What's the best sleep system for September in Montana (truck camping)

[dietter700]

Hey everyone, my wife and I will be truck camping in the camper shell mid September in south east Montana. I know the days will me mild most likely but I suspect the nights may get cooler. Any recommendations on what to get/ use. Also keep in mind my wife may get cooler than the average joe.

Would you even recommend a little buddy heater or something ?

Thanks in advanced!

 

[fmyth]

I sleep in a roof top tent over the bed of my truck during Sept archery and Dec OTC Archery in the White Mountains of AZ, Steamboat Springs, CO or Dixon WY depending on the draw. In Sept temps start out at 90 day and drop to 40 at night. By the end of Sept its down to 30 at night. My sleep system is a Hyke Byke 0 deg down bag on a Costco self inflating mattress. I always run a cheap bag liner sheet to keep the bag clean. For the Dec hunt I have a Sea to Summit bag liner and 2 army surplus wool blankets as needed. I do fire up the Little Buddy Heater in the tent annex in the morning to get dressed. Last year it dropped into the teens one night so I ran the heater all night and had a considerable amount of condensation on the tent walls. For every gallon of propane you burn you get a gallon of water. I do keep a battery powered smoke/co detector in the tent.

 

[Blackhawk45hunter]

For truck camping, you could do a lot worse than a MSS intermediate bag and bivy

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Definitely a small heater for the mornings.
Once your up and about you should be warm enough>
Camp fire at night.Have fun,good luck.

 

[Scrappy]

Memory foam mattress with sheets, quilts, and comforter. Just like home, and yes on the buddy heater to knock the ctill off in the morning.

 

[dietter700]

Definitely a small heater for the mornings.
Once your up and about you should be warm enough>
Camp fire at night.Have fun,good luck.

What kind of heater would you recommend?


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[dietter700]

Definitely a small heater for the mornings.
Once your up and about you should be warm enough>
Camp fire at night.Have fun,good luck.

Or which one more specifically?


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[*zap*]

I have used a big buddy with the hose/adapter for a large propane tank and it works out very good. When your cold a good amount of heat fast is a good thing and the larger tanks are more economical than 1#.

 

[dirtclod Az.]

I have a cheap little 4in. K Mart special
cost like $15.Turn iton lay in the sack for
15 min. and your good to go.
I always keep my clothes in my bag while
sleeping and dress in the bag.

 

[rklein]

My thoughts:

Memory foam gets hard when it gets too cold. You're probably right on the edge of that depending on the weather you get. If you and your wife are sleeping together get a double sleeping bag, you can find them on steepandcheap or sierra trading post for very reasonable. Extra blankets/down quilt/etc if your wife gets cold, you can layer in the double sleeping bag. Don't limit your sleeping pad search to camping labeled options. You can buy a very nice 4-6" mattress on amazon. Many sizes to fit the width of your pickup bed, just measure. I have used the brand zinus and like those for value. Many options around a hundred bucks. Any of these non memory foam mattresses will provide more than enough R-Value to keep you from getting cold from below. As mentioned above, buddy heater to knock off the chill in the evening/morning. In a camper shell it doesn't really matter which one, its so few SQFT you can heat it up with any model. I'd suggest thinking ahead to any other bigger spaces you may use it for and plan for that. Take a wizz right before you crawl into bed so you can have a nice long stretch of sleep without having to deal with the cold. Set an alarm in the morning, hit snooze, sit up and turn on the buddy heater. Then crawl out of bed when the alarm goes off in 9 minutes, it'll be toasty in there by then. Just be careful where you put the heather in proximity to your sleeping bag.

 

[5MilesBack]

View attachment 98572

You must pull a trailer or something, there's no room for a big elk rack or coolers back there.

 

[Scrappy]

That was my setup before I started elk hunting. But I did have it setup so I could have gotten an elk out if I needed to.I

I added an addition on the back. It's a homemade hitch hauler that I could have hauled an additional 1,000 pounds if the hitch would have held up. I have a tendency to overbuild.

 

[dietter700]

That was my setup before I started elk hunting. But I did have it setup so I could have gotten an elk out if I needed to.View attachment 98662I

I added an addition on the back. It's a homemade hitch hauler that I could have hauled an additional 1,000 pounds if the hitch would held up. I have a tendency to overbuild.

Haha holy crap!! Yeah that’s some cantilever alright . Sweet buck tho gosh .


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[weekender7]

Scrappy that's a stud WT.

 

[PNWGATOR]

You setting a base camp or staying mobile?

If we’re setting a base camp we’ll often sleep in the truck bed on a couple of 3.5” pads in a couple giant big box (cabelas) sleeping bags coupled with My Pillows. We’ll set up a “port orchard hooch”. Costco ezy up wrapped in tarp walls, held by bungees, overlapped tarp door entrance with tables and chairs inside surrounding a turkey burner fuled by a full sized propane tank. Bungee spiderweb across the ceiling to dry clothes and boots. Burner heats the hooch and cooks food. I worry 100% of the time about CO poisoning, but LBES has used this system for over a decade hunting rosevelt elk on the Olympic Peninsula and elk in North Idaho and hadn’t died yet. I’ll attest that this system literally saved our bacon after a full day in the high 30’s low 40’s with crazy wind and rain in the North Idaho suck after hunting, killing, tracking, dressing and packing a mature bull.

It’s simple, inexpensive and effective. Plus, it’s a good spot to hang out and get warm, eat, dry out and bullshit if the weather sucks at the end of a long day

Use your cooler(s) and rocks and rounds to hold down the bottoms of the tarps to keep the breeze (and some of the mice) out.

 

[huntsman22]

I do the same as scrappy, except my bed is on top of a bed-height toolbox in the front of the 8 foot bed. Leaves lottsa room for hauling gear or dead critters....

 

[ramont]

Historically the average night time temp for Billings is around 40 degrees in September.

 

[Where's Bruce?]

10X14 Kodiak Canvas Flexbow with Nu-Way 3500 stove. Takes 30 minutes to erect solo including cots, annex, stovepipe, etc. perfect for two.









Recommend a double wide cot too. https://www.sportsmans.com/camping/...MI3t7t2IKI4gIVUrjACh3EvA71EAQYASABEgJYY_D_BwE

Zip a couple big rectangular sleeping bags together and you and the missus are set.

 

[TNHunter]

Just keep in mind that Mr Heaters may or may not work in high elevations... mine worked In Colorado at 10,000 feet but my partner’s did not (same model). Has something to do with oxygen sensors. So we both bought a heater that attaches to the top of a propane bottle that worked good. I’m happy with my Mr Heater but heard some will not work at high elevations.


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[Schism]

September in SE Montana can have temperature swings from mid 20’sF to mid 80’sF. A quality sleeping bag and pad should be enough through the night but I would recommend a using a small heater first thing in the morning for the wife if she gets cold easily. Don’t count on being able to burn firewood. If it’s a dry year there may be a burn ban in place. I’ve seen them in place in that region before. I’ve used a Big Buddy propane stove while camping there in a wall tent to take the edge off in the morning. The elevation isn’t high enough to worry about a gas stove not working.