Assembling a Raised Box Blind

roymunson

5 year old buck +
Last saturday we had the labor force out in force. We had 2 blinds to put up, so we decided to get after it.
The fellas I hunt with are woodworkers by trade, so they know the math on a 6 sided blind. Everything was put together at the shop before we went down, so all we had to do was put things together.

Started about 6:30 AM

Turn the floor upside down and put 4 4x4s on. I got 8' sticks, but we had to trim a couple down to accomodate uneven ground.
Screws and a couple 3 1/2" lags in to hold the legs up. Then 1x3s for cross bracing.

PLATFORM LETS INSTALL.jpg

After that we went full "barn raising" on it and flipped it over to make it stand upright. So we had a platform on stilts.
PLATFORM LEGS.jpg


2 men on the platform and we started handing sides up to them. Screw the walls to the platform and to each other. Just before we sent up the last panel, we hand the roof up.

PLATFORM IS UP.jpg

PUTTING UP SIDES.jpg

The roof is 6 sided and covered in canvas with a 2x4 ring around it that'll fit snug outside of the walls.

THE ROOF.jpg

While the walls are being attached, the ladder gets put together with 2 bys and 1x3sLADDER BUILDING.jpgBLIND GOING UP.jpg
 

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We then pound 2 tee posts in beside 2 of the legs and use some garage door cable I bought in bulk at an auction to anchor the thing down.TEE POST.jpg
 
Takes some time to get everything together but we attach the ladder into a trap door entrance on the blind and the heavy lifting is done.

I circled back later and trimmed out the inside.

Window Trimming:
A couple pieces of bent and cut aluminum flashing for the windowsALUMINUM FLASHING.jpg

Next is the Drip Edge on the outside

DRIP EDGE WINDOWS.jpg

AFter that the windows with a couple of shims and stops to hold them closed and make them more or less scent tight. Plexiglass windows with a rubber weather stripping around the edges.WINDOWS WEATHER STRIPPING.jpgWINDOW OPENING.jpg
FINISHED WINDOWS.jpg

After the windows are done a couple small eyelets and 1/4" dowel to hang the blackout curtainsWINDOWS WITH A CURTAIN.jpg

I caulked the outside edges of the windows and used expanding foam on the joints between walls and floor/ceiling. Makes it a very tight blind, but if you sit in it all day with the windows closed, the CO2 will give you a headache.
 

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What you end up with is a dangerous concept for the deer on the property. This one is situated on the edge of a crop field that'll allow me to pop up the hill thru the woods and into the blind without boogering anything. It'll also let me get out quickly and painlessly after dark, once I get a strip of burlap around the base.

The view from in the blind
VIEW FROM THE BLIND.jpgVIEW FROM THE BLIND 2.jpg

And a deer's eye view of the finished product.

both blinds were erected by 9:30 am. I took my time trimming them out, but the old Amish saying is "many hands make light work"
FINISHED PRODUCT 2.jpg

The "grandpa and dad" of the guys who I hunt the property with is quasi retired from the furniture making business, so he makes these and I essentially get them at cost, plust I have to buy the pressure treated wood for the legs. He builds everything from scratch from the floor to the windows, to the roof.

We carpet the floor and it really quiets down the interior of the blind.
I am not a wood worker with this kind of detail. I can help run screws in for framing kind of things, but the detailed work is not something I'd do well.

Keep yourself from being backlit and you're in business.

Pretty blessed to have the friends I have and the property we have access to to hunt.
 

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That’s how we secure out shooting houses too…wired to t posts. They‘ve withstood winds that took down trees. Nice work!
 
Looks good,my Kansas wind pulled them T post right out though. I wen to setting a 4x4 about 2 foot up side so it couldn't start moving. Another good way is a cable straight down from center to trailer house anchor like they do on the red neck blinds.I also put pavers under the legs so they don't sink in.If you ever need the elevator brackets the cheapest place I have found is the Sportsmans guide.Are you painting them up?
 
Very cool project!
Good tutorial on the step by step too… nice to have friends with skills.
I’m like you, not a carpenter but OK with the remedial stuff.

I’m sold on the box blinds after putting ours up last year, beats the hell out of sitting in the rain and snow…keeps me in the woods longer too.
 
we've had a couple topple in the past when they weren't anchored down well, but we've done much better keeping them upright as of late.

as for the "finish saw" that dude was making miter style cuts to the top of the ladder with that saw. He's far more gifted than I am.
 
Looks good,my Kansas wind pulled them T post right out though. I wen to setting a 4x4 about 2 foot up side so it couldn't start moving. Another good way is a cable straight down from center to trailer house anchor like they do on the red neck blinds.I also put pavers under the legs so they don't sink in.If you ever need the elevator brackets the cheapest place I have found is the Sportsmans guide.Are you painting them up?
we generally don't paint them. the walls are smartboard and primed on the outside. They're usually seconds from a surplus supply place. On these, some of the panels had the insides flaking plywood down to a certain level. It was kind of annoying, but we scraped them, then once we'd "shaved" the outer part, the inner part of the plywood was fine. It was weird.

I could paint it, but the deer get used to it, so why bother? I killed my buck out of the exact same model last fall.

They're great for field edges and somewhere that you'd wanna either gunhunt and see a long ways, or, where they really prove their worth, is in a bowl or valley with swirling winds. You lock up in there during the rut and you're in the game. They've been a game changer for us. While I still prefer a stand, these certainly have their place.
 
Those look great. How does the canvas roofing hold up and where do you find it?
 
Looks great Roy. Lots of great hunts ahead!
 
Those look great. How does the canvas roofing hold up and where do you find it?
Canvas does well. Haven't wore any out yet. I think in the past they've been made of treated plywood, but I guess he went canvas on this one.

Not sure where he got it. But they have all sorts of contacts in the building materials world that they can find things like this.
 
Nice!
 
Looks great Roy! I was hoping to build one this year but with the current prices of lumber I will either wait till next year or see if I can get my friend to saw me up a bunch of rough cut stuff to do it. Do you know what the total cost was for the materials on this build by chance? And what is the inside floor space measurements? (so I can roughly duplicate if it is roomy enough for you and another in there)
 
Looks great Roy! I was hoping to build one this year but with the current prices of lumber I will either wait till next year or see if I can get my friend to saw me up a bunch of rough cut stuff to do it. Do you know what the total cost was for the materials on this build by chance? And what is the inside floor space measurements? (so I can roughly duplicate if it is roomy enough for you and another in there)
The building/box blind portion was $600 per blind, then legs and a ladder. So I'd say you're probably around $750 give or take. When you figure it that way, they're not that cheap, but if properly taken care of they should last 10+ years.

As for dimensions, I can stand up if I need to stretch my back and it's probably about 6' across. I can get 2 in pretty comfortably, but myself and 2 kids gets crammed.
 
The building/box blind portion was $600 per blind, then legs and a ladder. So I'd say you're probably around $750 give or take. When you figure it that way, they're not that cheap, but if properly taken care of they should last 10+ years.

As for dimensions, I can stand up if I need to stretch my back and it's probably about 6' across. I can get 2 in pretty comfortably, but myself and 2 kids gets crammed.
That sounds like the ideal size for me, at most it would be just my daughter and I. Great box blinds bud!
 
I've killed deer with my son, as well as assisted a buddy hunting, as well as 2 of us both with weapons trying to kill multiple deer a night. It gets chaotic in the blind when you're trying to maneuver quietly and shoot out of other windows, but man is it fun.
 
Nice shooter house and pretty country; hope you thump a big one out of it next season. Keep us posted.
 
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