New/reused box blind

[RifleBowPistol]

I have not built a box blind in a long time, used to build a bunch of them about ever year or two. Every new lease, I had to build new blinds. I have not hunted from a box blind since the mid 90s. But on the property we bought a while back, I tried to hunt it using two of my tripods. I kept getting busted by deer coming in from all directions. Once they all knew where my tripods were set up, they would always be looking for me on the tripod. So I decided I need to come up with a new plan. So for next year, I plan on using a box blind for the feeder and a tree stand towards the rear of the property where I have my other tripod set up at.

So I decided I would build a box blind to set up, to watch the feeder. At the same time I have a few other projects going on or plans to build. One is my wife's greenhouse, it's getting closer to being done. Then I need to build a large gun cabinet for my gun room. I have a lot of stuff that is either stacked, on top of other stuff or packed in my small gun cabinet or laying on the floor. My wife has been on my case to do something about that room. I want to but always lacking time and money. My wife decided we needed to move the large entertainment center from the living room to my gun room and it would be my gun storage cabinet. That sounded ok to me, but I was not sure about moving that huge thing, much less getting it into my gun room. Well it turns out it was too large to fit through the door. It was about 7 ft. long and about 6 ft. high and close to 2 ft. deep. It would not fit down the hallway, then turn it to go into the gun room. So I took it apart, board by board and labeled each board as to where they went so it could be put back together. Well once we got it apart, we had a very large pile of old cedar. A lot more of a mess than I wanted to deal with. Because each board, literally had close to 100 large staples in it. They stapled the whole entertainment center together, with many thousands of staples. It was going to take days to get all of the old staples out and then put the entertainment center back together.

So after looking at the pile of wood and knowing how big the entertainment center was and wanting to build a box blind. I decided the wood from the entertainment center would be better used for my deer blind, than to put back together for my gun storage. I have another idea for my gun stuff storage cabinet, that I hope to start on, once the greenhouse is done.

So after the long story on where and how I came up with the wood and other pieces for my blind. The blind I am going to set up at one end of a narrow clearing, within 15 yards of where I have had my tripod set up, to watch the feeder. Where it will be set up, there really are only two directions, I would ever be shooting, so windows on three or four sides is a waste of time and more likely for me to get seen. So I only made windows on two sides. Main one facing towards the feeder, the other one towards a small clearing the deer often cross, when going towards the feeder. We have a lot of very dense yaupon. I am going to take my chain saw and clear a area to set it up in the middle of some of the yaupon. Then cut a trail from the house through the yaupon to the blind, on the side facing the house/opposite of the feeder. So I can walk up to the blind, get in and not be seen. The blind is only about 60 yards from the feeder, so any movement, the deer pick up easily.

The plan on the blind, is for the two windows to slide up to open. Then have a rope on them that I can pull from inside the blind. Most of the time, I will only open the windows 1" to 2", so I am not easily seen. If I decide to take a shot, just pull on the rope for which ever window I want to shoot out and open it far enough to get the rifle out and get off a shot. I will have different hooks to hook the ropes on to hold the windows open either a small amount or all the way open. Then I made a box that is attached to the blind, that will be the seat. So I don't make noise, moving a chair around in the blind. Then I tried to make the floor as solid as possible so it hopefully does not creak. Also the seat, will double as a storage compartment. I can leave a knife or extra ammo in there, ect. Then I made one shelf in one corner, that will be to my left, when I am in the blind. I was able to use the two main large doors off of the entertainment center as the doors for the blind. I used them just as they were. I used some of the hinges from some of the smaller doors, for the storage compartment/seat.

If I can find some foam rubber, that has glue on one side, I likely will get some to put on the insides of the walls, to kill noise and some insulation. As little time as I will likely spend in the blind, it's probably not needed.

Since the wood the blind is made out of, used to be a entertainment center, I am call the blind my entertainment center, where I go for entertainment, when I am home, during a hunting season, whatever I am after.

[RifleBowPistol]

This was when I was getting started building the frame for the blind. I planned on the floor being about 1 ft. off the ground, I determined that would be about optimum height. I made the legs 2 ft. long, planned on putting them 1 ft. in the ground, but I may wind up only putting them 6" or so in the ground, if I even put them in the ground at all. After all of the bracing I added later, I decided the bracing would be a waste, if the bracing was at ground level. I may just set the blind on the ground.

[RifleBowPistol]

I still need to cut and bend some 3/8" stainless tubing to run the ropes or cords through, to raise and lower the windows. I hope I remember to bring the tubing, tubing cutter and tubing bender home today. So I can finish that part. Once that is done. I will lay it back down, then go clear some brush, then the fun part of moving to back to where I want to set it up.

The steps I have next to the blind are not what I am going to use for the blind. When I originally planned on the blind floor being 1 ft. off the ground, I really did not have any plans for steps or a ladder. Now since I have decided I may just set it up on the ground, so the floor will be 2 ft. off the ground. I will also build some steps for the blind. I also have a few holes to fill. There are three hole saw holes in some of the wood, that someone drilled, to run cables through, when it was a entertainment center. I have a few extra pieces of wood. I will use hole saws to cut some plugs to fill the hole saw holes. Then possibly glue the plugs in the holes. I want to seal up the blind as best possible to keep the yellow jackets out.

Once this is done, the greenhouse is done, then I will start on the gun room cabinet, so I can finally get that room organized. Maybe afterwards, build a larger loading bench. I hope the cabinet is large enough, I can take most everything off of the bench and put it in the cabinet, then have most of the bench to put things that I am using as I am working on loading ammo.

[kmack]

Cool idea for the seat!

[Carpe_diem]

Nice looking blind!!

[RifleBowPistol]

Pictures

[TexasRough1256]

Hey, this thing is pretty cool... I like the wood and concept of it. Tell the wife to get rid of more things!

[RifleBowPistol]

So I made some changes to the blind a couple weeks ago. The deer, could see me in the blind. As dark as I tried to keep it inside the blind, they could still see me.

So I put burlap over the windows. I stapled it at the top. Then use thumb tacks to hold it to the bottom. I can remove the thumb tacks and use them to hold up the burlap. So I hold up two or three corners of the window openings. The deer don't seem to be able to see me, but at times, they seem to pick out some movement. If I move back away from the window, they go back to what they were doing.

I also added some black felt to the shelves and where I lean my rifles, to cut down on noise. Then I put a piece of black felt over the door opening, like a curtain. So I can get in or out of the blind, without the deer seeing me, when they are at the feeder. So far, the whole plan has been working very well.

I have had deer walk right past the blind multiple times, they had no idea I was in the blind. So far, no deer has winded me, while I was in the bind. They have been all around the blind, even where I never figured they would be, up in the thick yaupon, that is on two sides of the blind. I think the fact the blind is made of cedar, the cedar smell is covering up my sent. I can smell the cedar pretty strong, every time I get in the blind.

I plan to add some carpet to the floor, to cut down on noise. Then I am going to put something, probably left over plastic roofing panel, from the greenhouse. I have sat in the blind, when it was raining, for the most part I stayed dry. But it definitely leaks water in a couple of areas. So plan to just screw some plastic corrugated panel down flat on the roof. Eventually, I am going to seal up all the holes in the boards and the gaps between the boards, to reduce the amount of light getting inside the blind. So the deer won't pick out my movement as easily. With the burlap on the windows, most of the time they can not see my movement, but if I am close to a window and move, they seem to see the movement. I have not spooked them, but they have stopped what they were doing and started staring right at me. Usually when I am looking at them through binoculars, is when the seem to pick me out.

[RifleBowPistol]

Something, that is hard not to think about. Is the entertainment center I used to make this blind, I got from my buddy Brian, who died of cancer, this past June.

[RifleBowPistol]

A month ago, I had two 8 points and a large spike chasing a doe around, in the clearing to the right of the blind, which is to the north. They chased her, into the yaupon, on the back side of the blind. There is a small opening, in the yaupon, on the back side of the blind. My trail that comes from the house to the back side of the blind, cuts across that small opening. The back side, faces the east. The two bucks had her cornered, in that opening. I had not put the latch on the inside of the doors at that point. Turns out one of the doors was blowing open. I did not realize the bucks had the doe cornered right outside the blind, till I saw that one door was blowing open a couple inches. As I went to grab the door and hold it shut, I could see one of the 8 points standing right outside the blind, facing the doe, who was back to the right of the doors, out of view.

I got to watch a 8 point and a spike fighting for about 20 minutes, on the other side of the clearing to the north of the blind.

The feeder is to the west of the blind. To the south, south west, south east and east of the blind, is mostly thick yaupon. The clearing is to the north, north west. There is a scrape to the north west, about 50 yards away, I can see from the blind.

So far, I have killed 13 squirrels from the blind, with my 17 HMR, that were under the feeder. Including that chunky one, that did not really look like a squirrel, because it was so fat.

[bowaddict40]

Why did you cut the windows jagged like that?

[RifleBowPistol]

I had a different idea on the blind while I was building it. I had plans to go find cedar limbs of various sizes and screw them to the outside of the blind. I had planned to screw larger cedar limbs to each corner, to break up the outline of the blind. I may still do so during the spring. I did not want any obvious straight lines visible or easily visible. That would make the blind stand out. I planned on putting the blind back up in the yaupon. Which I would still like to do.

I had these ideas, while building the blind. Then decided to add the sliding window covers. Then realized that getting the blind up into the yaupon brush, was going to be very hard, with just me and my wife. I had her on the 4 wheeler and I was doing the lifting, pushing, balancing, ECT. I was sure, I was going to have the tractor fixed and planned to either buy a gin pole for the tractor or make one. I planned to use the tractor with a gin pole to set up the blind.

I wanted it to get it set up by last spring, so it was out there, long before deer season, so the deer had plenty of time to get use to it, being there. It was in the back yard for probably two months after I finished it. I finally decided to lay it over on the trailer I have for the 4 wheeler. It was not easy getting it back up to where we put it up at. But we got it there. Once I have the 3 point working on the tractor, and get one of the rear tires replaced. I will bring it home. Then I may take the chain saw, cut a hole in the yaupon, that I can set the blind into. Then pick it up with the tractor and set it down in the yaupon. At that point, I may follow through with the idea of screwing cedar limbs to the outside of the blind, to help it blend in with the surroundings and break up the sharp lines that make up the edges of the blind.

So thinking along the lines of breaking up the lines that would identify the blind, I cut the windows out with a jig saw, in kind of a wavy pattern. So that's the rest of the idea, I had for the blind, that has not happened at this point. I wanted to make it were if you did not know the blind was there, you could walk right past it and not see it.

So at this point, the windows are just kind of unique or odd styling.

[nimrodtracy]

Nice