Another willow dome

[John-W-WI]

Yesterday we built a dome at one of Jake's friends house. He and his buddy were trying to use the dome for the "base" of their hunting game they were playing. We had to toss them out until we were done building :) This one turned out really well, once we get a little rain, it should be off to the races!

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-John

 

[jlonll]

Yesterday we built a dome at one of Jake's friends house. He and his buddy were trying to use the dome for the "base" of their hunting game they were playing. We had to toss them out until we were done building :) This one turned out really well, once we get a little rain, it should be off to the races!

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-John

Keep us posted.

 

[dipper]

Do u keep trimming it to keep it nice looking? I foresee those things getting pretty wild looking with vertical growth.
I want to play with a willow fence in my yard, but I'm just wondering if it's gonna turn into a wall after a couple years?

 

[scott44]

I could see these as a hunting blind, not for a rainy day but with a couple shooting holes it'd be like a permanent pop up.

 

[Jim Timber]

Any updates on the ones you did last year?

 

[tooln]

Any updates on the ones you did last year?

Yea I'd also like to see a pic of the one you made last year.

 

[Bill]

Those things do look cool.

Just ordered some cutting to start an arbor leading into the woods. Since there 12 inch cuttings it won't be an instant arbor like that is an instant dome. Once their up and I tie them together I'm not sweating the vertical growth. Might look cool if it does go up and you can walk through/under it.

 

[John-W-WI]

I have (2) domes in my yard.. One from a couple years ago and one from last spring. They have both exploded with growth this year, but I've been putting off doing anything with them until I was done with spring foodplots and tree planting.

We finished the beans yesterday, so food plots are done until August.

I have another screen and dome to plant this week, then I'll give the willow domes from previous seasons some attention.

I'll post pictures here.

Thanks,

-John

 

[John-W-WI]

Here is the one I planted last spring, it's really taken off and needs a hair cut!

For reference, this is what it looked like in the spring of 2014:

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Here are a couple of shots from last weekend:

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And here's what it looks like after I gave it a haircut (they always look a little rough, in a week or so it will look a lot better):

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[John-W-WI]

I have another dome to clean up but haven't finished it yet.

-John

 

[bat man]

How much to build one of those? Be wonderful to have in spots you could pop a ground blind up in.

 

[John-W-WI]

The full kit for an 8' diameter dome is just over $600 - that's everything you need to build it.

You could buy 12" cuttings and grow your own rods (about 3 years to get 8' rods) for <$25

I hope to try planting a 'blind' this weekend. I tilled an area for it, just need to plant it.

-John

 

[bat man]

About half the blinds sold sit in a field until the sun or snow destroys them. You have to let the deer grow accustomed to them for max effectiveness. Several domes would alllow a guy to pop 1 blind up where he wants to hunt that sit.

But $600 is way too steep.

 

[John-W-WI]

About half the blinds sold sit in a field until the sun or snow destroys them. You have to let the deer grow accustomed to them for max effectiveness. Several domes would alllow a guy to pop 1 blind up where he wants to hunt that sit.

But $600 is way too steep.

Good idea bat man.

$600 is steep, but its a lot of work to put a full kit together.

The $25 12" cutting version would be much more cost effective :)

-John

 

[bat man]

Good idea bat man.

$600 is steep, but its a lot of work to put a full kit together.

The $25 12" cutting version would be much more cost effective :)

-John

If you just stuck the cuttings in a 7 foot circle could you just pop a blind in them 2 or 3 years later with no maintenance?

 

[John-W-WI]

If you just stuck the cuttings in a 7 foot circle could you just pop a blind in them 2 or 3 years later with no maintenance?

They would need to be planted through a ground cover, and protected somehow to keep the deer from eating them. But after that, yep, pretty much plant them and forget them.

I think I would use one of the hybrids rather than regular willow cuttings. You wouldn't care if the circle had a roof would you? Sounds like your idea is to put the blind inside the circle of trees?

-John

 

[John-W-WI]

Here's a time-lapse video I did of one of the domes we built this spring: