WANTED: Your Top 5 Base Camp Tips or Hacks

[TrailDog]

Cheap rug from the thrift store for wall tent floor.

Crocs for camp shoes in and out of the wall tent

Melatonin for sleeping well with all the snoring.

Pre-make as many meals as you can...burritos, sandwiches, goulash, rice, etc.

Bring tools...shovel, axe, Silky saw, lots of P-cord. Super handy to string p-cord between tent frame rafters to hang socks & gloves to dry over the stove.

 

[Naiche]

A propane weed burner works great for starting wet frozen wood. I bring one and an extra bbq grill tank.

 

[Mattyq17]

An old guy (my dad in my case) who unfortunately can't get around as well as he used to but still loves to hunt. He doesn't get far from the road when hunting and will always have dinner cooking by the time we get back.

 

[NB7]

1- Assign camp chores and duties ahead of time so things run efficient.
2- For the love of God bring what you need to dig and maintain a proper latrine. Especially with that many guys. Nothing worse than finding that the last group to use the same camp area just walked out in different routes from camp and shit wherever they pleased and left their mess above ground. When we go we bring a digging bar, shovel, and a home-made commode. When we're packing up the latrine is back filled over and you would never know we were there.

 

[Tobe_B]

You guys coffee drinkers? When it’s cold and dark early in the morning I want my coffee NOW. We used to perc now we take a small quiet 2 stroken genny and use a regular coffee pot. Shoes for in the tent/living area like outdoor slippers.

I hate waiting on percolator coffee. And I also despise cleaning the percolator. I’ve started boiled water in the percolator and making instant coffee. It’s really the ultimate in my opinion.


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[f16woody]

We have a group of 6 or 7 guys from PA in the process of planning a Colorado 2nd or 3rd rifle season hunt, and I'm hoping to glean as much information from this forum as I can before we make the trip. We've already found a good deal on a 16x20 Davis Tent on Craigslist, complete with the rain fly/awning, wood stove and three cots. We're also planning on having a 10x20 enclosed canopy for cooking or gear storage. We have a good amount of camping and hunting experience, but this will be our first DIY base camp style hunt, and the first western hunt for many of us.

I'm looking for everyone's top tips on base camp living, whether it be food, sleep systems, wall tent essentials, etc. Basically looking for any suggestions to improve our efficiency and enhance our experience for a late fall hunt in Colorado. Thanks for the help and good luck this season!

Keep your “Base Camp” mobile! Be able to tear down and move in a couple of hours max so you are hunting where the animals are. Learned this after 10+ years of hunting the same base camp. Have killed 3x more elk by being mobile vice anchored in one camp.

 

[Pharmseller]

Batteries

Clean socks

Rope

Above all, communicate expectations well in advance. Six or seven guys means lots of potential for wildly differing expectations.




P

 

[11boo]

That’s the Texans tent 88 yards away.
Leave the dam generator at home please.

It was bad enough when we came back from being hunting all day to find a camp 88 yards away, despite them having passed at least 6 better empty places. Really, no one else within 4 miles. Then right before dark the genset fires up. I was so mad I went over to either get my ass kicked, or kick theirs. I cut loose with a series of expletives on the guy milling around their tent, Then his woman pops out of the tent and I calmed down.
New hunters, new tent, new everything. Even a poop tent, with lighting.
She thought it was safer to camp nearby .

They bailed after 3 nights, but damn people, consider where existing camps are when the area is empty for 4 miles. If you are going to camp near a trailhead you expect crowding.
Bang in 7 miles on SxSs, not so much.

I think you can see my solar in the one pic. If you go that route a 120w panel, controller and 35AH keeps all our stuff charged and camp lit, quietly, all month. Highly recommended, just have at least 100’ of wire to remote the solar into direct sun.


You have a large party, have a good plan for toilet. If you are planning on building a box, dig a hole very deep. Like 2’. When it is half full, dig another.
If you are doing the WAG bag thing, bring a lot.

 

[ScreamingPotato]

I wouldn't ever camp close to people if I can help it, but man I love it when they run generators. I sleep so much better with the background noise.
Never understood why people setup right next to other camps, but makes sense the female thought it was safer. They do that camping on the beach to us as well, 60 miles of beach with nobody as far as the eye can see either direction and a truck will drive up and park 50 yards away.

 

[11boo]

I wouldn't ever camp close to people if I can help it, but man I love it when they run generators. I sleep so much better with the background noise.
Never understood why people setup right next to other camps, but makes sense the female thought it was safer. They do that camping on the beach to us as well, 60 miles of beach with nobody as far as the eye can see either direction and a truck will drive up and park 50 yards away.

They could have taken any other excellent spots, run the genny and I wouldn’t have cared. But right on top of us in a remote empty area is BS. If I had been in camp when they showed up they would have been educated.

 

[JPC6000]

Electric Chainsaw - or cut wood a couple miles away.

2000 watt small Honda generator - quite

 

[ScreamingPotato]

They could have taken any other excellent spots, run the genny and I wouldn’t have cared. But right on top of us in a remote empty area is BS. If I had been in camp when they showed up they would have been educated.

There's no educating people who want to camp close to others, they're just weird and never gonna change. Who goes out miles from anywhere into the forest and wants to look at another camp? Weirdos that's who... Lol.

 

[11boo]

Electric Chainsaw - or cut wood a couple miles away.

2000 watt small Honda generator - quite

I heard their gas saw from a mile out, figured something was up. Sounded like it was coming from my camp. Also figured that would run the elk off, but just yesterday my guy still in camp had a great encounter with a 5x and couldn’t close the deal. 800 yards from camp.
An elec chain saw is in my camp. I’ll never drag a gasser up again.

 

[Pheasantdude321]

• Thermacell battery powered units with 3M double-sided tape to keep them from flying away
• Always camp shoes, even if flip flops are what we got to work with
• Individual face wipes (or the like)
• Baby wipes (but pack in, pack out)
• Sawzall with extra batteries (I don't have an elec chainsaw)
• Bonus: Puffy camp jacket...care less when the embers burn a hole when sitting around the fire

Gotta say, that leaves for some nice living

 

[Tweeder]

View attachment 767318

That’s the Texans tent 88 yards away.
View attachment 767319Leave the dam generator at home please.

It was bad enough when we came back from being hunting all day to find a camp 88 yards away, despite them having passed at least 6 better empty places. Really, no one else within 4 miles. Then right before dark the genset fires up. I was so mad I went over to either get my ass kicked, or kick theirs. I cut loose with a series of expletives on the guy milling around their tent, Then his woman pops out of the tent and I calmed down.
New hunters, new tent, new everything. Even a poop tent, with lighting.
She thought it was safer to camp nearby .

They bailed after 3 nights, but damn people, consider where existing camps are when the area is empty for 4 miles. If you are going to camp near a trailhead you expect crowding.
Bang in 7 miles on SxSs, not so much.

I think you can see my solar in the one pic. If you go that route a 120w panel, controller and 35AH keeps all our stuff charged and camp lit, quietly, all month. Highly recommended, just have at least 100’ of wire to remote the solar into direct sun.


You have a large party, have a good plan for toilet. If you are planning on building a box, dig a hole very deep. Like 2’. When it is half full, dig another.
If you are doing the WAG bag thing, bring a lot.
View attachment 767322

Just had the same thing happen. Was in my tent with no one around in sight. At 930 at night I’m trying to get to sleep and I hear a truck come roaring in, headlights completely lighting up my tent. 40 yards away max, plenty of other camp spots. Then for the next hour or two I have to listen to doors slamming and shit being set up and talking. I could have hit them with a rock. I just don’t get it. I had a raging migraine tho so I just laid there and took my punishment

 

[wyodog]

A solar generator is a game changer in my opinion, make lighting and charging things simple. Can use it to run a water pump for a sink or shower.

 

[Indian Summer]

Thanks for the tips! My parents heat their house with a wood stove, so we have experience on how to moderate the intensity of the heat and making an "all-nighter" log burn through the night. We will definitely be doing some test runs before the big trip so we can be as efficient as possible when we get there.

Every woodstove is different. I’ve had multiple woodstoves that were the same model and behaved a little differently. Woodstoves used to heat homes are double walled and have tighter seals than a single wall steel cylinder stove.

For me, the big thing is that there’s not a lot of time in between when I get back to camp and when I’m jumping into the sleeping bag for the night. So when I first get there, I start a fire immediately in feed it only small wood. I’ll give it lots of air and let it burn pretty hot and then add some more medium sized wood. I might even leave the tent flap open because it gets too warm in there when I’m feeding the stove more air than usual.

The idea is to burn up all of the initial wood and knock it down to hot coals when I’m done eating. After that, I pack the stove super tight. I will put a whole unsplit round in the middle. They last much longer than split wood. I will stuff small stuff in between the big stuff to make sure it’s packed solid. I’ll give that a little bit of air before bed to get the big stuff going a bit. After that, I give it just enough air based on my experience with that particular stove to simmer through the night without suffocating.