How to Set Up the Hunting Camp

The first thing to do before setting up any hunting camp is to ascertain whether camping is permitted. Most camps for hunting big game will be located on public lands such as the National Forests where camping is generally open to the public.

In certain areas, however, and especially during a dry season, portions of such public lands are closed to camping, or have restrictions imposed. It is well to learn of these in advance from the nearest agency office. If a camp is to be set up on private lands, then permission must be obtained in advance from the landowner.

A hunting camp should be pitched near but not within a game area so that the noise of camp activity does not frighten away the animals. This is especially important when hunting elk and other species which spook easily. An elk camp should not be placed closer than a mile from where game is known or thought to be, and there should always be a high ridge or a hill between.

WATER AND WOOD

The two basic necessities for any big-game camp are a suitable supply of water and ample firewood. In the habitat of the larger species of big game, the water problem tends to solve itself. Moose, elk, caribou, and grizzly country is normally watershed country where rivers and lakes are born. In such country there is usually ample fresh water. Moreover, the water found in high mountainous country has not been contaminated with sewage and pollution and is safe and pure. Higher country is largely wooded country, and the problem of firewood is easily solved. Most of the wood there will be pine, fir, spruce, and aspen.

Wood for the fire doesn't mean simply nearby timber. It means dry and standing timber. Down timber is no good as it takes up moisture from the earth. Attempts to use it result in ninety per cent smoke and ten per cent heat. A short walk into nearby timber will show whether there is dry wood, and whether it is handy enough to be dragged to camp or snaked with a horse.

Camps set up for hunting mountain sheep and goats, which range above probable water and above timber, likewise are set up below the game habitat, both to keep from alerting the game and for the convenience of wood and water.

For hunting whitetails in brushy country, mule deer in lower sagebrush country, and game such as antelope in semibarren desert areas, the problems of water and wood become more acute. Often the hunter has to camp close to the game, take what wood is available (such as sagebrush, willows, etc.) and haul his water supply along with him.

Incidentally, for purely desert hunting, there is no better way of hauling water than to bring it from the last available source in the 10-gallon milk cans dairy farmers use. These cans are rugged, galvanized against rusting, and watertight. On desert hunts it is often best not to depend upon any available wood, except for occasional warming fires, but to use artificial fuel such as gasoline. A sagebrush fire is a two-hunter fire—one to find fuel and one to stoke, in case you haven't tried building one.

SELECTING A CAMPSITE

Choose a campsite close to the water supply and as close as possible to dry wood. The sandy beaches or shore lines of mountain lakes, so long as they are well above waterline, often make good campsites. So do the points of small promontories overlooking a creek or lake. The edge areas where timber meets meadow, small elevated river bars, or small humps of semi-open land near timber are suitable campsites if water is handy.

In each instance, camp should be set up on some kind of elevated ground. This insures that the earth will be comparatively dry, and that sudden storms won't drown out a camp by draining water under it. For this reason, it is never wise to camp in gully bottoms, however attractive they seem to be. Flash floods in mountain and desert country can suddenly send awesome amounts of water through such gullies.

If at all possible, the camp should be set up in a small clearing to let in sunshine and lessen fire hazard. In a clearing there are no trees to drip on gear after a rain or snowstorm. And a camp in the open is easy for hunters to find as the tents may be seen from a distance. Also, breezes can blow through a clearing, diminishing the insect problem.

With these basic conditions satisfied, if it is also possible to have level ground for the tents, so much the better. However, small dips and un-evenness in the ground often can be fixed with a bit of elbow grease and a shovel. Check for level ground by filling a pan nearly full of water and setting it down on a stove or table. If it runs over one side, you will know it isn't level.

PITCHING CAMP

Once having chosen the campsite, the first thing to do is unload the pack animals, if you are packing into a hunting camp. It is a cardinal sin to allow any pack animal to remain loaded for even a few minutes once it has reached its destination.

The next thing to do is to get a tent set up. In the mountains, storms come up out of nowhere and can saturate people and gear in minutes unless dry storage space is provided.

Miner's tents are pegged down at all four corners and their tops tied to the crosses of two shear poles (dry standing jackpines or large willows make good shear poles), and the poles stood erect.

A baker tent is pegged down at the rear; the flap for its open front is placed over a ridgepole set upon two sets of shear poles, stretched taut and tied. Often one end of the ridgepole can be attached to a standing tree. This eliminates any need of guy ropes to keep the shear poles from wobbling sidewise.

There are several ways of setting up a wall tent. In every case, the roof must be held solidly on a ridgepole and the guy ropes must be solidly anchored. The bottom edge of the tent also must be pegged down securely to prevent wind from entering and heat from escaping.

The ridgepole should be straight, if possible, and as light in weight as is consistent with strength. Snowstorms in big-game country often deposit several inches of wet snow in a matter of hours, and this weight must be supported by the ridgepole.

In big-game hunting camps, the wall tent can be pitched with a ridgepole supported by two sets of shear poles and guyed with ropes front and back. The guy ropes often double as clotheslines.

One way of supporting the ridgepole is to cut it exactly the length of the tent, cut two upright poles 8 inches longer than the tent is high, and nail the ends of the ridgepole into the tops of each upright. Set the bottom ends of the uprights 8 inches into the ground at the exact middle of each end of the tent, stretch the entire tent over this pole arrangement, and tie it solidly down all around.

This method should only be used where a ridgepole of greater length than the tent can't be found. It has the disadvantage of having an upright pole right in the middle of the front opening, where someone is always bumping into it.

A better way is to use a ridgepole about 3 feet longer than the tent. Cut a small hole in the ends of the tent at each apex just under the roofs center line. Run the ridgepole through these holes, allowing it to extend 18 inches at either end. Put the heavy end of the ridgepole at the tent's front where there will be the greatest strain. Next, tie together two sets of shear poles and slip them under the ridgepole at the front and back of the tent, raising the tent to its maximum height. Spread the shear poles so they form an inverted V and stand firmly on the ground.

The pyramid tent, suitable for mild weather, can be supported by a single pair of shear poles.

With the ridgepole and shear poles in place, the side ropes are tied down tightly, and the tent will support itself due to opposing strain on the ropes.

Ropes from the tent's roof may be tied either to long stakes driven into the ground at a suitable distance from the tent, or to horizontal poles tied at suitable height either between two trees or solidly set stakes.

Lastly, the tent's bottom is pegged down through the sewed-in loops. Pegs are made on the spot from small lengths of limbs, pine splits, or sharpened poles. So are any necessary stakes. For light tents such as the tepee, good tent pegs are 12-inch timber spikes, available at any hardware store. Such pegs will go easily into frozen or rocky ground, where wooden pegs could not be driven, and come out as easily.

Before setting up any tent, wind direction should be checked by watching treetops for movement, or wafting cigarette smoke.

Tents should be pitched with their backs to the wind to keep wind and storm from blowing in the front opening. Campfires should be built so that smoke blows away from all tents. Sleeping tents should be set up behind or at the sides of the main wall tent—traffic is always heavy in front. Ample room for traffic should be left around all tents as toes have an affinity for tent ropes. Many a camper who has asked "Where's Henry?" has been greeted with the reply, "He's settin' out back there, talkin' to a tent rope."

A most useful addition to the main tent is a "fly." This is a large tarp about 14 by 16 feet in size which is thrown over the ridgepole and guyed down, leaving a space between fly and tent roof for insulation in hot weather and protection against rain. Set high off the ground, a fly may be used as a temporary cooking tent, but it is perhaps most useful as a place to store anything from boxed food to baled hay.

In tying guy ropes, the tyro usually employs overhand and slip knots. These are fine except that when wet they are difficult to untie. Better knots for tying rope to any kind of pole or stake are a clove hitch or a double half hitch. The end should be left under the hitch in a loop. To untie, give the end a yank and the knot comes loose.

The final chore in pitching a tent is to dig a trench around it. The trench is shoveled to a depth of 5 or 6 inches, and the end ditched away toward lower ground. Rain or melted snow will drain away from and not under the tent.

 GARBAGE PIT AND LATRINE

A garbage pit and some form of latrine are necessary for sanitation. Both should be downwind and downstream of the camp, the latrine the farthest away, in a clump of trees if possible.

The garbage pit is simply a hole dug in the ground. Tin cans, empty bottles, vegetable peelings, and food scraps are all heaved into the pit. A thin layer of dirt spread on top each day over the accumulated refuse is the best guarantee against flies around camp. When camp is broken, the entire pit is filled and covered.

Camp latrines are of different kinds, depending upon the permanence of the camp and the availability of transportation. The simplest is a long smooth pole, anchored at toilet-seat height between two trees, with its middle over a dug hole in the earth. A better one consists of a folding box which stands rigidly upright when set up, with a holed top for a seat. Privacy is afforded by wrapping a large canvas tarp around four available trees, or high stakes driven into the ground. Commercial latrines are available with folding seats, disposable plastic bags, and erectable "houses" of tubing and canvas to surround the sitter.

CAMP FURNITURE

Camp furniture is always a problem in big-game country. Most all of it must be designed and built on the spot of available materials. Exceptions are folding camp cots and alforjas boxes. The latter can be joined together and do service as a table. Also, wooden orange crates which serve as grub boxes going in, nailed together three or four high can become respectable camp cupboards.

Sleeping bunks may be made at camp. Two 3-foot logs are sawed for each bunk. Onto these, laid lengthwise, slender poles such as 3-inch jack-pines of 6-foot length are laid edge-to-edge, then nailed to the crosslogs. The outside poles should be about 5 inches thick and serve as "rails" to keep the air mattress, sleeping bag, and sleeper from rolling off.

Where tent height will permit, double bunks can be made by using longer crosslogs and attaching their ends to four upright poles set solidly into the ground.

When sleeping bags must be laid directly on the ground, place dry grass or a thin layer of hay under them. When such material is un­available, a tarp or sleeping bag cover should be used beneath the bag to insulate against cold and absorb ground moisture.

There are available today light folding tables which are hinged in the middle and may be horse-packed to camp. They are small and wobbly, however, and clumsy to carry as a top pack.

Better ones can be made at camp if three 1 by 12 boards 5 feet long are hauled along. A frame of pole legs and side rails is built of available timber, then the three boards nailed on top. For solidity, the legs may even be set into holes dug in the ground.

A better table, requiring the same legs and frame, has a top made of slats and canvas. This top, made at home of course, is constructed of two layers of light canvas which are laid together and seams sewed across their width every 2 inches. Wooden laths slide into each of the pockets formed by these seams. The result is a flexible table top which may be rolled up for carrying. At camp, it is simply unrolled upon the table frame.

A simpler top can be made entirely of small-diameter saplings laid edge-to-edge lengthwise on the table frame. The main trouble with this kind is that nothing ever stays upright on it except dishes and cans with large bottoms.

A handy washstand can be built just outside the tent by nailing two short sticks on opposite sides of a large tree. The sticks, which may be flattened with an ax to fit the tree better, extend parallel to the ground like arms and a board or pole surface is nailed or lashed across them.

In grizzly country, food should be stored on a high platform, here built on the sawed-off stumps of trees.

An even simpler stand for a washbasin is made by driving three sharp­ened stakes solidly into the ground, with their tops far enough apart so that when spread a bit they will fit under the rim of the basin.

Chairs are always a problem in a big-game camp. Canvas folding chairs may be hauled along, but are seldom strong enough for the hard use hunters give them. Permanent hunting camps solve the problem by having a large plank table built with benches on both sides, like the tables at public picnic grounds.

At most big-game camps, a length of log is sawed off squarely at both ends and used as a chair. Log chairs can be improved by nailing a short length of board across the tops of two logs, making a short bench for two people. Usable stools can be made by spiking a piece of board to the top of a log of small diameter—like the old milking stool farmers once used.
In trimming off the branches of trees in the camp clearing, leave limb butts of 3 or 4 inches on trees near tents for use as hooks for hanging dishtowels, bow saw, packboards, and clothing.

Two of the most useful items to take along are a small sack of nails and a small roll of baling wire. The nails should be assorted and vary in size from 6-penny to 16-penny. Ordinary baling wire, or "Mormon buckskin," is the best.

Tables, beds, chairs, and cupboards can be nailed together, and hangers for all kinds of gear can be made by driving single nails part way into trees. Wire can be used for clothesline, lantern hooks for the ridgepole, "doodle hooks" for the Dutch oven, and for toggling up the joints of log tables, chairs, and bunks.

Here are some additional suggestions: Make sure that no dry trees are left standing which may fall on tents or people during a storm.

Clear away all grasses and shrubbery from around the tents—they are a fire hazard.

If there is a tall tree in camp, have the youngest member of the hunt­ing party shinny to the top and tie on a large piece of white cloth, such as a dishrag. Such a beacon is often visible for miles in hunting country, with the aid of binoculars, and saves hunters from getting lost.

Make doubly sure that all fire is out in the tent before leaving camp. In addition, always tie down all tent flaps when leaving camp. The combina­tion of untied flaps, fire in the stove, and the sudden appearance of wind has caused many a fire in camp—often hours after the hunters have left.

Cover all food supplies to protect them from animal pests. This applies also to hung quarters of game meat.

The things a camper can do to make his hunting camp more convenient and enjoyable are numberless. Often it is a simple little thing such as digging out the spring so that the water bucket will dip without muddying it; or making a small spout by chopping a V channel into a wooden slab and setting it in the creek so that a pail may be set under it and easily filled.

Each time the camper goes afield he learns something new. And all the beginner needs to know are the fundamentals—his enthusiasm will take him from there.

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