Bivy or Basecamp?

[mburrows]

Curious what most people do for backpack hunts.  Do you pick up camp each morning and bivy out or use your shelter as a basecamp.  There are pros and cons to both but I was just curious more than anything.  What factors determine whether you hunt with your camp on your back or not? Do you prefer to have your camp at a higher elevation than you will likely be hunting or lower elevation than you will likely be hunting?  I ask this question with elk hunting in mind where glassing isnt a huge point of emphasis.

Most of the time we set up our shelter as basecamp near a water source and will move after a couple days if needed for whatever reason.  To be honest I dont think weve ever really consider whether our camp should be below or above where we would be hunting.

[boneaddict]

Bivy is my base camp.   From there I will coyote out.

[Okanagan]

Too many variables for one set answer, but you are exploring excellent ideas for serious hunting.  Go prepared to do either.  I like to hunt with enough stuff for a minimal bivy and have often made the decision whether to go back to base camp during the last hour or two of the day.  If I'm a long/steep hike from base camp and want to be back at the same spot at first light, I may bivy instead of returning to camp.

For some high hunts, a good plan is to hunt and bivy wherever you are at dark for two or three days without returning to base camp.  I have bivied a few times right on a good spotting scope location and even bivied where I could expect to shoot from come daylight.   Usually in such places it is better to ease back from the ridge line or edge break and bivy in a more protected spot and walk a few yards to the view spot before daylight. Higher than game is usually better, but on the other hand, there is no sense in climbing some places unless you KNOW a shootable critter is up there.   

Personal comfort with being alone, plus how much sleep and shelter systems you need also drive the answer as to whether to carry enough to stay out or go "home."  I carry a minimal pad to insulate from ground cold, no sleeping bag and several tear open hand warmers to keep me warm through the night, but I sleep well on a hard deck.  An insulating layer, neck gaiter, stocking cap and beathable outer shell are essential, but you will be wearing or carrying them anyway.

[sirmissalot]

Its nice to have both. A lot of my trips end up being long weekends, so its usually one or the other. If I have time its nice to pack into a base camp with my sawtooth (or maybe a wall tent) then bivy from there, or at least leave camp with intentions of doing so. Weather has a lot to do with it, and so does the hunting area you are looking for. Sometimes you're just covering ground, looking for bears or trying to local bulls, and sometimes you are waiting out a buck in a specific drainage. It just depends on the situation, but in my opinion prepare for both. This weekend while bear hunting I'll mostly be hunting from a base camp, bear hunting and over looking a big berry filled hillside. That will change though if the berries aren't in there

[mburrows]

Thanks for the replies.  The idea of leaving camp each day prepared to sleep wherever we land that night if needed is super appealing, drop a little weight at  base camp and start logging miles to locate animals.  Covering ground as much ground as possible is going to be a priority. We've only really had time to drive around the area we will be hunting in as its about a 13 hour drive to get there.

Good luck this year!

[buglebrush]

For me it really depends on where I am going, and more importantly how long I will be out there.  If I am going for just a couple days I will almost always just carry camp on my back.  If I am going to be out there for 4+ days I will always have a base camp, but may carry enough for one extra day always with me in case I get into elk far from camp, and want to stay right there. 

[sirmissalot]

For me it really depends on where I am going, and more importantly how long I will be out there.  If I am going for just a couple days I will almost always just carry camp on my back.  If I am going to be out there for 4+ days I will always have a base camp, but may carry enough for one extra day always with me in case I get into elk far from camp, and want to stay right there.

Agreed. Having the ability to lay down and sleep wherever you end up reduces your limitations greatly.

[Shawn Ryan]

Both when out for a week plus.  SL4 and stove is base camp and paratarp or just bivy on some nights. Just depends on what the elk dictate. Versatility is key. Being able to be on elk early when it's hot is crucial as is sleep. So walking several hours in the dark to get to elk sucks.

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[badnewskruse]

quick question, what is bivy?

[Fl0und3rz]

Bivouac.  Typically in reference to a bag that you sleep in without other tent or tarp.

[JimmyHoffa]

I just go with a small tent.  Bivy is so constrained, and trying to get in and out while it is raining sucks.  With a tent, I can hang a light and fix gear, bring rifle and boots inside.

[Okanagan]

Bivouac.  Typically in reference to a bag that you sleep in without other tent or tarp.

Accurate definition, but it is often used in a broader way simply as a shorthand word to mean spending a night in the woods, usually with minimal gear at an unimproved campsite that was not selected until late in the day.

I don't carry a full feature bivvy sack but sometimes will take a minimal Bibler sack meant to slip over a sleeping bag.  It is thin material and goes in a stuff sack smaller than two fists.  It is a windbreaker and water resistant shell which probably adds 10 degrees of warmth without a sleeping bag.  But most of the time I carry only a minimal thin pad and a minimal lightweight tarp I made.

Carrying stuff while hunting creates diminishing returns as its weight and especially its bulk increases.  Carrying very much stuff degrades free wandering hunting into backpack slogging.

A problem with tents and tarp-tents is the pre-shaped footprint they require, plus their weight and bulk.  Thinking back I recall sleeping on a game trail once and a forest service trail three times over the years as the only reasonably level spot on steep ground, and way too narrow for any tent footprint.  Have slept on the uphill side of large fir trees several times on steep slopes, to keep from sliding down during the night, in a goat bed where the top of a talus slope met a cliff face, under a rock overhang several times,  etc.  Each of our styles is different and OK.  Mine puts me too often in places where a tent footprint simply will not work, so I carry a minimal tarp which is infinitely configurable to terrain reality.  For such bivvy nights, burrow into existing cover and supplement what is there with your minimal gear.

If you don't sleep well you won't hunt well.  Some people cheerfully can't do this kind of bivvy-out hunting and that's OK.  Some need more gear than others.  I'm only good for a few nights of minimal bivvy before I need a good meal and a good night's sleep at a more full service camp or vehicle.  An afternoon nap in the sun will help.  But it is well worth it to spend one such night in a spot where dawn will find me in place to shoot a bull or buck! 

Good luck this Fall.

[ganghis]

I usually leave some extra clothes and food hanging up in a central location (maybe a stove too) and go from there with a bivvy sack, real light weight but insulating pad, light weight sleeping bag, dry food (pilot bread, dry salami, power bars, gorp), and requisite hunting gear.  You don't want to find a great spot and then deal with having to navigate over steep terrain in the dark to get there.  That said, I rarely get a good first nights sleep in my bivvy... kinda feels like sleeping in a sarcaphogous open to all manner of attack by lions and bears (or getting stepped on by a deer... honest that almost happened once)

[cbond3318]

I have a full blown Base Camp for Elk hunting. Deer hunting, camp is on my back and depending on the time and weather, camp is anything from an old rain fly from a large tent, a 2 man light weight tent, bivy sack or a good spot under the stars.

Even when elk hunting , I have the means in my day pack to lay down and spend the night. A lot of the time my wandering puts me in a place that hiking out and back in in the morning would do more harm than good...

[huntnfmly]

I use to sleep out under the stars as a kid for years during hunting and camping trips until I woke up one morning and seen bear  tracks that showed it walked right over my head since then I use a tent with a floor.I still get a little nervous thinking about it