I do both. In fact am in the process of revamping both my setups. I'm going more minimalist with my backpacking gear; ie, just a bag (coyote-ing out), tarp (more extended multi-day trips.) However, I fully enjoy the comfort of a good base camp/car camp. My wife and I are having a wall tent made to our specs for just such trips. There are a couple spots in the Wyoming mountains that lie in General Elk units where I have had great success and wonderful hunts (note the difference) from a car camp/base camp. The luxury of having a cushy wall tent/camper/pickup bed to retire to at day's end or after a couple days coyoted out cannot be measured and is one of the best arguments against backpack hunting. With that said being versatile enough to leave the roads behind can as Frost poeticized and I misquote "make all the difference." There is much to be gleaned from being alone and on your own in the wilderness miles from a road; it keeps us honest with ourselves and our creator, eliminating any doubt of our true place in this world. At the same time taking little kids and or less hearty individuals along with us can be impossible on "backpack" hunts and does alienate us from the treasure of time spent among family and friends in a more reasonable locale and comfort level. There are trade offs both ways.
As I've written on here once before and will allude to again now; last fall was a time for the security and comfort of a wall tent base/car camp for a buddy and myself. He is not one for all night stays in the great wide open and prefers and is therefore most comfortable in a more secure environment. Now some would think that this limited the possibility for his/our hunting success or kill. Not at all. We got up early each morning and often times hunted right from camp. We were always in elk and he eventually killed his first bull that weekend. That hunt would have been miserable for him and therefore me as well if I'd dragged him miles into the backcountry.
It is about balance! We have lost that perspective with our modern warped technology infused over-civilized sensibilities. To many of us the hunt is a competition, we must WIN! I'm guilty of this at times... feverishly rushing up a drainage because I'm late! Totally missing a major part of the experience. However, if I were to tell you that the WIN doesn't matter at all then I'd be lying through my teeth. We hunt to kill, we hunt to live life, we hunt to stay centered, hunt to relax, hunt to be affirmed; there are so many reasons we hunt and HOW we hunt matters as much as why we hunt. For some of us loading up a pack and trudging off to fight imagined dragons is how we roll and how we like it. For others its about sharing time with others in the evenings, food, comfort, and hunting and that is how we roll and how we like it.
Point being? The west isn't a way to live its a place on a map and that map can and should be explored by hunters of all stripes in the ways them deem fit. The best of them know how to and participate in several different methods thus getting the most from their experiences. Hunt how you want and be happy, its a privilege not a right!
