Tent for deer season

[segsarge]

Probably early to be thinking about it, but the wife ordered a 14 x14 tepee tent for me to use this deer season. It's 9 feet to the top. Has a single center pole and guide ropes. Ad says it sleeps 6+gear. I wanted to use the camper, but with the license trouble she got this instead. Figure on getting one of the Big Buddy propane heaters to keep warm. They're safe for inside use. Was going to get one even if I used the camper. Last year the generators sucked gas so bad we were going into town every other night to buy more. With gas prices what they are, it would cost a fortune to do that again. At prices today it would be at least $45.00 every other day.
Never had a tent like this before, should be interesting.

[krank]

Is it the Sportsman Guide teepee tent? I was interested in them. Saw one pitched at a campground and checked it out. Roomy and loaded with vents. Worst thing is you have to guy the heck out of it.
I have several 3 season tents. Winter tents are tough. Need one with a stove flue. People die trying to warm a tent in the winter. Hikers have those dome tents they crawl in a sleep in with no heat.
My rule of thumb is pick a tent you wouldnt mind spending all day in because you might.
If I had to start all over, I would get one of those one-car garages that are poly tarp with pole frame. Fairly inexpensive. We used one on a couple trail rides. We had a table with a stove on it and coolers under the table and another table with chairs. Plenty of room to walk around.
Have a big community tent and cook in there and at night crawl in a pup tent with lots of covers. I have a backpacker cot that sets about 8 inches high and folds up quick. I like to get off the ground.
Here is my old WWII Army tent. I used it for years at deer camp. I put two Army cots in there and had a homemade wood stove. Slept in there with snow piling outside.
I hadnt used it for years so just set it up and aired it out. Heavy canvas that I sprayed with Thompsons water seal years ago. It's ready to go.

[krank]

The buddy heater is safe. Science is that it recombusts all the fumes. I have a little one and then I have the big one that takes the gas grill bottle. I ran the big one in my little trailer last couple years and went a couple years on one filling. If you ran one on "High" continuous it would last almost 48 hrs.
I just turned mine on when I woke up and ran it for a while and shut it down. Same at night. Did not have the balls to leave on all night because I dont trust them that far and didnt want to wake up dead.
Learned a bad lesson with my Little Buddy. I was using one at deer camp that took the little one pound bottle. I bought the coleman kit to run it off the gas grill bottle. I left the rubber hose connected for a year. The next year the whole heater was plugged with a strange oil. Ruined my heater and had to completely tear down later. Come to find out, propane makes an oil as a reaction to the rubber if hooked up for long periods of time. Never heard of that.

[segsarge]

Yeah, it's the Sportsman's Guide teepee. The Sears Edmond Hillary tent I used last year did a pretty good job. I used an army cot with a feather bed mattress laid on top and a sleeping bag plus a wool army blanket as a top cover. Problem with it was its white in color and attracted tons of Japanese beetles. Electric heater did a decent job but had to rely on the generator to run it. This new tent is 14 x 14 and tapers up to 9 feet tall. Hoping the Big Buddy heater will keep it warm. A small wood stove would be nice but doubt a stove jack could be installed in it.
New tent is supposed to be here in about a week so guess I'll find out how hard it is to set up.

[krank]

I noticed the SG tent had a lot of vents. Hope they shut tight. Problem with no vents is that it develops condensation. I only heat when I am getting dressed and going to bed. We had a couple locals that went elk hunting. Got colder than they realized so they ran a propane lantern in their dome tent. Killed both of them. I sleep great in a cold room with a down comforter.

[bigjohn]

Got a military mummy bag that'll keep you cozy in the low teens and maybe lower(15 degrees the lowest I ever used it in). Woke up many times with frost on it but warm as a bug inside.

[krank]

I loved my mummy bag. Used it for 30 years and it was old when I got it. My son latched on to it and lost all the feathers.

[krank]

$199 at Harbor Freight.

[segsarge]

The Army mummy bags we had were really warm. Had two of them, one got lost in a move the other got wet and ruined. Got an update from SG today, Tent supposed to be delivered tomorrow.

[tickranch]

May 31, 2022 7:08:46 GMT -6 krank said:

Is it the Sportsman Guide teepee tent? I was interested in them. Saw one pitched at a campground and checked it out. Roomy and loaded with vents. Worst thing is you have to guy the heck out of it.
I have several 3 season tents. Winter tents are tough. Need one with a stove flue. People die trying to warm a tent in the winter. Hikers have those dome tents they crawl in a sleep in with no heat.
My rule of thumb is pick a tent you wouldnt mind spending all day in because you might.
If I had to start all over, I would get one of those one-car garages that are poly tarp with pole frame. Fairly inexpensive. We used one on a couple trail rides. We had a table with a stove on it and coolers under the table and another table with chairs. Plenty of room to walk around.
Have a big community tent and cook in there and at night crawl in a pup tent with lots of covers. I have a backpacker cot that sets about 8 inches high and folds up quick. I like to get off the ground.
Here is my old WWII Army tent. I used it for years at deer camp. I put two Army cots in there and had a homemade wood stove. Slept in there with snow piling outside.
I hadnt used it for years so just set it up and aired it out. Heavy canvas that I sprayed with Thompsons water seal years ago. It's ready to go.

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Back in the day when I was a Boy Scout, we slept in tents almost like yours.  Two scouts to a tent with all our gear.  We also had an Army squad tent with a pot belly stove for the winter.  Usually spent all weekend cutting wood to feed it!

[krank]

Down at Osceola Scout camp, they have hundreds of wall tents on wooden decks. Very comfortable week. They used to be all canvas but the newer ones are nylon. Coons come in your tent at night looking for food. Shoot them with wasp spray. I wish I could trap that place in the winter.

[krank]

Sarge- got that tent field tested for rain yet?
I got a free tent out of the trash once. It was Swiss Army brand (not really official swiss army just the yuppie brand) We set it up and it was two big rooms and real fancy. It rained 1/4" that night with mild wind. Next morning that tent was flattened and soaked. I took my Swiss Army knife (real one) and cut it off at the floor and kept the floor for a tarp. Burned the rest. Glad I didnt pay $400 for it and put my family in there.

[segsarge]

The tepee is here, well,at my son's place. Had it sent there since fed-ex or ups refuses to come up my drive way. We'll set it up tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing how hard it is to set up. Supposed to rain the next couple of days so a rain and wind test is almost a sure thing.

[krank]

They go up quick but you have to guy everything out which isnt in their picture.

[bigbob]

Jun 6, 2022 14:03:06 GMT -6 krank said:

Sarge- got that tent field tested for rain yet?
I got a free tent out of the trash once. It was Swiss Army brand (not really official swiss army just the yuppie brand) We set it up and it was two big rooms and real fancy. It rained 1/4" that night with mild wind. Next morning that tent was flattened and soaked. I took my Swiss Army knife (real one) and cut it off at the floor and kept the floor for a tarp. Burned the rest. Glad I didnt pay $400 for it and put my family in there.

Now you know why it was in the trash!

[ozarkmountainman]

Years ago (YEARS) we had an Army mess tent. It was something like 12'X 20' or 24'. Huge, and it took an army to set it up and take it down. It went to hell in the rafters of an old shed we had- I was too busy growing up and doing other things to worry about it, but I sure wished I had it now.

Dale

[segsarge]

The Army GP tents were excellent, saw one weather a sand storm during Desert Storm. It was still standing afterwards. Problem is they are HEAVY and like Dale said, it takes a lot of people to set it up.

[krank]

I have an Army tent that is more modern and I would love to get rid of it. It is 12 x 16 with an eight foot peak. I set it up once using 16 ft 2x4s and deck screws. A person could set it up and just leave it up forever until it fell apart and then paint it and start all over.

[segsarge]

I didn't do a lot of tent living when I was in the Army, we slept, ate and lived on the tank. Most tents were for semi-permanate situations. Mess tents, medic stations and such were the norm. Setting a tent up by yourself didn't happen. It was possible but difficult. Some of the tents our unit had were 30+ years old.

[krank]

I would call this tent a M*A*S*H tent. A person could set it up permanent on a wood frame and park a truck in it. Canvas weighs about 150#

Dad was in the Army at used shelter halves. Now theres a way to learn to hate.

I have a new tent that is genuine Marine surplus. Current issue. Two man dome tent with aluminum poles. Withstands 70 mph wind. Came complete with Iraq sand inside.