OleRedbeard
Well-known member
A good nights sleep is way more important to a good days hunting than you could imagine. Not so much the first night but after that it really shows in your thinking and energy levels. A cheap bag and pad will leave you tossing and turning all night both from being cold and or feeling every stick and rock you have bedded down on. Buy the best bag you can and make sure its rated for at least 20 degrees below what you expect to mostly be hunting in. (that's a personal preference but a good one to go by bc you never know what kind of weather you will be in from hunt to hunt) A good bivy sack will give you another 10 degrees of warmth and also keep your bag dry and dew free. I use a folding thermorest pad combined with a ultralight nemo blowup pad. The foam thermorest is a nice addition to assist in comfort and keeping your blow up pad off the ground and also acts as a insulator and something to sit on around camp or while glassing or just sitting and watching a area.
You can also use just your bivy and bag on hunts that you know for a fact will be rain free. As long as you don't mind some dew or frost on your bivy and have time to let it dry off after you get up. (on a side note with this always make sure to at least have a tarp even when they call for no rain)
If you wear your base layer in the bag you will gain a little more warmth out of it too. Not only is it a extra layer to keep you toasty it helps when you get up in the middle of the night to take the inevitable 2AM leak. keeps the sweat or stank out of your bag and is generally just a good rule to follow.
A 5 dollar tarp will keep you dry in most conditions and can be set up about 1000 different ways if need be. Weights jack and nill and is something that has multiple uses beyond just something to sleep under. You can also get some really good silnylon tarps from several places or used on many occasions that are light as a feather and pack down into nothing at all.
I spend around 60 to 70 days a year in a sleeping bag in between summer camping/scouting/fishing to hunting season trips from overnighters and longer and this works for most of where I hunt and fish (pretty much same climate as your PA area still in the App Mountains). If you hunt or camp in a area that gets more rainfall a good tent may be higher on the list.
You can also use just your bivy and bag on hunts that you know for a fact will be rain free. As long as you don't mind some dew or frost on your bivy and have time to let it dry off after you get up. (on a side note with this always make sure to at least have a tarp even when they call for no rain)
If you wear your base layer in the bag you will gain a little more warmth out of it too. Not only is it a extra layer to keep you toasty it helps when you get up in the middle of the night to take the inevitable 2AM leak. keeps the sweat or stank out of your bag and is generally just a good rule to follow.
A 5 dollar tarp will keep you dry in most conditions and can be set up about 1000 different ways if need be. Weights jack and nill and is something that has multiple uses beyond just something to sleep under. You can also get some really good silnylon tarps from several places or used on many occasions that are light as a feather and pack down into nothing at all.
I spend around 60 to 70 days a year in a sleeping bag in between summer camping/scouting/fishing to hunting season trips from overnighters and longer and this works for most of where I hunt and fish (pretty much same climate as your PA area still in the App Mountains). If you hunt or camp in a area that gets more rainfall a good tent may be higher on the list.
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