deer stand thoughts

[drsmile]

I need some reasons why this is a bad idea. I want to build a 12' stand to cover a large 15 acre pasture and creek. I have some telephone poles and an auger to drill the holes. The actual box is the hard part at this height. I saw a plastic garden shed today - and started thinking. Why not build a platform, then just put together a $350 5x6 PVC shed and screw it onto the top of the platform? The panels can be painted on the ground before taking them up. Can cut some windows out and use burlap as curtains.
Give me some reasons why this is a bad idea and I should risk life and limb building a heavy wood box while 15' in the air.

 

[strokin99]

I use construction scaffolds, works great

 

[Lineman73]

Hey, if you have the materials and permission to build it: go for it. I played on telephone poles for 25 years and a lot higher than 15'. I'm still kickin'! Just think about how you are going to put things together before you commit to it. A nice, comfy stand ain't worth dying for!

Sounds like a fun project!!

 

[woodstock]

If memory serves, can't you buy a tripod stand around that height for $350? They have enclosure available for maybe $100 more? Lot safer to put up imo, if the pricing is correct.

 

[Sig Guy]

A friend of mine builds towers pretty much like you are describing, but they use two telephone poles them build the platform between them.
I use 4x4's myself to build towers, this ones been in the air for 5 seasons and still solid, and I can build one for less than $200

 

[Bottoms polaris]

One of our hunting club members is a high school welding teacher. He gets his students to to build us 4x6 or 4x8 steel frames and then we build a wooden enclosure. Works great.

 

[Laufen]

My cousin and I built an 8'x8' homemade box and hoisted it 16 feet in the air on telephone poles. Here are some things we learned that will help you avoid some of out trial and error.
Our box was a welded metal frame with 3/4" plywood with home made sliding windows.
The windows are key. You need to be able to open them silently, without protruding into or out of the enclosure. Any movement will spook game, and it would suck to leave them open all of the time if it were really cold and windy. We used 2x4's and cut slits for plexiglass to slide in them with a table saw. You need graphite to make them slide well.

The biggest hurdle was the floor. The floor of your shed will be designed to rest upon the ground, not on poles in the air. Until we added 2x4's under the floor there was a huga amount of give and sway, even with the thick plywood and metal frame. You will need to find a way to stiffen the floor.

We used a trap door system to enter the enclosure with the door in the floor. This eliminated the need for extra space outside of the enclosure, and made constructing the door very simple and strong.

You will need to have some carpet on the floor. This isn't for warmth, comfort or looks but for noise reduction. Without the carpet, ever movement and every sound was tremendously amplified. We might as well had been playing a radio in there. Use some indoor/outdoor carpet, it helps keep the noise down quite a lot.

In the corner we made a urinal. With your new hunting shack you'll undoubtedly be spending more time in the woods, and you'll need a place to take a leak. We used a cheap plastic funnel with a flexible pvc hose attached. The hose ran down one of the telephone poles and emptied a couple feet underground into an upside down five gallon bucket that was buried. It worked well. We simply ran the hose through the bottom of the bucket, sealed it and buried it. No scent at all, we had deer walk right past it minutes after using the facilities.

Make sure to use cross bracing on the telephone poles.
I wish I had some good pictures, but all I have is an image from google earth, you can see the thing from space.

 

[Ed]

Hey its a great idea but you know these days you can buy tower stands for little of nothing and its a hole lot less work.

 

[Bottoms polaris]

My cousin and I built an 8'x8' homemade box and hoisted it 16 feet in the air on telephone poles. Here are some things we learned that will help you avoid some of out trial and error.
Our box was a welded metal frame with 3/4" plywood with home made sliding windows.
The windows are key. You need to be able to open them silently, without protruding into or out of the enclosure. Any movement will spook game, and it would suck to leave them open all of the time if it were really cold and windy. We used 2x4's and cut slits for plexiglass to slide in them with a table saw. You need graphite to make them slide well.

The biggest hurdle was the floor. The floor of your shed will be designed to rest upon the ground, not on poles in the air. Until we added 2x4's under the floor there was a huga amount of give and sway, even with the thick plywood and metal frame. You will need to find a way to stiffen the floor.

We used a trap door system to enter the enclosure with the door in the floor. This eliminated the need for extra space outside of the enclosure, and made constructing the door very simple and strong.

You will need to have some carpet on the floor. This isn't for warmth, comfort or looks but for noise reduction. Without the carpet, ever movement and every sound was tremendously amplified. We might as well had been playing a radio in there. Use some indoor/outdoor carpet, it helps keep the noise down quite a lot.

In the corner we made a urinal. With your new hunting shack you'll undoubtedly be spending more time in the woods, and you'll need a place to take a leak. We used a cheap plastic funnel with a flexible pvc hose attached. The hose ran down one of the telephone poles and emptied a couple feet underground into an upside down five gallon bucket that was buried. It worked well. We simply ran the hose through the bottom of the bucket, sealed it and buried it. No scent at all, we had deer walk right past it minutes after using the facilities.

Make sure to use cross bracing on the telephone poles.
I wish I had some good pictures, but all I have is an image from google earth, you can see the thing from space.

U can also put the line for the urinal down into some activated charcoal which will kill the scent.

 

[Laufen]

U can also put the line for the urinal down into some activated charcoal which will kill the scent.

Yeah, it will work until all of the pores in the charcoal are filled. It's a good idea, but long term just burying it a couple feet deep works like a champ without having to switch charcoal.