Here are some pictures of my new nearly complete deer stand for 2011 season. This is the third that my brother and I have built to date. I had to enlist the help of a couple of my friends to help us get this one done.

The debris pile from clearing to construct base and shooting lanes.


Uprights and floor base after pulling up with WD-45 and temporary ladder.


Framed walls installed and rafters nailed.

Buck that came out the next morning to inspect our progress.

Sorry for the screwey picture on last post. Here it is with the roof on. 2nd roof by the way "Found some better metal"...



Beginning of the outer shell.

Outer shell completed

 

Here is another view of the completed outside.



Here is the final pic of what's been done so far. Sorry it looks kind of crappy but this was about 8:30 last night as I was getting ready to head to the house.

So there you have it fire away with comments and suggestions good or bad.

So where is the heat and the indoor plumbing going to be?

Think I need one of those!

Well just the support post of that puts mine to shame!!! GREAT STAND!! I"M JEALOUS!!

Very nice.

So when you coming to build mine? Hahaha very nice job though!

You made it too comfy your gonna fall asleep in there.Great job hope all that work pays off.

Thanks for all the comments keep them coming if you wish. Still brainstorming about heat. Toyed with getting one of those real small camp stoves but don't really want to deal with a chimney. I'll probably end up with a small buddy heater or something of sorts but that will be awhile. So far is stays pretty comfortable in there of course I am working so that makes a difference. Plumbing would be nice but will probably end up with one of those little crappers that you see alot for 5 gallon buckets if I can devise a way to lock in the scent. I don't really want to smell it but definately don't want the deer to catch wind... lol Which interestingly enough I don't know that it really bothers them... I say this only because my leach lines run down into the area where I hunt on my property and you saw the picture of the buck I put on here and my brother shot a huge 7 pointer right next to the leach bed two years ago so IDK.

AMC the supports have come through trial and error. This is the 3rd my brother and I built. The first one was 1/3 the size and due to lack of bracing and insufficient anchoring it blew over in a bad storm two years after we put it up. This nearly cause my demise as I had my first encounter with a mountain lion when I found that it was not there to climb into. I've never in my life been scared in the woods even with packs of coyotes around but that night I was puckered pretty good. Anyhow our 2nd one is going into it's 3rd season this year. This one is a little bigger then the first used 4x4 posts again and horizontal bracing then ran a center anchor using a spiral 2' ground anchor, metal hoop on floor joice, and tied with #9 wire which we twisted to sinch it down.

McAvene It's funny that you say that I actually have a friend that is wanting me to build one for him and his father next spring. After he asked me I got to wondering if there would be a market for it. It wasn't too bad to build really. The biggest pain was that I used all scrounged and scrap material making it a challenge in design, odd sizing, and so forth. This is the reason for the different sized windows. I had scrap plexiglass so I measured everything out and made the window fit what I had available so I wouldn't have to buy anything. That is one for sure remodel I have planned for next year if I can find something better.

If a person had the money to buy new materials and such the whole build process would go much smoother and quicker. It would probably look much better as well. My friend I mentioned earlier he has some scrap material for the base so that will be a bit of a challenge to get situated but once the base and subfloor are complete it will go quick as he is buying new 2x4's to frame up walls and has a connection with a portable saw mill and an abundance of red ceder trees. His will look really nice when done. He will also have actual windows that came out of a single wide that was scrapped.

I'm just glad that I remembered that I had some roof metal, log siding, and 1x6 tongue and groove left over from building my house. The metal I originally had on the roof came from a building that was destroyed in a tornado so yeah pretty beat up. The sides were going to be covered with old barn wood that I took from an old falling down barn on the family farm. Not that the barn wood wouldn't have looked good but as I was inspecting and cutting I found that the wood wasn't in the greatest shape. The insulation is actually shipping foam that was being pitched by a factory so I asked if I could have it so instead of going to the landfill it is now recycled.

If anyone would decide to build something like this and would like advise I would be more then happy to help. I'm not the smartest person around but do have a little experience in design and build. Also if you are close to my location I might even be able to find a little time to lend a hand or if feasable enough I would possibly even consider building these on the side.

Well a great job for throwing a bunch of scrap material together for sure! Keep us updated on any changes and if you get a chance to build one for your friend and his dad in the spring please provide pics Im sure we would all love to see what it will look like!

Looks Great!
With my little boy growing up, I may have to start building bigger stands as well.

McAvene I can sure do that.

teezr9 That was part of the thinkng I had when constructing this stand. My oldest turned six this year and she debates off and on about intrest in hunting. I have another three year old daughter obviously still undecided on hunter or not and a two year old boy. So guess you could say I may have to build another in the future.... lol

I have built a similar, not quite as nice, stand myself and I have a suggestion for a urinal that has been working well for me:
1.get a transmission funnel and attach it to a wall on the inside at the appropriate height
2. drill a hole in the floor just large enough to run some vinyl tubing from the end of the funnel into the ground.
3. cut a hole in the bottom of a coffee can large enough to accomodate the vinyl tubing
4. dig a hole deep enough to get the can below the frost line and fill the bottom with gravel.
5. place the can upside down in the hole. the gravel allows the liquids to drain without backing up into the tubing.
6. fill the hole the can is in and caulk around the hole in the floor where the tubing goes through
7. pee to your heart's content without having to worry about spooking anything when you leave the blind or be bothered by the smell of urine.

Sorry, I have never had a need to come up with something that works for females or for #2.

Hope this helps,
Jason

Forgot something that was a HUGE help with windows. We went to the local habitat for humanity resale store and lucked into several double-hung windows that we practically stole.

Sweet both sound like really great ideas I am for sure going to look into! I have decided now after sitting in the stand through the entire firearm season and with muzzloader closing after this coming weekend I for sure need to improve the windows but when I do I need to do some sort of tint job on them. As it is now I figured out that the deer know to look at the windows when they are still in cover to see if it is occupied. If they see something not right they make a big loop around staying just out of sight. To finish the season I hung black plastic on the windows and just remove the plastic from the window or windows I want to look out making sure not to have more then 2 completely open at a time as it allows too much light letting the deer see inside. The tint will not be the greatest for low light conditions but at least I will be able to see out and they won't be able to see in. We had the same issue with the much smaller original tower we built. You could actually see them stop before coming out and look into the stand before moving into the open. I thought it was something we were doing wrong until they did it when I was in an open stand at another location where I could still see the tower.

Deer definately aren't as dumb as some folks think or should I say the deer that travel my property aren't anyway.

Nice job, but how can one like a child new to deer hunting learn how to hunt deer in that thing. where are the rubs, scrapes,browse lines, trails, heat, cold,wind, rain, stalking, ect.

Well hummm I guess it's probably called be a parent, mentor, godfather, uncle, cousin??? Not real sure what the stand has to do with anything mentioned above. My children are really young yet like not having any business handling a legal firearm for deer hunting young. So i guess if by my choosing to take one or two of them out with me so see what it's like to sit out and look for a deer or whatever other wildlife may pass by yet saving myself some cash from them getting sick from sitting in the cold, rain, sleet, or ice yeah I guess.

Now with that said yes if they still want to hunt when they are old enough they will have to sit in one of my other stands at a child friendly height but if it is a strong wind or good rain and they want to sit with ole dad in his dry stand when he moves out of another to it think what you want but only a turkey will look up and drown in the rain.

My children have already learned or been a part of more then most kids will be taught in a lifetime about traditional ways of living ranging from farming, to hunting, to gathering wood for winter heat, to gardening, and even working on vehicles and farm equipment.

Sir I was brought up to be a traditional parent not a push over give you kid whatever and do as they say no consiquence for action modern day parent. I hunt all day from sun up to sun down if that's what it takes. I don't go for a couple hours in the morning then head back to the house then go back out right before dark. So yeah I decided to spoil myself and built this so I have a place to go and still hunt when my previously frost bitten hands and feet get too cold or I don't want to get pneumonia again because I was too bully to go to the house when it was pouring rain or sleeting and I was soaked head to toe. I sir have done my fair share of hunting and every deer god has allowed me to take I can more then assure you has been earned.

I am hunting my stand for the forth season this yr. and have noticed the same thing about the deer being wise to when I am in it. I have had several times had them walk around me just out of my bow range. I wondered if they were noticing the windows being open so I started leaving them open after the wasps quite flying and no threat of bad weather. I also have a feeder set up and have only had one doe come in to it while I was there. Never noticed this to much before except when I hunted it for the first time when a doe walk out and looked up. I felt like I was sitting in a display window. I went out and bought a few cans of camo spray paint and did a hasty camo job hanging out of windows. I didn't notice having any problem last season.

I'm with you gobrian, I didn't know that you had to be cold, wet, and miserable to enjoy the challenge of hunting. I use my ladder stands only when I like the conditions. It wouldn't be possible to take grandson along to hunt out of those. As for tracks, rubs, scrapes, I point those out during treck going to and from stand, or when doing midday scouting, etc. I've gotten spoiled hunting from my blind and am loving it, but it is no gimmie in shooting a deer from it. I have spent more than 80 hrs sitting in it and have only had 2 shot opportunitys so far, not counting the young bucks I had passed on.