Hunting Camp Must Have’s For Staying Comfortable at Camp

Every hunting camp is different, but across all of them, you will find a few items that a camp just can’t function without. On top of those, there is plenty of gear that you would be smart to bring along during a cold hunt. Unfortunately, you will either overpack and bring way more hunting gear than you need, or underpack and be pretty cold at night until you figure out your perfect formula. If you want to avoid some of the mistakes I have already made over the years figuring out my formula, make sure your hunting camp has these 10 winter essentials.

Snow Peak Alpha Breeze Tent

The core of every hunting camp is a place to sleep, most commonly, a tent. If you are going to be in camp for a while, having a larger tent will make your trip more comfortable, especially at night. The Snow Peak Alpha Breeze Tent is roomy enough for multiple hunters and works well when you don’t want to lug around a full-size outfitter tent.

The Snow Peak Alha Breeze tent is a three-season, four-person tent. It weighs 24.2 pounds, and has a 73-inch (6 foot 1 inch) peak height, so some of us can stand up in the center of it. It also has a door on each side, making it easy for multiple people to access it without getting in each other’s way.

Snow Peak High Tension Cot

The ground is a major heat sink, so even with a good tent and sleeping bag, you need some way to separate yourself from it when the temperatures drop. A cot is an excellent way to do that, and the Snow Peak High Tension Cot is one of the most comfortable cots on the market. Plus, it saves storage space in a cramped tent, allowing you to store gear beneath it.

The Snow Peak High Tenson Cot is designed to create tension in the fabric relative to your weight distribution. So instead of being a stiff board-like surface not too dissimilar to the ground, you can have some warmer custom comfort that gives in all the right places.

Exped Comfort 15F Sleeping Bag

For any hunting trip that involves setting up a camp, a solid sleeping bag is essential. No matter how great your tent or cot or any of your other gear is, if you have a subpar sleeping bag, you are going to get cold at night. The first thing you want to check is the bag’s temperature rating, then you want to add 10 degrees to make sure it will keep you warm.

One good example is the Exped Comfort Sleeping Bag. It is a 15-degree (Fahrenheit) bag, so add 10 to make it 25 degrees, and if you plan to camp in 25 degrees or warmer, this bag would be ideal. This bag is also packed with other awesome features like its extra wide cut hood, draft collar, dedicated triangular foot box with additional down-filled baffles, and much more.

Kodiak Battery-Powered Heated Blanket

If you want some extra warmth after a cold or wet hunt, a battery-powered blanket is a game changer. Having something that produces heat instead of just retaining heat close to your body can warm you up quickly and make otherwise miserable hunts fun again. Plus, you can use it in conjunction with a solid sleeping bag. If you put your boots and the heated blanket in your sleeping bag, your boots will be nice and warm for the early morning hunt.

The Kodiak Battery-Powered Heated Blanket is one of the best outdoor heated blankets that I know of. It can provide up to three hours of continuous heat on the maximum heat setting. Plus, its battery pack can also charge your phone or other devices, and the blanket even comes in camo!

Jetboil Flash

Setting up a whole camp kitchen is often overkill for smaller or mobile hunts. A small portable cooking system like the Jetboil Flash is ideal for most hunters. The newest model can boil water in just 100 seconds! That is incredibly quick and makes cooking that morning coffee, soup, or dehydrated meal much quicker. Plus it also has a thermochromatic color-change heat indicator to let you know when the water is ready.

The whole setup, excluding the fuel canister, weighs just 13.1 ounces. The small fuel canister weighs 7 ounces, while the larger one weighs 13.4 ounces. Altogether, you still have a blazing-fast cooking system that weighs less than a couple of pounds. Plus, it comes in a ton of colors, even camo.

Nebo Mycro Headlamp

A good flashlight is essential for any hunting trip or camp. You can only light up so much of your camp with lanterns, so having your own personal flashlight is a good idea. Making that flashlight a headlamp frees your hands up so you can get more work done around camp too.

One solid light for the job is the Nebo Mycro Headlamp. It has four brightness modes, getting up to a maximum of 400 lumens, known by Nebo as “Turbo Mode”. This is super bright at night and is more than enough to see at camp or to find your way to and from camp before and after hunts. Plus, it is rechargeable and extremely small, making it easy to wear on your head and to carry in a pack.

Helinox Chair Zero High Back

Bringing a lightweight chair with you can be a great idea. If your camp takes some walking to get to, those giant chairs you take to local ball games are not going to be the easiest thing to carry in. Something like the Helinox Chair Zero would be much better. They are comfortable to sit in, and only weigh a single pound! Compare that with a typical 7 to 14 pound outdoor foldable chair.

The Helinox Chair Zero High Back is a little taller and more comfortable if more back support is important to you. Plus the high-back version only adds 8 more ounces to your overall weight. Overall, these are great to keep around camp or on your pack during an all-day hike.

Jackery 1000

Even on my shorter hunts, I still like to bring a reliable battery bank. Keeping things like your phone, headlamp, or two-way radio charged is essential for the safety of your entire hunting party. Something like the Jackery 1000 is big enough to keep the whole camp running if it needs to. It has a 1070-watt-hour capacity, three 120V AC ports, USB A/C ports, and even a 12V DC port. You should enjoy the outdoors and disconnect as much as you can but do not underestimate the value of a Jackery when you need it.

Shade Stopper 100W Folding Solar Panel

For all the items we have already talked about that have batteries, having some way to charge those batteries would be nice. A solar panel is just about the only way we can reliably do that in every hunting camp. If you pair this with a battery bank, you can lay out a solar panel to charge the battery bank during the day while you are hunting, and by the time you come back that evening, it will have enough juice to charge your electronics all night.

One fan-favorite solar panel for the job is the Shade Stopper 100W Solar Panel. It is more affordable than Jackery options, and they claim that “In real-world conditions, we will always generate more power than any other panel.” They are also super durable, and the whole setup weighs 11.53 pounds, so this is something you will want to leave in an established camp.

Mr. Heater Portable Heater

If you want to be the most popular guy in your tent, you could bring a portable propane heater. These are a bit heavier, around 14 pounds without fuel, so if your camp is tough to get to, you may leave this at home. Although some of these portable propane heaters are made to work in tents and can make yours much warmer at night.

The Mr. Heater brand has a few safety mechanisms like a tip-over sensor and low oxygen sensors that will keep you safe from any hazards associated with it. Just opening a flap in the tent to allow a little extra ventilation will be enough to allow this heater to run all night and keep your entire tent much warmer during those grueling hunts late in the year.

Related Hunting Gear

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3. Hunting in Cold Winter Months? 10 Great Ways to Stay Warm in Your Hunts