When you go on a hunt that is away from home, how do you cut corners to save money? do you use a tent? candles? just trying to pick up some ideals from other fellow bowhunters; thanks
The generosity of friends. This is a great place to make friends around the country and share hunts with each other.
a lot depends on the hunt, the conditions expected, your wants and your needs. What do you HAVE to have and what do you WANT to have (cush items).
Super 8 ... motel 6 is just way too sleazy ;)
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The best tent I can afford, plus lots of propane. I go to town to do laundry and shower, minimal grocery shopping, and fill up the truck's gas tank. Been using the same sleeping bags for twenty years, and a lot of my clothing for nearly as long.
Home, sweet home!
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v249/Killdeer/Hunting%20and%20Camp/NightCamp2004.jpg)
Killdeer
You will sleep best in a tent. (I know too much about motels, My Basset hounds bed is cleaner)
Like AkDan said, what you want and what you need ain`t always the same thing.
Personally, I try to save money where I can. My wife and I have three kids, and there is NEVER enough money.
First differentiate between what you "need" (i.e. Bow, arrow, broadhead, knife, compass, etc) and what you "want" (scent loc, scent killer spray, cover scent, gadgets, etc.).
Never skimp on true "need" items, improvise as you will on the rest.
Pass up the motels and spend the money on a good tent (make sure you check a bunch of reviews), the very best sleeping bag you can afford and a good sleeping pad. I have tried cutting corners on those three items many times and do not recommend it. Nothing worse than a cold miserable wet night with leaky gear.
I outfitted the back of my truck with a wooden platform bed so I can still stow gear under it. It's way more comfortable than the ground and a lot easier to move campsites.
I do all three, tent, truck and motel if necessary. I use a Coleman stove and lantern, Waaaaayyyyy cheaper than propane. Solar shower(heat water on stove if necessary), I do laundry in camp and hang on the line. I DO use candles, I have a little backpacking candle lantern that is great for inside a small tent and is the only flame I would use in a nylon one. A good tent and sleeping bag will last forever if you take care of them. I have a tent that my dad bought over 50 years ago and my down bag is about 25 years old and looks new.
Well, I used to tent camp a lot, but getting soft in my old age. I have a 2000 dodge work van with one of those 12vdc coolers, a Mr.Buddy heater and an Army cot. Mosquito net over the cot, so I can leave the doors open in warm weather. Nice, thick air matress. Throw in a 7 cu ft freezer to put clothes and junk in on the way out, and meat coming back if I'm lucky. You can plug that in overnight in a campground, and the meat is rock hard when you get home.
If I'm going way off someplace, I pull my 19' camper with crapper and shower....8^)
I have the camper kit in my truck. Simp;e carpeted p;atfform abov e the wheel wells. All my stuff is under the p;latform in milk crates from kmart. I put my lantern in it before I put out the fire and roll into my bag-kill the light. Wake up, turn on the lantern while I push the sleep out of my eyes, and get dressed. Lantern, with some veentilation makes a truck plenty warm in about 15 minutes. My cousin from Mo spent an week with me in the NV mountains-below 0 at night and we were fine.
i have used tents and much prefer the back of the truck.
Frequent flyer miles!
I try to "barnstorm" my term for researching the area(s) before I go and try something new...on my own. I have nothing against guides...but I have only so much cash and I choose to not afford a guide. Having contacts in various areas that are willing to share the knowledge and the fun is priceless. This site and the people on it are worth more than all the gold in Fort Knox (is there still gold there ?). Ok.... maybe not that much..... But you guys are worth a bunch. Most other places are too full of competition to actually share info.
ChuckC
I go to Colorado every year from Missouri. My dad goes too, so with splitting gas, food, camping in tents (with one trip to town for a shower), and even adding the cost of my cow tag ($254)....the last two years have been almost exactly $530. That's including two motel nights (dad don't like to drive straight through) and whatever gadgets I buy on the road. Not bad for an eight day trip.
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This is home for the $530 week.
I sleep in either a tent or swag depending on the season ,camp under a tarpolin , use a alcohol stove and a Hurricane light , and if driving more than 10 hours or so pull over to sleep on the side of the road . Pack easily prepared food & drink for the drive and plan to buy whatever cheap seasonal tucker from roadside stalls instead of the supermarket. Unfortunatly I save fuel costs with as small 4 cylinder car , love to blow all the dollars I scrooge with 4X4 ute . Lastly save a fortune by making or recycling much my hunting gear . regards Perry
I'm cheap. Cut corners wherever they can be cut :D
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/VanTX/Camping/CampsiteCheap.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/VanTX/Camping/SupperCheap.jpg)
(http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v77/VanTX/Camping/Chillin.jpg)
Camping is free, so I tent it whenever possible. I hunted turkeys last spring for a week, I think I spent $50 in gas (maybe), and about $50 on food for my son and I.
I use my teardrop camper that my son and I built. I sometimes use a tent. But since we went from 4 kids down to 1 left at home We pull the seats out of the mini van. Put in a platform and sleep on it. We put up our sreen tent over the van so we can open the doors and windows. We cook on a dutch oven, coleman stove or svea alcahol stove if backpacking in. Always use air matresses or foam pads. And sleeping bags. Stop at truck stops to shower when traveling. Wife likes flyingJ. I Dont like hotels! Seen to many shows about the rooms cleanliness! You dont know who or what has been done in the bed.
Here's my main outfit getting enjoyed by fellow Trad Bowhunters of GA on a rain hunt. I mostly sleep in the camper shell on the truck and have one of teh 10x10 popup canopies for cooking and relaxing. I can just get the hatch under the canopy and hop out under cover. Also have a pop-up that is great for longer hunts or more than one hunter. For island hunts, it is tents and tarps.
(http://i78.photobucket.com/albums/j87/SOS_321/PHTO0018-1.jpg)
Here's the rig for no truck access as we are packing up on Ossabaw Island with my favorite hunting partner...just don't tell anyone she doesn't bowhunt....yet. :rolleyes:
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Sharing expenses is a really good side benefit of having a hunting buddy or two or even three. In a crew cab Pickup, a good size SUV or vn the gas will be close to the same no matter how many are in it 2 or 4 so nearly the same expense split 4 ways discounts that. Everyone buys his own tags. Everyone puts in equal amounts or in some cases the bigger eaters realizing they will eat more put more in the grocery kitty. Usually I just buy the groceries for how every many + 2 and then charge everyone equal amounts, as I am the camp cook usually. two tents, two canopies one with a bug screen for the kitchen. kitchen equipment and hunting gear are already paid for. Over the counter NonResident licenses and tags the biggest expense. In California I did the solo hunt with just what I could carry in my backpack and my bow arrows. I told people as precisely as I could were I would be and all I ever managed to kill in California was feral pigs but they are still great fun.
Dang Van I thought you just ate sardines. :)
That's a recycled chop. Cheaper than sardines. :bigsmyl: Van, your dishes would get done faster if you took along a pal. You could scrape while he erased.
Killdeer (I don't like to waste camp time on dishes either!)
Good to see you out with your daughter, Stephen. When a lady can shoot the schnozz offa gnat, I don't quibble with her about how (or whether) she hunts!
Killdeer :thumbsup:
Sometimes my Pals don't show up :( Mike, I do cook sometimes ;) ...Van
Even hunting 3.5 hours from home is a huge drain on my finances for the season so this thread is an inspiration. Im trying to acquire a good cheap hunting rig for my trips to my lease land, its just too expenisve to drive my big Super Crew Cab F250 Super Duty 4 x 4 with a V10 down there more than a couple times a month.
I was thinking along the lines of the truck camping rig some of you guys have, anyone ever tried it with a Ranger size truck? Any sort of modifications that had to be made would not be a problem, if I can imagine it I can probably build it myself. Im in the process of getting a surplus military G.P. Small canvas tent with winter kit and floor as well (bout 17 x 17). I figure the more I can wring out of the budget for accomodations and gas the more I can go down there. And as a bonus I can trim my rig down during my local trips in preparation for longer trips in the future.
rascal, back in '84, I had a longbed, reg. cab Ford Ranger that I camped/hunted out of quite bit. 4 of us took it to Quebec on a bear hunt. We made a small trailer out of a boat trailer and carried all of our gear in it. I put an old mattress in the back (under a fiberglass cap) and 2 guys slept in the back while the other 2 drove. We switched off drivers/sleepers at gas/meal stops. It worked really well. After having travelled to hunt and to distant shoots for the last 22 years, I have cut down my gear list quite a bit. First trip we/I took to Quebec, we had enough gear and food to last 8 guys for 2 weeks. Last caribou trip I took, where total baggage weight couldn't exceed 60#, I was at 47# total weight, including bows and arrows. I have a cap on my full size truck, but I am usually camping with at least a friend or two and use a tent mostly. Figuring out what worked was an expensive process, but with the "gang" here, you should save some time and money and end up with a good outfit! Mike
I had a 85 Ford Ranger, long bed regular cab 4X4, that may have been the best hunting rig I ever had. It had a fiberglass topper and I built a bed for the back, 3/8" plywood and 2X2's.
Good to know that the little trucks can be useful for this as well. I also have an 8 x 8 tilt bed trailer I dont use for much of anything besides taking up space. I hadnt thaught about using that, I could take some time and see what I could come up with using that.
Most of the time it would be my brother and I or perhaps my son. He got his first deer this year (not trad or I would have posted brag pics) and hes got the itch something awful. Just gotta find him a nice little stick bow and get him started.
Thanks again for the food for thaught.
I think the trick is not to buy a bunch of gadgets and gear that you wont need..Bring your tried and true gear... I back pack so after a few trips you realize most of that miracle gear never makes it out of the pack.. I would put extra money into good food to bring..