Below zero in a tent

[steelslaver]

Been a while since i did that, but last night it dropped to -6 here where i have my camp. I was plenty warm. Barrel stove went through some wood,but the 14x16 portion of camp was fine in sweats and comfy in my bag and cot. The 12x14 cook tent portion warmed up by when i opened up the connecting doors and fired up the cook stove. Waiting on my espresso to finish. Wife will get here this afternoon and we will piddle around for the week hunting. Little girls got a their deer 2 weeks ago during thhe kids only portion of the season.

 

[Jessie]

Pictures would be real nice. Don't bother cleaning it up first, I know you already have since the wife is coming.

 

[soFlaNative]

Sounds like you're surviving, not sure how my thin blooded self would cope.
WiFi (?), espresso and company. Sounds good just don't slip in the frozen piddle.

 

[vonn]

Way too cold for me! Got down to 27 opening weekend here in Texas and I almost went into thermal shock. Good luck on your hunting!

 

[SuperMan]

Sounds like a great time....

Doesn't usually get into the - numbers here in southern NH till January...a few of those is enough for me...

As a friend who lived in Montana once said to me, "Nothing is more depressing than -10 at noon on a cloudy day"....he now lives in Florida...

Bob

 

[jscheck]

The Army cured me of living in a tent while in Germany! Love to hunt though-good luck this week!

 

[steelslaver]

Here are a few from cell

 

[steelslaver]

More of cook tent

 

[bill2000]

My last time sleeping in below zero weather wasn't in a tent. It was in a Boy Scout snow shelter built by the boys in our troop when I was an Assistant Scoutmaster. Comfy and warm without a fire. Good times.

 

[memtb]

You and your "bride" are tougher than us. We've done some cold weather tent camping, but are getting soft in our old age. We now rough it in a camper. The most difficult challenge, is getting out of bed to start the coffee. We're unapologetically spoiled, but feel like we've earned it! Photo is us roughing it! memtb

 

[Jessie]

Thanks for the pics Steelslaver. The tents are good sized. I could see hanging out a week or so in that.
My problem would be getting it all set up. I'd be too tired to hunt afterwards.

 

[JcMack]

No hot tub?

 

[H Richard]

You can have it. at 78, my idea of roughing it is turning the thermostat down to 72 in our condo.

 

[Hillbilly77]

Below zero in a tent

That's not hunting or camping.

That's an emergency condition.

 

[bigwheelzip]

Of course a Marine would have a camp that needs Seabees to construct.

 

[Wyo]

Done a lot of cold weather camping over the years. Done right, it's a real pleasure. Done wrong, not so good. Looks like you're doin' it right! Good luck!

 

[Skeet 028]

Of course a Marine would have a camp that needs Seabees to construct.

Perfect observation bigwheelzip and I think jcMack has a great suggestion. Last time I did that cold weather tent stuff was 8 years ago here and many years ago in Alaska. But I had a cook there..and she could do about anything in a camp kitchen. She even made donuts and great cowboy coffee.

 

[TIMETRIPPER]

Not since my Boy Scout days, and that was on a ground sheet and under a tarp!
We wuz either tough, stupid or too poor to afford better. Probably all three. But nobody told us we weren't having fun. It was an adventure.

John

 

[oddshooter]

I did some winter camping in Yellowstone. My partner and I were hiking when we noticed a huge black cloud rolling over the mountain heading right at us. We could see the wind and snow coming heavy.

My partner rushed to get a tent up and us inside within minutes. There was 6" of snow almost immediately and the wind was howling. He had the water on the stove heating and then turned to me and said, "You are going hypothermic". We have about two minutes to get you warmed up.
I was confused, my breathing was slowed, my balance was gone, and I was sleepy. Thank god for a good partner who was an ice climber and used to such conditions. The warm water inside me turned the emergency into a manageable event. We crawled out the next morning with 4 feet of fresh snow covering everything. The hot pots of Yellowstone were wonderful to cure any and all aches and pains; not to mention raising your core body temp.

My partner also taught me the trick of filling a thermos with boiling water and placing it in my sleeping bag. It slowing released the heat during the night and made that bag perfectly toasty.

Some tricks you have to learn the first time or you die. Winter camping is like that.

Prescut

 

[BearBio]

We hunted several years after elk, antelope and deer outside of Thermopolis. Blizzard snowed us in the last year. My buddy (The outfitter) hadn't rented enough tents, so he moved four of us into an abandoned ranch house. We sealed it up, chased the barn owls out of two rooms, got the propane stoves and lanterns going and it got real toasty. Wife was camp cook for a week, so she was in the cook tent all day (with a 12 gauge=it was grizzly country!). We were sitting in
t-shirts! The guys in the tents were freezing! One of the guys tried to knock the snow off the tent from the inside=everywhere he touched leaked. After the storm came 3 days of thaw. We chained up the 4WDs and helped tug each other up the hill. Gnarly, slushy road out with rain ditches on each side. I got a nice 24" muley (4x4 by Western Count). Rancher buddy got a nice 22" 3x3 as he was exiting the ranch (right at the gate!). One "nerd" shot got a nice F-150 when he put a 7mm Mag through his bell housing! Another crashed his ATV through his camper (wasn't tied down). Ate on that muley through grad school, along with an 6x7 elk!

My rancher buddy and I (with our wives) had a GREAT hunt! Others not so much!

 

[TheOldPro]

I don't do -0 anywhere or in any structure. That is why I live and keep my butt in Texas!!

 

[Rudi]

Some luxury camping there! Beats waking up with a face full of ice. Young, dumb, and not a lot of $$, but we still had fun. Good luck!!

 

[mtgianni]

That looks like a nice set up. You don't want to get out of the cot to stoke the fire. We stayed above zero but are expecting a thaw tomorrow. I hope the elk are out moving for you.

 

[cherrypointmarine]

My dad was stationed at Lowry AFB in Denver from 1968-71 . I was a boy scout and we had a polar bear patch . You guessed it , you had to sleep out in a tent below freezing . It wasn't too bad , but like John said , we were too stupid to know better . One thing I remember . We had an older leader well versed in cold weather camping . The best thing was a good mummy sleeping bag , and women nylons . Don't laugh , ask any woman if they don't keep them hot . That's something you can only imagine , boy scouts running around in womens nylons .

 

[ancient-one]

You are freezing me.

 

[Gaffer]

I am too old to do now but a bit over 30 years ago we hunted elk in th Centennial Valley of Montana. We had two campers on trucks that we sat on the ground. It was well below zero many mornings and the propane heaters would quit during the night as the battery ran down and there wasn't enough power to get the blower fan up so the propane would ignite. Darn that was cold! We did it and thought it was fun, because we were hunting. If we ran the truck to charge the battery we had heat until 3 or 4 in the morning. That got a bit old but we did it and loved it because we were Maine boys in Big Sky country. Most years we didn't have a lot of snow except above 7-8,000 in the surrounding mountains. We hiunted in the valley 4-5 timed. Sure wish I was young enough to do now. Good times, great country!

 

[steelslaver]

I can set my camp up by myself in a day taking breaks as i go. Barrel stove can keep it nice inside even below zero. Truck has 2 good wenches, one for each end. Carry a saw in tool box. I can get a 14" dia round in stove so seldom get much over that. See good trees i remember them, then during middle of day drop a couple and cut into 6' lengths and load. I have a hand cart in my stuff . So load it up and haul in some everytime i go to truck for something. Barrel Stove has a side mounted 7 gallon tank and a tube from tank to stove so always have hot water. Have a toilet tent that can also be a nice shower with propane heated water. But in real cold mostly do sponge baths. Cots have 4" memory foam. Fooors are heavy canvas. I could camp far south in New Mexico , Nevada, Arizona in winter and do summer s in MT, WY, and Idaho.

 

[gjgalligan]

Truck has 2 good wenches,

2 wenches is enough to keep any man warm!

 

[bigwheelzip]

Arrrgh!!

 

[steelslaver]

E I E I winch wench. My one winch is a small 6000# and is strung with 250 yds of 1/8" cable . The other is a 8000#er. I carry chains and snatch blocks. My truck has a couple gin poles i can set up in a couple minutes and load say 1000#s by myself. All my camping gear fits in a 6'x8' trailer.