Voyageur
WKR
- Joined
- Feb 12, 2020
- Messages
- 1,018
After buying my first tipi (a Kifaru 8 man) about 18 or so years ago I used them heavily and almost exclusively for close to 10 years. After that time I gradually drifted back to mostly using tents, not because I didn't like the tipi, but more a result of when and where I was hunting or trekking. After spending close to two weeks hunting moose this fall I had plenty of time to reassess my preferences.
My lightweight backpacking tent that I used for my moose hunt worked just fine, but I would have been way more comfortable using my tipi. One of the major factors contributing to this was the lengthening hours of darkness each night....about 6 minutes more each day. My tipi with a warm crackling fire in the stove and me seated beside it in my Crazy Creek chair would have been far more enjoyable than laying on my back in my small tent waiting for it to get light outside or waiting to go to sleep at night. On a caribou hunt earlier in the season when light is almost endless these things aren't a problem. On a later season moose hunt they are.
One of the things that kept me from taking my tipi on my previous caribou hunts and this moose hunt was the extra 5 or so pounds of weight. During the past two weeks I decided even if the extra weight meant paying for another gear flight it would be worth it to bring the tipi.
Those of you that use your tipi for AK hunts, and elsewhere that weight is a consideration, I'm curious what you use for stakes??? I have always been doubtful of the durability of the plastic stakes that came with my Kifaru tipi. Having said that I do have to admit to never having one of them fail me.
Would appreciate any and all thoughts on this topic of using tipis for weight restricted hunts from those of you who have experience doing so.
Thanks.
My lightweight backpacking tent that I used for my moose hunt worked just fine, but I would have been way more comfortable using my tipi. One of the major factors contributing to this was the lengthening hours of darkness each night....about 6 minutes more each day. My tipi with a warm crackling fire in the stove and me seated beside it in my Crazy Creek chair would have been far more enjoyable than laying on my back in my small tent waiting for it to get light outside or waiting to go to sleep at night. On a caribou hunt earlier in the season when light is almost endless these things aren't a problem. On a later season moose hunt they are.
One of the things that kept me from taking my tipi on my previous caribou hunts and this moose hunt was the extra 5 or so pounds of weight. During the past two weeks I decided even if the extra weight meant paying for another gear flight it would be worth it to bring the tipi.
Those of you that use your tipi for AK hunts, and elsewhere that weight is a consideration, I'm curious what you use for stakes??? I have always been doubtful of the durability of the plastic stakes that came with my Kifaru tipi. Having said that I do have to admit to never having one of them fail me.
Would appreciate any and all thoughts on this topic of using tipis for weight restricted hunts from those of you who have experience doing so.
Thanks.