When I take off for hunting season I normally have a plan A, B, and C.
The plan A normally involves a tent camp.
Now days I setup a tent with a tarp anchored down as a fly over it to shade rain, snow, and the cold wind. I have an army cot, with a mattress on for comfort and insulate. Weather is always hard to predict at high elevation, but I plan on freezing temperatures at night. I setup a second fly to protect the cooking and eating area. For cooking I have large pre-WWII three burner Coleman Cabin Stove converted to propane. It has a lot of cooking room, and the large cast iron burners produce a lot of btu’s at high elevation in freezing weather.
On occasion I take a generator and a few strings of clear Christmas lights. They come in handy when skinning a deer or bear after dark.
I still have the old canvas wall tent. It is a good all weather tent, and I use a fly over it if wet weather is predicted. I have been out and 2-3 feet of snow and it has held up. It has a floor in it and a center pole and support poles. When the family was young we camped across Arizona and California in it.
Here it is at my son’s and my antelope camp years ago. A lot of good memories.
Plan C has a number of options; stay at a hunting partner’s house, or in a motel. Eat at restaurants and pickup deli sandwiches for lunches. As I grow older this is a popular option if the hunting area is within an hour’s drive. When we go beyond the divided this is not a feasible option.
The plan B camp might be a backpack camp, without a tent, just a ground cloth, and sleeping bag. Prepared for is the order of the day. These camps normally do not last more the 48-hours. From such a camp I shot a buck using my rolled up sleeping bag as a rest, within minutes of the start of the season.
A modified plan B is sleeping under the camper shell of my pickup. I do not like the confinement by for a night or two it works if I have a good mattress under me.
One first night camp I will remember until the day I go. I did not get away on the day I planned, hit the road late, drove 450-miles and arrived on the mountain in the dark. I was not in bad shape because I had stopped for fast food on the road. Pulled into the over grown log landing I planned on setting up camp. I pulled out a heavy 12x17 foot canvas tarp open it up and put my sleeping bag inside it. I woke up at daylight and had a foot of snow on top of me. During the night I had no clue; I was exhausted and slept soundly.
