Long Range Hunting From Box Stand

[LDHunter]

I like your stands you build. We build stands that are similar but we put them 4-10 feet up on 4x4 posts sunk in concrete. Haven't had one stolen yet but hurricane Michael tipped one over. LOL

Our stands are 4'x4' and there is 7ft of standing room inside. We paint the insides with flat black paint and you'd be surprised how it's almost impossible to see someone inside of one. We also have wooden, hinged at the top, plywood "windows" we can close to make it darker or open for ventilation. Our shooting benches are very stable and are similar to benches at a rifle range. We also have shelves above them for "stuff" hunters always have with them.

One of the things I INSIST on is a wooden ladder at a comfortable angle for entry and exit. If you stand up with your toes touching a ladder and extend one of your arms out your fingers should barely be able to touch the ladder as it leans away from you. That's the perfect angle. You can go up and down these ladders carrying equipment with ease and step right into the stand without that crazy angle and dangerous part at the top where you transition from your horizontal flat floor to a vertical ladder. That is incredibly dangerous especially in the dark when you're stressed and/or tired. Our ladders are made of 2x6 boards with 2x4 steps that are 12" from the top of one step to the next. It's amazing how easy and safe these ladders are to use. A fireman taught me this trick.

In Florida it's a 3rd degree felony to trespass with a firearm and we post our properties well. There is still some theft but it's not too bad.

I always wished I could post a sign saying "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again" but I've always worried that if someone ever DID come up shot for some reason, my signs could get me in deep doo doo and would be used as evidence of "intent" against me.

 

[Orange Dust]

I like your stands you build. We build stands that are similar but we put them 4-10 feet up on 4x4 posts sunk in concrete. Haven't had one stolen yet but hurricane Michael tipped one over. LOL

Our stands are 4'x4' and there is 7ft of standing room inside. We paint the insides with flat black paint and you'd be surprised how it's almost impossible to see someone inside of one. We also have wooden, hinged at the top, plywood "windows" we can close to make it darker or open for ventilation. Our shooting benches are very stable and are similar to benches at a rifle range. We also have shelves above them for "stuff" hunters always have with them.

One of the things I INSIST on is a wooden ladder at a comfortable angle for entry and exit. If you stand up with your toes touching a ladder and extend one of your arms out your fingers should barely be able to touch the ladder as it leans away from you. That's the perfect angle. You can go up and down these ladders carrying equipment with ease and step right into the stand without that crazy angle and dangerous part at the top where you transition from your horizontal flat floor to a vertical ladder. That is incredibly dangerous especially in the dark when you're stressed and/or tired. Our ladders are made of 2x6 boards with 2x4 steps that are 12" from the top of one step to the next. It's amazing how easy and safe these ladders are to use. A fireman taught me this trick.

In Florida it's a 3rd degree felony to trespass with a firearm and we post our properties well. There is still some theft but it's not too bad.

I always wished I could post a sign saying "Trespassers will be shot and survivors will be shot again" but I've always worried that if someone ever DID come up shot for some reason, my signs could get me in deep doo doo and would be used as evidence of "intent" against me.

We build some like that too, The sled blinds are the ticket for hunting cut soybean fields. You don't need the height, and can move them around when deer patterns change. Allows you to get by with fewer of them.

 

[dreamhunt]

4x4, 4x8, 5x5, 5x8.... have seen all of em. 4s and 8s are easiest as wood is cut that way. 5s are nicer room wise inside.

4x4 is very hard with two people and two chairs, fyi.

cut out windows, put hinges on the botyom so windows drop open, you wont regret that. Tin on the roof.

we have blinds on cinder blocks, 4ft, 8ft, and 12ft. Depends where your putting it so you can see what you want. 4 to 5 ft is about right in most cases around us.

 

[Orange Dust]

4x4, 4x8, 5x5, 5x8.... have seen all of em. 4s and 8s are easiest as wood is cut that way. 5s are nicer room wise inside.

4x4 is very hard with two people and two chairs, fyi.

cut out windows, put hinges on the botyom so windows drop open, you wont regret that. Tin on the roof.

we have blinds on cinder blocks, 4ft, 8ft, and 12ft. Depends where your putting it so you can see what you want. 4 to 5 ft is about right in most cases around us.

When we were hunting with kids we built several that were 4x6. Was really cozy and comfortable to hunt with two people, and doesn't work out too bad with lumber. Since they were elevated, they were a real pain to hunt out of alone. Been using 4x4 since they have grown, but now with the grandkids.... We found a really neet and easy to make curtains for the windows with camo burlap and bailing wire. Wasn't done yet when I took the picts. If I remember, I will take some next time I hunt it. They block wind, rain, and light when needed, and you can still shoot through the slit in the middle.

 

[dreamhunt]

When we were hunting with kids we built several that were 4x6. Was really cozy and comfortable to hunt with two people, and doesn't work out too bad with lumber. Since they were elevated, they were a real pain to hunt out of alone. Been using 4x4 since they have grown, but now with the grandkids.... We found a really neet and easy to make curtains for the windows with camo burlap and bailing wire. Wasn't done yet when I took the picts. If I remember, I will take some next time I hunt it. They block wind, rain, and light when needed, and you can still shoot through the slit in the middle.

I'm glad you posted this. I'm planning on building a box stand sooner. Right now I have two platforms that are built on 4"x4"x16' PTL. I used a tree to lag a 2x8x14'.. I drove some old abandoned bent to crap SCDoT steel perforated posts into the ground and lag bolted the 4x4's to the posts.
The platforms are 5'x6'.. almost perfect for two hunters. I don't have tops on them but I'm going to add tops and sides and the windows should be sliders.
Best of luck with yours and i'll post pics of mine when I start the new build.

 

[Lahunter76]

We do 4x6 and elevate the base to 12' on most of ours with box tubing. Build a frame and use a wire welder to put it together and take self tapping screws and cover with plywood or tin(depends on what we have around with out buying it) we have one that's 16' at the base. We hunt primary CRP(thick grass/young trees) land and the fields/big ditches with big Oaks all around it. We also put one on a small trailer so we can move it as needed!!

 

[wwbrown]

Deer season here opened Saturday. I went to hunt and my stand was no longer there. guess it sprouted wings. I had to quickly build a new one so I can hunt my favorite beanfield. There have been questions as to how to build such a thing. Was thinking of that so I took some pictures during construction. Pictures are worth a thousand words. These things are really easy to build, and as soild as a concrete bench if you use only screws and sheet it with plywood. Easily moved with a SxS.

One thing I did on my last stand was put a shelf out in front of the shooting port that I could lay sand bags on. Having that portion of the gun outside the blind gave me more room inside.

 

[Orange Dust]

One thing I did on my last stand was put a shelf out in front of the shooting port that I could lay sand bags on. Having that portion of the gun outside the blind gave me more room inside.

Depends so much on how far you intend to shoot. Its a little over 900 across our big beanfield. Ranges over 500 require a solid base to work with both front and back. You can be very effective to around 400 or so with just a padded rail and getting your shoulder against the side of the stand to settle the back end of the gun.

 

[Bravo 4]

Can you place a tripod or shooting sticks under the rear?

 

[Orange Dust]

Iv done that with a bog pod tripod on the rear. Takes time to get everything lined up and solid but it will work. With the stand in the picture i use a bipod and a squeeze bag. Any way you can get solid for the shot will work, but any wiggle and you are done.

 

[TX Badger]

A few tips I've learned by trial and error .

1. Remnant rubber roofing membrane and contact cement makes great roofs and isn't loud in the rain.

2. If you're building blinds on uneven terrain like the ridge country we hunt in WI and these are in permanent location, then I build the platform, set it at height and on site, then I get on the platform with a shooting stick and gun and find the best sill height for each window. In a couple of the first ones we built, we didn't do it this way and you have to sit real close to the downhill windows to see over the edge. All day straining, ducking... Wears you out. With the new ones you can sit comfortably in the middle and never have to change your posture to see in any direction. When it's time the gun is also supported at the right level.

3. Trap doors in the bottom that you enter through are safer and the walls /windows are easier to build without having to work around a door.

 

[WildRose]

And they did it between the Sunday a week ago and opening day. It's on the lease next door somewhere. Fine folks over there. The floor was rotten anyway so they didn't get much, but I was going to get one more year out of it. Not complaining, just taking the opportunity to share how it is done. Not many places you can hunt off your belly. Too much cover. Some had asked in a thread this summer.

Years ago back in the late eighties, early-mid nineties we had an "outfitter" in the area that built his entire business with stolen stands and feeders mostly put on places he knew belonged to absentee landowners that had't even been in the county for a decade or more and who didn't lease the farming or grazing.

When he wasn't doing that he was cooking meth, and dealing drugs. Karma finally caught up to him in several ways.

We'd replaced a stand twice on a friend's place and both times it was stolen again in two days. Third time we replaced it we included a very angry bobcat we'd live trapped.

Shortly after getting out of the hospital he ended up in prison.

 

[WildRose]

Add trespassing to that if on private land. I got to go hunting for the first time yesterday and had to run a guy off, same fella I've ran off before. Had my tree lounge stollen off that place, man I loved that thing.
If you can prove the price is high enough, wonder if a felony charge could be added? It is the county judge's property.

Depends on the state but even a serious misdemeanor can come with a stiff fine and jail time.

I don't have a sense of humor about poachers anymore and I learned that if you aren't willing to press charges they'll just keep coming back.

 

[TangoOscarMike]

I wouldn't try this during the season because of the smell, but truck bed liner on all exposed wood will stop that problem with rot. You can carpet the heck out of the inside of that thing after you apply the truck bed liner to all of the exposed wood.

In one of my other hobbies I breed LARGE snakes. The truck bed liner is what I use to keep all of their massive pees and poops from destroying their homebuilt plywood enclosures.

I also use the truck bed liner to seal the plywood on my pontoon boat floor.

I also use the truck bed liner to seal the wood in my catfish bait tank.

So, I do believe that it will work perfectly.