3 Hunting Trips & 1 Year in the Cybertruck

[IIIEnforcerIII]

Well, Fall is now over and that means my hunting is done for the year. Brought back 1 deer and 2 elk for the season. It made me reflect a bit on the last year with the truck--and using it for hunting specifically.

Overall, it worked. But just barely. I've been trying to think of ways to make this truck work for hunting in my spot for years as I waited. I imagined up all the same power station and solar combos many others have. But they are a ton of money and take up lots of space. Here are my thoughts after a hunting season under my belt with it.

My problem is that I hunt central Idaho--near Mt Borah and Arco, Idaho. I also have a cargo trailer I've built out to camp in. My 300 mile range gets cut to about 120 miles while pulling the trailer and gaining elevation like that. There is a hokey charging station about 85 miles into the trip. Its only a 125kw charger buts its all there is in the middle of nowhere and one of only a few that the govt put in with all that money for charging infrastructure. So.....super happy it exists at all. But we have to stop and charge there for 60-75 minutes to get 100% before continuing on. We go another 50 miles and turn off the paved roads and then its 1-2 hours on slow, rocky, nasty roads. Range anxiety might not be too bad on well-used highways, but for us hunters and explorers its very real.

Instead of expensive solar setups, I took my 4750 harbor freight inverter/generator on each of the 3 hunts. With its 30amp output (only 23 or so usable without tripping the charger), I can get 5-6 miles per hour running. So in the evenings, I'd run it for a couple hours. Kind of obnoxious (quiet solar would be better). The cold nights would sap away 15 miles by morning, but at least I was keeping up with the drain. Then before leaving, we ran it for 3-4 hours as we packed up and relaxed a bit. It worked, but just barely enough to get us back to that same charger with 10-15 miles to spare.

Thoughts after nearly 1 year plus 3 hunting trips.

• Love driving it. mostly a commuter.
• People mostly accept it......now.
• Tech is great. Systems & Software are amazing.
• Space was good. Love having the higher bed panels which allows you to cram more in the bed and still keep it covered.
• One one trip (September) I even spent 1 night in the bed with the cover cracked open. Definitely was cold at night, but turning sideways a little was doable in a pinch.
• Loved the air suspension and being able to raise when needed.
• Glass roof I would sacrifice for $$$. I thought it would be cool in the mountains. But it mostly didn't help the view. Only saw a reflection of what is inside the truck. If that adds $1000 or 2000. Its easily take that money instead. My son-in-law nearly cracked it accidentally gettingin the truck hitting the barrel of the gun on the ceiling.
• 4-wheel steering is great, but I wish they hadn't done it. Nice and nimble, but my F150 was fine without it. If its another thousand or two, I would have taken that off the price gladly as well. Plus more expensive parts to go bad and worry about messing up.
• Spare tire is a pain. Have to take up most of the bad with it, plus a beefy floor jack, tire iron, and inflator. If Rivian could find a way to package on in a smaller truck, I think Tesla could if they had wanted to.
• Truck performed well over the nasty terrain. Was able to digitally "disconnect" trailer so I could raise the suspension even with the trailer on to avoid some dips and spots where I would have drug my tongue.
• Sure wish we could connect the truck to satellites for way off grid trails.
• Another problem with the glass roof is no grab handles. From my older mom that I take around some times, to just getting in easier and taking weight off the seat edges, to off roading. Its just unimaginable that a truck doesn't have handles. If an updated truck came out today with no other feature besides that, I would seriously consider it for that one thing alone. When you're on a rocky trail, the driver is fine with the wheel, but anybody riding is just sloshed all over the place. Its terrible.

Still happy I have it, but if there is a re-design with a larger battery or some correction to some of these things, I'd be open to a trade up. I'll attach a few pics of the hunt for those that appreciate that kind of thing.

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[Hookalakupua]

Blah, Blah, Blah… For those of us that still have another month before our winter hunt starts, how about some real important information like bow/rifle, distance, the stock, time glassing, and field dressing! We need to live vicariously through you and most importantly… how did you draw all 3 tags!

Joking aside, completely understand the “hunting range anxiety” as I’m usually in the Jarbidge Wilderness south of you in Nevada, north of Elko or in the Colorado Rockies. Both of which are deep multi camp hunts and I have yet to figure out a great solution as well.

Congrats on the hunt as that truly puts a smile on my face!!

 

[mcm4ss]

I think you nailed it. I got away from the glass roof issue a bit by getting a powered shade for back there and then I put a sunshade from the front window above it. Pain but man I was paranoid about that glass. I also got a bigger generator. Champion makes one, Harbor Freight has a nice one. Yeah, the 2k was an ouch but it gives me a full charge at camp in 2 hrs (from 30-40% and only going to 80% while I hunt). I used solar and me Ecoflow Delta Pro 3 for collecting solar during the day. Not worth that charge but I keep up on heat and whatnot during the night nice and cold. We don't have a single charger between us and our hunt. Nothing. It sucks. I won't take it next year. I will still rock the Jeep but wanted to share. And last thin,,,, 5 of us hunting didn't shoot a thing. We now Vegetarians!! Nice harvest.

 

[BenlovesCT]

Hey man congratulations on the success. You are a true hunter. I'm more a boomstick hiker myself.

I just wanted to add my two cents. The four wheel steering definitely helped me get out of sticky mountain side situations where precise 3 point or more turns have been required to get out of a dicy situation. The cameras help sooooo much.

Thanks for the tip on the generator. Maybe I'll get adventurous enough to try it. Luckily I have many superchargers near where I hunt. That made a big difference for me when the range came out as around 500 km vs 800km promised. I'm basically 50 to 100 km away from a supercharger at all times. However *I* don't eat Elk unless I buy it from the store.

Everything else you said is spot on. The glass roof isn't necessary imo as well.

How did you keep the wheel caps on? That's brave! When I did a test drive I lost a wheel cap and I'm running the small hubs.

 

[dalton108]

Range anxiety might not be too bad on well-used highways, but for us hunters and explorers its very real.

Truer words have never been spoken!!!! Try as I might, the truck just isn’t capable of doing the things that I want to do off-grid within even 100 mile radius of where I’m at let alone out farther, where I really want to be!

Until somebody solves the range issue/remote charging infrastructure it’s a no go. I really hope and pray that Scout gets their Terra Harvester situation off the ground and in my hands on target with the 500 miles EM initially promised.

I don’t prefer using my FJ any longer (the CB has too many killer features) but using the CB for these types of applications is like using a laptop in 1989! You could do it— nominally, but it was going to be pricey, frustrating, and you weren’t going to get much done before you needed to plug-in.

 

[jeffrey2z]

Well, Fall is now over and that means my hunting is done for the year. Brought back 1 deer and 2 elk for the season. It made me reflect a bit on the last year with the truck--and using it for hunting specifically.

Overall, it worked. But just barely. I've been trying to think of ways to make this truck work for hunting in my spot for years as I waited. I imagined up all the same power station and solar combos many others have. But they are a ton of money and take up lots of space. Here are my thoughts after a hunting season under my belt with it.

My problem is that I hunt central Idaho--near Mt Borah and Arco, Idaho. I also have a cargo trailer I've built out to camp in. My 300 mile range gets cut to about 120 miles while pulling the trailer and gaining elevation like that. There is a hokey charging station about 85 miles into the trip. Its only a 125kw charger buts its all there is in the middle of nowhere and one of only a few that the govt put in with all that money for charging infrastructure. So.....super happy it exists at all. But we have to stop and charge there for 60-75 minutes to get 100% before continuing on. We go another 50 miles and turn off the paved roads and then its 1-2 hours on slow, rocky, nasty roads. Range anxiety might not be too bad on well-used highways, but for us hunters and explorers its very real.

Instead of expensive solar setups, I took my 4750 harbor freight inverter/generator on each of the 3 hunts. With its 30amp output (only 23 or so usable without tripping the charger), I can get 5-6 miles per hour running. So in the evenings, I'd run it for a couple hours. Kind of obnoxious (quiet solar would be better). The cold nights would sap away 15 miles by morning, but at least I was keeping up with the drain. Then before leaving, we ran it for 3-4 hours as we packed up and relaxed a bit. It worked, but just barely enough to get us back to that same charger with 10-15 miles to spare.

Thoughts after nearly 1 year plus 3 hunting trips.

• Love driving it. mostly a commuter.
• People mostly accept it......now.
• Tech is great. Systems & Software are amazing.
• Space was good. Love having the higher bed panels which allows you to cram more in the bed and still keep it covered.
• One one trip (September) I even spent 1 night in the bed with the cover cracked open. Definitely was cold at night, but turning sideways a little was doable in a pinch.
• Loved the air suspension and being able to raise when needed.
• Glass roof I would sacrifice for $$$. I thought it would be cool in the mountains. But it mostly didn't help the view. Only saw a reflection of what is inside the truck. If that adds $1000 or 2000. Its easily take that money instead. My son-in-law nearly cracked it accidentally gettingin the truck hitting the barrel of the gun on the ceiling.
• 4-wheel steering is great, but I wish they hadn't done it. Nice and nimble, but my F150 was fine without it. If its another thousand or two, I would have taken that off the price gladly as well. Plus more expensive parts to go bad and worry about messing up.
• Spare tire is a pain. Have to take up most of the bad with it, plus a beefy floor jack, tire iron, and inflator. If Rivian could find a way to package on in a smaller truck, I think Tesla could if they had wanted to.
• Truck performed well over the nasty terrain. Was able to digitally "disconnect" trailer so I could raise the suspension even with the trailer on to avoid some dips and spots where I would have drug my tongue.
• Sure wish we could connect the truck to satellites for way off grid trails.
• Another problem with the glass roof is no grab handles. From my older mom that I take around some times, to just getting in easier and taking weight off the seat edges, to off roading. Its just unimaginable that a truck doesn't have handles. If an updated truck came out today with no other feature besides that, I would seriously consider it for that one thing alone. When you're on a rocky trail, the driver is fine with the wheel, but anybody riding is just sloshed all over the place. Its terrible.

Still happy I have it, but if there is a re-design with a larger battery or some correction to some of these things, I'd be open to a trade up. I'll attach a few pics of the hunt for those that appreciate that kind of thing.

Did you have the Low Power Mode on? I use that at my camp while I’m charging and it seems to avoid the power drain even when the temp goes down into the 30s.

 

[joshjack]

You mentioned connecting the truck to satellites for way off grid venturing - you can with a Starlink Mini. You can roof mount the dish and connect the truck to it's wifi. You can even use the wifi for yourself while camping. Very low power draw.

 

[pricedm]

Yes, charging in Idaho and rural America is challenging.

Solution: Supercharger voting is live for 2025Q4. VOTE!!!

--> https://www.tesla.com/supercharger-voting/overview

@IIIEnforcerIII Rivian bed is not as deep, that's how they made room for a spare tire under the bed floor.

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

Blah, Blah, Blah… For those of us that still have another month before our winter hunt starts, how about some real important information like bow/rifle, distance, the stock, time glassing, and field dressing! We need to live vicariously through you and most importantly… how did you draw all 3 tags!

Joking aside, completely understand the “hunting range anxiety” as I’m usually in the Jarbidge Wilderness south of you in Nevada, north of Elko or in the Colorado Rockies. Both of which are deep multi camp hunts and I have yet to figure out a great solution as well.

Congrats on the hunt as that truly puts a smile on my face!!

Here is the sad part. None of the 3 tags were mine! My brother's deer tag, my son-in-law's cow tag, and my bro-in-law's cow tag. I went 0/4 on draws.....again... Used a 308 mostly. One of us had the 6.5 Creedmore but didn't get a shot. All between 250-300 yards on the shot.

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

Hey man congratulations on the success. You are a true hunter. I'm more a boomstick hiker myself.

I just wanted to add my two cents. The four wheel steering definitely helped me get out of sticky mountain side situations where precise 3 point or more turns have been required to get out of a dicy situation. The cameras help sooooo much.

Thanks for the tip on the generator. Maybe I'll get adventurous enough to try it. Luckily I have many superchargers near where I hunt. That made a big difference for me when the range came out as around 500 km vs 800km promised. I'm basically 50 to 100 km away from a supercharger at all times. However *I* don't eat Elk unless I buy it from the store.

Everything else you said is spot on. The glass roof isn't necessary imo as well.

How did you keep the wheel caps on? That's brave! When I did a test drive I lost a wheel cap and I'm running the small hubs.

So glad to see other outdoorsmen and hunters going through the same struggles. Most people around me in that group point and laugh. But I love being on the front of trying these new things and new uses. I know probably most CT owners probably aren't, but I'm glad I'm not alone. Next year, I may try a larger generator. Not sure. Wish I could get solar to work well while I was away from the hunt, but I don't see that happening for less than about $4-6k depending on what you go with.

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

I think you nailed it. I got away from the glass roof issue a bit by getting a powered shade for back there and then I put a sunshade from the front window above it. Pain but man I was paranoid about that glass. I also got a bigger generator. Champion makes one, Harbor Freight has a nice one. Yeah, the 2k was an ouch but it gives me a full charge at camp in 2 hrs (from 30-40% and only going to 80% while I hunt). I used solar and me Ecoflow Delta Pro 3 for collecting solar during the day. Not worth that charge but I keep up on heat and whatnot during the night nice and cold. We don't have a single charger between us and our hunt. Nothing. It sucks. I won't take it next year. I will still rock the Jeep but wanted to share. And last thin,,,, 5 of us hunting didn't shoot a thing. We now Vegetarians!! Nice harvest.

So you let the generator run the whole time you're out? Not sure why, but that makes me nervous. Guess that would totally beat the "collect solar" while gone with lots of expensive and large panels plus solar generator. I've never had a problem in my 3 hunts and probably 10 uses of the generator to charge. Maybe I could leave it going and just let it run out and die when it ran out of gas. Maybe fire risk is what I'd be most worried about leaving a running engine unattended?

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

Did you have the Low Power Mode on? I use that at my camp while I’m charging and it seems to avoid the power drain even when the temp goes down into the 30s.

I need to look again where that is. I saw it was a new feature, but I haven't used it. I just notice that whenever I see the blue snowflake and it tells me that once the truck cools, the range will be lower than it says when its warm. I DID notice that sometimes after charging for an hour when it was cold, instead of gaining the 5-6 miles, it would have gained like 10. So I think the miles aren't 'lost', but rather you get some of that back when its warmed up again and appears to add miles faster to make that up.

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

You mentioned connecting the truck to satellites for way off grid venturing - you can with a Starlink Mini. You can roof mount the dish and connect the truck to it's wifi. You can even use the wifi for yourself while camping. Very low power draw.

Yah, I just meant without starlink. Since the truck connects on its own anyway, I wonder why they don't just use their own satellite network to do this and detach from the cell towers and existing networks they use now to connect the truck.

 

[IIIEnforcerIII]

Yes, charging in Idaho and rural America is challenging.

Solution: Supercharger voting is live for 2025Q4. VOTE!!!

--> https://www.tesla.com/supercharger-voting/overview

@IIIEnforcerIII Rivian bed is not as deep, that's how they made room for a spare tire under the bed floor.

Wow, the top 30 are mostly Turkey and Portugal. Europe is going crazy!

 

[pricedm]

Wow, the top 30 are mostly Turkey and Portugal. Europe is going crazy!

I did my part and voted for Salmon, ID and Stanley, ID. Sure would be nice to be able to use my Cybertruck on a Middle Fork Salmon trip

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