At the ranchito I have rather rustic lodging, a 50yo 24' Coleman travel trailer, no electricity and no running water. I use batter powered lighting and a propane Heat Hog for heating. If a little stuffy, I can run a battery powered 10" Ozark Trail fan. Use ice chest and propane driven stove top for any cooking out there. For bed, use a 6', twin, battery powered blowup mattress. Have all the essentials covered, in terms of wants, wouldn't mind a 40" colored TV but last year stumbled upon some phone streaming apps, Spectrum TV, MAX, Netflix, Hulu and Prime Video which greatly enhanced my entertainment profile out there. Use charging blocks to run phone and entertainment. As I am generally only out there overnight during deer season, the weather temps are usually pretty tolerable; if too warm, I don't usually hunt.
What kind of accommodations do you have vs Want or need?

We had a nall Shasta camper. Ice box table folded down ta bed in front
Rear had couch that folded ta bed, above it was fold down bed(light).
Had a stove, if had electricity had a ceiling light. It also had a light run
off propain. Wife found it so she & kids could come ta first lease.
i had been using a jungle hamic. It stayed @ lease we were on.

We had 8 people sleep in it once.
Bro-in-law hus wife & mine were sisters. @ a campground wives
& the two girls (one each) slept in camper while guys (each had a son)
slept in tent. High winds & down pour had us all in camper.

@ WMA's slept in tent, enjoyed keeping it simple, kids/wife did too.
Spent many a nights along SBrive in jungle hamic or just an army cot.
Nothing fancy. Still enjoy roughing it @ this age. Just harder ta get up.

We wanted something we could travel in and camp, but also make a good base camp for the hunting seasons and last a long time. Bit the bullet and saved. This thing has helped bring us much joy and many adventures. I've also trimmed and packaged many a deer inside too.

Polar vortex in Maryland in 2014.


Near Niagara Falls last year.


Old pic, but has kept the kids comfy between hunts too.

I’m blessed to have a cabin where anything I could say I wanted, would just be nitpicking.

My wife would say an indoor bathroom ( we have a bathroom/shower house adjacent but it’s not “inside” the main cabin. I’m perfectly fine with the current setup

Mine are reversed the boy is older but that made me smile.

I hunt from the main house these days. Before that we had a 26’’ 1966 Airstream Overlander, which we used for maybe 20 years. Had it on many deer leases. Finally sold it for more than I paid. I’d have kept it, but it was finally needing a lot of work which I didn’t feel like doing.

Might not have bought it, but I made the mistake of bringing the wife along to look at it. The thing had a bathtub. Because of that, she had to have it, and she became my own camp follower. I went hunting and she went camping. It was great. She’d cook up a great steak and we’d have wine.

Love the Airstream pics, and have thought about one, but my drive to simplify kicks in and I don't want something else to take care of. The ranch has a simple 20ish year old 3/2 rock facade house and a metal barn with a small apartment and skinning rack. Everything we need. 'Could use a pole barn on a slab for the shade and occasional hail storm, but I can't come up with the right place to put it. I have way more than I deserve.

I have LOTS of good primitive camping equipment, from taking the kids camping, that just sits in storage bins. None of those now grown kids camp. I musta done something wrong. 'Hate to get rid of it in case I ever find that dream mule deer lease that's out back of beyond.

I'm there. I have all I need and a little more than I want. I have a twin sized bed in a clean, dry room that has heat and AC. You can get this done a lot more simply than most would realize. Most recently I have had a small building that I built myself, it was 78" wide by 11' with heat and AC. Next, I had a cargo trailer, and now the conex with the new bunk room built on one end. It's like 7' wide by 8' long. Clean, dry, electricity and heat. I'll add AC in the Spring by adding a window unit to the front wall of the build out. We have a kitchen cabin with everything so that makes it easier. NICE lodging is the last thing on my list of must haves on a hunting place.

As I get older, I am needing less and less for camping while hunting. We went from the big pickup/toy hauler and UTV for out of state hunts, to the motor home for me and my two usual companions (one is a girl, and needs a potty), and have now settled on our A-frame trailer for just the two of us. The wife is more comfortable with half day hunts anyway!!

Container


High country


Trail head(about to upgrade to either Supertramp or OEV

Used to hunt out of a 12x12 canvas tent with a kerosene heater. That was fine when I was younger and hunted alone with the dog. Wife hunts with me now so 10 years ago bought a 97 Jayco 26 ft thats been at the lease ever since. After a year of chasing leaks I sprung for a steel cover that’s worth more than the trailer. That made all the difference. We have electric and nonpotable well water. Would love to have a newer trailer but not sure how much longer this lease will last.

Have a 30 ft. fifth wheel that was bought number of years ago. Have all the good stuff, a/c and heat with connection to well water. There is a very old house on the place with bathroom, refrigerator and a fireplace. Two other hunters stay there.

Thank you, sir. I'm a blessed man, beyond what I deserve. She's now in college and he's 16 and driving, and they both have bucks on their bedroom walls. Where does the time go?

10 X 40 job trailer converted into living quarters. Love the central heat & A/C. Queen size mattress in the "master and two singles in the other bedroom. Got three belly dumps of white rock from Uvalde and Spunk came down with his skid steer to spread it.



Inside seen on here before. Now there's a gas stove in the missing piece area.

as I get older, my accommodations have drastically improved. starting out over 60 years ago in either an old army tent or hand laid rock building with no water or electricity, it was brutally cold in the winters. I moved up to a travel trailer with heat & air, decent bed, cooking facilities. My wife doesn't mind joining for a weekend here and there, especially when the grands can join us.

I harken to the14 years in the pasture along Medio Creek in the 18X24 hodge podged metal building. Lights run on a generator and gas for cooking and heating. Water hauled in and gravity fed with raised soap barrells. 3 sets of bunk beds and many a good meal cooked on the 55 gallon drum turned into a grill under the covered porch. The privy was handy and the girls will never forget the adventures there. Neither will I.

Pro tip - make sure you completely and thoroughly rinse out those old soap barrells.

I’m like PMK. Too damn old(81) to roll up in a blanket next to the fire like I’ve done in about a dozen states. I have also found that I prefer a 4 wheeler to a dang horse.

I have a white trash trailer house at my place with a shipping container to keep my 4 wheelers from getting stolen again.

My roughing it days are over.

This is what I have, what I want, and all I need.


I am only 61. Maybe when I get old I'll need or want the fancy stuff but until then I refuse to let the old man in when it comes to hunting.

Hey, you've got the same crappy Coleman lantern case that I have! (Far right.) It was just the other day that I said to myself that whoever designed that thing needs to be shot.

x2 yes they do. I still have one too.

I have a 20 foot container converted. 2 full and 2 twin beds, shower, and toilet. Very insulated, clean and comfortable. We do all cooking and entertainment outside so it's just for sleeping and staying dry. I would do this any place I hunted if possible.

I hunted Colorado in the SJNF in a little tent in 16" of snow while it thunder-snowed at night. I was too poor and stupid to know I was horribly uncomfortable. Now I hunt with my house as a base of operations.

For late season I role tee-pee and stove

<5lbs total. Titanium stove is game changer

My style these days.

Concrete shooting bench is awesome!