Tower Blinds - Suggestions

[Pygmy]

Nice, Jerry... I'm envious...

 

My buddy has one just over the hill from you in the town of Rathbone.

 

He has propane heat, electricity, carpeting, insulation and satellite TV...

 

Room for a 4 man card game and 400 yard visibility over several food plots..

[Lawdwaz]

It doubles as a rifle range in the summer!

 

I like that stand a TON!  Awesome job..............................

[growalot]

OMG...I agree...mine is 6x10...with the blind being 6x6..the enclosed deck is 4x6..it has many windows and I have had no problem killing deer,turkey varmits...It has 2 rolling office chairs that also swivel...I chose not to tint the Windows though could....I put in two sets of curtains...camo mesh as a bug screen to open windows and black fleece that fits over the screen curtains as blk. out curtains ...blocks wind and lights when I go in early.

I Took into consideration what deer see when camo painting it...the backup hill side has a light blue grey back ground with trees painted over that...for what one can see on either side when looking towards the blind is sky with some trees...the blind nearly disappears into its surroundings....

Edited December 30, 2014 by growalot

[bkln]

Nice Job Jerry...!!!! +1

[Rack Attack]

I built two this year and plan on building a couple more this year.  I made a 4x8 deck, with the blind being 4x6 outside dimensions.  I prefabbed the entire blind in my shop and screwed the sides ad roof to the deck, once completed and painted I disassembled and reassembled in the field.  They are 10' to the platform and the height is 6'-8".  I made my own windows with 1x2 lath and plexiglass, each window is 1'x2'.  I used a product called elevators to attach the legs to the deck.  I used all pressure treated wood and plywood. They have carpet on the inside to deaden sound and some leftover tin on the roof on top of the plywood.  I think my total cost was about $750 each, less than half of any premade one I found.  If you want to move you can disassemble and move as you please.

 

[fasteddie]

This would be a great Tower Blind

 

 

[wolc123]

I have made (3) so far using old truck caps as the roof structure.  The platform (of the 1st floor) is up about 3 to 6 feet.   The decks are sized for the caps (two are for mini-trucks, one short bed, one long, one for full-size, long bed), supported by pressure treated 4x4 or 6x6 at each corner, each on concrete blocks.  I build a 3 ft high wall across the front and both sides, onto which the truck cap is placed.   My favorite type of truck cap to use are the construction-style ones with the side doors that fold out.  Two of mine are this style.  One has a second deck built up on the ladder rack, for fair-weather hunting.  The upper deck also has a 3 ft high camo wall.  During the off-season this year I am going to add a second deck to the other construction-style cap.  I use a hard plastic swivel chair on the upper, open deck, and soft padded swivel chairs on the enclosed lower decks.  I face the solid end of the cap towards the prevailing wind direction.  

 

It seems like there is always old truck-caps available for little or no money, and they require no maintenance.  That fiberglass or aluminum seems to last forever.  The only money I have into mine is for a few cans of camo spray-paint.   Of the three, one is built on an old snowmobile trailer, so is easy to move around.  Another is built about 5 ft high, from a full-size, 8 ft aluminum cap and, and moves around easily with a couple fork-extensions on my loader tractor.  The third one (double decker) is attached to a 24" dia oak tree on the front.   This year the weather was never bad enough for me to use them much, but over the last 10 years, I have shot more deer out of them than tree-stands, due to lots of bad weather and the comfort they provide under such conditions.   

 

The 8 ft cap blinds are large enough for 2 (mini truck) or 3 (full size truck) hunters.  My daughters like to sit in these blinds and will soon be old enough to hunt.  I am certain they will be a lot more likely to get into it if they are comfortable.   The older one went out with me a bit this year and she wanted a BB gun for Christmas, so maybe there is some hope there.  One things for sure, the older they get, the more they eat and it is tough sometimes (thankfully not this season) for me to get enough venison myself to last until the next year.  It sure would be nice if they gave me a little help there.                

[upstate]

After hunting in a spot like you describe for 12-15 years we decided that some of the hedgerow stands would be best if we enclosed them. We did 4 of them over a summer and had a hell of a time getting them stood up and steady.  Since a few of us bow hunted we made sure that they could all be used effectively during bow season which meant they were bigger and had more opening than usual but we had great success from them. 

 

5 years later the owner sold the land out from out from under us and the new owner, a farmer, wanted them out.  I got the call a week after getting out of the hospital from a traumatic spine injury and not only did not of the towers get taken out I lost 5 metal stands. 

 

What I would say is we put ours in spots where we'd had stands for years. We just made them better :-) 

[JJNY]

Steuben Jerry, couple of Questions...

1. How much do you have invested into that Stand?

2. I can't tell from the pic but, do you have a landing on the back where the ladder is? If not, how easy is it to carry gear up the ladder and open the door?

3. Are the posts embedded into the ground, if so, how deep?

[thunnus]

(From a similar post on this site)

Like the flip up seat and mirror ideas.

How bout a bar that Locks in for seat you can hide nearby so it's tuff for others to use your stand?

Heated hand rail: won't go codfishing w/ out one

Textured/pointy stand/foot rest. Nothing worse than sliding up there: my climber is the worst, freezing rain-slip sliding away

A solar panel, acts as tent to charge a motorcycle small battery to charge phone and heat handrail

A waterproof or insulated canister to hold lunch scentless warm or cold

Hanging hooks on outside for gun/bow hauling line, rattling antlers etc.

A pee funnel w/ air trap, burry a tube into ground.

Hidden trailcam mount

Cell phone/wifi booster antenna

Arms for camera mounts

[Red]

https://buffalo.craigslist.org/spo/4757811263.htmlfound this on Craig's list

[vtpainter]

This is what I put up this fall. 4ftx4ft, 1inch square tubing frame under fabric. Windows on all 4 sides.12 ft high on P.T 4x4's.Built it all for less than 500.00 including blind. Keeps you dry . Only thing is ,it is not really set up for bow,better for gun or crossbow. It is also 6ft 6 inches high 

[the blur]

I hate when they build the ladders perfectly vertical.   Any angle of the ladder makes it so much safer.