3 Season Tent vs 4 Season Tent

[Zhewitt04]

My cousin and I are going on our first out west packback hunt. We are headed to Idaho in October. We currently have a 3 season tent and are bouncing the idea around if we need to upgrade to a 4 season or even a stove tent. Whats your guys and gals opinion? We are kind of leaning towards the 3 season tent being effective enough but cold damp conditions can ruin a hunt and make you miserable. Thanks for the input.

 

[NJDiverDan]

Idaho in October can be pretty iffy. If you are within a few hours hike back to the truck, I would not worry about it, your 3 season will likely be fine. If you get a foot of snow dumped on you, and it crushes your tent, hike back to the truck. Also, not all 3 season tents are built the same. Some should only be considered a 1 season tent.

Just as important will be your bag and pad. Keeping warm is probably more important as it could be dry, but 2 degrees.

 

[bdg848]

I was in Idaho from oct 25th to the 31st this year and it was high 20's or LOW 30's in the day and the singles at night. One morning it was -8 when we got up. We had planned on camping as the forecast had said it would be in the 40's. We ended up laying the seats down in the SUV and sleeping at the trail-head. We had brought a bunch of quilts in the vehicle as well and with our 0 degree bags it actually wasn't bad at all in the car. I second the above post. I would get a warm bag and mat and plan on using the tent you have but if it's too cold, just sleep in your car with extra blankets at the trail-head and hunt from there. It's not ideal but it's what we did and we still had fun and saw tons of elk.