Tips on desert camping

[NVDesertHunter]

I have an archery pronghorn hunt starting August 1st this year. Planning to camp out for 9 days and mainly sit water sources.

Other than the obvious "bring plenty of water, ice, spare tires and gas", I wanted to ask if anyone has tips/advice to make sitting in 100F playa dust tolerable.

One idea is bringing a small portable fan with a cooler filled with frozen water in the blind to create a mini swamp cooler.

thanks,

 

[mevertsen]

Number one, you shouldn't be in playa dust to begin with.

Antelope will likely be at all elevations, so find yourself a nice place to camp near a little creek to help keep things cool.

Plan a break day to go and get ice and water refilled.

As far as sitting in a tent on water hole in the open sun, nope. I say do spot and stalk to avoid cooking your brains. Haha.

I really dont see a way your cooler plan would be remotely feasible, without a lot of water, ice and power. May as well park your camper at the water hole.

 

[nrpate05]

Shade! Also, don't camp in a wash. If you get any rain, they can fill up quick depending on where you are. Ask me how I know...

 

[Chama Grande]

Shade, breeze, and bug netting. I tried to sleep in my truck camper and at night I got to choose between hot heavy gross air or bugs so I didn't sleep for a few days way out on the NM prairie.

 

[ccc23454]

Tent with basin preferably with cot! Choose camp spot wisely: look for small holes in dirt, pieces of feces, webs and anything else that could of been made by something that creaps or crawls. Spiders, snakes, scorpions and new one for me last season swams of rats.

 

[dan.kirkpatrick]

i have used a couple of lith ion battery powered cooling fans that can be recharged back at camp at night,,have used a couple off of amazon that do run a pretty long time in the blind,maybe add a misting sprayer for more cooling when needed.

 

[Khunter]

As for camping, hunt dawn till dusk which means you, “camp” very little. So treat planning how you “camp” as a very low priority to worry with. I have a NV archery lope tag this year too. As with last archery antelope tag in NV and some other state archery tags in the past I may well never pop a tent up over a week if hunting to ‘camp’ at all. and just toss out a cot next to truck or sleep in the back of the truck (no topper) and sleep under the stars wherever I end the day and warm up dinner then go to sleep, wake up and make coffee/Bfast in the dark and hit the road to hunt at dawn. If rain is unlikely I never set a ‘camp’ when antelope hunting as I am spot and stalk hunting every day moving where the goat lead me and prefer not to add unnecessary driving to/from a camp that may end up no where near where the day ends and the next begins.


A few typical lope hunts:

1. WY 2020 3 days two archery and one gun lope killed, 3 nights never set up a ten opr a blind
2. NV 13 years ago, 7? days hunting slot on a cot next to track every night ne veer necessary a tent
3. AZ lope 10? years ago 7? nights not tent needed, slept on a cot next to truck.
4. NM antelope in 2019, 4 nights on a cot under stars a few nights in brothers slide in camper.
5. And there are more lope hunts similarly lacking a “camp”
6. Maybe I am just lucky but never been eaten alive by bugs that I recall when camping al fresco on lope hunts.

You do not need shade for your ‘camp spot’ if you are doing it right and are hunting lope in daylight.

What I usually experience is bluebird weather and precious little rain in archery antelope season. i bring a tent just in case but

1. If you want to have a ton of fun scratch the idea of sittiing water all day in a blind and do spot/stalk and decoy. In an area with lots of lope you will have a ton of action and fun.

 

[Jnasa]

Sometimes a bandana or other type of neck wrap you can dip in cool water can help a little.

 

[David58]

Shade! Also, don't camp in a wash. If you get any rain, they can fill up quick depending on where you are. Ask me how I know...

Some of the most intense rain I have ever seen was in NV in the summer...DO NOT camp in an arroyo. Might not happen, but it might. Camp high.

David
ID

 

[NVDesertHunter]

Sometimes a bandana or other type of neck wrap you can dip in cool water can help a little.

great idea! thanks

 

[NVDesertHunter]

As for camping, hunt dawn till dusk which means you, “camp” very little. So treat planning how you “camp” as a very low priority to worry with. I have a NV archery lope tag this year too. As with last archery antelope tag in NV and some other state archery tags in the past I may well never pop a tent up over a week if hunting to ‘camp’ at all. and just toss out a cot next to truck or sleep in the back of the truck (no topper) and sleep under the stars wherever I end the day and warm up dinner then go to sleep, wake up and make coffee/Bfast in the dark and hit the road to hunt at dawn. If rain is unlikely I never set a ‘camp’ when antelope hunting as I am spot and stalk hunting every day moving where the goat lead me and prefer not to add unnecessary driving to/from a camp that may end up no where near where the day ends and the next begins.


A few typical lope hunts:

1. WY 2020 3 days two archery and one gun lope killed, 3 nights never set up a ten opr a blind
2. NV 13 years ago, 7? days hunting slot on a cot next to track every night ne veer necessary a tent
3. AZ lope 10? years ago 7? nights not tent needed, slept on a cot next to truck.
4. NM antelope in 2019, 4 nights on a cot under stars a few nights in brothers slide in camper.
5. And there are more lope hunts similarly lacking a “camp”
6. Maybe I am just lucky but never been eaten alive by bugs that I recall when camping al fresco on lope hunts.

You do not need shade for your ‘camp spot’ if you are doing it right and are hunting lope in daylight.

What I usually experience is bluebird weather and precious little rain in archery antelope season. i bring a tent just in case but

1. If you want to have a ton of fun scratch the idea of sittiing water all day in a blind and do spot/stalk and decoy. In an area with lots of lope you will have a ton of action and fun.

This is really helpful thanks. I plan to sit water the first few days but bought a cow pop up blind just in case. The last thing I want to do is spend 14 days in a blind like we did in AZ

 

[nomadicbohunk]

I used to work a lot in the desert doing field work. There's nothing like trying to sleep at a place at or below sea level in like 95 degrees in August after hiking 20 miles.

Some pro tips:

I like being covered by something. Go get some worn out to heck sheet and sew it into a sack if you're the same way as me. It trapped heat, but I slept better. If I'd have had money, I'd have just used mosquito netting or something.

A cot in the bed of a pickup can be grand.

If you set up near water beware of rattlesnakes in the night. Serious. 14 in view of the truck at night is my record.

A uv charging light for ice fishing works great for looking for scorpions during midnight pee runs. I'd run the uv light then the regular one to make sure I was ok in my flip flops.

A guy I worked with welded up an awesome hammock holder. He'd throw a piece of tube iron in the stake holder that he welded a hook on. Then he had something similar he'd drive into the ground with a post driver with a hook on it. He'd hand his hammock between the two and sleep naked. Good times. A hammock beats everything else for hot weather sleeping and I don't like hammocks.

Milwaukee makes some great fans that work off their batteries. Another pro tip: If you try charging them off an electric/hybrid car's inverter and it has a brain fart, it can suck all the juice out of them and brick the batteries you're charging. It happened to a friend of mine.

 

[Khunter]

This is really helpful thanks. I plan to sit water the first few days but bought a cow pop up blind just in case. The last thing I want to do is spend 14 days in a blind like we did in AZ

I need a cow decoy, if that is what you meant given how early we hunt in NV....

 

[Khunter]

I used to work a lot in the desert doing field work. There's nothing like trying to sleep at a place at or below sea level in like 95 degrees in August after hiking 20 miles.

Some pro tips:

I like being covered by something. Go get some worn out to heck sheet and sew it into a sack if you're the same way as me. It trapped heat, but I slept better. If I'd have had money, I'd have just used mosquito netting or something.

A cot in the bed of a pickup can be grand.

If you set up near water beware of rattlesnakes in the night. Serious. 14 in view of the truck at night is my record.

A uv charging light for ice fishing works great for looking for scorpions during midnight pee runs. I'd run the uv light then the regular one to make sure I was ok in my flip flops.

A guy I worked with welded up an awesome hammock holder. He'd throw a piece of tube iron in the stake holder that he welded a hook on. Then he had something similar he'd drive into the ground with a post driver with a hook on it. He'd hand his hammock between the two and sleep naked. Good times. A hammock beats everything else for hot weather sleeping and I don't like hammocks.

Milwaukee makes some great fans that work off their batteries. Another pro tip: If you try charging them off an electric/hybrid car's inverter and it has a brain fart, it can suck all the juice out of them and brick the batteries you're charging. It happened to a friend of mine.

Serious pro tips!

 

[rjthehunter]

I was in a wedding a couple of weeks ago. Saw one of these for the first time and borrowed it for a few mins to try. They work surprisingly well!!!

https://www.amazon.com/ASNUG-Bladeless-Rechargeable-Personal-Adjustable/dp/B0BL7BBS4N/ref=sr_1_4_sspa?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.2kcL1sHT0rPuDUxyiwnlzlDnIULpwZwfO8uHr_JUYlgi2xO9qgiwuw4UV6SKvEq5GnRG_zxebIL7GDmJDiD2hCMNU1zyIZvB0Ngumupvc9YVICu3QwalgZfna2hLC8vKqSxDGCOih0psOK4riaNVwsBPM40jRJdgpEd5lAdekr5XCnH79SEUrzOKL7jGUK1xHdOIIi7mOJNiQX_xBQDOfBHy1bwYaVdrSL5WaeTL1qX88jWQOxmurUZkGB5m2DRaJJf0IzIOU0Htj3r22v3Hh4fda5Xq7TxHdQ24cRe_3ys.oTHEgbS05MQLhpdr2if9UKLW5h5bEkH2WfxUER6g6Qs&dib_tag=se&keywords=neck%2Bfan&qid=1751482031&sr=8-4-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9hdGY&th=1

 

[NVDesertHunter]

I need a cow decoy, if that is what you meant given how early we hunt in NV....

Yeah, I'll have a video guy with me so the bigger cow decoy (vs. a pronghorn decoy) will hopefully conceal us better.

 

[perma]

Do not leave your boots on the ground, and sleep in the truck or in the bed of your truck.