Brooks range-hot tent?

[Jacob Chapman]

Hey folks,

Heading to the Brooks range next year with my bow & a buddy to chase after caribou.

I don’t have to worry about weight limits & am putting together my gear slowly but surely.

What I’m stuck on is a tent option, specifically whether or not to bring a stove.

Gotten some feedback both for & against bringing it, and truth be told I’d love to have it both in case temps drop a bunch, or I get wet & want to dry out.

For those that have hunted the Brooks Range-if you had a stove were you glad you brought it?

Or if not, did you wish you had?

 

[jdmaxwell]

You will find hardly any wood there to burn unless you are able bring it or a pile of duraflame logs

 

[z987k]

You will find hardly any wood there to burn unless you are able bring it or a pile of duraflame logs

This.
But if you don't have a weight limit by some miracle, you can bring 50lbs of split firewood and be all kinds of toasty.

 

[ozyclint]

Would charcoal be better? More energy density than wood.

 

[mooster]

We brought one on a caribou hunt and thoroughly enjoyed it at night. We would collect deadbrush during the day to burn at night. In our small Ti stove, the brush would raise our 8 man tipi to 50-60F, allowing us to dry gear and boots each night. If weight wasn't an issue, I'd have it along for sure. (stone was to radiat heat)

 

[jhm2023]

The most you'll find on the north side of the Brook's are willows. If you happen to set camp along a river, you'll likely find enough dead willow to burn to dry some gear out, but not for a steady heat source. The south side offers more stuff to burn, but if you're hunting the central arctic herd, you won't find any caribou on the southside until winter.

 

[mooster]

All we had was willow scrub, you can see a pile in my image. We had adequate amounts to burn a few hours nightly. The image is from a Noatak Kotzebue based fly in hunt. I've seen similar abundance of willow scrub on N side of Brooks range on other hunts.

 

[FranklinBluth]

Hunted the south side last year and had a large supply of smallish standing dead spruce that we could burn in our stove. Burned some driftwood at the start, but that stuff burns so hot and fast that it wasn't a great fuel.

If you can find a way to bring a stove or some other heat source you should do it. Nothing more miserable than being wet for days on end. Been there done that it sucks.

 

[finner]

Hunted south side Brooks last year and we were in timber most of the time except for the ridgetops. Like others said, depends where you go. If there's a chance you'll be near flammable fuel, bring it. Also, if you're specifically requesting that your transporter drop you in good bowhunting country the odds of having wood go up.

 

[sticknbox]

Bring a saw with you and before you even get to atigun pass just pull over somewhere and find dead fall and cut it down to haul north with you.