What’s the best tent for your backcountry hunting trip of a lifetime?  While that’s not something you need to worry about as we provide shelter for you on your hunt with us, we would like to cover it for your own thoughts and hunts.

The first question you need to ask yourself… Am I going to be hunting early season or all season in to winter conditions?  If you’re only looking for an early season tent with mild rain storms you have quite a few options.  If you’re looking for something to withstand a blizzard, now we are getting more specific.

There are a few things you can look at for an early season shelter that might make your trip more enjoyable.  First, when they say “2 person tent”, this usually means 1 person.  A 2 person tent is usually comfortable for one person and their gear.  If you are in nice weather and keeping some gear outside is an option, you can sleep two in these tents which is what they are referring too.  If you get any sort of rain though and don’t have a spare tarp or vestibule, you might sacrifice getting some gear wet with two.

Next, do you want an ultralight tent or maybe even just a tarp pitched with a trekking pole?  Or do you prefer a tent with a floor and lightweight mesh to help with keeping some unwanted bugs away?

A few good early season tents to consider

• Big Agnes Copper Spur UL1 and UL2
• MSR Hubba Series
• Kifaru Para Tarp
• Marmot Tungsten Series

Now on to late season tents / shelters… Here is when you need something to keep the heavy downpour off, wind and maybe some warmth even.  Hilleberg is one of the premiere names that comes to mind when thinking about 4 season shelters.  They are extremely tough and built to withstand the conditions.  A lot of these tents are double wall tents with an interior liner which helps keep condensation down and off your bag and gear.  Another viable option here is the Kifaru Sawtooth or tipi.  The nice thing with these shelters, even though they are floorless which means you need to trench the outside to make sure water doesn’t enter, is the fact they can be paired with a lightweight stove!  Yes, that means backpacking and having a stove you can setup to build a fire inside the tent for warmth to dry gear and withstand the conditions. One downfall, these are single wall shelters.  That means they can get condensation and require you to properly vent the tent to help eliminate that.  When the stove is going it will help keep the condensation at bay which is a plus.

Late season tents to consider

• Any Hilleberg
• Kifaru Sawtooth
• Kifaru Tipi
• Mountain Hardware Trango 2 or 3

Once again these are just tents that we would consider for your backcountry hunt.  There are NUMEROUS brands out there with great tents.  We have had great luck with these and have served us well.

If you have any questions regarding shelters or more in-depth info feel free to get in touch with us!