You are absolutely right and tent camping or sleeping in the back of the truck have their own positives. That said we hunted the month of November in MT and ND last year and tent camping would have been a no go at my age. And my marriage would have also been a no go.
The ice fishing thing in a deluxe ice castle has a very similar ring to it. When someone goes out to their ice castle to drink beer, watch satellite TV, and sleep out there overnight with a couple rattle reels down, that's not really fishing anymore even though a lot of people still refer to it like that.
Ha, sounds familiar. My wife says she would go camping with me as long as it was in a camper, parked on concrete and not to far from a bathroom and shower!!
I have a generator for electric blanket if need be.
Tent camping is really rough!! You have to be dirt poor to do that. Thumbs down!!
Ya its not for me anymore either. The Boundary Waters Canoe Area (BWCA) in northern MN here is a very wild and scenic location where people must put in for a lottery to draw a campsite to enter. You have to bring everything you need and haul it all back out. Canoes only. People love going there though, and they all "rough" it for days on end.
Oh Goose you of all people criticizing someone for not spending money and roughing it. Weren't you the one who claimed to drink Hamms, a mass market swill if there ever was one. I personally try to do one flyout hunt a year with minimal gear, try to keep around a 100 pounds a person. I used to do 50 pounds when I was younger for sheep hunting. Lately we have gone to bomb shelter tents and cots quite comfortable. Freeze dried food, water filters, etc. all have improved over the years. My wife even has gone on some of those trips, but that stopped 30, maybe 40 years ago. I can still get up in the morning and put on frozen boots but let's just say padding around the trailer in bare feet is much more enjoyable and it keeps my marriage intact. Tent camping is great, especially when you are young and perhaps newly married. Money has nothing to do with it.
I've heard of the boundary waters canoe trip.Tent camping has never appealed to me.Rv camping is ok for a few days,then it gets old.
Dustin pretty much describes the trailer we've used for the last 8 years. It is a Nash "23D", total length about 32ft from hitch to bumper. Weighs just over 7,000lbs fully loaded. Four season rated. We've been out numerous times when it was below zero. I don't recommend it, but the trailer will handle those temps. I usually travel with my wife and two labs. Pull it with a 3/4 ton Chev Duramax but it would easily pull with a 1/2 ton. We've traveled from North Dakota to southern New Mexico chasing birds over a fall/winter. We are just closing out NM quail season today. When you want to move, you do. No hassles. There is a lot of "free" dry camping in New Mexico and Arizona, but we generally find a small, rural RV park that we are comfortable in. Before the trailer we had no choice but motels, many of them not very "nice" but they allowed dogs and put up with hunters. I still do that if I am only going to hunt for a few days, but the trailer makes for comfortable, movable hunting for longer trips. We like having our "home" on wheels, as do the dogs. We wouldn't go back to motels/airbnb or similar for anything over a very short trip.
Wow, that's a haul.
Been there a couple times, real good times. One year it got in the 20s over night and my arm fell out of my sleeping bag. I thought I had frost bite really bad but my arm fell a sleep and I couldn’t feel it. Gotta make your own firewood not a stick to be found at those campsites.
North Dakota (and some South Dakota towns) has quite a few towns that have town-owned/operated RV parks that we've found to be comfortable and affordable, though usually they've had to shut their shower facilities down by the time bird season rolls around. Also, some of the impoundments (lakes) built by the COE have camping facilities and if it is COE land it is open to hunting (check to make sure there aren't local closures). We've also found some state wildlife areas in ND that allow non-impact camping in parking lots for those areas. Some are limited to certain days of the week. In South Dakota we've found their State Park system to be the best and most comfortable. Clean restroom/shower facilities and friendly staff. Water, electric and dump stations open year-around. In many, there is open hunting on state wildlife areas very near and in some cases adjacent to the park. Every park employee we've met has been a hunter, so they are comfortable having hunters and dogs around. We've also found hunter-friendly towns in both states that will allow you to park a trailer in a ball field parking lot or similar as long as you are self contained. Do some research and call either their Chamber of Commerce or local city offices and you'll be able to put together a great hunt itinerary in either or both states.
and looking at town, county and state parks as possible base camps. Late in the season did you have any problems finding places to refill fresh water and dump tanks?