tent for alaska caribou hunt with wife

[Retterath]

yes. bbrown answered a post about taking that msr whisperlite, that is what he was using he said.

I believe many folks use the MSR Whisperlight stove that can run on liquid fuel. I've even read where they use fuel from the plane to run their stoves. I'm sure someone else can chime in to better explain how to deal with this.

 

[Kevin Dill]

I wouldn't call 50 pounds ridiculous (as a restriction) but I will say it's a completely minimalistic figure which will put a guy into a bare-bones gear/food situation. I don't know why 40 Mile Air has to go that light, but pilots make their rules and that's the end of the argument. I know some guys who fly with 4MA and they always pay for an extra gear haul I believe. I know I would do that. I don't go into Alaska's backcountry to live in a shoebox tent and eat ramen noodles x 14 days with no bath. I usually take about 75 pounds of gear in for myself and that's enough for a bit of niceties like a cot, larger (but light) shelter, H-chair, ti woodstove, better food and a small axe. I'm back there to hunt hard and enjoy my camp when occupying it. If 4MA charges $800 for a gear haul that's really $200 each way (in and out) for 2 men. I'd pay that in an instant and count on a comfortable, well-supplied hunt.

 

[cocky84]

i got a once used whisperlite international, with fuel bottle,that i used last year when i flew with 40mile air moose hunt. Let me know if your interested .

 

[Where's Bruce?]

That's a pretty standard weight limit for what I'm guessing is a ride in a cub. Alaskan Guide tents are plenty tough. Get the aluminum poles if you don't already have them.

I don't mean to suggest it is ridiculous for the pilot, just for the trip. Say you are going into the Brooks Range for a week. Guys have gone and then been stuck there because the weather prevented em from getting picked up. If you only pack Mt. House meals and such you are still at 1.5lbs a day and you'll want no less than an extra 3 days of food in case your return flight is delayed by weather. There's 1/3rd of your weight right there. Gotta rifle or shotgun? There's another 5-10lbs or more. You haven't even packed a tent, pad and bag yet. You'll need first aid, game bags, optics, packs with optics and electronics. Hitting 50 is gonna happen fast. Ridiculously fast. Thus the recommendation for an alternative carrier or second drop. Me? I want some wine, a cot, my chair, bear fence with back-up battery, perhaps a pack raft and/or fishing gear, some friggin' creature comforts (i.e.: snivel gear) and most definitely a big tough tent in case I'm stuck in it for a week or more during a raging storm. Would you take a women there with 100lbs of gear for the two of you and expect her to like it? Not me...I'd be like, "Of course you can pack your lingerie honey...bring a couple garter belts, a corset but not those stilettoes." Then again, I'm a romantic. <g> Done correctly you'll be praying for another day of rain. LOL

 

[realunlucky]

Some people dream, some people just do it.

You could just as easily not get your second load because of weather as be stuck there for a couple days because of weather.

Sent from my XT1585 using Tapatalk

 

[VernAK]

I wouldn't call 50 pounds ridiculous (as a restriction) but I will say it's a completely minimalistic figure which will put a guy into a bare-bones gear/food situation. I don't know why 40 Mile Air has to go that light, but pilots make their rules and that's the end of the argument. I know some guys who fly with 4MA and they always pay for an extra gear haul I believe. I know I would do that. I don't go into Alaska's backcountry to live in a shoebox tent and eat ramen noodles x 14 days with no bath. I usually take about 75 pounds of gear in for myself and that's enough for a bit of niceties like a cot, larger (but light) shelter, H-chair, ti woodstove, better food and a small axe. I'm back there to hunt hard and enjoy my camp when occupying it. If 4MA charges $800 for a gear haul that's really $200 each way (in and out) for 2 men. I'd pay that in an instant and count on a comfortable, well-supplied hunt.

That extra gear load makes a camp! Fifty pounds will work for a sheep camp but my moose camp calls for a bit more comfort.

 

[Tekla]

I have a hilleburg nammaj GT and have used it with my wife on the brooks many times and find it to be a perfect tent for room, weight, gear storage, cooking, and hang out space for those bad weather days(you will have a couple of them). It's not a stand up inside tent but rest assured when the weather comes in it will hold up and keep you dry. I have been in 2 feet of snow one day and pooring rain the next and 70 degree sunny sky's after that. Choose wisely. Your life and wife's happiness depends on it.

 

[Akicita]

I have a hilleburg nammaj GT and have used it with my wife on the brooks many times and find it to be a perfect tent for room, weight, gear storage, cooking, and hang out space for those bad weather days(you will have a couple of them). It's not a stand up inside tent but rest assured when the weather comes in it will hold up and keep you dry. I have been in 2 feet of snow one day and pooring rain the next and 70 degree sunny sky's after that. Choose wisely. Your life and wife's happiness depends on it.

Hilleberg Nallo 3 GT: Good room for 2, integrated vestibule for gear. Will definitely handle any weather & pack weight
comes in under 7 lbs.

In my experience either of ^^^these^^^ Either of these will also serve you well on any adventure for many, many years.

 

[luke moffat]

I wouldn't call 50 pounds ridiculous (as a restriction) but I will say it's a completely minimalistic figure which will put a guy into a bare-bones gear/food situation. I don't know why 40 Mile Air has to go that light, but pilots make their rules and that's the end of the argument. I know some guys who fly with 4MA and they always pay for an extra gear haul I believe. I know I would do that. I don't go into Alaska's backcountry to live in a shoebox tent and eat ramen noodles x 14 days with no bath. I usually take about 75 pounds of gear in for myself and that's enough for a bit of niceties like a cot, larger (but light) shelter, H-chair, ti woodstove, better food and a small axe. I'm back there to hunt hard and enjoy my camp when occupying it. If 4MA charges $800 for a gear haul that's really $200 each way (in and out) for 2 men. I'd pay that in an instant and count on a comfortable, well-supplied hunt.

Man I don't know my wife and I packed for 18 days (53 pounds just in food alone) and had 2 shelters, a bear fence, sat phone, and even a fifth of vodka, camp chairs, and a spare cook stove, camp shoes, and some other creature comfort items I am sure. Didn't feel that restricted at all. Stuffing heavy stuff in your pockets and wearing your puffy clothes and rain gear and filling those pockets as well you'd be suprised how much weight you can put on your person.

Personally, I would take something fairly robust like a MSR Elixer 2 for sleeping in and then a pyramid shelter like a Seek Outside Cimarron or MyTrailCo Pyramid 4 (just the pole and fly) to hangout and cook and eat in. Makes for a versatile setup as you don't need much space to sleep and if the weather if crappy its nice to have nearly 100 sq ft of space to hangout in and can nearly stand up in as well vs having to lay down or sit on your bag the whole day while waiting for the weather to clear.

We use a two tent setup like this often on fly out hunts (in this case spring brown bear hunt on Kodiak Island):


The MSR elxir for $250 is essentially the same thing as the Kuiu tent in the pic...only it costs roughly half the money and only a bit more weight. I much prefer a two tent system (one floorless for being able to sit and stand up in with boots on for cooking and gear storage and hanging out in and a floored one with bathtub floor and freestanding for sleeping in that is fairly stout with poles that intersect in several places.

MSR elixir and a Cimarron total may come to around 8 pounds total for a whole lot of shelter space out of the elements.

 

[JustOneMoreShot]

My buddy and I did a drop camp hunt with 40Mile Air for moose and we opted for the extra gear load. We each got a moose and had a great time. Terrific hunt. He has an Artic Oven tent and was a palace for 2 hunters. Plenty of room to stand up and move about. We got weather one day (just lots of snow not terrible wind). They flew the 3 cubs together all out at the same time to get us into camp. Coming out was different as we had lots of moose and it was over several trips in the Cubs to a rough strip that they use with larger planes that need a better runway. All gear and hunters are dropped off there and then fly out in a bigger Cessna type plane.

 

[BCrob]

I had the BA Fly Creek UL2 but sold it for something with more vestibule space and a bit more skookum (tarptent stratospire 1). The big agnes is nice and light but for the trip your doing I'm not sure I would trust it in really bad weather. I have a 3 man sierra designs that is just under 6lbs and it had been tested pretty good on goat hunts and is roomy for two people. A teepee style shelter with a stove (if you'll have access to fuel) would be the way to go as you can dry out your wet clothes etc... Sounds like a great trip!

 

[mcseal2]

This thread was well worth reading for me, thanks everyone.

I just ordered a Jimmy Tarps Hudson this weekend to use while camping and catfishing on the river, plus other trips. A floored shelter used on a sandbar is a pain in the a**, hard to clean up. I have used a Megatarp on the sandbars and it works well, but is a kind of a pain to crawl out of every time a fish bites at night and the reel's bait clicker goes off. Also since they aren't selling them anymore I want to save it for when I need the larger light shelter. I've never got wet in that thing after a week in Ontario and several rainstorms on the river, I like it.

After my new purchase I got to thinking about taking the Hudson on our 2018 moose hunt to have a heated shelter in addition to the transporter provided tent. I think you guys talked me into doing it. I have a Parastove for my Kifaru Para and Megatarps, and think now I'll get a stove pipe for it the right height for the Hudson. I think we can spare the weight to have a place to dry gear and stay warm on weather days. We have an 8 man Seek teepee with a stove, liners, and half floor ordered too for our lower 48 hunts but I didn't know if we wanted to screw with getting it to Alaska and using a floorless shelter in a swamp. Our transporter picks our camp location so we don't know exactly what we are in for until we get there. With the floorless plus his tent we will meet the "one is none and two is one" theory plus have a floorless to duck into with our boots on and a floored sleeping tent. If we get sick of each other we have two tents also, can't beat that!

Should add I guess I'm not going with my wife but with a friend who I've hunted with my whole life. Different situation, probably (definitely?) easier! My wife likes to hunt, fish, and camp but not so much in rough weather. In KS she likes to get her deer hunting done during the September muzzle loader season rather than have to hunt the December rifle season. She is content to be indoors when conditions are rough.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

This thread was well worth reading for me, thanks everyone.

I just ordered a Jimmy Tarps Hudson this weekend to use while camping and catfishing on the river, plus other trips. A floored shelter used on a sandbar is a pain in the a**, hard to clean up. I have used a Megatarp on the sandbars and it works well, but is a kind of a pain to crawl out of every time a fish bites at night and the reel's bait clicker goes off. Also since they aren't selling them anymore I want to save it for when I need the larger light shelter. I've never got wet in that thing after a week in Ontario and several rainstorms on the river, I like it.

After my new purchase I got to thinking about taking the Hudson on our 2018 moose hunt to have a heated shelter in addition to the transporter provided tent. I think you guys talked me into doing it. I have a Parastove for my Kifaru Para and Megatarps, and think now I'll get a stove pipe for it the right height for the Hudson. I think we can spare the weight to have a place to dry gear and stay warm on weather days. We have an 8 man Seek teepee with a stove, liners, and half floor ordered too for our lower 48 hunts but I didn't know if we wanted to screw with getting it to Alaska and using a floorless shelter in a swamp. Our transporter picks our camp location so we don't know exactly what we are in for until we get there. With the floorless plus his tent we will meet the "one is none and two is one" theory plus have a floorless to duck into with our boots on and a floored sleeping tent. If we get sick of each other we have two tents also, can't beat that!

Should add I guess I'm not going with my wife but with a friend who I've hunted with my whole life. Different situation, probably (definitely?) easier! My wife likes to hunt, fish, and camp but not so much in rough weather. In KS she likes to get her deer hunting done during the September muzzle loader season rather than have to hunt the December rifle season. She is content to be indoors when conditions are rough.

Probably won't be needing the lingerie then. <g>

 

[Retterath]

Thanks a lot for all the input

 

[Retterath]

I have a big agnes fly creek ul3 right now but might need to get a little more durable one. The guys using hilleberg tents what are you using? I am looking at the hilleberg nammatj 3 GT which is a black label one and there toughest material and weights 8lbs 13oz. The other on is the Nallo 3 GT which is a red label with a little less robust material that the black label on and this one weights 6lbs 13oz. The only thing that is holding me back is if i spend the money on one i want to use it for my colorado and wyoming back country hunts so i don't want it to weigh a ton. What are your thoughts? Thanks