Hello! I'm currently in the process of planning an elevated box blind for next season. My kids are getting old enough now and starting to ask to go hunting with me, so i thought i would build a blind safe for all of us. It will over look a one acre corn and soybean food plot connected to 130 acres of farm ground and is wedged between two large tracts of timber and a large creek. I plan to gun hunt from it, but would also like to bow hunt as well. Shooting a bow provides a challenge with how the windows are placed and what type of window to use. The floor level of the structure will be from 6 to 8 feet off the ground and I plan on the floor being 6x8 foot. I'm looking for any useful ideas, plans, blueprints or photos of what has worked for you. So I encourage you to post some pictures of your hunting blinds and any useful info you may have to the subject. There really wasn't a whole lot of info in the search engines, so advice and photos would be tremendous help. Think of this as a thread to show off your own craftsmanship and savvy. I'm sure plenty of you are proud of your blinds you have built, as will I be when we finish ours! Thanks for the help! -MooseKnuckle.
We are in the same boat! I have been looking around and thinking of different plans for the off-season too. I did see a neat hinged door set-up on a Drury Brothers video that allowed for normal use as a gun stand, but had a portion of the wall that could be moved out of the way to allow a bow to be shot at closer range with steeper angles. Think if the walls were 3' tall and 4' wide, the last foot or so of the wall could be swung out of the way giving you concealment 3' tall and 3' wide with a 12" gap to shoot thru. These are great projects to get thru the dead of winter!
I build mine before last season ...2009. I started by making two sets of wooden rectangles 6ft x 5ft using wooden 4x4s for the 6ft section and 2x4 for the 5ft section. I put the "bottom" 2x4 piece so its flush with the ends of the 4x4s....i figure this would prevent sinking. Then I added some 2x4's as diagonals for stability. Measue the diagonals both ways to ensure the rectangles are "square" I carried these two rectangular sections into the woods like that and then had my g/f (now finacee) hold one vertical while I held the other and clamped new pieces of 2x4s horizontally and at angles to join the 2 rectangular sections into a free standing tower structure. for the floor I cut A LOT of 2x4s and laid them down as floor boards secured to the framing. the floor footprint is 5x5ft square I built the box section on top of the free standing tower. technically I could remove the walls and roof and be left with a floor and the base structure. I did this to 1)make it easier for a single person to handle the parts 2) to make it easier to haul the parts into the woods w/o a team of mules 3) it required less precision since my tower is capable of being both slightly lopsided and still very strong. all the structure and floors are treated lumber. the walls and roof are thin crappy plywood that will rot away in a few years. I had to notch the wooden walls so I could see down the hill while sitting on my chair...otherwise I wouldnt have been able to see if anything was there! I hung multiple layers of walmart bought camo burlap (used a stanple gun) and some black weed barrier fabric to provide some concealment. the front and side are my 2 shooting directions for this stand, the geography of being on a hill side work so i dont really need 360 degrees of shooting. I cut the burlap into ribbons to provide some cover but allow me to shoot my bow in any direction. early on i wasn't having much luck until i stood where the deer stand, and noticed i was casting a huge silhouette against the sky and the deer would spot my movements too easily.....more layers of burlap behind me fixed it! I keep a chair with cushion and my boot mittens up there covered in a trash bag so they stay dry here's it is:
Thanks for the input and pictures so far guys! I found a couple links to some decent tower blind and box blind directions. I can't wait to get started on this project. I am now planning on building both an elevated tower blind and a box blind to sit on another ridge. I hope these links help someone else out! http://www.huntingnet.com/forum/whi...817-anyone-have-plans-build-deer-blind-2.html http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jeffreym/htm/Elevated Deer Shack.htm http://deer-stands.net/uploads/GITG_box_blind.pdf http://www.whitetaildeer-management-and-hunting.com/deer-blind.html
When the windows are closed this blind is 100% air tight. The windows swing open silently and will not freeze up like slide windows often do.The windows are tinted plexi glass which the deer cannot see through. The reflectex insulation under the tin keeps it silent . 6 windows gives you a lot of shooting options and a good view of what is around you. I take my daughter in it all the time, and even with her bouncing around and talking we still see deer. I have killed deer with both a bow and a gun out of this blind. I mounted it about 14' in the air and the door is on the bottom.
Our neighbors built this one this summer. It has two floors, bottom floor has bunk beds and a small wood heater that runs up to the second floor. It's more like a tree house that the guys two grandsons use and they hunt off the back deck or from the top story. The top part is from a truck bed and the windows slide and open up. Some don't call it hunting but his grandsons sure seem to love it and they can hunt in the cold and are much more tolerable and they can even be loud I guess. Just thought I'd share.
Hillrunner, nice setup! It's given me some new idea's to think about. Ohioshooter, that blind cracks me up! But hey, they were using what they had around and I like that plan of attack! Here is a picture of the first stand I ever hunted out of. My uncle built it, so i wouldn't fall and get hurt. No, it's not a box blind, but I thought you all would have a good laugh at it's simplicity and 'craftsmanship'........enjoy
