting Tent recommendations

Forgot to mention that Davis had videos of wall tent set-up on youtube. You might be able to find them still.

I've actually thought about the stove in a Springbar a good bit. There's just too many options, and not a damn place around here to go see any of them.

We have a 12x14 Davis. It's awesome for the wife and I, and could easily accomodate another.

Our past tents are a Mountain Hardware Trango 2-man, and a Cabelas Alaskan Guide 8-man. In comparison this wall tent is like a house.

The 12x14 with internal frame is really no big deal to set up.

Thanks for the pictures MM.

One other question, how do wall tents or Herders handle wind? It can get a little breezy down here in NM.

I haven't had ours in serious wind yet.

At the Icebreaker shoots, Pat has had a wall tent right up on a ridgetop in 30+ mph winds. The tent seemed to handle that with no trouble.

What about rain? Do canvas tents need to be tarped?

They'll shed a lot of water, some more than others depending on treatment of course, but all will eventually soak through in a steady downpour. A tarp not only helps repel snow and water, but also helps prevent sun-fade and stove embers from directly hitting your tent. Consider it cheap insurance.

Thanks GW...I appreciate the input.

The tarp will also allow snow to slide off easily to help reduce snow load.

Below are pics of my 10x14 Kodiak during an early October mule deer hunt. Its hard to see the tent under the snow and tarps! With the tarps set-up, it did pretty good in the snow. I wouldn't leave it unattended and hunt all day though. That snow was very wet and heavy. It stuck to the canvas like glue. It slid off of the tarps pretty good but could still collect in pockets. I don't know if you'd want to leave a wall tent unattended in that type of snow either. But, I do think that walltent roofs with tarps are pretty good at shedding snow as long as there aren't long clear spans of canvas without frame support. Maybe someone can comment on this and whether the roof needs to be cleared regulary or it can handle being unattended for the day.

I do like canvas tents, especially during archery season. I think the white color stays cool, and the canvas breathes better than nylon/poly. Canvas just seems less stuffy. Downsides to me are that canvas does not hold heat as well as a doublewall tent, but if you're running a woodstove this won't be an issue. When canvas gets wet, its heavy and takes a long time to dry. If you have a helper to break camp its not so bad. Not hard by yourself either, but more of a hassle than a nylon/poly tent. A nylon/ply tent still needs to dry so you need a warm/dry place when you get home either way.

One other thing to consider... I don't think I'd set-up a wall tent in an exposed area during the fall/winter. Last elk season I arrived in camp along the Snake River where the wind was gusting 30-50 mph. I had my 4-season dome (XWT) and it was 100% rock solid out in the open. I wouldn't have wanted to set-up a wall tent in those conditions. This area is exposed with few protected sites. In some places like this, a wall tent seems like it can be a limitation.

That first night along the Snake there was a torrential downpour that came with the wind. I literally had a stream running under my tent. The floor stayed dry and the tent didn't move in the wind. The Kodiak would have been fine with the super thick floor, but the body of the tent would have been moving a lot... the tension bars flex and abosorb a lot of the wind energy. As the canvas moves, the body will shed some of the wind. Some wall tents will act like a sail and then you are relying on the strength of the frame and seams in the canvas.

If you buy a walltent, I'd check with the manufacturer about wind and snow loads. I believe most recommend protected sites and minimal snow.

I still think there is a time and place for walltents, especially if you are hunting with friends, plan to spend more than a few days, can choose a protected site, etc. Otherwise I think there are better options, especially if you plan to be solo or run quick trips. A rock-solid 4-season dome like the XWT or Artic Oven, or even a tipi. I don't think any of the tipi manufacturers actually say that their tent can handle a snow load though. Which leads me to another comment... lots of companies show pics of their tents in the snow, but its always been cleared before the pic. I like to see how the tent looks when its been unattended for the day while I'm hunting. If you have someone in camp for the day tending chores, they can keep the snow off. But tipis will start to sag at the base, and wall tents can start to sag where the walls meet the roof.

I really can't tell the height of that dome tent, but I need one that I can standup in. I have had dome tents with fiber glass poles collapse in the snow. I use a similar setup in warm weather tough.
Here are two photos of serious snow. The top one ended up with 4 ft.

Snow load really isn't an issue for me in New Mexico. A buddy of mine who has been hunting out here for a lot longer than me says that they worst he has seen it where we hunt was about 16" over 4 or 5 days. I think that I've made up my mind on the Herder tent for the ease of setup and the fact that they will make me one with 5' walls instead of 4'. Those tents go up like a Cabela's Outback Lodge, which is what I was thinking about, but really want a stove option. I also kicked around a Springbar/Kodiak and a Cabela's dome(XWT or Alaskan Guide), but again, I want a stove option. I do still want a dome/tipi/springbar for quick overnight trips, but I can make do for right now with the Herder.

I really appreciate all of the input from everyone. Thanks guys.

5 foot walls makes it harder for the snow to slide off......

[quote=quackaddict

One other question, how do wall tents or Herders handle wind? It can get a little breezy down here in NM. [/quote]

Nothing worse than chasing your Wall Tent over the countryside in a high wind.

For my 12 x 14 with CampMor internal frame, I cut 4 six foot steel fence posts in half --- to make 8 tent stakes. Two of the tent ropes slip over each stake. I wouldn't think of using anything less. One mishap will convince you.

Son-in-Law has a Davis 14X16 with internal frame that we've used for several years. We cut our own poles, cut the rafter poles in two and added couplers. Makes them fit the pickup truck better and we haven't seen any problem with strength yet.
More than enough room for 4 big guys, full cots, kitchen and storage. His isn't canvas, it's one of the treated synthetics and it's wearing well so far.
We put down 3 small poly tarps then cover that with indoor/outdoor carpet he picked up as remnants. Works very well for our needs.

I couldn't recommend a herder type tent if you plan to spend any time at all in it. Even with 5' walls, the only place you'll be able to stand is in the center. I spend 30+ nights a year in a wall tent and don't want to be crowded, crouched, or confined.

A few years ago I spent one night in a Cabela's Outback Lodge on an antelope hunt in a wind storm and what a POS that thing was! Center pole broke the first night and that tent whipped so hard it sounded like you were sleeping in a potato chip bag. Found a section of sign pole and used 550 cord to lash it to the broken pole to finish out the trip. My cousin returned it to Cabela's for a refund as soon as we got home. He now owns a 12x14 Davis (hint).

saddlesore - its not really a dome, its a Kodiak like the Springbar. Ceiling is 6ft 6in.

Quack,

You can put a stovejack in just about any tent. Just be careful and use good judgement. More than likely, someone has already done it.

Here's a 12x12 Outback Lodge that I used with a 3-Dog from Four-Dog. Pics are from an archery elk trip with wife and son.

This tent had the old zipper design that failed during a terrible snowstorm on a rifle elk hunt. My buddy was sound asleep even with the wind and snow blowing. I wanted to check the tension of the ropes and the door zipper got stuck with the door wide open and snow blowing inside! I did a quick sewing job to close the door and cut the mesh out of the window in the door to get in and out. What a freaking pain. That tent went back to Cabelas.

If the price was right, I would get another Outback for quick trips just because it sets up quickly. Apparently the zipper has been improved. I wouldn't use it in snow or expose it to high winds though.

I think one downside to a nylon/poly singlewall tent is that the body can act as a bellow and pump smoke into your tent if the wind is just right. Cabela's used to have a video of the Alaknak in the wind. If you watch that video its easy to see how it would be a smoke pumper too.

Tents are trade-offs. No way around it. If money were not object, I'd get an Arctic Oven.

the stove do a crime? why's it in jail?

Great info, thanks for sharing that.


In the USMC (in my days) we used essentially a heavy-azzed wall tent for a lot of field purposes. I don't recall the exact dimensions, but a "Tent, General Purpose, Medium" probably 16x24 or so. Anyway, big and heavy as hell. For stakes we used what was known as "engineer stakes", something sorta like a steel fence post but a wider profile. They got a good bite in most any ground. I've seen wind rip a GP tent apart before the stakes pulled out.