[The Reaper]

Originally Posted by kletzenklueffer

I'm curious about how SF goes about staying warm and dry when on a mission, or even just out hunting.

To lay some foundation for the direction of my question I want to relay an incident that occured recently.

My son and I were camping just north of Camp Frank Merrill (Rangers for those that didn't go thru there) in NE Georgia. The Rangers were doing some amush training and such and we were camping a mile north of them. A group of instructors were just up the hill from us and I talked to them about my son and I shooting at our camp. I wanted to find out when they'd be wrapping up as I didn't want to cause any issues with other gunfire while they were doing their thing. He said that the guys in training would be coming along in about :15 and that he'd appreciate it if we gave them :30 to clear the area, so we waited :45 just to be safe. So we did our shooting, had dinner and got in the tent to sleep around 10pm. At 11:45 I work up hearing someone walking right by the tent. I was groggy, but it was either two guys walking by, or one walked past and then came back by again. I sat up quietly, clicked on my night vision and unzipped the tent and scoped the area and saw no one. I might have been 30 seconds from the time I woke up til I unzipped the tent, and that's an eternity at night, on foot. So I didn't sleep worth a crap that night. (Now that I think about it, maybe that's where my REI french press coffee cup went missing!).

At first I thought it might have been some Rangers doing some night navigation, but I talked to a Ranger buddy and he said they never trained only a couple guys at a time, that it's either all or none.

so whether it was someone that came down the road, saw our tent and bugged out, or someone looking for free stuff, I decided I ddn't want to sleep in a tent anymore.

So I've been working on a lean to setup that is light to carry, fits in my backpack and can provide some elemental protection. This particular night was 67 degrees, but I much prefer to camp while hunting when it's in the 20's or thereabout. So I have considered pup type tents, lean to's, or just a ground sheet and open air. One thing I've decided on is to stay out of the middle of frequented campsites. I'd much rather sleep out of the way and if I wake to someone in the area, to have a chance of seeing them first, instead of being walked right up on top of. We'd have been screwed if it was a malicious type. There's just no fast way out of a tent and it offers no protection except from bugs.

So I'm interested in ideas on how this issue can be avoided while still staying warm enough and dry enough to enjoy the trip.

You guys got anything?

50% security in the patrol base at all times, Ranger.

TR