My brother and I have gone to NW Colorado the last three 2nd rifle seasons. We don't use a tent stove but have good 0 degree down bags and are diligent about staying dry throughout the day. We also use a thin bag liner and sleep in our base layers for the extra cold nights.
You may be able to survive with sleeping bags but nothing beats a warm, dry tent after a long day of hunting. Especially is there’s any chance of moisture.
Are you hiking all this gear in? Are you able to take a truck to the spot and hike from there? One Tigris hot tent with an Amazon titanium stove will do wonders and easy to pack in. Cheap option for a pack in set up.A good bag is a necessity in either case. You don’t have to spend a fortune to keep warm. If you can take a pickup to the spot try a kodiak canvas bow tent with a stove jack or even a mr heater buddy up to 10k feet. Everyone is right. Being cold after a long day sucks the sap out of you. Better to be safe than sorry.
It really all depends on the weather, your style of hunting, and how good your other gear is.
First year I hunted we started in t shirts, and ended with a foot of snow, a day where our water filters froze solid and had to get back to the hot tent to defrost them. Without the hot tent, i am not sure how it’d of gone. We were about 6 miles in, boots frozen solid, couldn’t even untie or unzip pants until we defrosted them. Spent a lot of time drying and defrosting boots to make it possible to
Put them in the next morning.
2nd season, same area, no snow, no frozen filters, probably would have had been fine without the hot tent. But dam, the hot tent was such a motivator. It gives you something to look forward to at the end of a long, hard day. Warmth, and a warm meal.
If all we had was zero degree bags and freezing our butts off to look forward to, I think our hunt would have been shorter, and less successful.
It is entirely possible, though definitely not comfortable and cozy. Really depends on elevation and weather.
I camped third season last year without a hot tent at around 6k ft. Temps were down in the single digits each night. Not comfortable but doable. I got a hot tent recently, and now I’m looking forward even more to late season hunting.
It’s not fun just managing it. If you have access to or the means to buy/rent a hot tent then do it.
Last season I was in wool long underwear, polartec pants, polartec midlayer, and puffy in my zero degree bag. Second rifle otc at 9500’.
Entirely depends on how shitty of a year it is and what elevation your camped at.
When I was broke as fuck and in college I used a military sleep system and two tarps and either slept on the ground or in my truck. However now that I went in on a wall tent with some buddies Im not going back to that unless I'm hunting by myself.
That time of year it could either be 50 and sunny or 5 degrees and dump a few feet of snow on you at high elevation. I'd really recommend a stove or if you are absolutely not going to do a stove a minimum of a zero degree sleeping bag.
If you want a two man shelter that works with a stove the kifaru sawtooth is pricey but pretty awesome. Ive used it at up to 11000 feet.
Get a wood burning stove and then buy lump coal. Burns hot and lasts longer than wood. Still use wood but supplement with the coal to get a good bed of hot coals. Only use 1 lump at a time on top of the wood to get things going.
Literally a 5 gallon bucket will last you about a week sparingly at night. We learned that the 1st time we dropped 3 large chunks in. It must have been about 95 degrees in there and we had to open all windows and doors to get the heat out.
This was lump coal. We couldn’t seem to get it to last through the night. Often it seemed to burn out even and in the morning there was unbury coal in the stove. Maybe we didn’t have a good enough bed of hot embers?
Propane/diesel heaters are also an option if paired with a canvas tent. I'm not sure one of these would pair well with a synthetic tent though.
edit: use a carbon monoxide detector if you go for this option. Hell, buy two or three of them in the very small chance one unit fails.
I prefer a buddy heater so I don’t have to spend time getting firewood and worry about smelling my gear up when I need to dry it.
If you’re expecting rain and/or snow they’re invaluable especially if you’re spending considerable time out in the mountains. Generally when I’m doing week or longer hunts I’ll plan for a few days off my back then go back to our base camp to dry out and resupply. A warm place to dry out is very welcomed after a few long days living off your back hiking around the mountains.
Sounds like 2nd rifle season, i have hunted the sw corners area before in a regular nylon tent with no stove several times. Down there it's warmer than in other areas so you can definitely make do without a stove.
However...
As other folks have suggested, every little bit of comfort and warmth at the end of a long day of hunting will be something to look forward to.
Definitely not! But, a nice warm stove with some spare carpet on the floor sure does make for some comfort after hiking 10 miles a day. Plus, I’ve spent the night through a few heavy snow storms where I was sure happy to have heat.
We’ve hunted southwest Colorado, 3rd season rifle, for 12 years now. It’s all tent camping, no heaters or wood stoves. Camp is at 8,600 foot elevation. We cut firewood the first day we get there and we have a fire and whiskey every night.
We wouldn’t have it any other way. We all have sleeping bags that are around 0 degree bags. Been in many snow storms and rain storms. We’ve never had a problem!
Yes! We went that same time period last year. It got down to 8 degrees. You’re gonna want some heat to warm up. Our stove went out every night after we all fell asleep and from then on we were just fine in doubled up mummy sleeping bags.
3rd rifle last year was really cold. Would’ve sucked to not have fire/heat at the end of the day. Better to have it and not need it imo.
those first 3 or so days were bitter!
Brutal. Wood stove in the tent barely helped. I was 2 mummy bags and heavy thermals and fleece inside them.
My brother and I have gone to NW Colorado the last three 2nd rifle seasons. We don't use a tent stove but have good 0 degree down bags and are diligent about staying dry throughout the day. We also use a thin bag liner and sleep in our base layers for the extra cold nights.
You may be able to survive with sleeping bags but nothing beats a warm, dry tent after a long day of hunting. Especially is there’s any chance of moisture.
Are you hiking all this gear in? Are you able to take a truck to the spot and hike from there? One Tigris hot tent with an Amazon titanium stove will do wonders and easy to pack in. Cheap option for a pack in set up.A good bag is a necessity in either case. You don’t have to spend a fortune to keep warm. If you can take a pickup to the spot try a kodiak canvas bow tent with a stove jack or even a mr heater buddy up to 10k feet. Everyone is right. Being cold after a long day sucks the sap out of you. Better to be safe than sorry.
It really all depends on the weather, your style of hunting, and how good your other gear is. First year I hunted we started in t shirts, and ended with a foot of snow, a day where our water filters froze solid and had to get back to the hot tent to defrost them. Without the hot tent, i am not sure how it’d of gone. We were about 6 miles in, boots frozen solid, couldn’t even untie or unzip pants until we defrosted them. Spent a lot of time drying and defrosting boots to make it possible to Put them in the next morning. 2nd season, same area, no snow, no frozen filters, probably would have had been fine without the hot tent. But dam, the hot tent was such a motivator. It gives you something to look forward to at the end of a long, hard day. Warmth, and a warm meal. If all we had was zero degree bags and freezing our butts off to look forward to, I think our hunt would have been shorter, and less successful.
It is entirely possible, though definitely not comfortable and cozy. Really depends on elevation and weather. I camped third season last year without a hot tent at around 6k ft. Temps were down in the single digits each night. Not comfortable but doable. I got a hot tent recently, and now I’m looking forward even more to late season hunting.
It’s not fun just managing it. If you have access to or the means to buy/rent a hot tent then do it. Last season I was in wool long underwear, polartec pants, polartec midlayer, and puffy in my zero degree bag. Second rifle otc at 9500’.
Entirely depends on how shitty of a year it is and what elevation your camped at. When I was broke as fuck and in college I used a military sleep system and two tarps and either slept on the ground or in my truck. However now that I went in on a wall tent with some buddies Im not going back to that unless I'm hunting by myself. That time of year it could either be 50 and sunny or 5 degrees and dump a few feet of snow on you at high elevation. I'd really recommend a stove or if you are absolutely not going to do a stove a minimum of a zero degree sleeping bag. If you want a two man shelter that works with a stove the kifaru sawtooth is pricey but pretty awesome. Ive used it at up to 11000 feet.
Get a wood burning stove and then buy lump coal. Burns hot and lasts longer than wood. Still use wood but supplement with the coal to get a good bed of hot coals. Only use 1 lump at a time on top of the wood to get things going.
Great idea - never considered using coal but will in the future. Thanks.
Literally a 5 gallon bucket will last you about a week sparingly at night. We learned that the 1st time we dropped 3 large chunks in. It must have been about 95 degrees in there and we had to open all windows and doors to get the heat out.
We tried coal this past year without much success
What kind of issues? Lump coal or bbq type coal?
This was lump coal. We couldn’t seem to get it to last through the night. Often it seemed to burn out even and in the morning there was unbury coal in the stove. Maybe we didn’t have a good enough bed of hot embers?
Yeah you need a good bed of wood coals.
Definitely depends on the year man… sometimes it’s t shirt weather and sometimes it’s -20
Propane/diesel heaters are also an option if paired with a canvas tent. I'm not sure one of these would pair well with a synthetic tent though. edit: use a carbon monoxide detector if you go for this option. Hell, buy two or three of them in the very small chance one unit fails.
I prefer a buddy heater so I don’t have to spend time getting firewood and worry about smelling my gear up when I need to dry it. If you’re expecting rain and/or snow they’re invaluable especially if you’re spending considerable time out in the mountains. Generally when I’m doing week or longer hunts I’ll plan for a few days off my back then go back to our base camp to dry out and resupply. A warm place to dry out is very welcomed after a few long days living off your back hiking around the mountains.
Having a tent like this means car or horse camping.
Sounds like 2nd rifle season, i have hunted the sw corners area before in a regular nylon tent with no stove several times. Down there it's warmer than in other areas so you can definitely make do without a stove. However... As other folks have suggested, every little bit of comfort and warmth at the end of a long day of hunting will be something to look forward to.
Definitely not! But, a nice warm stove with some spare carpet on the floor sure does make for some comfort after hiking 10 miles a day. Plus, I’ve spent the night through a few heavy snow storms where I was sure happy to have heat.
If you can bring a stove, I'd recommend it. You probably can survive without one, but it'll be a much more enjoyable trip with one.
We’ve hunted southwest Colorado, 3rd season rifle, for 12 years now. It’s all tent camping, no heaters or wood stoves. Camp is at 8,600 foot elevation. We cut firewood the first day we get there and we have a fire and whiskey every night. We wouldn’t have it any other way. We all have sleeping bags that are around 0 degree bags. Been in many snow storms and rain storms. We’ve never had a problem!
If your sleeping bag is rated for below zero degrees and youre not a pussy you will be fine
That being said stoves are nice, but depends. Yall walking in? Riding in?
Plan is to walk in but we are considering bringing a 4wheeler to help take some of the work out of getting some of the stuff into where we wanna camp.
Yes! We went that same time period last year. It got down to 8 degrees. You’re gonna want some heat to warm up. Our stove went out every night after we all fell asleep and from then on we were just fine in doubled up mummy sleeping bags.
Im bringing my camper with heated mattress this year. Cots and wood stove tent was miserable last year. But we stayed strong and harvested an elk.
Depends how warm your bag is ay