Mr buddy or Wood burning

[Jaker_cc]

When hunting late season hunts, why not just use a Mr Buddy propane heater in your tent instead of having to cut tiny pieces of wood to keep your tent warm? Will a propane heater not help dry out your clothes or keep condensation down? I know you would have to keep your tent well ventilated with propane but what are the other downsides?

Talking about base camp not backpacking in. No doubt smaller package stoves are better for that.

 

[martensmax]

Propane makes moisture unless it a vented heater. That why wood is good. Around here lots of guys run propane in there fish houses but vented is a must or it becomes sitting in a shower.

 

[backcountryshaffer]

Yep, wood heat is dry but propane will make it rain in an enclosed space. I found this out by trial and error, it sucked.

 

[Ross]

Nothing beats wood heat for this time of year dries, warms and brings a smile

 

[tdot]

Wood is good. But I live in a rain forest, so wood can be wet. I'll be trying a vented propane heater next year if we end up with a base camp as planned. Nu Way Stoves

 

[30338]

Mr Buddy heaters don't work at high altitude. Wood does. If I was in the midwest, I'd probably use a Mr Buddy a lot more.

 

[mcseal2]

We used a Mr Buddy heater in Colorado this year inside our Seek Outside 8 man tipi with liners. It worked well, but we only ran it for about 15 minutes each evening and 15 minutes each morning. We were truck camping this trip and hauled the Polaris Ranger out in my 14ft half top stock trailer. The trailer became a storage area and our cook shack/evening hang-out once we got it set up. That meant we did not need to heat the tipi except for right before going to sleep and right before getting dressed in the morning. Really we didn't NEED to do it then, but it was sure nice.

For a hunt where we will spend more time in the tipi I would use the wood stove. The dry heat is worth the effort needed to create it in most environments. This trip days warmed past 50 consistently and opening the tipi slightly during the day, and more during the evening while we were present dried the condensation well.

We heated the stock trailer with Dean's Jetboil full gen stove hooked to a 25lb bottle of Propane. It kept the edge off enough to make our time spent there comfortable. Nights got as cold as 6, but we were in the sleeping bags before it dropped that much.

 

[Wrench]

Nothing better than the warmth of wood when you get out of the bag... then stand up and get the stratification effect and it's 97 on your nose and your toes are cold. I love it!

 

[Mighty Mouse]

As others have pointed out, unless you rig up a vent of some sort, you'll be fighting condensation with a propane heater. Also, I've heard that the low oxygen sensors that some propane heaters are equipped with can be troublesome at high altitudes.

 

[Fatcamp]

How do you guys deal with leaving your woodburning stoves? Does someone stay in camp?

I would not be comfortable leaving a lit stove in my tent.

 

[Dos Perros]

I’ve run a Buddy on a soggy Montana hunt inside a Cabelas Alaskan Guide tent and had zero condensation issues. Was even able to dry out boots each night.

 

[5MilesBack]

When hunting late season hunts, why not just use a Mr Buddy propane heater in your tent instead of having to cut tiny pieces of wood to keep your tent warm?

Tiny pieces of wood? I used to burn the same wood in my tent stove that I burn at home. But I don't hunt the late seasons anymore. Got tired of waking up encapsulated in ice even burning coal and having a glowing red stove all night.

 

[WVTrooper]

How do you guys deal with leaving your woodburning stoves? Does someone stay in camp?

I would not be comfortable leaving a lit stove in my tent.

Typically, we would load it up prior to leaving and just shut the air off. It just smolders out, but when you come back to the tent, just a little kindling is all you need to get a good fire going in it again (I found this to work even better this year when there was snow on the ground and wood wasn't totally dry to begin with as it made for dry wood in the stove to start the fire back up in the evening.) Our stove is homemade though and its pretty airtight, so it doesn't take long for the fire to go out when you cut the air off.

 

[Etson]

We tried this year using a Buddy heater only thinking it would be easier. We had issues with the altitude and using it to dry out clothing. We will not be using it again next year and going back to the wood stove even if it is more of a hassle. Dries out cloths much better and provides better heat.

 

[swampthing]

You cant beat wood heat in cold wet conditions. I just spent a week in a wall tent. I used a combination of the wood stove and a mr buddy heater. I have no problem leaving a wood stove unattended. The Mr Buddy always gets used in my alaska guide tent with no issues.

 

[JWP58]

I've used a mr buddy as high as 9k ft. I only use it to heat the tent up in the morning and right before going to sleep.

Going to try the wood stove route next season.

 

[michaelc10]

I use both, propane in my Kodiak canvas 10x10 and wood stove and propane in my 12x14 montana canvas I can start the buddy heater when I first get up and it takes the chill out till the wood stove gets roaring.

 

[schwaf]

I used a Mr. buddy at a high altitude base camp. Completely failed to light after the first day. Absolutely unreliable. Never again. I much prefer a wood stove. A nice silky saw and axe make quick work of processing fuel.