looking to get a canvas wall tent for winter solo hunting for periods of 1-2 months. know nothing about them, so any advice on what to get(sewn in floor?, etc.), where to get it, size of tent, and the pro's/con's of these style tents would be great. any advice on stoves and accessories would also be appreciated. thank you in advance, tom
Wall Tent advice
- Thread starter tom r
- Start date
Yukon Mike
Well-known member
If you are by yourself a 10' one would be roomy. Up here people shovel the snow away then line the ground with spruce bows to make a nice dry floor, but keep your boots on inside. A cot makes sleeping deluxe and a medium sized Airtight stove is common. Unless you get a really big stove, your fire will always go out every night, so you can just adjust for that by getting a good sleeping bag (a 5 Star or something like) and leaving yourself a pile of kindling within reach each night. I recommend cooking on a propane stove, but you can use the wood stove to melt snow and keep tea warm all the time.
Everyone here uses MacPherson canvas tents. I don't know what you'd have access to down there.
What a dream 2 months of hunting would be!
Mike Prawdzik
Whitehorse Yukon
Everyone here uses MacPherson canvas tents. I don't know what you'd have access to down there.
What a dream 2 months of hunting would be!
Mike Prawdzik
Whitehorse Yukon
Steve Steffy
Well-known member
I had one and sold it back to the guy I bought it from. Now I want another for trapping in the Adirondacks next season...only a couple of weeks though, I wish I could go for 2 months. I've looked at the canvas tents Cabela's sells, but not 100% sold on them without doing more research first. There are a few other makers out there but reviews are pretty hard to come by. Good luck in your search,
Steve
Steve
Phil Nowack
Well-known member
I have a Montana Canvas 10x12.... It has an Alaskan stove in it and a fly... I got mine with a sewn in floor.... I love the floor once it is set up... but it is Quite a lot harder to set up with the floor.... I also have the aluminum frame for it...
I don't use mine as much as I would like....
I don't use mine as much as I would like....
Scottie Rome
Member
If you want a canvis one, Google Spring bar tent, Look pretty neet to me,
Scottie Rome
Member
You should also check out snowtrekkertents.com Some nice pics on their site, tents look great but you better have a big or full wallet as they are on the pricy side........
13 years ago I fell in on a self help horse pack in elk hunting trip in Colorado.
Took a lot of man power to set up the camp. They had a bunch of wall tents. Used propane for cooking & lighting. A 35 gallon homemade drum stove for heat. Blue tarps for a floor & rain flies. Cut poles for a ridge pole that was held up at both ends by "crossed" cut poles.
i'd want to try solo set up for any tent I bought.
Took a lot of man power to set up the camp. They had a bunch of wall tents. Used propane for cooking & lighting. A 35 gallon homemade drum stove for heat. Blue tarps for a floor & rain flies. Cut poles for a ridge pole that was held up at both ends by "crossed" cut poles.
i'd want to try solo set up for any tent I bought.
Phil Nowack
Well-known member
Even with aluminum polls.. It would be VERY difficult to set up by yourself...
As you can see, I got some mildew damage on mine... It got put a ways damp, and forgotten about... but resealed and it is good as new.. and camoflaged...
As you can see, I got some mildew damage on mine... It got put a ways damp, and forgotten about... but resealed and it is good as new.. and camoflaged...
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Brad Taylor
Active member
I have always like the Kifaru tipis
I used to have a 10 X 12 that was pretty much identical to the one Phil posted a picture of. It had aluminum poles and main frame and was complete with a floor. My father originally bought it in the mid 1950's and I continued to use it until around 2000. It lasted roughly 45 years with annual use up to 3 weeks per year as a fishing and moose hunting base camp. When it finally gave up it was due to a large tree that came down in a storm. Fortunately nobody was injured. With that kind of longevity it is well worth paying for quality.
I second the opinion that these are not really tents that you set up solo. I have done so but it isn't easy. I have also stayed in base camp tents that have no floor and that were suspended from cut poles. These are easier to transport and possibly easier to set up but man that floor is nice to have. My 10X12 tent made many a trip by canoe. I would typically load a 15' canoe with the camp gear and paddle solo the ten or twelve miles to where we would set up our base camp. It was a full load.
I am not familiar with what is on the market today so I can't really help from that perspective. The last one I stayed in was made in Woods Canada, a company that has recently been sold and appears to be in limbo.
I second the opinion that these are not really tents that you set up solo. I have done so but it isn't easy. I have also stayed in base camp tents that have no floor and that were suspended from cut poles. These are easier to transport and possibly easier to set up but man that floor is nice to have. My 10X12 tent made many a trip by canoe. I would typically load a 15' canoe with the camp gear and paddle solo the ten or twelve miles to where we would set up our base camp. It was a full load.
I am not familiar with what is on the market today so I can't really help from that perspective. The last one I stayed in was made in Woods Canada, a company that has recently been sold and appears to be in limbo.
Bob B
Well-known member
Tom,
check out page two of the linked thread.
If you get the pictures it looks like they have it pretty well dialed. But might be too much to set up for 1.
http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4650515/2
I looked hard at these stoves for Ice fishing but never got one. They have the tents too.
http://www.walltentshop.com/FourDogStoves.html
Lastly, if you know any civil war re-enactors they do a ton of set ups for the events and typ. have tents and stuff that is required. Often put up for the season this time of year.
Just a thought.
check out page two of the linked thread.
If you get the pictures it looks like they have it pretty well dialed. But might be too much to set up for 1.
http://24hourcampfire.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php/topics/4650515/2
I looked hard at these stoves for Ice fishing but never got one. They have the tents too.
http://www.walltentshop.com/FourDogStoves.html
Lastly, if you know any civil war re-enactors they do a ton of set ups for the events and typ. have tents and stuff that is required. Often put up for the season this time of year.
Just a thought.
Gordie Schmitt
Member
I have a 10 man Arctic tent we use for hunting out west. This style of tent can be put up by one person. Google it and you can find a lot of info about the Arctic tent. For solo base camp a 6 man arctic would be the way to go. The 6 man can sleep 2-3 people with plenty of room for gear.
The Snow Trekker tents that was mention are very well made tents. Both the Arctic and the Snow Trekker do not come with floors. We lay a blue tarp down and paper machine felt for the floor and it works well. Have a small piece of carpet by the cots when dressing then put it under the cot to keep it clean.
Check out the Winter Trekking website: http://www.wintertrekking.com/
The Snow Trekker tents that was mention are very well made tents. Both the Arctic and the Snow Trekker do not come with floors. We lay a blue tarp down and paper machine felt for the floor and it works well. Have a small piece of carpet by the cots when dressing then put it under the cot to keep it clean.
Check out the Winter Trekking website: http://www.wintertrekking.com/
Eric Caswell
Active member
We used it for the floor of a 14x20 wall tent that my parteners had bought 2nd hand. Used it for Deer/Moose/Elk in the mountains of BC. Spoiled me for hunting any other way. (Other than renting a room or cabin.)
We hung a fire fighting can on the side of a shop built stove and always had hot water on tap.
I like the universal rule. "Let the guy with the thinnest sleeping bag tend the fire"
Eric
We hung a fire fighting can on the side of a shop built stove and always had hot water on tap.
I like the universal rule. "Let the guy with the thinnest sleeping bag tend the fire"
Eric
Gordie Schmitt
Member
I agree, the great thing about paper machine felt that if it gets dirty you can just pressure wash it and it back to new.
There is just something about hunting out of a canvas tent with a wood stove and using a cot that I just love. Maybe it's sitting on your cot in just a t shirt with the wood stove going telling story after story and laughing your ass off. Clothes hanging around drying off after a long days hunt. The biggest problem we have is staying awake past 8 PM and getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning when it's 10 degrees in the tent. It's always a sad moment when you have to break camp and head home.
There is just something about hunting out of a canvas tent with a wood stove and using a cot that I just love. Maybe it's sitting on your cot in just a t shirt with the wood stove going telling story after story and laughing your ass off. Clothes hanging around drying off after a long days hunt. The biggest problem we have is staying awake past 8 PM and getting out of your sleeping bag in the morning when it's 10 degrees in the tent. It's always a sad moment when you have to break camp and head home.
Tom R,
looks like sound advice all around. I am recently back from my annual Idaho deer hunt, where my Idaho hunting buddies have been running a little tent city for 10 years. They are possessed by the "30 point buck" and prep all year for this thing. We had about 5 cords of wood ready to burn and well managed common area. Three tents go up on Labor Day (20x10 wall tent, 1/2 lodging 1/2 cook tent wall tent; 12x10 lodging; and a Cabela's Alaknak 12x12) and are there until Dec 1. I recently joined in the tent fray with 12x12 Alaknak. Last year I talked with the guys about what to buy in the large tent with wood stove department and their advice was the Alaknak. It is realitivity easy to setup (so the intructions say). It took me about an hour this year by myself. Dries out fast, has a floor, handles the wind ok, and can be setup with a stove. There is plenty of room for one and my family of four uses it with bunkbeds. We spent several nights with 8" of snow and below zero temps without too much of an issue. The stove worked great. On the downside it can develop condensation problem, but that has not been problem yet for me, since I have a stove and let the tent vent. The vestibule is great for cooking and storage. That said, when we aren't hunting we are in the classic wall tent plotting the demise of the ghost buck. The wall tent guys have gotten away from the bare dirt floor and now lay down tarps with astroturf. They have considered getting a new tent with floor in it as well. One thing they did say was that the next tent will have taller sides. One last item, I was able to get my tent down and packed before they got much done with wall tents so that may be another advantage too. good luck
looks like sound advice all around. I am recently back from my annual Idaho deer hunt, where my Idaho hunting buddies have been running a little tent city for 10 years. They are possessed by the "30 point buck" and prep all year for this thing. We had about 5 cords of wood ready to burn and well managed common area. Three tents go up on Labor Day (20x10 wall tent, 1/2 lodging 1/2 cook tent wall tent; 12x10 lodging; and a Cabela's Alaknak 12x12) and are there until Dec 1. I recently joined in the tent fray with 12x12 Alaknak. Last year I talked with the guys about what to buy in the large tent with wood stove department and their advice was the Alaknak. It is realitivity easy to setup (so the intructions say). It took me about an hour this year by myself. Dries out fast, has a floor, handles the wind ok, and can be setup with a stove. There is plenty of room for one and my family of four uses it with bunkbeds. We spent several nights with 8" of snow and below zero temps without too much of an issue. The stove worked great. On the downside it can develop condensation problem, but that has not been problem yet for me, since I have a stove and let the tent vent. The vestibule is great for cooking and storage. That said, when we aren't hunting we are in the classic wall tent plotting the demise of the ghost buck. The wall tent guys have gotten away from the bare dirt floor and now lay down tarps with astroturf. They have considered getting a new tent with floor in it as well. One thing they did say was that the next tent will have taller sides. One last item, I was able to get my tent down and packed before they got much done with wall tents so that may be another advantage too. good luck