New hunter, old equipment

[Mban2]

I am just getting into hunting and am taking a realistic look at all of my equipment and slowly realizing it is too old, or too poorly taken care of to be really effective for poor weather hunting.

my background is mountaineering and a whole lot of Army-ing for the past 11 years, and my ultra light mountain hard wear tent is probably too small, my sleeping bag has been stored compressed for the majority of its 8 year life, and my backpacks are all 35-40L mountaineering packs.

looking to get into archery elk in the PNW (WA, ID,MT) and need to completely re-invest in gear to make this as enjoyable as possible.

Quilts seem to be the biggest mind blowing change to me. As a side sleeper who is very restless, this seems like it will be amazing. I am really looking into the enlightened equipment stuff. Sleeping pads are something that is a completely foreign territory. I have used an accordion style thermarest that is absolutely horrible from sleeping on the summit of Rainer, to the deserts of the Middle East.

I prioritize sleeping comfort over weight (to a degree) and I am wondering about a few things:

1) as a 5-11 215lb side sleeper, who only wants to buy one sleeping pad for conditions ranging from summer to 0F, what would you choose?

2) how light weight are Tipi style tents? I would like to be able to stand up (even hunched over) and I would like one that is “comfortable” for 2 grown men for 7 day hunts. Are they restrictively heavy? (10lbs-ish) or are they very easily carried by one man? What are decent models for a starting point for research?

 

[grappling_hook]

For 1), look into the Thermarest Neoair X-Therm MAX (wide).

I don't know enough about 2), so good luck.

On another point, is the sleeping bag you stored compressed for 8 years down or synthetic? If down, and if it was stored dry, it might still be good.

 

[Mban2]

For 1), look into the Thermarest Neoair X-Therm MAX (wide).

I don't know enough about 2), so good luck.

On another point, is the sleeping bag you stored compressed for 8 years down or synthetic? If down, and if it was stored dry, it might still be good.

I’ll take a look at that sleeping pad. But my bag is a treated down material. It was really nice and expensive a few years ago. I used it in the West Virginia mountains 2 winters ago, and it was pretty terrible in sub freezing and very wet temperatures.

question about the inflatable pads... how after do they get a puncture/ hole? How easy are they to patch?

 

[Desk Jockey]

Welcome.

for AIG here lots love western motianeering expensive but worth It. For a side sleeper on a budget look at one of the nemo spoon shaped models on sale. The quilt thing works for some but not all and it isn’t my first choice when things get really cold.

 

[sargent]

No experience with tepee tents here. I've used a Neoair x-lite pad in temps down to 12 degrees and been okay. Any colder than that and you could supplement it with your foam pad underneath and I think you'd be alright. I've been using the pad for over three years (about 100 nights) and have had one leak. I found it by submerging the inflated pad in water and looking for a tiny stream of bubbles then patched with the included patch kit. It wasn't very hard.

 

[zacattack]

I am just getting into hunting and am taking a realistic look at all of my equipment and slowly realizing it is too old, or too poorly taken care of to be really effective for poor weather hunting.

my background is mountaineering and a whole lot of Army-ing for the past 11 years, and my ultra light mountain hard wear tent is probably too small, my sleeping bag has been stored compressed for the majority of its 8 year life, and my backpacks are all 35-40L mountaineering packs.

looking to get into archery elk in the PNW (WA, ID,MT) and need to completely re-invest in gear to make this as enjoyable as possible.

Quilts seem to be the biggest mind blowing change to me. As a side sleeper who is very restless, this seems like it will be amazing. I am really looking into the enlightened equipment stuff. Sleeping pads are something that is a completely foreign territory. I have used an accordion style thermarest that is absolutely horrible from sleeping on the summit of Rainer, to the deserts of the Middle East.

I prioritize sleeping comfort over weight (to a degree) and I am wondering about a few things:

1) as a 5-11 215lb side sleeper, who only wants to buy one sleeping pad for conditions ranging from summer to 0F, what would you choose?

2) how light weight are Tipi style tents? I would like to be able to stand up (even hunched over) and I would like one that is “comfortable” for 2 grown men for 7 day hunts. Are they restrictively heavy? (10lbs-ish) or are they very easily carried by one man? What are decent models for a starting point for research?

i have a 2 man tipi and it weighs around a pound, with pole and stakes I think it’s around 1.5lbs, that being said I wouldn’t put two people in it unless it was an emergency or I was really friendly with the other person. I looked really hard at a sawtooth from kifaru. If you really want to do 2 guys that weighs less than 4 lbs if I remember correctly.

I have the thermarest xtherm too it should get you through all 4 seasons,

 

[Dirtbag]

Really like my thermarest X-lite as well. As a restless stomach sleeper I hated the constriction of a bag and went to an enlightened equipment quilt and have really liked it.

 

[Mban2]

I’m going to take a look at the termarest Xlite. Seems to be pretty popular

 

[rayporter]

on a tipi for one or two guys you can always leave the pole out and cut one at camp. i sometimes carry the minimum of stakes too. just enough stakes to get it upright and cut stakes to finish.

 

[Carrot Farmer]

Pad: BA AXL insulated(3.5”!)

Shelter: Kifaru Sawtooth, at 6’2 I can standup to get dressed and there’s plenty of room for 2 men and gear. Start to get a lil tight if you add stove... but can’t beat it for 4#(without stove)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mplutodh1]

Glad to see there are other guys in a similar boat. Years of mountaineering experience but hunting had been limited to upland until now. Going thru and upgrading some items in my kit like you are.

I'm looking at a Neoair X-Lite. It's pretty much the standard for UL backpackers / thru hikers and for the my needs the 4.2 r-value seems decent. I've got a Z pad i can add if I find myself in super cold situations. Its several oz lighter and slightly smaller packed.

 

[tdot]

If only getting one pad, I'd error on the side of a winter pad. I'm an ounce counter and I'll still take the winter pad if there is any reason to question the conditions. I prefer Exped, the are comfy, quiet and durable. Thermarest are loud.

For Quilts, I'd recommend looking into some of the smaller boutique custom quilts, noticeably better products then Enlightened Equipment, for similar or less money. Get a wider quilt than you think you need, this will help cover up some of the learning mistakes. As there is a bit of a learning process with quilts.

Teepee style tents are much lighter then you are thinking. I have a 4 man, that would sleep 3 plus gear comfortably. It's 3ish pounds, with center pole and stake. Look at and research Seek Outside, Hyperlight Mountain Gear, Mountain Laurel Designs, if you cant find what you're looking for there, the research will lead you to other good names too.

Upgrading your pack will also be important. But other then that, you may be surprised how well alot of your older gear holds up. The mountaineering gear from 10 years ago is better then alot of the hunting specific gear from even 5 years ago. I used alot of my 10-15 year old mountaineering and BC ski gear for my first 5-6 years of hunting and it didn't prevent me from having fun and shooting animals

 

[mighteywhitehunter]

+1 for the Thermarest Xtherm Max, i also run a thermarest neoair x-lite in reg size if you really need to save weight. They are pretty easy to repair holes if you get one. As far a a quilt i run an EE synthetic 50deg quilt for earlier seasons then transition to a WM Caribou 35deg, then a Marmot Helium 15deg when it is real chilly. I am a side sleeper and have not had issues with side sleeping in those bags.
In regards to the tipi i have no experience. Only use a Hilleberg Akto.

 

[HuntnPack]

Shelter:

Seek Outside Cimmaron
Stove Jack
Line Lock Extension Kit
Carbon pole.


Sleep system:

NEMO Men's Riff 15 Degree Sleeping Bag
Exped SynMat UL Winter LW Sleeping Pad
Therm-A-Rest Air Head Down Pillow
Seek Outside
Fearlessly Floorless Ground Sheet
Matty McMat Face - Ground Pad

 

[Mban2]

after digging through all my wife and I's stuff, I found a Swarovski 25-60 spotting scope.... big ******* score on that one. But I just took inventory on my gear and one of the few things I will actually need will be a new set of boots, Binos, and a frame from kifaru. looks like I will be in business soon