Hunting Camp

[Sako300]

I am in the market for a wall tent, stove and all the required gear to be able to go out on a few hunting trips this fall/winter.

I have never hunted like this before so was looking for some pointers, pictures, etc. I am also interested in how you guys perserve your food during fall hunts, and how to store it in bear country.

Kind of an open question so feel free to share whatever.

Thanks

[skidderman]

Have not done for a few yrs. For storing food I made a wood box of 3/4 inch plywood, glued & screwed with a latch on it. I made it just big enough to put my cooler inside. A bear might still get in but would have to work pretty hard to do so.

[duck duck goose]

Just buy a bear tag, that has worked for keeping the bears away from me!:sign0080:

On a serious note, how are you planning on getting to your campsites? Drive in, backpack, ATV? How many people are you planning on bringing with you? Are you going to have enough room to bring everything you need into the woods, and back out? What if you successfully harvest an animal? Will you still have enough room for everything?

That's what I would be asking myself. We also typically just bring food in coolers and leave them in the shade. If you freeze what you can before you leave you can usually get away without any ice for a few days.

Good Luck

[Sako300]

I have an ATV and was going to buy a little tub trailer to haul the gear in. Do people usually cook in their wall tent?

[Hullbilly]

This is our camp from last November . Minus 38c one night , but was nice and warm inside the tent. We do most cooking outside , but in the minus 30 range we did some cooking inside.

[ArryDawg]

Sako

One suggestion I can offer is, build a little cook shack out of 2x4's and cheap blue tarps. Has worked for me in the past. Sorry I don't have any pics to show you.

[Eric hunter]

I'm also just getting my wall tent. I just got the Vapex wall tent from Alaska tent in 10 x 12. My plan is to keep as light as I can for those areas where you have no access with quad. In that case I will use a Sasquwach game cart (just ordered as well). I just got as well the light weight Kni-Co wood stove witch is really nicely built by the way.
As frame for my tent, I can work with tree poles on site or I just ordered a angle kit and I will use aluminum 1 inch tube to complete the frame kit.
Will be trying that in about 1 month on the bear hunt.
Eric.

[norwestalta]

I have an ATV and was going to buy a little tub trailer to haul the gear in. Do people usually cook in their wall tent?

When we used to go we had two. One for cooking and one for sleeping. We usually had a dog and never had bear troubles.
They are quite comfortable. Found that landscape fabric worked well on the floor.

[Smokinyotes]

Our tent is 16x24. We have plenty of room to cook and sleep 5 guys in the tent. We have had more but gets pretty cramped. We have only had bear problems once with cooking in the tent. It happened during the day when we were out hunting. The bear decided to go in our tent using the window instead of the door then decided to go out through the back wall,it did a real nice job on a new $3200 tent. Then it made the mistake of coming back in the afternoon when we were sitting around the fire.

[Big Bull]

We do a 12 to 14 day fly in moose hunt every fall, typically 3 guys. Each guy is resposible for 4 meals each plus some lunches, breakfast, soups. Many of the meals are premade and then frozen. Our frozen food will fill one large Coleman Extreme cooler and refrigerated items in another Coleman Extreme cooler. All other food is stored in large Rubbermade totes to keep rodents away from food.
Each day we will remove frozen food from one cooler to keep other cooler cool(trip is last 2 weeks of September, so keeping things cool is ussually our concern). We prep as much of our meals as possible and vacuum seal them, trying to be conciuos of portion sizes to keep waste to a minimum. Some foods will thaw quicker, they get eaten as they begin to thaw. We ussually get back to camp around 8:30 pm, and this is when we have our dinner. Breakfast is ussually coffee and some cereal at 5:00am, and back at camp at noon for a big breakfast or lunch. Fresh fish and moose will also be incorporated into meals as well. Usual menu will be spaghetti, stew, pulled pork, lasagna, fajitas, steaks, burgers, curries, bagged salads, fresh salads, rice, pastas, potatoes, bacon, eggs, Kentucky Fried pike, etc. We love good food, and don't settle for crappy meals. Meals could be heated in Coleman oven on gas stove, cooked over open fire, or fried on stove.
Keeping a clean camp is very important. Dishes are always cleaned after meals, and garbage is burned within a day or two. Coolers are kept on ground, out of direct sunlight, and outside of tent and cook shack. Our camp is surrounded by a 3 strand, solar powered electric fence. Meat pole is also within the boundary of the fence. We ussually are away from camp for 10 to 12 hours/day and don't want to come back to wrecked camp/tent and missing food when you are on a fly in trip. I can post up some pictures later.

[Big Bull]

My hunting partner has written a few articles for the Alberta Outdoorsmen site, this one will have some info pretaining to your question.

http://www.albertaoutdoorsmen.ca/pro-staff-moose.html

[Sako300]

Awesome information here guys, would love to see some pictures.

[Big Bull]

Electric fence charger.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/bearfence.jpg

Typical morning.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/IMG_1487.jpg

Reggie's private tent, cook shack, and wall tent. Sauna is behind wall tent.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/IMG_4608.jpg

[turbo mulcher]

All my hunting base camps and spike camps , I run electric fence around them .
I have been doing that since 1983 and no bears. Had bears walk the perimeter but not go inside. Base camp has a 12v model and for spike camp I have a unit that runs on 2 D batteries for 30 days.

[Sako300]

Awesome i will definitely make that investment!

[Rather Be Hunting]

Electric fence charger.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/bearfence.jpg

Typical morning.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/IMG_1487.jpg

Reggie's private tent, cook shack, and wall tent. Sauna is behind wall tent.
http://i119.photobucket.com/albums/o145/BigBullAdventures/IMG_4608.jpg

Nice setup!:)
RBH