What type of shelter do you use for Colorado rifle elk season?

[husky390]

Wasn't sure where to put this question so I'd figure I'd try the General Discussion. Here's my situation. For me, rifle season is much more relaxed than archery season. My camp consists of me, my Uncle who's in his late 60's, and one or two friends. My Uncle and I are currently using my truck camper which is warm and somewhat comfortable. Unfortunately both the truck and the camper are on its last leg and this could be my last season with it. Neither one is worth fixing so when one of them dies, they're both gone. Getting a new camper and truck is out of the question as until my wife and I buy a house and I already have a 4wd Expedition to hunt out of. So, I'm looking at tents as a backup. I'm not going to be buying one anytime soon, I just want to have a plan in place.

With that said, I had the opportunity to check out some Kifaru tipi's this weekend and man they're sweet. It appears the 8 man should work for my Uncle and I with two full size cots but the thing costs $2k equipped with a large stove, netting and liner. The other option would be a Davis canvas wall tent with stove. It looks like I can buy a 12'x14' with the pole kit and a stove for around $1,600.00. The last option would be to rent a trailer. I'm pretty sure my Uncle does not want to sleep on the ground anymore. So, which would you go with? Are there other 4 season options available? What are you using?

 

[SHTF]

Hey Dave cabelas makes some great 4 season Tents that are Huge. I just sold one not to long ago that was really nice for a friend of mine. Tim From Washington on here bought it from me. Maybe shoot him a PM and see what he says about it. This thing was a Palace and really well made. They are in the 500$ Range. so if Money is an issue this would be a great alternative. I know some others guys on here use this Alaskan GuideTent for 4 season hunting also as Ive seen some of the folks talking about it. No experience myself with it but I set it up and was able to go through it and see how well built this thing was. By the way do you need a stove option? I think you can even put a Stove Jack in it and keep the stove in the floorless Vestibule. Kinda like your SL5 is setup.

You can definitely setup cots in this thing. I was shocked at how big it was. Easy to setup also and the geodome style was super strong and sturdy. I could almost hang my entire weight off the center inside.

Here is a video on the Tent Im speaking of Alaskan Guide 8man. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDDRnmX7EkA

Link to the Tent http://www.cabelas.com/product/Hunt...Rprd714588&WTz_l=SBC;BRprd714588;cat104481180

Again no experience using it other then setting it up. but others are raving about it so thought Id throw it out there for you to add to your research

 

[justin davis]

Kifaru shelters. Put in a Kifaru wood burning stove and ride out all kinda of nasty weather!

 

[Browtine]

The Seek Outside tipis are a little cheaper than the Kifarus and I don't think you are giving up any quality. I have a 4 man from Kifaru and an 8 man from SO so I have compared them side by side. You can also order the SO tipis without a pole to save even more and then find yourself a cheaper alternative (I think Kelty makes a $40 pole that works) or fashion one yourself if just camping out of the truck.

 

[quackaddict]

12x12 Davis Herder would work with no problems for 2 guys.
http://www.davistent.com/shop25/item-detail.cfm?ID=Herde&storeid=17
You could have a 12x12 with 2 windows and poles plus a stove for $1100-$1200ish. Cheaper if you go with no windows and build your own poles.

I've been in a 12x12 Cabela's Alaknak with a stove and another guy and still had all kinds of room, but I like canvas more than synthetic. Another good option would be a 10x14 Kodiak Flexbow. Again, lots of room and with some engineering, you can get a stove in them.

 

[pyroducksx3]

Wall tents are awesome. We don't even use our 24ft trailer anymore. I used the 12x12 last year and it good for 2 but no more. This year I'm getting the big 16x20.

 

[bbrown]

For 2 guys with gear and sleeping on cots I really like my pyramid tent from Davis. I had them make mine 10'x10' - cost less than $300, manageable size, quick and easy to set up with one person. There is enough room to sit on the cots and play cards but you will be doing most of your cooking outside. I built an external frame for mine which worked out sweet and makes for a lot more usable space inside. Had mine for going on 7 years now and its hard to tell it from new - can't say enough good things about Davis Tent.

You can see the external frame here:

Its made out of scaffolding braces and telescopes to fit in the truck bed.

Here is the link:
http://www.davistent.com/index.cfm?id=b73f1b4e-cbfb-4e90-899277bd03e0b7d2

HA - looking at the picture on their website looks like they liked my picture too...

 

[5MilesBack]

We always used Canvas wall tents. I sold one last year and normally use my Davis 14x16 as a base camp even for archery season. Hard to beat their comfort when it snows 2+ feet and you have the wood/coal burner set up.

 

[Beendare]

We always used Canvas wall tents. I sold one last year and normally use my Davis 14x16 as a base camp even for archery season. Hard to beat their comfort when it snows 2+ feet and you have the wood/coal burner set up.

Yep wall tent with cots and stove is like staying in a cabin- a no brainer in bad weather

 

[vegas hunter]

10x14 Kodiak flexbow it's awesome for truck camping. I put a Mr heater Buddy in mine to heat it. Room for 2 cots and a chair for putting on boots. Did well with up to about 6" of snow on it. We also use an ez up with side curtains for the kitchen-hang out area. I doubt that would handle snow but fortunately it's not been an issue as of yet.

 

[gwl79902]

If you are going to be car camping for elk a wall tent is hard to beat. You can pick up a tent frame and stove for well under a grande on craigs list. A wall tent adds to an elk camp. I would not go smaller than 14x16. It seems huge but it is not.

 

[CentennialELK]

We have an old Ranier 16x20 that my grandpa used to use to pack into the Selway in the 40's to late 60's. When he passed away we dug out all of his old pack saddles and pack frames along with the tent. We had a local canvas company put in a zip around window for the nice days and also had them install a zipper on the entrance flaps instead of the old ties. Army surplus here sells the tube frame angles for the walls and roof for a very good price and also the ground pads for the tubing so they don't bury into the dirt. We use concrete spikes to tie the guy lines with and picked up some cheap indoor/outdoor carpet for the floor. Mr. Heater makes a couple 120,000-200,000 or so btu china hat propane heaters. I think ours is a 160,000 and we bring 2 140lb tanks for 2 weeks, usually only use part of one. It is adjustable and will cook your ass out even in the coldest weather. We have used it at -40ºF and were plenty comfy. Also, I sprayed about 5 gals of waterproofing on it to help from molding. We cover it with either a tarp or rhino skin visqueen to keep the snow from stacking up on it too.
You can pick up a used wall tent or even a new one very reasonable off Craigslist or look somewhere like Montana canvas for just the tent and do everything else yourself. They are awesome to use and and the nostalgia of the old elk camps are hard to beat. A meat pole full of elk and a wall tent is how I always envisioned elk camp.
Anyways, that is how we do it when we are rifle hunting. None of my family bowhunts besides myself and I set up my camp trailer and pack in from there. Good luck and have fun!

 

[CrzyTrekker]

Kifaru tipi and stove for backpack hunts.

 

[boom]

:d

 

[husky390]

:d

View attachment 16123

LOL! We did that last year. It was nice being able to shower at the end of the day but I'd rather stay in the woods.

 

[sodaksooner]

6 man alaskan guide worked for 2 of us last year dispersed camping. Room for all our gear and 2 cots. Held up well in soggy Colorado last year. No stove option though....

 

[gelton]

Wall tents and stoves are beyond my vocabulary. For the last 3 years we have roughed it out with a $149 3 room coleman p.o.s. walmart special for basecamp and use a northface westwind 3 for backpacking into the mountains from basecamp. Its my dads tent and I make fun of him for buying it every year. Aside from the frozen condensation inside that would melt when your bag or body touched it, it performed better than expected. Funny thing is that we got nearly two feet of snow last year. I thought for sure it would demolish the coleman but it held up remarkably well.

Don't get me wrong, canvas tents and wood stoves are awesome but basecamp for us is just a place to get acquainted with altitude and to scout from. As soon as the season starts basecamp is a distant memory so I am not all too concerned with making it the Shangri La.

Last year we spent two days before the opener holed up in this storm before we hightailed it to a local hotel about an hour away to dry out and shower and were back on the mountain to hunt opening morning. (a wall tent and a stove would have been damn nice)

 

[Colo4x4XJ]

Look around on Craigslist for outfitter/canvas tents. I know quite a few people that have found gently used palaces with stoves for a fraction of what new would cost. Most recent was one of those monster Cabelas outfitter series castles with stove for like $1000. People splurge on them thinking they will use it more but end up selling them for cheap with only a handful of nights in them

 

[LaHunter]

Last October 2 of us spent a week in a Cabela's Alaknak 12X17 tent with a wood burning stove in WY and it was very comfortable. We had all kinds of weather from 50 mph winds, snow, and temps in the low teens. The tent did great. The 12X17 with a vestibule would probably work well for 4 people without being crowded.
If you are truck camping, it is hard to beat a wall type tent.

Good Luck

 

[husky390]

Wall tents and stoves are beyond my vocabulary. For the last 3 years we have roughed it out with a $149 3 room coleman p.o.s. walmart special for basecamp and use a northface westwind 3 for backpacking into the mountains from basecamp. Its my dads tent and I make fun of him for buying it every year. Aside from the frozen condensation inside that would melt when your bag or body touched it, it performed better than expected. Funny thing is that we got nearly two feet of snow last year. I thought for sure it would demolish the coleman but it held up remarkably well.

Don't get me wrong, canvas tents and wood stoves are awesome but basecamp for us is just a place to get acquainted with altitude and to scout from. As soon as the season starts basecamp is a distant memory so I am not all too concerned with making it the Shangri La.

Last year we spent two days before the opener holed up in this storm before we hightailed it to a local hotel about an hour away to dry out and shower and were back on the mountain to hunt opening morning. (a wall tent and a stove would have been damn nice)

Been there done that and it didn't end well. It was my first big game hunt and it was a muley buck tag in 12A west Kaibab. There was four of us in a cheap dome tent with a heater running. Got up opening morning and had rain which turned to sleet which then turned to heavy snow. We all met back at camp mid morning to find our tent collapsed and gear soaked. The guy's that brought me along decided it was time to leave and since I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing had to go. When we were leaving, I saw some guys standing in the doorway to their canvas wall tent drinking coffee and waving at us. I remember that like it was yesterday. Since your backpacking in with a good shelter, not a bad plan. But when I'm rifle hunting, we're truck camping and need something sturdy for the base camp.

Thanks to everyone for your input. It sounds like for what I'm doing a canvas wall tent will work just fine. For now, I'm hoping the bailing wire and duct tape will hold my truck and camper together for awhile.