Towers for ground blinds
- Thread starter j-bird
- Start date
Gravel Road
5 year old buck +
Bought some pallet racks yesterday for the shop and immediately started thinking about deer stands, lol. Was thinking that bolting on some oilfield pipe perpendicular on the bottom would help with the wind. I was thinking about 16" height and set beams at 10ft and at 16ft and enclose with plywood or pole barn metal to make a nice 6ft height.
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I started working on building a blind on this trailer yesterday. Currently have 2 portable blinds on the farm and anxious to get a 3rd. Not sure how far I'll get... may just get the floor constructed and slap a tent on it for this year. The hayrack in the corner needs rebuilt also. Probably a winter project.
I use platforms with a pop up blind on top. My platforms are only 6' from the ground to the base. The base is 60"x60". Mine are all metal with a ladder going up thru a trapdoor in the base. One was a Muddy brand, 1 is a name brand I can't remember right now, but got it from Academy for just over $200. By the time you buy all the wood, brackets, some kind of ladder, etc, you'll spend over $200. And, the wood ones definetely don't last as long. The wood will warp, and require fixing every year. I've done both, and will never go back to the wood.
For my setup in the woods: I don't go higher than 6 ft, because any higher will put me in the canopy, and I don't wont to spend my weekends pruning every tree 10' up. Don't have to worry too much about wind in the woods, but, I do have some 3' rebar that is driven into each leg, and, I make sure the blind is very secure to the platform. Never had an issue.
In the more open country with no tree around, still have 6' platforms, as the higher you go, the worse the wind affect is. Still use pop up blinds on top. Due to the wind, I have same 3' rebar on all corners, and, t-posts driven in the ground and roped to each leg. You gotta do it, or it will get blown over at some point. The pop up blinds do not do well in the open with high winds. Yeah, I secure the blind to the platform, but, the high winds can cause the hub blinds to pop in, and the cheaper spring blinds to rip to shreds. All of my blinds are hub blinds with 600 denier fabric. Yeah they cost more, but, I usually get about 3 years on my good hub blinds when in the open, and up to 5 years on the ones in the woods. .
Get a good chair, a couple of those little shelf things that attach at your hub, a piece of black carpet for the floor (good luck finding some), maybe a little buddy heater if your in a cold climate.
Lastly, a 60"x60" platform is great for 1 person, but tight for 2. And, I can only cross bow hunt out of them, due to the height of the blinds and the windows. Still have to set up hang stands for bowhunting.
edit-i think my last metal platform from Academy was a Game Winner brand.
For my setup in the woods: I don't go higher than 6 ft, because any higher will put me in the canopy, and I don't wont to spend my weekends pruning every tree 10' up. Don't have to worry too much about wind in the woods, but, I do have some 3' rebar that is driven into each leg, and, I make sure the blind is very secure to the platform. Never had an issue.
In the more open country with no tree around, still have 6' platforms, as the higher you go, the worse the wind affect is. Still use pop up blinds on top. Due to the wind, I have same 3' rebar on all corners, and, t-posts driven in the ground and roped to each leg. You gotta do it, or it will get blown over at some point. The pop up blinds do not do well in the open with high winds. Yeah, I secure the blind to the platform, but, the high winds can cause the hub blinds to pop in, and the cheaper spring blinds to rip to shreds. All of my blinds are hub blinds with 600 denier fabric. Yeah they cost more, but, I usually get about 3 years on my good hub blinds when in the open, and up to 5 years on the ones in the woods. .
Get a good chair, a couple of those little shelf things that attach at your hub, a piece of black carpet for the floor (good luck finding some), maybe a little buddy heater if your in a cold climate.
Lastly, a 60"x60" platform is great for 1 person, but tight for 2. And, I can only cross bow hunt out of them, due to the height of the blinds and the windows. Still have to set up hang stands for bowhunting.
edit-i think my last metal platform from Academy was a Game Winner brand.
Similar desired setup- have a few redneck ghillie blinds and would much rather buy than build if the cost is similar. Only issue is there are no Academys around here....
Mortenson
5 year old buck +
I wound up buying my first ever hard sided box blind, and put it on the trailer in post #64. Wanted to build another one, but the squirrels relentlessly eat them. Had access to a redneck trailer stand that was sitting in the box the past 7 years. Made sense I guess to look at redneck. The trailer is heavy, but narrow. I turned 36" earth anchors into the ground which wasn't very fun, and it makes it a lot less portable if a quick relocate is needed. Have you guys ever tried these anchors that can be turned in with an impact?
https://www.amazon.com/Insaga-Welded-Anchors-Resistant-Trampoline/dp/B0CHLZKQ4R/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=zhRzw&content-id=amzn1.sym.26dcb73c-abb7-4585-8a67-196fb4eed4cb:amzn1.symc.abfa8731-fff2-4177-9d31-bf48857c2263&pf_rd_p=26dcb73c-abb7-4585-8a67-196fb4eed4cb&pf_rd_r=4RY7HAB7R6S5FF92J2H5&pd_rd_wg=ZxEFM&pd_rd_r=e642b50a-efae-4071-a22b-61f914b71225&ref_=pd_hp_d_btf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_id_hp_d&th=1
https://www.amazon.com/Insaga-Welded-Anchors-Resistant-Trampoline/dp/B0CHLZKQ4R/?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=zhRzw&content-id=amzn1.sym.26dcb73c-abb7-4585-8a67-196fb4eed4cb:amzn1.symc.abfa8731-fff2-4177-9d31-bf48857c2263&pf_rd_p=26dcb73c-abb7-4585-8a67-196fb4eed4cb&pf_rd_r=4RY7HAB7R6S5FF92J2H5&pd_rd_wg=ZxEFM&pd_rd_r=e642b50a-efae-4071-a22b-61f914b71225&ref_=pd_hp_d_btf_ci_mcx_mr_ca_id_hp_d&th=1
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Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
I have used them on stands up to 12' to the blind base and they work well. The only thing I would be concerned with your set-up is the tires and axle suspension. This could rock back and forth and losen the tie downs. May not be a problem as it is not that tall. Looks like a monster killer stand!
Bill
Administrator
Never knew those anchors existed. They look way better than the PIA old way.
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b116757
5 year old buck +
I’m in the middle of replacing my pallet palace ground blind we had a couple pallets screwed into a U shape and would use a cheap pop up blind been doing it like that for 20ish years pallets finally rotted to about nothing last year so we are throwing together a more permanent ground blind I bought 5 4x4x8’ posts and had a hundred or more cottonwood 2x4’s I had the Amish cut a while back and I was looking at maybe buying some new camouflage colored tin but couldn’t really find any that really stood out to me and I’ve got many many sheets of old corrugated tin from barn roof replacements in the last couple years so I decided to just use it and I’ll turn my boys loose on it with rattle cans when we get it all together. Pretty warm in Kansas most years so having a super tight structure isn’t that important but being able to get out of the wind and rain is nice. I’ll likely leave nearly the entire front open with just a short wall to use as a gun rest across the front.
The big question is, "How high do you want to get?"
PatinPA
5 year old buck +
180 ft would be wild. My dad told me where we hunt in WV there is a large swamp. Before the government bought it, people put stands on telephone poles out in the middle of it. he said they were 30-40 feet tall.
b116757
5 year old buck +
I’ve been up in old fire lookout towers your way above the tree canopy in a deciduous forest after leaf drop that would make for nice sniper tower to hunt from but most of them that I remember where in evergreen timber areas so almost of no use being that high, but in the right situation it would be pretty cool to hunt from.
