Danehunter
Well-Known Member
Just back from a doe mule deer hunt near Nevada's Mt. Moriah, in the Hendry's Creek canyon.
My second camp was at 8,125 ft. on Hendry's Creek in a spectacular canyon. At 74 I gotta say it was a gut buster of a 5,000 ft. climb with a 55 lb. pack/rifle combo from my 1st camp. But still it was a beautiful hike.
That night a front moved in with very high winds almost all night. My tent, a Tarptent Moment DW solo tent, was very secure with no flapping since I had it guyed out and staked down well.
I awoke to a calm dawn and hunted until 9 AM then came back to camp had a nice hot breakfast of hot chocolate and instant oatmeal. Around 10 o'clock, after breakfast clean up chores, I re-tightened my tent's lines and it began to sprinkle and then gradually rain steadily. I got my rifle and myself in the tent and was forced to stay there for the next seven hours as the rain literally poured without letup. Lunch/dinner at 3 PM was three whole wheat "sandwich rounds" with potted ham, cheese & mustard, some jerky, a fig breakfast bar and some energy drink - all done inside my tent, which kept me perfectly dry.
Finally at 5 PM the rain stopped but I could still hear something on the tent fly. Snow! Oh well, I was above 8,000 ft. and it was late September in N.E. Nevada.
So I headed down the mountain the next day to where I had heard a yearling bleating on the hike up. As I neared camp 1 it began to rain, again! So, with a soaked tent I decided to call off the hunt and head home. "Wait 'til next year!"
Once home I rinsed my tent off in the bathtub, a ritual I've developed after a backpack. Then I put the tent inner body in the tub with Granger's wash-in DWR (durable water repellant) treatment.
After drying it in my backyard I sprayed it with Tectron DWR for good measure. This was to keep condensation from the inside of the fly from wetting the inner tent.
Every trip has its lessons. I was well prepared for this one but, as Dirty Harry once said, "A man's gotta know his limitations." Misery of another rainy, tent-bound day was not my idea of fun. Hunting in the cold, 40 F. rain, only to return to a damp tent was not enticing either. Besides, deer bed down in the rain and are even harder to find.
Eric B.
BTW, on my way to Ely, NV the day I drove home I was caught in a blinding snowstorm for about 15 minutes. The mountain tops were all snow covered and soon there were a few inches of snow along the highway. September snow, who'd a thunk it?
My second camp was at 8,125 ft. on Hendry's Creek in a spectacular canyon. At 74 I gotta say it was a gut buster of a 5,000 ft. climb with a 55 lb. pack/rifle combo from my 1st camp. But still it was a beautiful hike.
That night a front moved in with very high winds almost all night. My tent, a Tarptent Moment DW solo tent, was very secure with no flapping since I had it guyed out and staked down well.
I awoke to a calm dawn and hunted until 9 AM then came back to camp had a nice hot breakfast of hot chocolate and instant oatmeal. Around 10 o'clock, after breakfast clean up chores, I re-tightened my tent's lines and it began to sprinkle and then gradually rain steadily. I got my rifle and myself in the tent and was forced to stay there for the next seven hours as the rain literally poured without letup. Lunch/dinner at 3 PM was three whole wheat "sandwich rounds" with potted ham, cheese & mustard, some jerky, a fig breakfast bar and some energy drink - all done inside my tent, which kept me perfectly dry.
Finally at 5 PM the rain stopped but I could still hear something on the tent fly. Snow! Oh well, I was above 8,000 ft. and it was late September in N.E. Nevada.
So I headed down the mountain the next day to where I had heard a yearling bleating on the hike up. As I neared camp 1 it began to rain, again! So, with a soaked tent I decided to call off the hunt and head home. "Wait 'til next year!"
Once home I rinsed my tent off in the bathtub, a ritual I've developed after a backpack. Then I put the tent inner body in the tub with Granger's wash-in DWR (durable water repellant) treatment.
After drying it in my backyard I sprayed it with Tectron DWR for good measure. This was to keep condensation from the inside of the fly from wetting the inner tent.
Every trip has its lessons. I was well prepared for this one but, as Dirty Harry once said, "A man's gotta know his limitations." Misery of another rainy, tent-bound day was not my idea of fun. Hunting in the cold, 40 F. rain, only to return to a damp tent was not enticing either. Besides, deer bed down in the rain and are even harder to find.
Eric B.
BTW, on my way to Ely, NV the day I drove home I was caught in a blinding snowstorm for about 15 minutes. The mountain tops were all snow covered and soon there were a few inches of snow along the highway. September snow, who'd a thunk it?
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