Building and hanging deer stands is
one of my least favorite parts of
deer hunting. Combine the heat,
pollen, bugs and poison ivy, and
it’s easily the most miserable job
in the outdoor sports.
Despite the way I feel about deer stands, I started early this year. Though I have almost no building skills, I decided to try my hand at erecting my first elevated deer blind.
I made ridiculous mistakes along the way but, in the end, learned something about building, and grew a great respect for craftsmen who build things for a living.
Here are the pros and cons of building your own deer blind, and a couple of the lessons I learned the hard way.
I decided to build an enclosed, elevated deer blind after sitting in an ice storm last year with my son. I didn’t mind the conditions, but I reasoned I might get him and other part time hunters to go afield more often if I had a dry place for them to sit.
Permanent blinds are not the best places to kill mature bucks, but mine was not intended for that purpose. For this reason, I placed it on a food plot with easy access.
Before starting the process, I looked into prefabricated, molded plastic blinds. There are a bunch of them available for hunting, and some are more functional than others.
Plastic blinds large enough for two people that are at least 10 feet off the ground cost $800 or more.
After a couple hours at a home improvement store with a calculator, I determined that the materials to build my own would cost about half the price of a manufactured blind. That was all the incentive I needed to dive into the world of building.
Since I didn’t know what I was doing from beginning to end, my price calculations turned out to be as off as the first floor joists I hung.
My first problem was setting the four corner posts evenly. I purchased 12-foot, pressure treated 4-by-4’s and dug them into the ground two feet. I did not use concrete, which turned out to be the right choice.
After a lot of head scratching, I finally got the corners in and a frame around them exactly 10 feet off the ground. After the floor joists were set, I laid a 3/4-inch sheet of treated plywood for the floor and started framing.
What only took me two lines to describe here, actually took me all of three days to do by myself.
One of the first things I learned was how valuable a good set of clamps are when working overhead and alone. A good-sized knot on my head taught me that lesson.
My brother helped frame the structure and introduced me to his pneumatic nail gun. It was love at first sight. With his tools, we framed the entire structure on the elevated platform in two days.
Then we realized the thing needed a roof.
Despite climbing mountains and trees every year, sitting 17 feet high on the angled, 4-by-8 roof was a bit too spooky for me.
After agreeing to compensation I can’t mention here, my brother agreed to climb up, set the roof and shingle it.
It took me another week to paint the blind and build the stairs. I painted the interior flat black to hide the occupants, and the outside with several coats of primer and exterior paint.
I cut two observation windows on both sides of the blind. One opening is vertical to accommodate bow shots.
I made sure the hardware on the windows and door were tight to stop them from rattling in the wind. I also placed outdoor carpet on the floor to deaden the sound from the inside.
The finished blind ended up costing around $600 and took all of two weeks of hard labor to build. The floor is a full 4-by-8 feet and the roof angles from 6 to 7 feet tall.
A prefabricated blind wouldn’t have cost a lot more and would have taken a lot less effort.
My blind, however, is roomier, sturdier and will undoubtedly last a lot longer. More importantly, I built it and it’s done.
Despite the way I feel about deer stands, I started early this year. Though I have almost no building skills, I decided to try my hand at erecting my first elevated deer blind.
I made ridiculous mistakes along the way but, in the end, learned something about building, and grew a great respect for craftsmen who build things for a living.
Here are the pros and cons of building your own deer blind, and a couple of the lessons I learned the hard way.
I decided to build an enclosed, elevated deer blind after sitting in an ice storm last year with my son. I didn’t mind the conditions, but I reasoned I might get him and other part time hunters to go afield more often if I had a dry place for them to sit.
Permanent blinds are not the best places to kill mature bucks, but mine was not intended for that purpose. For this reason, I placed it on a food plot with easy access.
Before starting the process, I looked into prefabricated, molded plastic blinds. There are a bunch of them available for hunting, and some are more functional than others.
Plastic blinds large enough for two people that are at least 10 feet off the ground cost $800 or more.
After a couple hours at a home improvement store with a calculator, I determined that the materials to build my own would cost about half the price of a manufactured blind. That was all the incentive I needed to dive into the world of building.
Since I didn’t know what I was doing from beginning to end, my price calculations turned out to be as off as the first floor joists I hung.
My first problem was setting the four corner posts evenly. I purchased 12-foot, pressure treated 4-by-4’s and dug them into the ground two feet. I did not use concrete, which turned out to be the right choice.
After a lot of head scratching, I finally got the corners in and a frame around them exactly 10 feet off the ground. After the floor joists were set, I laid a 3/4-inch sheet of treated plywood for the floor and started framing.
What only took me two lines to describe here, actually took me all of three days to do by myself.
One of the first things I learned was how valuable a good set of clamps are when working overhead and alone. A good-sized knot on my head taught me that lesson.
My brother helped frame the structure and introduced me to his pneumatic nail gun. It was love at first sight. With his tools, we framed the entire structure on the elevated platform in two days.
Then we realized the thing needed a roof.
Despite climbing mountains and trees every year, sitting 17 feet high on the angled, 4-by-8 roof was a bit too spooky for me.
After agreeing to compensation I can’t mention here, my brother agreed to climb up, set the roof and shingle it.
It took me another week to paint the blind and build the stairs. I painted the interior flat black to hide the occupants, and the outside with several coats of primer and exterior paint.
I cut two observation windows on both sides of the blind. One opening is vertical to accommodate bow shots.
I made sure the hardware on the windows and door were tight to stop them from rattling in the wind. I also placed outdoor carpet on the floor to deaden the sound from the inside.
The finished blind ended up costing around $600 and took all of two weeks of hard labor to build. The floor is a full 4-by-8 feet and the roof angles from 6 to 7 feet tall.
A prefabricated blind wouldn’t have cost a lot more and would have taken a lot less effort.
My blind, however, is roomier, sturdier and will undoubtedly last a lot longer. More importantly, I built it and it’s done.
