Surprise over night questions?

[Lowg08]

I’m planning western trips and have a thought in my head but I’m not sure my thinking is correct. I want to carry a sleep system that I can always have with me. In the event I have an animal found close to nightfall and don’t want to leave it or have one down and need to stay put to work it up. I would be carrying a down glassing set anyway. So im
Thinking a DST tarp, a doobie, exped flex mat plus( could be a sitting pad too) and possibly a ground sheet. I want to fit it all in a stryker XL and a Sherman pocket. Is this a common thought or necessity for western hunting

 

[Marble]

I've never stayed overnight at the site with the animal post kill. I've always prepped for quartering when I return or quartered it right then, hung it and transported my first load.

I can't think of a reason to stay overnight. 30 years of elk hunting and I have never had animals get into the carcass. This is probably 150 animals give or take.

But if you wanted an overnight option, I wouldn't compromise on my sleep system and have something that is almost what you need for the conditions. My bag, pad and tent is less than 6 pounds total. There is probably lighter options, but it's comfortable and provides everything I want in a sleep system.

It's hard to say that a doobie would be warm enough to sleep.

My advice would be quarter the animal, hang it and return for the rest the next day.

Sent from my SM-G986U using Tapatalk

 

[Lowg08]

That is the plan out of the gate. Don’t want to sleep next to a dead animal. It would be mostly for if I had glassed one up and just propped up for the night. Already changed my pad idea from a friend. Neoair Xtherm max. A Grumman down set, doobie in a bivy sack too.

 

[WeiserBucks]

Why not go back to camp, sleep and eat as well as possible and be there before daylight? Spending the night on top of a critter provides zero advantage in my experience.

 

[Lowg08]

Why not go back to camp, sleep and eat as well as possible and be there before daylight? Spending the night on top of a critter provides zero advantage in my experience.

I would rather sleep and eat good. I’m new to it so that is why I ask. I sure as heck would rather be back at camp. I was thinking if your a long ways from camp. In my mind I wouldn’t want to hike back to camp 5-6 miles and then wake up early enough to hike 5-6 back before daylight if it was ever to happen

 

[WeiserBucks]

Sounds like you've camped in the wrong spot if you're 5-6 miles away from game. I've never had that kind of distance involved so maybe my advice isn't applicable, but if I had to hike 12 miles a day round trip to get into game I'd be camped somewhere else.

 

[Lowg08]

Sounds like you've camped in the wrong spot if you're 5-6 miles away from game. I've never had that kind of distance involved so maybe my advice isn't applicable, but if I had to hike 12 miles a day round trip to get into game I'd be camped somewhere else.

I like your advice. Thank you. I won’t have time to scout I’m on the east coast. Sounds like a better option would be to move camp. I like advice like this. Thank you.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

My emergency overnight gear is my kifaru LPP and a tarp with enough cord to get a nice temporary shelter built.

Last year I finished butchering a large bull moose in the early morning hours. By the time I got it across the river and built a meat pole and got it hanging, it was like 4am and pouring rain.

I pulled the LPP on (I was wearing waders) and my kuiu Yukon over that. We got a shelter up with the tarp, climbed in, ate a peak refuel and passed out leaning against a tundra hump for a few hours.

If I was going to add something to that I was thinking a woobie would have been nice but I’m also thinking a battery heated vest would have come in clutch in that situation.

 

[Dennis]

The system I carry for just in case is a Hilleberg Bivanorak for emergency shelter. It was developed as emergency shelter for Swedish air force pilots. I like most I don't plan on spending the night at a kill site, but if I must spend the night out I have shelter. It works as rain gear and pack cover, sleeping bivy bag, wind shelter and sometimes a ground tarp for meat. That along with an ultra light foam pad, synthetic puffy pants and jacket and sometimes with a Caribou tarp and SOL bivy is enough for just in case in reasonable weather.

If actually bivy style hunting I would use a similar system adding a sleeping bag, air pad, pillow, food etc. and maybe add light weight one person tent if weather is expected or unknown.

 

[swanny]

Tarp is solid to have with you, it's always in my pack and something I've thought many times of removing. I removed it for one trip last year and it was a regret. The one trip I had it on it proved it's worth.

I'd still consider a closed cell foam pad, like you originally mentioned with the Flex Mat Plus. Buy one, cut it in half, give the other half to your buddy. It makes for a great glassing pad and at least keeps your core warm and comfortable for mid day naps or if you did find yourself in a situation where you had to stay out. If you found yourself in a situation where you had to stay out, it's survival, not comfort so having your layers with you and accessible should be enough, especially if you can make a fire.

 

[thinhorn_AK]

Tarp is solid to have with you, it's always in my pack and something I've thought many times of removing. I removed it for one trip last year and it was a regret. The one trip I had it on it proved it's worth.

I'd still consider a closed cell foam pad, like you originally mentioned with the Flex Mat Plus. Buy one, cut it in half, give the other half to your buddy. It makes for a great glassing pad and at least keeps your core warm and comfortable for mid day naps or if you did find yourself in a situation where you had to stay out. If you found yourself in a situation where you had to stay out, it's survival, not comfort so having your layers with you and accessible should be enough, especially if you can make a fire.

A simple foam pad would have been awesome in the example I told a few posts up. That would have added a good barrier between me and the ground and probably been a lot warmer.

 

[mcseal2]

I always have a tarp or poncho with me hunting. The more chance there is I'll use it the bigger I go with it. I've got a bunch of options I've accumulated over the years. Kifaru Sheep tarp, Paratarp and Megatarp. Seek Colorado tarp and DST tarp. Hyperlight dyneema 8.5' square tarp. MytrailCo poncho, military ponchos, etc.

What I carry most is the DST, especially if there are 2 of us. If I think the odds of using it are fairly high I take the DST. I have used it the most and in the worst conditions of the ones I carry quite a bit. Last November the four of us had 2 DST's on Kodiak. We hunted in pairs and we all spent hours under them when the rains were heaviest. They are plenty big for 2 and gear for that type of use.

The other 2 I pack quite a bit are the Sheep tarp and the Hyperlight. The Sheep tarp is small, light, and tough. It's enough for a glassing shelter or for me to sleep under, but it's not roomy. If I might need a fire I take it over the Hyperlight. Warmer seasons I'm more likely to take the Hyperlight.

The Megatarp and Paratarp are great shelters but less versatile to set up in different configurations. They are not as nice to set up as a glassing tarp for example. I like the Megatarp a lot when camping. I've used it for a week in Canada fishing, many rain storms fishing the river, lots of trips and it's always worked well. Since they are discontinued now I pretty much save it for times I plan to camp and will want the stove and vestibule. The Paratarp is just small enough I don't like camping in it although it's plenty big for an emergency. I just don't see a lot of advantage to it over the Sheep tarp in less harsh conditions. Harsh conditions I take the bigger tarp.

The poncho tarps I take when I don't expect to need a tarp or rain gear, but I take them just in case I'm wrong. Just having them for shade can be worth packing them. I'll occasionally pack one with one of the other tarps as well for a ground sheet, or if I'm running breathable rain gear in Alaska.

The rest of my kit is my puffy jacket or pants, usually Kuiu Superdown Pro jacket and Ultra pants. Wetter climates I'll take a Kifaru LPP and FL Uncompaghre pants. I use 5 sections of a Thermarest Z lite pad as a glassing pad and it works under my core when I lay down too. I always have a 2 person emergency blanket too, I think my current one is the Heatsheets by SOL. That blanket is like $8 and I have used them several times to lay quarters on in muddy conditions. It's part of both my kill kit and survival kit.

At base camp that chunk of Thermarest pad is awful nice to use to crawl out of the tent on, then stand on until I get my boots on. It helps keep me dry and my socks clean.

Last thing I take occasionally is a Hill People Gear mountain serape. I use it as a poncho when glassing and it can also be a sleeping bag that has worked for me down into the mid 30's without layering up heavy in it. It weighs like 2.5lbs and is pretty bulky so I don't take it that much when I'm walking a lot. In a whitetail blind, boat trip, or lots of other times I really like it. At base camp I use it as a blanket over my 20 degree Slickbag and have been fine below 0.

I'm interested in the Mountain Hardware Semilite short sleeping bag but haven't bought one. I could see that and a good puffy being pretty nice. I'm not sure I'd use it enough to justify the price tag, but at 13oz It would sure save some weight over my Slickbag at times plus be a great piece of emergency gear.

 

[JP100]

It is good to have an option for an emergency, bit I would try to avoid carrying around a heavy pack all the time.

A closed cell foam pad is always on my pack, i buy a full size thermorest one and cut it in half.(long enough to cover ass to neck) then a small tarp and emergency bivvy bag/survival blanket.

Ive slept out twice in 10 years of guiding, neither were necessary either, we just did because it was nice conditions and we had plenty of food.

If you have an animal dead, skins make awesome ground pads, alot warmer than youd think. (Yea bears....but humans are also made of meat....)

 

[mavinwa2]

a good thing to be prepared for if hunting SOLO.
Have shelter, sleep system, food & water for a night.

3x in September that I have spent the night in the woods after putting down an archery bull late.
2-3 miles in, Warm temps, late evening, track & find bull down, all 600-lbs of him.
Processing, staging meat from the bull takes me a few hours solo.
Get meat quartered and/or boned-out, bagged, hung away from carcass and its midnight or later!
I'm not going to hike out in the dark to basecamp when dead tired from cutting up a bull elk. All looks different in the blackness of night.

So, I retire to my preset shelter a few hundred yards away from kill/carcass site. Send an InReach message, eat a hot meal (Mtn House) and get a few hours' sleep.
Up early and first pack load of meat hiked out.