Do you take your clothes off to sleep on a backpack hunt?

[Blockcaver]

"The elite hunter likely will know how to spot and avoid poison oak, and may be using permethrin on their boots - and can get away with climbing into their sleeping bag with their clothes on. The problem is when they then tell the whole interwebnets that they've "never had a problem with it"."

Rock, Maybe we need to specify that what some of us (me) are talking about is how we sleep when we are back country backpack hunting in the mountains in this poll and discussion....not kids in their sleeping bag or sleeping in a heated camping trailer, nor even hunting where there typically is poison oak or ivy in my experience. I've run into poison oak and ivy but not while backpack hunting where you are taking minimal clothes, light weight sleeping bags, anything to hold the weight down living out of the pack for 12 or 14 days.

I'm sure your system is fine, but so is sleeping with your clothes on in backcountry hunting in the mountains, including when I was starting out mountain hunting in the 70's without KUIU or Sitka clothes that don't hold much moisture. I used a lot of wool, wore silk long johns, etc and liked to get them dried out overnight by wearing them. I don't wear my rain gear in the sleeping bag though, draw the line at that, haha. Have a good fall!

 

[I live in round valley]

Depends on the weather. I NEVER sleep naked in the mountains for two reasons:
1) If a bear pulls me out of my slumber and mauls me the search and rescue won't have to succumb to this 63 year old body... nekkid!
2) If I worked up a sweat for a day or two and leave my base layers on, it keeps mother-in-laws away, and most evil spirits.

So...if you're 63, I'm guessing your MIL is at least 80?? Can she even smell anymore?

 

[Seeknelk]

I don't know how y'all do it with bare legs?!!...after a day my legs are sweaty, dirty n just sticky gross. They can never touch each other or I'll puke. So I use light cotton tops n bottoms can't beat cotton for sleeping in.
Edited to add I'm a side sleeper. I could see back sleeping that being less of a thing.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

I keep a set of light weight merino thermals just for sleeping.

 

[Troy_Watkins]

Leave pants and baselayer top on unless it’s 60+ degrees. Almost always take socks off so feet don’t get cold and can breathe. I’ll add layers depending on the temperature.

 

[CarterHunt]

I sleep in just briefs. If it’s really cold, I’ll put my puffy pants and jacket on.

 

[Drenalin]

I hate the process of washing a sleeping bag or quilt, so to avoid that - and for better performance of the insulation - I try not to get anything dirty/nasty inside it. However, I'm also a weight weanie so I'm not bringing clean jammies along with me. My compromise is that I strip down to my merino base layers and put on a clean pair of socks at night (which allows the socks I've been wearing all day to dry and air out).

 

[DuckDogDr]

I usually am sharing the tent with someone (and not my lady friend). so boxers and T-shirt minimum

Backpacking trip in Colorado I froze my ass off a couple of nights in a row in one of them BS sleeping quilts .. I would have put on 20 more layers if I had them

 

[Hnthrdr]

This whole thread is hilarious to me….

 

[manitou1]

So...if you're 63, I'm guessing your MIL is at least 80?? Can she even smell anymore?

My wife is younger than I am.

 

[TaperPin]

I get the biggest laugh out of stubborn friends that refuse to wear wet or damp clothes to bed at night to dry them off. Hanging damp clothes all night in 100% humidity does nothing. Then the argument comes out that their high dollar down bag looses loft and warmth when too much wet stuff is worn to dry out.

In a few short days of unusually wet weather on a Wyoming mountainside, my friends who are are too smart to listen learned that synthetic bags do a much better job of drying clothes, and dry clothes are warmer and more comfortable than damp clothes. Amazing.

Don’t even get me started on the guys who can’t figure out how to keep their down jackets dry and freeze their asses off. Lol

 

[ColeyG]

My favorite bit of nonsense is the common misconception that if you keep your clothes on, you will be colder because your body heat won't get to your sleeping bag to keep you warm.

Bearing in mind that I am not a physics professor, can someone who has recycled this ridiculous notion please take a crack at explaining where exactly this heat goes after it leaves your body if it is not making it to your sleeping bag?

 

[northamericanhunter]

sleep in my insulated puffy pants and coat, a 30 degree bag an socks off!

 

[RDUB]

I bring my ultralight silk pajama set.

 

[Poser]

My favorite bit of nonsense is the common misconception that if you keep your clothes on, you will be colder because your body heat won't get to your sleeping bag to keep you warm.

Bearing in mind that I am not a physics professor, can someone who has recycled this ridiculous notion please take a crack at explaining where exactly this heat goes after it leaves your body if it is not making it to your sleeping bag?

The concept was taught in Boy Scouts for decades. That's where I recall first hearing warning of not sleeping your clothes. Of course, that was referencing cotton clothes and cotton sleeping bags, where that may hold true, but that's where I attribute this concept becoming gospel. It wasn't until the late 90s when I was reading about Mark Twight's extreme ultralight alpine exploitations that the idea of using your clothes as insulation in your bag and also drying them out changes my perspective on the practice. 1. He made very logical arguments for how and why this works and 2. he had far more credibility than my old Scoutmasters.

 

[WCB]

Temp dependent...but Ill get down to boxers down to about 50 degrees. Lower than that and Ill keep a base layer on. Ill add a sleeping bag liner to my gear before Ill start sleeping in puffy clothes or more than my base layers.

Ill dry dampish clothes in my bag and sleep on top any mid layers new socks and undies for the next day. Nice to wake up and have nice warm layers to put on and not have them all tangled up around me or have to et out of my bag to dig for them.

 

[ColeyG]

The concept was taught in Boy Scouts for decades. That's where I recall first hearing warning of not sleeping your clothes. Of course, that was referencing cotton clothes and cotton sleeping bags, where that may hold true, but that's where I attribute this concept becoming gospel. It wasn't until the late 90s when I was reading about Mark Twight's extreme ultralight alpine exploitations that the idea of using your clothes as insulation in your bag and also drying them out changes my perspective on the practice. 1. He made very logical arguments for how and why this works and 2. he had far more credibility than my old Scoutmasters.

I think the first time I heard that was on a youth group type outing when I was a kid as well.

I still have my tattered copy of "Extreme Alpinism" on my book shelf. Mark was by no means the first to employ light and fast tactics in the mountains, but he was one of the first to start promoting the ideas publicly. Pretty cool fellow. Got to hang with him a few times on Denali while he was leading some SEALS on an expedition there tuning them up on cold weather and big mountains.

 

[Drenalin]

I think the first time I heard that was on a youth group type outing when I was a kid as well.

I still have my tattered copy of "Extreme Alpinism" on my book shelf. Mark was by no means the first to employ light and fast tactics in the mountains, but he was one of the first to start promoting the ideas publicly. Pretty cool fellow. Got to hang with him a few times on Denali while he was leading some SEALS on an expedition there tuning them up on cold weather and big mountains.

I also heard it at Camp Geiger after boot camp, and the instructors there insisted on it. I don't know that there's any validity to it and can't rationalize why it would make sense. I'd say as long as you still fit in the bag without compressing insulation, wear whatever clothes you like.

 

[The_Yetti]

I wear as little as possible and still be comfy. If it gets cold, I'll wear my base layer and socks. Doesn't have to be to chilly for me to have a beanie on. Male pattern baldness means a cold head!

 

[I live in round valley]

My wife is younger than I am.

Well done sir!