Floorless shelter. Rattlesnakes. Idaho. New Mexico.

Never saw the point to a floorless tent,particularly in monsoon country. Floors keep water & critters out.
I get the weight savings,but have a bivy & tarp if that is the plan.
Seen some good flows thru campsites & soaked gear in NM in Sept & Oct. & my stuff in a Kelty tent was fine.
 
Never saw the point to a floorless tent,particularly in monsoon country. Floors keep water & critters out.
I get the weight savings,but have a bivy & tarp if that is the plan.
Seen some good flows thru campsites & soaked gear in NM in Sept & Oct. & my stuff in a Kelty tent was fine.
if you give your pitch spot some thought, water should be a non issue. the draw is simplicity to me. I don't think floorless is best everywhere for every scenario, but it's a very simple. I do think a nest or light bivy is good for certain scenarios, but if it's not needed for a particular hunt, it's more stuff to bring, and more wear and tear on stuff you don't need to put wear on.

I do agree, if you are worried about snakes, a nest or light bivy is the obvious solution..... if you have an irrational fear of snakes, a nest is probably best so your imagination doesn't over complicate your life 😉

the only creepy crawly that really gets me paranoid is ticks.... I hate those things. i'm sure if I saw some buzz tails or scorpions around, they would be on my mind in the evening with a floorless shelter.
 
I’m from N Idaho. I lived in Southern Idaho for a couple years. Was out on a nice spring day south of Riggins shooting rock chucks... walked out to look at a chuck and almost stepped on a large buzz tail. Spooked me back to the truck. High stepped the whole way. As I was putting the key in the door to the truck, something moved under my boot. One was sitting in the shade of my truck, trying to bite my Danners. Had to shoot it to get in the truck. Started driving out, and we saw nine more in ten miles of dirt road. I was so spooked, I didn’t stop driving until I got to a big ass empty parking lot in Weiser. Jumped out of the truck and spent 5 minutes looking under my truck and in the canopy for more of them...

When I got back to my rental house, I did what any sane person would do. Packed up and moved back to N Idaho :)


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Thats sucks I would def move I hate these dam things!! and its a concern with my cimmaron or I imagine even a wall tent could be an issue. They jus aren't right rattlers suck
 
We have timber and massasauga rattlers here, the timber rattlers can be very bad ass.....pretty much king of the woods. Floorless without a nest is a no go and you always want to keep your eyes open in the woods when its above freezing....moved here in the early 90's from a state that had no venomous snakes, checking out a potential property and found an old stone basement....went down in there to take a look and was surrounded by more than a dozen timber rattlers.....I skedaddled quick.
The copperheads lay still as a defense and it is e-z to step on one of those....all of em luv to warm up by the fire....
 
if you give your pitch spot some thought, water should be a non issue. the draw is simplicity to me. I don't think floorless is best everywhere for every scenario, but it's a very simple. I do think a nest or light bivy is good for certain scenarios, but if it's not needed for a particular hunt, it's more stuff to bring, and more wear and tear on stuff you don't need to put wear on.

I do agree, if you are worried about snakes, a nest or light bivy is the obvious solution..... if you have an irrational fear of snakes, a nest is probably best so your imagination doesn't over complicate your life 😉

the only creepy crawly that really gets me paranoid is ticks.... I hate those things. i'm sure if I saw some buzz tails or scorpions around, they would be on my mind in the evening with a floorless shelter.
I've used slopes,drainage ,trenches...been wet too.
Totally get the simplicity & light wt. Been there,done that too. And it always depends on season and where.
Never had a problem with snakes,but always have a problem with rodents & other critters these days in NM.
 
Ive always wanted to go floorless. Living in central AZ I don’t feel comfortable. Snakes are sketchy and everywhere but it’s the spiders, scorpions, and centipedes that worry me. Tarantulas are harmless but tarantula hawks will absolutely **** you up!
 
This little guy scared the crap out of me, it was raining super hard and I was sitting in my little chair enjoying a hot beverage listening to the rain and thunder, he came from behind and jumped out from under the chair and landed by my foot, he got me good!
I use a lightweight bivy but hardly ever zip myself in all the way and yep I have slapped the shit out of myself because of something crawling on my face in the middle of the night. I have also had a big fat shiny black widow walking towards my bag as I was fixing to crash out and that is a memory that is hard to get out of my head.

I do completely zip up the bivy during the day to keep all bugs out of my bag and that is good peace of mind but I still can't bring myself to zip it all the way up at night.

All in all the ability to walk in no matter how wet or muddy your boots are and to be able to relax in comfort despite inclement weather is a big plus, I have only broke out my Big Agnes tent one time in the last 4 years and compared to my tipi the cramped quarters kind of sucked.

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Most of the offensive critters in New Mexico are in the South. If you are hunting North I would worry more about deer mice with the hantavirus which is very deadly. The risk is low though. The ticks carry rocky mountain spotted fever and lymes. The mosquitos West Nile. There are Western Diamondbacks up there and they are nasty killers for sure. I won't sleep on the bare ground. I don't care where it is. A decent cot might be alright without a tent floor. But I won't crawl around in mud either.

In the extreme South "the deadly three" are the Mojave Rattler, coral snake and the bark scorpion. I live somewhat North of their range. We always have small scorpions in the house. We have the Hopi rattlesnake which isn't as bad as the Mojave but they still pack some nasty neuro-toxin. Two dogs got bit at the same time by the same snake. I had them injected with anti-venin within an hour and they both had a complete recovery. Tarantulas are harmless. They are looking for mates in Sept. anyway. I always wear snake boots when I go outdoors no matter where I go until the middle of October. I think it all boils down to how much do you want to rough it and how comfortable do you want to be.
 
I grew up in northern NM, have hunted all of the wilderness areas in n NM and never had an issue w rattlesnakes above 7k. I have a 12m and 4m tipi. Mice, bugs and especially ants are a problem so picking the right site is important.
In the summer, I use a tarp almost exclusively.
Lower elevations I might think twice. I have seen snakes above 7K, but very infrequently.
 
Depends on where. If you're in the forest I wouldn't worry about it (still possible but lower odds).

If you're South of 40 it'd definitely be on my mind, especially after my Ibex hunt last year!
 
I've used slopes,drainage ,trenches...been wet too.
Totally get the simplicity & light wt. Been there,done that too. And it always depends on season and where.
Never had a problem with snakes,but always have a problem with rodents & other critters these days in NM.
If a rodent wants in your tent they'll just chew a hole through it and come in. At least floorless keeps them from having to chew your gear up. Floor space vs weight is always in favor of floorless shelters. No such thing as the perfect shelter or perfect pitch location. There's always a tradeoff

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Every September I'm in a floorless Tipi anywhere from Central, S Central to Eastern Idaho. Usually cold enough where we don't worry about anything, just a little tarp under the sleeping pad to keep it from popping that doubles as a meat tarp if needed. Supposedly Rattlers in some areas I frequent, never seen one. Been snowed in, rained on, etc. no issues inside the Tipi if you have the right tent pad picked out. Never thought twice about sleeping on the ground. Now Southern NM would be different :).
 
Time of year will make a huge difference as well. Rattlers have to maintain body temp within a certain range just like just about any other animal. The difference is they cant generate enough body heat to force it the way we do. So in the hot months they spend most of the day under ground and in the shade staying cool and work at night while you are sleeping. In the cooler months, even in the low country they spend mornings, evenings and even days when the temps are right out and about, going under ground at night to try to conserve what head they have absorbed all day. So if you plan on a January archery tag down on the border I wouldnt worry at all about seeing them at night. (I promise you, you will find rattlers out hiking in the day time.) But if you are coming down to do some hiking and sight seeing in May or June, you may want to think harder about that bathtub floor or hammock to get you up off the ground.

As far as why go floor less tarp in stead of bivy. My tarp shelter gives me bivy-esque weight, a comparatively huge amount square footage of shelter, no issues with condensation common to many bivy sacks, and doubles as a pretty handy insta shade for glassing in treeless country or for taking mid day naps when its just too hot out. I have had it out in some savage storms down in the Blues with no problems getting wet. As has been said you do have to put a little extra thought and work in to make sure you stay dry in rain but its really not hard to do and how often do we really deal with rain anyway? There are pro's and con's but I sure enjoy my tarp shelter.
 
I spent 2 weeks in south Idaho in September (Elk & Moose) 2018, and 16 days in The Gila of NM September 2019, all of it floorless. I wouldn’t worry about it. Use what you have and the gear you know, IMO you don’t need to change to a floorless shelter for the areas you are talking about.


You can’t cheat the mountain
 
I spent 2 weeks in south Idaho in September (Elk & Moose) 2018, and 16 days in The Gila of NM September 2019, all of it floorless. I wouldn’t worry about it. Use what you have and the gear you know, IMO you don’t need to change to a floorless shelter for the areas you are talking about.


You can’t cheat the mountain

Sorry, I meant to say - no need to change to a FLOORED shelter for the areas you are talking about.


You can’t cheat the mountain
 
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