The Wall Tent Experience Begins

Welcome Elk Hunters and those of you who do not hunt elk end even you folks out there that just wanna be elk hunters. You know, there are all types of elk camps. There are those that say they are camping, really believe they are camping, and yet, they come up into the woods with a bloomin' "hotel on wheels". I'm not kiddin' ya either. Here I am bumpin' along some mountain road in a 4x4 rig, and I'm way off the main track. I come up over this rise and right there in the middle of a meadow is a big ole bus. Now I'm not talking about some worn out old converted school bus here, I'm tellin ya this bus is 13' tall and 8' wide and it's got 4 tip outs and enough storage space under it to hold 4 or 5 elk camps. I've just been down this road you see, and after traveling this track, I can't figure how on earth these guys got this monstrosity in there. But none-the-less, there it is, and it just aint right. Elk camps are supposed to be, well, elk camps, not luxury apartments with 2 bedrooms and a 42" big screen. Heck, this thing probably has better accomodations than a 5-star resort. Oh yeah, speaking of 5-star resorts, a REAL elk camp is just that and more, but it doesn't start out that way. It takes years of collecting, planning, accumulating and dreaming to produce the ultimate 5-star elk camp.

You may remember the tale of our first wall tent experience. We refer to it as "Elk Camp Blown Away". Anyway, it does get better, not right away, but boy does it get better. See after the "Blown Away" experience we figured that maybe, just maybe, wall tents weren't the thing for us. So we opted for the travel trailer method of setting up elk camp. This isn't necessarily a bad camp, but it sure leaves a few things to be desired. We start headin to the woods with an old 13' pull camper that has just about enough room for two people, but there's like 3 or 4 folks tryin to use this thing. It isn't too bad when you are asleep, but that being awake part where you are tryin to keep hunting clothes and boots dry and find a place to sit and cook dinner and, well you get the picture. So we move on to bigger trailers, yes I said trailers. You might have thought that we'd just try using one bigger trailer, but no. I kid you not there was one year when we headed to the mountains, and there are four of us, pulling 3 travel trailers. That's right, no more sittin on top of each other and bumpin into skillets and guns and whatever else is in the way. We pull into our favorite meadow with a 21', a 19' and a 14' trailer. Here's what's real funny, the smallest of the three trailers is housing 2 guys. Problem with this setup is that no matter how hard you try, there just isn't a good place to really get wet clothes and gear dried out in a trailer. So..........next year we get this great idea. Remember the old green wall tent that was handed down from my dad? Well, we decide that we are gonna take this tent to the hills with us and use it as a dining hall/place to dry clothes.

Now we have a camp that looks like there must be 10 or 12 hunters hangin out there, but in reality we have now begun the quest to become the "More Crap Per Capita" elk camp than any other seen in these woods. Yup, it is the same four guys, only now we have 3 travel trailers and a wall tent. This is really gettin ridiculous, but we don't care, this is our home in the woods and we love it. And it isn't just trailers and a tent, we just have to add some other piece of gear or a couple or three pieces of gear every year. Now this is real fun! Ya just never know what your huntin buddies are gonna show up with. Heck, this crew starts thinkin about the next elk camp just about as soon as the one we just left get stowed away. Sometimes I figure I just survive from one elk camp to the next one. One of these days I'll tell you more about how our elk camp has evolved. Needless to say, it just keeps gettin better, and if you've ever had some good huntin buddies and a comfy camp, you know just what I mean, so until next time, get to planning for next season.