Moving Deer Blinds

[SD51555]

I have the 42” forks and wish I had bought the 48” forks.....on more than one occasion. Anyway, if you look at the center of the lower frame ther is a cutout section where you can install or remove the forks. Simply remove them, invert them, and re-install. Easy, peasy, lemon squeeze. The forks attach the same way on either orientation but lack the locking slot when inverted . I just use a couple of c clamps.

I’m working at my land today and just moved two blings before lunch and had time to brush out a shootI got lane too. Good method on flat land.

I had to move my tower blind last year. It's only about 7' to the underside of the platform, so I had the rental job bring out pallet forks, as well as pallet fork extenders. That got me 6' of reach and made grabbing that thing easy as I could reach the far side of it. They're clumsy as hell to drive with them on if you're not hauling anything, but once you've got something on the forks, they work great. A guy could probably zip tie or duct tape them on so they don't hop off when empty.

**If a guy had a welder at his hunting camp, maybe he could fab up his own easily enough?

 

[yoderjac]

Stop already! Maybe those blinds work where you do not have snow and ice....but ut here those sliding windows would never fly. I have several types of well made home-built blinds. All my windows MUST open to the inside. But gotta say in MY AREA that these Rednecks are the most favorite blinds I could ever own. Yep...they are that good. Show me one better tor the money....and I will buy it. I have three Redneck 5x6 Crossover Blinds.....and have horizontally vented gas heaters in each of them. BY FAR the best kit for the price and effort.....and I can move them at will. Sound investment.....IMO.

I was responding to RIT's question about why they are not functional for me. That doesn't mean they are not a god fit for others which is why answering the "why" is important. Folks can then decide what works best for their situation.

 

[Foggy47]

I had to move my tower blind last year. It's only about 7' to the underside of the platform, so I had the rental job bring out pallet forks, as well as pallet fork extenders. That got me 6' of reach and made grabbing that thing easy as I could reach the far side of it. They're clumsy as hell to drive with them on if you're not hauling anything, but once you've got something on the forks, they work great. A guy could probably zip tie or duct tape them on so they don't hop off when empty.

**If a guy had a welder at his hunting camp, maybe he could fab up his own easily enough?

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Yep....I'm aware they are available. Problem is, I'm kinda tight and get by with what I got.

 

[Wild Thing]

We've got 11 box blinds and all but 23 of them have been either built or painted in the barn and then moved out to the field with my farm tractor and fork lift. Some have been moved 2 or 3 times. The forklift attachment has been a very good investment. I had bucket forks prior to that but they have their limitations.

 

[Mortenson]

Curious why more people aren't putting some of these blinds on a trailer of some sort? Ground too uneven?

 

[Foggy47]

Curious why more people aren't putting some of these blinds on a trailer of some sort? Ground too uneven?

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I've got a total of ten box blinds. All have shooting lanes and are strategically placed to not interfere with one-another. All have the floor level at least 8 feet + off the ground.....therefore the gun(s) are about 12' or higher when shooting. Having relatively high stands helps with scenting and lines of sight......but I feel the biggest advantage to this level of elevation is safety. Everyone is shooting down.....toward the ground.

I've considered a "mobile blind" on a wagon running gear. Trailers can be squeaky.....and high blinds on trailers are hard to anchor....and difficult to get into ideal position in the timber. My 2 cents.

 

[b116757]

My brother used to do quite a bit of masonry contracting so he has piles of scaffolding around his place he even uses it for hunting platforms. Just an idea

 

[MadMadHoosier]

Curious why more people aren't putting some of these blinds on a trailer of some sort? Ground too uneven?

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Like Foggy, my Predator 360s are elevated on permenant 10' stands in established locations. But for the first time this year I put one of them on RedNecks skid. My initial plan was to skid pull it to various locations with a 4-wheeler. Then I reconsidered and thought about setting the skid on a small utility trailer that could be pulled behind a 4-wheeler. But after using my tractor forks to install some other redneck blinds in the woods, I think I'll just pick the skidded blind up with the tractor and set it wherever I want. Seems that will be quicker and smoother than dragging or trailering it around.

 

[TWIG]

Build them in the garage. Drive them right to their final resting place.

 

[b116757]

Build them in the garage. Drive them right to their final resting place.


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About how much are you investing in materials per unit?

 

[yoderjac]

About how much are you investing in materials per unit?

The blinds I built ran between $700 and $1000 pre-covid depending on individual size and height. Looks like some guys are building nice fancier blinds with actual doors and windows for more northern climates. I'm guessing material costs are a bit higher.

 

[Wild Thing]

Curious why more people aren't putting some of these blinds on a trailer of some sort? Ground too uneven?

View attachment 45097

I wouldn't want to have to buy a trailer for each of my box blinds - LOL...11 blinds ... 11 trailers. But frankly, they really aren't even needed here as we have many elevation changes on our property and most of the blinds are sitting on tops of knobs, ridges or hills where they already command good views below. A lot of them were tough enough to set in place using the farm tractor and most would have been even more difficult, if not impossible to set in place if they were on a trailer.

As Foggy menntioned, having the blinds elevated makes for much safer hunting as well as we are shooting down towards the ground in most cases, even though the blinds are only sitting on concrete blocks and not on elevated platforms.

 

[TWIG]

About how much are you investing in materials per unit?

Somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 - $1,200. Get the doors secondhand when a contracting buddy replaces doors on someone's house. Got a local spot that sells returned or blemished windows so they're super cheap. I never understood taking the time to build a blind and not have it be air tight. Worrying about scent control is a thing of the past.

One thing that annoys me is the tiny windows guys put in their blinds. Gotta be able to see and shoot in every direction without effort.

 

[yoderjac]

Somewhere in the neighborhood of $1,000 - $1,200. Get the doors secondhand when a contracting buddy replaces doors on someone's house. Got a local spot that sells returned or blemished windows so they're super cheap. I never understood taking the time to build a blind and not have it be air tight. Worrying about scent control is a thing of the past.

One thing that annoys me is the tiny windows guys put in their blinds. Gotta be able to see and shoot in every direction without effort.

I'm guessing you are in a colder environment. I'd need an AC unit for a sealed blind on many days to keep the temp inside under 90! Air flow is important here. Different situations, different needs.

 

[Foggy47]

I put gas fish house heaters in my Redneck blinds last year (Nu-way gas heaters). These have a chimney to vent exhaust out through th roof. Thus the windows stay fog-free and I feel most of our scent is contained in the blind and drawn through the stove exiting at over 18 feet high. (Sounds good ....right?) These heaters do eliminate moisture issues that are a concern with the Buddy heaters . I do like to have heat going when in our blinds. Heat [and scent) rises. We are seldom busted by scent.

 

[Mortenson]

Do you just take the sawzall to the roof? I need to look up those Nu-ways.

 

[Wild Thing]

I'm guessing you are in a colder environment. I'd need an AC unit for a sealed blind on many days to keep the temp inside under 90! Air flow is important here. Different situations, different needs.

What do you do when it starts snowing Jack?



Do you mean you don't need to buy or build all these heaters?


How do you warm up your sandwiches?




and your coffee?


You do need to be careful not to melt your Hershey's Big Blocks though

 

[Wild Thing]

I put gas fish house heaters in my Redneck blinds last year (Nu-way gas heaters). These have a chimney to vent exhaust out through th roof. Thus the windows stay fog-free and I feel most of our scent is contained in the blind and drawn through the stove exiting at over 18 feet high. (Sounds good ....right?) These heaters do eliminate moisture issues that are a concern with the Buddy heaters . I do like to have heat going when in our blinds. Heat [and scent) rises. We are seldom busted by scent.

Do you just take the sawzall to the roof? I need to look up those Nu-ways.

Good question? Do you vent them out the roof or a sidewall Foggy?

We are starting to add the Nu-Way stoves to our arsenal (have 3 now) but at this point I haven't vented any of them yet.

 

[Foggy47]

Do you just take the sawzall to the roof? I need to look up those Nu-ways.

I used a large hole saw for the cut. Gets a bit tricky that high on an extension ladder. We did cut the holes from the inside but had to run screws through from the top .

Edit: I thought about a 90 degree elbow like shown above but get concerned about overheating the areas above(?) Would like to hear experiences with the side wall venting Mine are straight through the roof. I used a ceramic floor tile under our heaters and secured the stoves using a ceramic drill bit and small bolts.

 

[Wild Thing]

I used a large hole saw for the cut. Gets a bit tricky that high on an extension ladder. We did cut the holes from the inside but had to run screws through from the top .

Any photos?