Sleeping bag suggestions?

[Buckhorn 70]

Going on my first Elk Hunt this year? I am an East Coast guy and this will be my first Western Hunt, so I am basically having to buy the equipment for Elk hunting.

What is the best Sleeping bag and mat to buy for a September Wyomimg Elk hunt? Would obviously need to be packable. Thx

 

[charvey9]

Check out Zpacks.

 

[whitingja]

Exped 7. Enlightened equipment 20 quilt would be a good choice. But you will get 50 different opinions. Just make sure it's quality and warm enough. Good luck

 

[Tim in Wa.]

Western Mountaineering or Feathered Friends.Bite the bullet and you will never regret it
Tim

 

[Shrek]

Western Mountianeering Badger and wait for the new Expeds and Xtherm pads.

 

[Kotaman]

Western Mountianeering Badger and wait for the new Expeds and Xtherm pads.

Tough to beat that advice. If you prefer synthetic, the new Kifaru bags are nice. Huge improvement over the old version.

 

[1hoda]

Western Mountaineering bag, Neotherm XLite will make you a happy camper!

 

[AXEL]

I second Shrek's advice, but, will be buying a "Terralite" for my own uses as I already have other top quality bags.

 

[Finch]

Not sure if you researched any prices of the "best" sleeping bags but they can be several hundred dollars - not sure of your budget. I'm new to this whole thing too but I pride myself in researching gear and trying to find a deal. My biggest piece of advice would to do your homework and decide on a couple of bags that would be suitable for you. Keep those in the back of your mind. Now when a deal comes up (sale or used in the classifieds) you can jump on it without hesitation. That's basically what I'm doing with all the gear I need for my upcoming trip. I've saved some cash this way to spend on other and better gear. I bought a slightly used Marmot Couloir 0 deg down bag for about $180 - it retailed near $500 when they were first sold. I had initally been on the lookout for a Marmot Helium which I hear a lot of guys use. It's a 15 deg down bag. I'm glad to have the 0 deg bag in case it's colder than expected or if I turn out to be a "cold sleeper". Gonna spend a night in it in the National Forest this coming week. It'll be a good test since temps will be comparable to what I should experience in CO this Sept. Good luck!

 

[Ramshead]

Keep in mind the "fit" of the bag you choose. The girth of some bags may be too tight or loose in which case they are uncomfortable or thermally inefficient. If you are slim a 62" girth is probably good, 64" if you are average and 66" if barrel chested. (WM Badger is 66"). If you like to sprawl and squirm the Montbell Spiral Down Hugger is stretchy and less confining.

 

[AXEL]

This is a very sound point, after owning/using many bags, I find that a 67" for winter and a 69"
for spring/summer works best for me. I have serious orthopaedic issues and shoulders/neck like a Neanderthal, so, need a bigger bag.

WM now sells a nice zip-in extender which adds almost no weight, but, increases a bag's girth by about 4" and most hunters would probably BE more comfortable in a wider bag than would alpine climbers....take a look on their site.

 

[hntnnut]

I'm in the same boat for sleeping gear and will and will be going with a Zpack 10 degree bag (23 oz.)and Xtherm 77x25 (20oz.). The weight will be about 2-11 these days I'm willing to pay a premium for weight savings and quality not to mention packability. My old bag and pad weighed in at around 5 pounds.

Richard

 

[duchntr]

I have experience with western mountaineering and feathered friends bags, both are made in America to boot and are good quality.... Be sure to read reviews and ask questions some bags are tighter then others for skinnier folks and some are larger for larger folks. A good quality down bag will last a lifetime if properly stored and cared for so don't be afraid of dropping coin on quality. My 2cents anyhow

 

[rbljack]

Western Mountianeering Badger and wait for the new Expeds and Xtherm pads.

Did a search for these, 569.00 price tag at a few sites, but a few others said it was discontinued....are they that much? I like the idea of an oversized mummy because I don't like the standard size mummy bags all that much...feel constrained sometimes.

 

[Scoot]

Did a search for these, 569.00 price tag at a few sites, but a few others said it was discontinued....are they that much?

I don't know if they're discontinued or not. I waited patiently and snooped and shopped a ton and finally bought a new WM Badger for just over half that price. If you're patient and especially if you're willing to buy used, you can get some deals that are much, much better than the standard list price. Mine was new and I got it for 40% off the price you mentioned. That's a lot of coin to save on gear in my book. Be patient and snoop often...

 

[Shrek]

I didn't get that big of a discount but I got a significant discount off my Kodiak. I don't know about them discontinuing the Badger and I'd be really surprised if they did. I'm planning on adding a Terralite but I already have a Kodiak I can take if I think the weather might get cold. The newer pads coming out this spring should offer better R values as well as being lighter.

 

[COLOelkman]

Just to throw out another bag option which I recently bought, is a quilt by Hammock Gear. I wanted a lightweight bag for backpacking in Sept and in my comparison I found they had a better price for a better quality down. A buddy of mine also purchased on last year and loved it. I cannot sleep in a tight mummy as I just move around too much so I used my zero degree mummy last year, unzipped like a quilt is, and it I knew that a quilt was what I needed. I've not used it yet but the quality of the sewing looks very good to me. I ended up with a 20 degree bag with 2 oz. of overstuffing so that should be around 10-15 degrees. Waiting for the new lightweight pads to come out in March as they are supposed to be lighter and better than current ones.

 

[GKPrice]

I've been using Wiggy's Bags for dang near 20 years and I've never been cold but that said, apparently I'm out of the loop on the latest greatest stuff - Wiggy Bags are not "lightweight" but they are great quality and comfortable and I "think" they are a bit less money (can't say that with authority though)