Spiking/Truck Camping/Coyoting - in unit

[Prerylyon]

Wall tents/RVs should probably be included in that title.

What style of camping (in your unit) will you be pursuing this season and why?

The answer will probably depend on several factors: species hunted, climate, pressure, your experience and preferences

I'll be hunting antelope DIY on the high plains of WY next month.

My experience on antelope is zero. I have been on a few other western hunts (high country mule deer, elk).

After briefly scouting my unit last month, my game plan is to pursue a hybrid of spiking/truck camping. There is enough accessible public in my unit that I could easily hike in a few miles and get away from traveled roads. I'll probably park the truck on the edge of my access point, to be less a disturbance, and spike in a couple of miles on that 1st day in an effort to learn where the animals are. If I can get into them closer to the truck, so be it, but will start out striking farther and work my way back; move the whole works if I'm not seeing much, and start the process again.
If weather sets in, I might decide to stay closer to the truck and spend more time hiking from there in.

Regards,

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I337Z using Tapatalk

 

[JimP]

I really rough it when I am hunting here in Colorado. My hunting area is about a 30 minute ride on my wheeler and that is after a 10 minute drive to get to where I park my truck. So I rough it at home. Running hot water, nice bed, TV, internet access, you name it. You could say that I have all the comforts of home, but I am home.

When I head to Arizona for javelina we stay with a friend. See the above paragraph except the drive is about 40 minutes.

Utah on the other hand is a little more like roughing it. But I do stay in a nice truck camper, it does have a shower but I'm a little too tall for it. But the bed is nice and it is warm and dry inside. As a unique item we have a large plastic chair that we have attached a toilet seat to for our outside business. Dig a hole and place the chair over it, don't forget to throw in a shovel full of dirt after each use unless someone is standing in line. I'll have to get a picture of that chair, everyone love it.

 

[LCH]

Kodiak canvas in the mountains of SE Wyoming in a couple weeks. Big cot, pad, pillow, heavy bag. Buddy heater and a portable shower, hot meals.

Colorado in November, solo, just going to sleep in the back of the SUV wherever I stop for the night.

 

[257Roberts]

I'll be truck camping on my Antelope hunt. I had rather stay in the wall tent but since I'm headed out solo I don't want to fool with the tent. I've always stayed in a tent so will see how this goes. Could stay in a hotel but it would be a 30+ mile drive...

 

[dirtclod Az.]

Dang JimP. you have it rough! Probably make your Coues and Javelina walk themselves out.lol!...dirtclod Az.

 

[go_deep]

House for some antelope and deer tags, wall tent for some other antelope tags, wall tent and sleeping on the ground for elk.

 

[taskswap]

Jumping Jack for us here. With its torsion axles and good tires I can get it into anywhere the truck will go. It sleeps 2 adults super comfortably, but up to 8 if there's a mix of kids or the adults are "very friendly" It sets up fast, and I get a great night's sleep. I've "roughed it" plenty of nights, but I find I'm just much more "on" the game the next day the better I sleep!

A big feature for me is you can set it up with two 2-seater benches at a table, inside. That's really helpful for poring over a big map to plan a route, or just playing Yahtzee on a rainy evening if it's not nice enough for a fire.

The older I get, the more I find it's better to be "smarter" than "harder".

 

[Ikeepitcold]

I will be in my side by side so I’ll have some comforts that I usually don’t have. Although I will have a spike camp ready if we find a buck that we need to hike into and stay the night.

I do a lot of hunting out of the truck for antelope with just a cot, portable bbq and a ice chest. It works great for that time of year. Deer depending on where the tag is and who’s hunting can be a camper or a bivy.

 

[mallardsx2]

Wherever and whatever we as hunters and outdoorsmen decide.

Do yourself and everyone else a favor and if you are backcountry camping "With the elk" dont camp in the obvious major travel routes of elk and they travel up and down the mountain. Nothing ticks me and everyone else off more than someone who charges in blindly and camps right where the elk travel and ruins the entire area with their nightly trash fires.....running virtually every elk out of the area.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

This is so true!

I saw some guys camped out rite in the middle of a great Antelope area. Lots of room all around to camp and not be rite smack dab where the goats are.

Trash is a issue for sure. I try to pick up what I find.

 

[zpooch]

Trash is a issue for sure. I try to pick up what I find.

Packed out an entire camp that somebody had left over winter. 6 man tent, trash, old MREs, empty 3 gallon water jugs. I would guess they brought all that crap in with horses, don't understand why they couldn't have hauled it back out. I wasn't thrilled carrying all that junk along with my camp after a few days of scouting in the high country.

 

[Ikeepitcold]

Wow. Insane how people just don’t care. Good thing you do!

 

[go_deep]

Packed out an entire camp that somebody had left over winter. 6 man tent, trash, old MREs, empty 3 gallon water jugs. I would guess they brought all that crap in with horses, don't understand why they couldn't have hauled it back out. I wasn't thrilled carrying all that junk along with my camp after a few days of scouting in the high country.

View attachment 22068

I've hauled a lot if trash out over the years, but that's a lot for one spot! Thank you for being a good outdoorsman and hauling it out!

 

[JimP]

They may of had to bail due to a medical emergency and didn't get back in to pick it up.

We had a few camps here in Colorado one year that had everything but the kitchen sink and if they would of looked they might of found that. The only thing that came out with the hunters were their firearms. This was due to a snow storm and the National Guard went in with orders to pull everyone out. Trucks, campers, trailers, tents, and everything else was left til the next year when they could go in and get the equipment out which was quite possibly July.

 

[zpooch]

Possible, but I ran into a guy when I was coming out that I had talked to the previous season up there. He said the guy had lost some trophy buck he shot and left everything up there in some childish fit. Not sure of the validity of that story. The other guy said he had been burning some of the stuff in his campfire on his trips up there.

 

[mallardsx2]

So we have identified a cry baby and the guy who burns trash on the mountain.

And the plot thickens.. lol

Thanks for gathering that junk off of our public lands. It tells us the kind of sportsman you are!

I came off of the mountain a couple years back and picked up several items that had fallen off of a guys SXS. He was at his truck and when I pulled up I told him I had a sleeping bag, a tarp and some tent stakes for sale. He looked at me and told me that he had plenty of those and I looked at him and said "Would you like to bet lunch on that?" lol

He looked on his 4 wheeler and said "HOLY CRAP THOSE ARE MINE" I said I would say to lol. His strap had come loose and they fell off the machine onto the ground.

He thanked me 50 times.

Gotta help people out sometimes.

Now the knucklehead, biggot, hippie, idiot with the bud-light cans all over the trail.. He was a different story and it was actually one of the weekend "Jeepers" that was tossing those out on the ground. I hand delivered 25 of them to him and his crew of drunken morons.

As it turns out the guy who had lost the gear gathered up 10 cans on his way out as well. Heck of a nice guy.

 

[Bonecollector]

I like tent camping, but I've got a few doe tags to fill in various areas, thus I'll have to through the cap on the back of the Ram. I swear that truck bed it harder to sleep on than the ground. I usually layer one side with cardboard and a few old blankets for padding. Think I'll try the air mattress this time.

 

[go_deep]

I like tent camping, but I've got a few doe tags to fill in various areas, thus I'll have to through the cap on the back of the Ram. I swear that truck bed it harder to sleep on than the ground. I usually layer one side with cardboard and a few old blankets for padding. Think I'll try the air mattress this time.

Just a 1" air sleeping pad will do you wonders

 

[JimP]

Sleeping on a truck bed without some kind of mattress is like trying to sleep on concrete. At least dirt has some give in it once you get it stirred up enough. Metal is just there, no give at all, not to mention colder than a mother in laws kiss on your wedding night.

 

[bullwinkle50]

JimP,

I always wondered about those guys from Gypsum. Now you confirmed why. LOL

Randy