Esker Multi-Tent For Family Fall Hunt Basecamp

Hunting season is underway in many WMU’s here in Ontario, and like many families this fall, we too, headed out into the beautiful backcountry of Northern Ontario. As first-generation hunters, we’re hoping to pass this tradition down to our kids, who may one day decide to also harvest their own food. With small kids tagging along, this trip was more of a trial run experience—than actually hunting. While the kids aren’t quite old enough to participate in hunting, (or stay quiet enough) having them staying at the basecamp for the experience of this yearly tradition, was a great steppingstone, and opportunity to teach them about the land, how to find and identify animal tracks, and staying safe during these trips.

Taking small kids into the woods without the luxuries we use every day, during colder weather, seemed a bit daunting at first, but I knew we needed to be confident in our set up & gear to ensure that this trip was successful. The Esker Multi Tent was an excellent choice for a basecamp, not only did it keep us toasty warm during freezing nights, but it also streamlined the process of setting up our temporary home in the heart of the boreal.

With the new stainless-steel ring at the peak, we opted to utilize the ridge line setup instead of a centre pole. While a centre pole itself doesn’t take up a ton of room, by removing it, it opens up the interior of your tent with more free space. For us, this reduced a fair number of hazards. More free space meant, there was a nice buffer around the stove, and also reduced the possibility of our tent centre pole accidentally getting knocked over during bedtime zoomies, or kids touching / pulling at it.

With the option to include outer poles for the side walls, set up was quick and easy. Lines also didn’t have to stretch out across our entire campsite to the trees, and we were thankful for the reduction of tripping hazards, and the increase of open space around our tent.

• Avoid trees that have obvious decay, or dead branches.
• Avoid placing lines above bird or animal cavities. These are usually hollow and with the added weight from the tent, could cause it to give way, ruining your setup.
• Sitting your ridge line in a V instead of straight across, from tree to tree, reduces the possibility of it sliding along the ridge line in the wind.

Having a solid basecamp to return to after walking in the woods, always felt like a warm welcome. Quickly firing up the wood stove to get the Esker Multi-tent toasty warm, and hanging our mittens, toques and blaze orange up on the interior drying line in preparation for our next outing. Without the use of the centre pole, we were able to put our trusty cooler to use as a table to gather around and check out the new additions to the kids rock collection, and chat about what we saw and heard around the camp that day. “How big were those moose tracks!” “Did you hear the Whiskey Jacks calling?”

As the years pass, we’ll reminisce about this trip-- how many neat rocks she found, and watching her try to match the stride of the moose tracks on the trail. Taking our young kids into the backcountry, was not without its own challenges and lessons, but the Esker Multi Tent insured we always had a warm, and safe place to land. These are memories that we’ll keep near to our heart, with the Esker Multi Tent being our home away from home on this trip, and all future trips to come.