Anyone camp under a tarp?

[Erussell01]

If I had to categorize all the nights I've spent out west hunting, this is how I would break it down:

40% cowboy camping
40% in a tipi or free standing tent
20% under a tarp

I'm too much of a wussy to cowboy camp. I need that safety net of a couple millimeters of fabric above me to protect me from the big bad scary stuff that can eat right through it. Lol

 

[seww]

Are you hunting?

The plan is to use the tarp during September archery hunt, so yeah.

 

[seww]

I'm too much of a wussy to cowboy camp. I need that safety net of a couple millimeters of fabric above me to protect me from the big bad scary stuff that can eat right through it. Lol

Exactly! That fabric blocking ones view of the world feels safe!

 

[Dos Perros]

The plan is to use the tarp during September archery hunt, so yeah.

Do you have much experience hunting?

I ask because, when I hunt, I'm focusing all my attention on trying to kill stuff, not making stakes and tent support poles. When I go to bed at night I'm exhausted. When I wake up I'm tired. I just can't imagine intentionally putting together a system that is lighter but requires leisure time and other tools and skills just to use. Especially a system that you might need to contribute to your safety in the mountains.

 

[BBob]

Do you have much experience hunting?

I ask because, when I hunt, I'm focusing all my attention on trying to kill stuff, not making stakes and tent support poles. When I go to bed at night I'm exhausted. When I wake up I'm tired. I just can't imagine intentionally putting together a system that is lighter but requires leisure time and other tools and skills just to use. Especially a system that you might need to contribute to your safety in the mountains.

Same here. Some of the suggestions to fart around scrounging up whatever to get a shelter up would for me be a waste of valuable time. I want to quickly throw my already well known and tested shelter up and get to it.

 

[AK Troutbum]

Same here. Some of the suggestions to fart around scrounging up whatever to get a shelter up would for me be a waste of valuable time. I want to quickly throw my already well known and tested shelter up and get to it.

Not only that, but at the end of the day when you’re wiped out, and the weather goes south, the last thing you want to deal with is trying to figure out how to get your shelter pitched. Like you said, something “well know and tested”, that you can pitch quickly, and you know will still be standing after the storm blows through.


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[Maverick1]

Slick setup! How many stakes do you run? Any downside from your perspective?

I use nine of the ultralight titanium tent states from Vargo. No real downsides I can think of. As mentioned above, I've been using this setup for a very long time. Tried a couple of other approaches (tents and bivy) - this one works best for me. (It is a simple, rectangular 8x10 tarp. It can be pitched a number of different ways, unlike some of the other styles of tarps, where their cuts - asymmetrical, diamond, cat-cut, or 4 season - which kind of 'force' you to only being able to pitch it one specific way. And, some of those other types of tarps require multiple trekking poles, which doesn't appeal to me. To each their own!)

 

[Erussell01]

I use nine of the ultralight titanium tent states from Vargo. No real downsides I can think of. As mentioned above, I've been using this setup for a very long time. Tried a couple of other approaches (tents and bivy) - this one works best for me. (It is a simple, rectangular 8x10 tarp. It can be pitched a number of different ways, unlike some of the other styles of tarps, where their cuts - asymmetrical, diamond, cat-cut, or 4 season - which kind of 'force' you to only being able to pitch it one specific way. And, some of those other types of tarps require multiple trekking poles, which doesn't appeal to me. To each their own!)

Awesome. You ever run a ground sheet?
I have a kelty 9x9, and I'm wishing that it wasn't bright blue and that it was a rectangle lol. I still haven't figured out my ground sheet setup yet. Or just how many stakes is perfect

 

[Erussell01]

Exactly! That fabric blocking ones view of the world feels safe!

Which is so silly. It's a tarp. A mouse can get through it in 2.5 seconds. But yet it makes me feel better.

 

[Dos Perros]

Awesome. You ever run a ground sheet?
I have a kelty 9x9, and I'm wishing that it wasn't bright blue and that it was a rectangle lol. I still haven't figured out my ground sheet setup yet. Or just how many stakes is perfect

I use polycryo (I've also seen it called polycro) for a ground sheet. It's the same stuff that people hair dryer to their window frames for added insulation. Extremely lightweight. Been using the same one since 2017 although I have taped a couple holes/tears.

 

[Erussell01]

I use polycryo (I've also seen it called polycro) for a ground sheet. It's the same stuff that people hair dryer to their window frames for added insulation. Extremely lightweight. Been using the same one since 2017 although I have taped a couple holes/tears.

No kidding... that sounds awesome. I will have to grab some!

 

[seww]

Not only that, but at the end of the day when you’re wiped out, and the weather goes south, the last thing you want to deal with is trying to figure out how to get your shelter pitched. Like you said, something “we’ll know and tested”, that you can pitch quickly, and you know will still be standing after the storm blows through.


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Sure, I agree a bit on that, but to me hunting comes in second hand. I want to be outside and enjoy being out in the woods. I like to combine that with hunting but I'm by no means a hardcore hunter.

And I'm sure that there are times during the day you slack off, maybe taking a nap or waiting for the weather to cool, waiting for the animals to move etc. So there is downtime to fiddle about, at least for me there is.

 

[seww]

Which is so silly. It's a tarp. A mouse can get through it in 2.5 seconds. But yet it makes me feel better.

Yup, it's strange what kind of comfort we can find behind the fabric

 

[KnuckleChild]

I use a piece of tyvek as a ground sheet for my tent. I’d use it with the tarp too, but honestly since I got a light tent it weighs similar enough to my tarp and bivy I doubt I’ll use the tarp/bivy anymore.

 

[Maverick1]

Awesome. You ever run a ground sheet?
I have a kelty 9x9, and I'm wishing that it wasn't bright blue and that it was a rectangle lol. I still haven't figured out my ground sheet setup yet. Or just how many stakes is perfect

Nope. No ground sheet.

 

[Erussell01]

Nope. No ground sheet.

Any issues with popping sleeping pad?

 

[Maverick1]

Any issues with popping sleeping pad?

Nope.

If rain is expected during a hunt, I take along a sil-nylon bivy. For those hunts, the sleeping pad goes inside the bivy sack and I put my sleeping bag on top of the bivy sack. This keeps the sleeping bag off the ground and the sleeping pad 'somewhat' protected from punctures. So, the entire setup is one pole, nine titanium stakes, the 8x10 tarp, a bivy sack, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag.

For "normal" nights, I put the sleeping pad inside the bivy, then the sleeping bag on top. When I leave camp setup during the day and I am out hunting, I leave the sleeping pad inside the bivy sack and put the sleeping bag inside the bivy sack, too. (This is just to ensure my sleeping bag stays dry in the event it rains during the day while I am out - happens quite a bit. I've used a contractor garbage bag for this function, too, but the bivy achieves the same outcome with a useful weight 'penalty'.)

If it is really pouring rain out at night, I might put the sleeping bag inside the bivy, so that I have "double protection" - the tarp and the bivy - to keep myself and the sleeping bag dry. This happens very infrequently, as the bivy can cause condensation issues with the sleeping bag. This is exceptionally rare.

Many times I just leave the bivy in the truck. It's 6 ounces. (Older Ti-goat ptarmigan bivy, no longer available.) For situations where I'm in a drier climate (AZ, NM) and rain is not expected, I don't even bring the bivy with on the hunt.

 

[OregonHunter13]

I will tell you what once you wake up with a rattlesnake sharing your ultralight quilt and tarp with you in an area that supposedly doesn't have rattlesnakes it will make you not mind carrying the extra couple ounces.

 

[seww]

I will tell you what once you wake up with a rattlesnake sharing your ultralight quilt and tarp with you in an area that supposedly doesn't have rattlesnakes it will make you not mind carrying the extra couple ounces.

This is one of my concerns... We have rattlers here in Idaho so I really don't want to sleep with one of them...

 

[Cant hit em]

With that setup, you ever get rain inside?

If it sprinkles your fine if its a down poor your fuked


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