"sleep" system for daypack

[mtwarden]

Most of my hunting is relegated to day hunts, but we all know there is always a chance of an unexpected night out, the further we venture the higher the chance. With that here's what I've come up with a "sleep" system that will fit in a daypack, be relatively light and hopefully keep me alive! Sleep is in quotes as I wouldn't expect much sleep with this setup

The system starts with a diy Climashield Apex quilt (2.5 Apex), the quilt packs to just larger than a Nalgene and weighs a pretty svelte 12.5 oz
the quilt goes into a SOL Escape bivy, this is one of the newer offerings- this bivy actually breathes decently (unlike all of their previous emergency blanket types)- weight is 8.5 oz
under goes a 3/8" 20x40" ccf pad, scored so it folds like a z pad along with a 20x10" sit pad, pads weigh ~ 6 oz- to this would be added any natural insulation available; as a bonus the pad also adds a little structure to the pack
I have a small 5x8' sil tarp to provide additional protection from weather, packs very small and weighs 6 oz

Roughly 2 lbs and pretty low volume

As important as the above are additional clothing items in my pack- a mid-weight fleece balaclava, mid-weight fleece mittens, spare wool socks along with a hooded insulation layer (varies with the expected weather)- with those items are typically a midlayer fleece, a windshirt and rain jacket

Everything fits comfortably in a 25 liter pack (along with all other additional necessities for a hunt)

Hopefully never needed, but there just in case

 

[Dameon]

I pack a SJK satellite tarp and a SOL escape lite bivy in my daypack. I can spend a night in the woods if I have to, but I mainly carry them in case I get hit by a nasty storm and need to create an emergency shelter.


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[fngTony]

Been thinking about a similar setup. How tight is that quilt&bivy together?

 

[justinspicher]

I put my quilt and bivy in a stuff sack. I've got a poncho that I can make into a shelter if I need to.

 

[mtwarden]

Been thinking about a similar setup. How tight is that quilt&bivy together?

the Escape bivy could be bigger imo, but as is there is adequate room for the quilt and me in the bivy (5'11", 180#)

I have seen a guy who made his larger by taking some material from another SOL bivy (not an Escape I don't thinnk) and tape it in

 

[Beendare]

I've been stuck out overnight on multiple locations- primarily due to doing hog depredation at night but then also twice in the rockies due to those crummy mag lites taking a dump on me. Now we have LED headlamps so that hasn't happened lately so I don't worry about getting stuck out.
I do have my GoLite poncho on those hunts and it would be sufficient.

The whole survival thing just depends on how much stuff a guy want to haul around with him all day every day. I try to go as light as I can as in the past I've gotten carried away with packing around a bunch of stuff. Different strokes...

When stuck out overnight; you will want a fire...and have it going as much of the night as possible. So it can be a little tricky to get the warmth from the fire without melting your space blanket or whatever to your body [beentherdonethat!] A guy can heat some rocks and use them like a hot water bottle...but too hot and it melts your bivy. Tricky. I think a happy medium is to have a UL bivy bag or a big poncho in very light silnylon to hold as much heat in as possible- as in the OP's example....The insulation and the pad are a good idea...probably not worth it for me due to the extra weight. Having a small chunk of seat sized ethafoam is always a good idea anyway as it has many uses.

 

[LBFowler]

This is very close to my emergency sleep system, I have the Escape (in orange sadly) and use my glassing chair (krazy kreek) as a backup sleep pad. I'm looking to shrink my CS quilt a bit and add a head hole so it can do double duty as my static insulation layer. A 6'x9' sil poncho rounds out my system.

 

[mtwarden]

the Climashield quilt I had built was probably less than $50 in materials,pretty good bang for the buck. I wish I knew how to sew as the pattern I used looked pretty straight forward

 

[dotman]

I always have a 5.5x9 sil tarp in my bag, weighs nothing. I used to pack a woobie as well but it now only goes if the temps are low and snow is on the ground. I alway have a puffy and my rain gear. Between my tarp, puffy and rain gear a night in the woods isn't going to kill a guy, I also always have a survival/med kit in my bag so starting a fire is not an issue either.

Like many things we tend to over think stuff, be prepared but try not to overdue it and have basic woodsman skills, it shouldn't be an issue to stay the night away from camp and there really shouldn't be much extra weight packed as most items have multiple uses.

 

[justinspicher]

Like many things we tend to over think stuff, be prepared but try not to overdue it and have basic woodsman skills, it shouldn't be an issue to stay the night away from camp and there really shouldn't be much extra weight packed as most items have multiple uses.

This pretty much sums it up. You can have all sorts of gear but it's useless if you don't know how to use and then don't practice with it.

 

[stephen b]

If I am packing for a all day hunt and it is potential for rough weather nite, I will throw into my pack my small WM Highlite and have that stuffed into a TG bivy. I usually always have my GL poncho in my pack already for fall day hunts. I usually always have a 10" CS sit pad; and I may put in a 36" cut down CS pad for extra protection for SOL times. The pad fits between my frame and pack.

Even though I have the above set up with me, I have not used it for any emergency hunt situations. But I have used it for a planned situation far from the truck late in the day when early season chasing elk, has left me farther than I wanted to round trip- when wanting to be close in the AM.

Before packing the above, I have spent a few nights in front of a fire with a tarp when it was not going to be a good idea to force my self to walk in rainy chitty weather. So, just hunkered down for the night. Because of that, I now carry 2 pounds of "just in case" gear.

 

[mtwarden]

^ this is exactly where I'm coming from I've spent a few unplanned nights out, two with an impromptu lean-to/ long fire and one in a debris shelter- all three had one thing in common- they really sucked

it will still suck with my light quilt, bivy and pad; but my hope is it will suck a little less