I originally posted this on the campfire, and am reposting here in D-I-Y projects where it belongs.
What's this got to do with bowhunting or Texas? The dog I'm building this to hunt with was 'our own' Wildman's dog's pup which he had on TBH before the crash of 2006. My good friend and hunting buddy out here (there's at least one other hunter in CA) is training the chocolate lab, and I said I'd build the stand for him.
We hunt public refuges in the central valley (Pacific flyway), and most of the time we don't get a blind, so we free-roam and hunker down in the tulies on a pond, put out our decoys, and hunt in calf-to-thigh deep water.
I've seen other projects posted on TBH, here's mine.
Started out with a cart meant for moving boat trailers around, removed the ball, and welded a 2 by 3 foot frame with rails around the sides.
Then I got a piece of 2 by 3 foot 3 inch foam with aluminum laminated on both sides from a local manufacturer of sheds and prefab buildings. A trip to Home Depot and the project started to take shape. I painted the surface with truckbed liner with added non-slip grit they sell for stairs.
Dave called and said "don't forget to make it with some sort of cover to hide the dog", so I started on a cover piece. Two cans of Krylon camo paint (khaki and olive drab) were all I needed. The camo pattern matches everything I have camo'd, including my Mossberg 500 'swamp gun'.
After the glue was dry, I decided to see if a 70 pound dog would fit. Our golden does, she's useless for waterfowl hunting but a great family pet.
Which I then covered with camo netting from the local Army Navy store.
Legs are 30 inches long, and I cut them in half and pinned them together with a piece of PVC inside so we can adjust for deep or shallow water. Waders and blind bag are drying in the CA sun, broadhead target still in the garage after the elk hunt.
Since I took these pictures, I've used the dog stand and made a couple of improvements. The most important was I took pieces of coat hanger wire, bent them into U shapes and put Gorilla glue on the straight ends. 4 went evently spaced into each side, now there is a loop to take tulies and catails from the marshes and have them attached upright to further camo the blind.
In the shake-down hunt #1, I found it floated well, and I tied a bungie cord to the PCV to pull it in the marsh. It floated well enough i could but my gear bag on it as well. Pulling it when the water was less than 6 inches deep was impossible since the legs extend down 6 inches, which I'd do differently if I built a second one. Once the water got over 6 inches deep it floated and pulled really well.
What's this got to do with bowhunting or Texas? The dog I'm building this to hunt with was 'our own' Wildman's dog's pup which he had on TBH before the crash of 2006. My good friend and hunting buddy out here (there's at least one other hunter in CA) is training the chocolate lab, and I said I'd build the stand for him.
We hunt public refuges in the central valley (Pacific flyway), and most of the time we don't get a blind, so we free-roam and hunker down in the tulies on a pond, put out our decoys, and hunt in calf-to-thigh deep water.
I've seen other projects posted on TBH, here's mine.
Started out with a cart meant for moving boat trailers around, removed the ball, and welded a 2 by 3 foot frame with rails around the sides.
Then I got a piece of 2 by 3 foot 3 inch foam with aluminum laminated on both sides from a local manufacturer of sheds and prefab buildings. A trip to Home Depot and the project started to take shape. I painted the surface with truckbed liner with added non-slip grit they sell for stairs.
Dave called and said "don't forget to make it with some sort of cover to hide the dog", so I started on a cover piece. Two cans of Krylon camo paint (khaki and olive drab) were all I needed. The camo pattern matches everything I have camo'd, including my Mossberg 500 'swamp gun'.
After the glue was dry, I decided to see if a 70 pound dog would fit. Our golden does, she's useless for waterfowl hunting but a great family pet.
Which I then covered with camo netting from the local Army Navy store.
Legs are 30 inches long, and I cut them in half and pinned them together with a piece of PVC inside so we can adjust for deep or shallow water. Waders and blind bag are drying in the CA sun, broadhead target still in the garage after the elk hunt.
Since I took these pictures, I've used the dog stand and made a couple of improvements. The most important was I took pieces of coat hanger wire, bent them into U shapes and put Gorilla glue on the straight ends. 4 went evently spaced into each side, now there is a loop to take tulies and catails from the marshes and have them attached upright to further camo the blind.
In the shake-down hunt #1, I found it floated well, and I tied a bungie cord to the PCV to pull it in the marsh. It floated well enough i could but my gear bag on it as well. Pulling it when the water was less than 6 inches deep was impossible since the legs extend down 6 inches, which I'd do differently if I built a second one. Once the water got over 6 inches deep it floated and pulled really well.
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