The older I get the more blinds I like. I handle long cold days well. I DO NOT handle them with wind at all. We are very windy here. I also use heavy tint on my windows and in pop ups I rig partially visible " me decoys" that will slightly move in a wind. This makes the over the line shooters and trespassers think twice. I use to use, scare crow ME in open stands. Orange camo suit painted, life sized cut outs, in my woods. This after hearing one morning in the middle on my land, " Oh sh-t she's in her stand! " I have to laugh though , forgot about one such cut out and rounded a corner looking up and getting a heck if a startle..lol Anyways, I have a couple I'll be starting soon. the platform is first. Then I'll decide on whether I build a wooden or go doghouse. Platforms range from 5 to 16 ft tall. I'm liking the 6 and 8 ft ones more. I do mine cheap because they are all salvaged materials. I always ,even with wooden sides use a 2x2 frame. Nothing more than that is need. I also build cardboard blinds one of them is now 10 years old the biggest is 4. They both have card board roofs here's the last one I made.. What plans do you have?
I'm planning on building a nice redneck palace. I set my posts a week ago. I'm going for a 10'x8', 12' off the ground. Something my dad can come visit and rifle hunt out of and pretty much spend the day without leaving once. I have a small wood burning stove I plan on putting in it and going to do the whole pvc pipe buried in the ground for a bathroom, a couple of lazy boys and cots. Btw, i just ordered sainfoin to plant after speaking with my local county extension rep for pasture and forage. If all goes well I'm going to try 40 acres of it for a hay maker. Just debating whether to mix chicory with it or just border it with chicory.
I use the old over stuff office chairs hubby no longer wants in mine and anti gravity cots. Wheels and adjustable height. All even doghouse has carpeting. You'll like the sainfion. Your post pointed out to me duh been spelling it wrong. lol where are you getting yours? My last order was from Great Basin..it does well with chicory at a smaller %.
Actually both spellings are correct, sainfoin or sainfoil. I have a seed purchaser and he will source it. Apparently, it has been grown in Oklahoma with success before and tends to make a comeback when we are having troubles with other pasture grasses or hay makers. I've done a little research on companion plants and most that do well with it do not do well in Oklahoma. It does not compete well when planted with anything that's even slightly aggressive. I'm going to start with 2 acres on my farm way south of my hunting grounds but the same soil type, clay loam, and see how it performs. Horse owners apparently love the stuff for the protein and no chance of bloat. Could turn out to be a good alternate hay crop and getting the same bale price as alfalfa.
I make my own mixes here and found it did well mixed with different clovers, trefoil, and chicory. This even in my more...moist areas. It persisted well as long as I didn't mow until late summer/early fall. We had some rough sub zero winters and it died out,talking over a week of -5 -15. Miserable temps with not enough snow cover. It does need it's sun though.
This is 8x8x7 solid plywood. It is round I overlapped the plywood starting at the top and all seams foam insulated wrapped in Poly then wrapped in landscape fabric then wrapped with erosion control mats then wrapped with chicken wire to hold the straw down. Even applied a little spray foam to the fabric to get the mats to really stay put. Works great and is warm as can be. Fits two with ease and is very cozy. The windows exterior is painted black and they are each two vertical panels so I don’t need to open the entire window and it works great for bow hunting. Lots of room to draw your bow and not too much light coming in for concealment. The inside is painted black so once the deer were used to seeing to seeing the windows look black it doesn’t affect them whatsoever when they are open. Wear all black inside and your invisible from the outside. Blind looks the same with the windows open or shut so it works well.. picture was took before the sides were completed I left the tarp loose on the sides until it was done so that way there was always an overlap and no water leaks. 1/2” rubber mats on the floor. I tried fabric style chairs this year and with the temperatures up here in North Dakota the fabric is way to crinkly and they squeak way to much. They were fine until it got cold... no more folding chairs I’ll have to find a lazy boy now lol
For those doing "soft sided" blinds ETSY had some pretty good pricing on water proof printed materials. Even if you need blind fixes or new covers. I just found 3D flooded timber,looks like grasses 60" wide x 36" for 7.95. Blk on inside . This would make great cover for a bale blind. One could make a not portable BUT moveable Soft sided blind for way less than manufactured . 2x2. frame with individually walls that can be pinned or screwed together on site and a slide over roof. Sides can be shorter with a roof that has a Spring roof for hieght. Similar to the dog house. This is how I made the big card board blind. The exception was I did high walls with and angled roof. Made separate pieces and assembled on site.
Well I have nearly blinded myself from deleting pics,either that or my brains fried. I have gotten to 2015 and the series I took while building the big cardboard blind. My doing this by my self and being a 58 year old women at the time I did this in sections I then assembled it on a trailer to make sure every thing fit . disassembled and took it to the tower. I hauled each wall up and screwed it in place. The roof I had to have help so hubby came down. It was just too wide and the walls too high for me to set alone. Hope it encourages some of you thinking of blinds...same thing could be done using water proof Cordura. Sorry they aren't coming up in order
One other thing I'd like to point out. By making this blind in sections, as I age and with my bad knees if I can no longer climb the ladders,I have a ground blind. Simply roll up the carpet and the rubber liner ,unscrew and move.
Going to try one more time getting a conversation going on blind plans Has anyone ever concidered making and aircrete tree stump blind? I'm thinking on sculpting a big stump blind on one of my ridges. I bought a pallet of 4x8 cardboard years ago and have a bunch left. I have 7ft chicken wire from a strawberry patch I had 15 yrs ago. The only purchase would be the aircrete material and the 2x4's to make the round. Actually I have a blk locust area I use for my fence posts. I could cut small 6-7 ft logs for this. Just a fun project to do. I could paint the door to look like the rotted hollow of stump. Gotta love you tube instruction videos to give you ideas.
I've gotta finish the one I started last year. Need to build the walls figure out all that. Inky have the platform finished right bow and have been using a pop up blind on top of it. It got destroyed this winter so instead of replacing it I'm gonna spend the money on lumber. Wish woulda made it little bigger but it is what it is ha. It's 6x6 and legs are 8 foot. Platform has held up good but when got to add walls need to level it up and anchor it down better. Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
That's what I'm definitely doing this spring,with a "blizzard" coming the next few days plans are on hold. My Dog house do not collapse and I thought on this a bit. I have a whole lot of cedar planks. I'm thinking of putting up 4 corners then adding a foot of planks as a "skirt" then attaching a $50 sportsmans guide doghouse on top of that. Then my son could stand in it. The one in pick has been outside at least 8 yrs, I'm thinking much longer. I put it on the "tower" a few years ago for a better view down hill Heres a tip, if you have construction going on in your area. Go ask if they have scrap lumber. Even small pieces makes good inside bracing ,headers,window frames. If your luck and PT is used it can be use everywhere. Dumpsters and hubby brings home most of my wood. Just yesterday a 12ft 12x2 PT. Roofing sub just left it after they were done. Also Loews in our area does "scrap" bundles they leave on the side of lumber yard that they sell real cheap. I built a chicken coop 4x8x8 with a 4x4 over hang from a bundle I payed 39.00 for. Had a lot of PT planks in it. Oopps I don't have that pic on this device,but posted it in a different post in forums. Though I do have this one I put up a few years ago
