Hi all, I've hunted from campers, pup tents, hotels and home. As a kid I hunted out of a camp that had a couple of wall tents. I am planning on burning my points next year and hunting at least 3 weeks of the season, if not all 4. Lately I've been hunting out of a motel but for next year I'm seriously looking at going with a wall tent. However, I've a couple of questions.
1. The area I am going is known for a healthy population of black bears. Do those who hunt out of tents, do you have a separate cook tent and sleep tent? I don't really don't want to cook in my sleeping tent, but would like to have hot coffee in the morning brewed in my sleep tent. Can you cook underneath an extended fly, realistically? Do you set up a cook tent well away from the sleep tent? If so, what how is "well away" defined?
2. When you burn a woodstove in a wall tent for heat and/or coffee and oatmeal at breakfast, how do you handle leaving camp with a hot stove that would likely have hot coals inside? Do you let your woodstove burn down during the middle of the night and just not fire it up in the morn? Is it acceptable to shut down the air to the stove and walk away? Do you try to have someone in camp to keep an eye on the stove? Pardon my ignorance but I really don't know. My gut tells me to not leave a stove that has any coals, but thought I'd ask.
Thank you all, I will appreciate all responses...
1. The area I am going is known for a healthy population of black bears. Do those who hunt out of tents, do you have a separate cook tent and sleep tent? I don't really don't want to cook in my sleeping tent, but would like to have hot coffee in the morning brewed in my sleep tent. Can you cook underneath an extended fly, realistically? Do you set up a cook tent well away from the sleep tent? If so, what how is "well away" defined?
2. When you burn a woodstove in a wall tent for heat and/or coffee and oatmeal at breakfast, how do you handle leaving camp with a hot stove that would likely have hot coals inside? Do you let your woodstove burn down during the middle of the night and just not fire it up in the morn? Is it acceptable to shut down the air to the stove and walk away? Do you try to have someone in camp to keep an eye on the stove? Pardon my ignorance but I really don't know. My gut tells me to not leave a stove that has any coals, but thought I'd ask.
Thank you all, I will appreciate all responses...