What degree bag for early September north slope?

[Okbow87]

Like the title says, going to be on the north slope caribou hunting Sept 6-11th. Trying to decide if I need to bring a 30, 15, or 0 rated bag. We will be staying in an arctic oven tent. I am leaning towards a 15 and unzipping if need be, but thought I would get some opinions from people with a lot more experience with different bags than I. Thanks!

 

[colonel00]

Will the tent have a stove with readily available wood? I'm no expert as I have only been on the slope twice but temps will vary greatly. My first trip 3 years ago was the last week of August into September and it was in the 60's some days and snowing a little the next. Last year I was up the third week of September and we were there right after a huge snow has hit. Still, the nightly temps weren't that bad.

Also, sleeping bag ratings are all personal preference as well. I can take a 30 degree quilt and be comfortable wearing base layers done into the 20's easily. Others may be freezing in the same situation though. What kind of pad will you be using? That will play into it as well.

 

[Okbow87]

I was planning on getting a big agnes lost ranger 15* and an insulated q-core pad. I believe there will be a little buddy heater available for if it gets super cold, no wood stove though. My gut instinct is, too much bag is better than not enough.

 

[colonel00]

What kind of hunt are you doing? If you will have an AO then I am guessing you are just hunting the road so weight and size isn't a concern. If so, take whatever bag you want. As you mentioned, you can always kick off the bag if it is too warm.

 

[Kevin Dill]

If it's a good bag with accurate rating, you'd be fine with a 15-degree bag. You can extend that rating by wearing layers if the weather goes unusually cold. Nothing wrong with a 0-degree bag, but on warmer nights you might perspire and that's never a good thing for a down bag. The key is to accurately understand 3 things: the usual temps, your individual tendencies, and the bag's performance.

A few years ago I was moose hunting in east-central AK. We had snow almost 50% of the time, and one morning we awoke to 7F. That was about Sept 16 as I recall, and we were a long ways south of the Brooks. I had a 0-degree WM bag on that trip and it proved to be more than enough.