I recently joined a Facebook Group that is dedicated to hunting blinds. It’s been really interesting to see how creative some people can get with using materials they pick up for free or very low cost. I see a lot of recycled purpose materials used – which is great. With our experience using stands and then building 4 of them, we have figured out a few key things to think through when building it.
- How cold will it get when you are hunting?
- Will you need to insulate the box stand? Spray foam insulation was a little more spendy but we got great insulation with some sound proofing benefit.
- What kind of clothes will you be wearing? Multiple layers that may need to be layered off and on? I need to add a few hooks on my walls.
- Multiple layers can make crawling on ladders, opening doors, etc. more difficult. By the time I add hunting boots, I’m not going to moving around very easily. Stairs instead of a ladder, a small ‘porch’ to stand on when opening the door and turning to step into the box.
- What weather conditions will you need to consider?
- Don’t put your door under the lowest part of the roof line
- The stairs easily hold snow. A hand rail on one side has made it easier to make sure I have good footing.
- How high in the air should it go?
- How far will you really be able to see – open areas? A higher stand on the edge of open fields makes sense. I don’t have to be as high up when I’m in the woods.
- What do you have to get a stand on top of the posts you will need to put in the ground. You can only go as high as you have some way of getting it up there. We have a skid steer. The stand went up as high as the bucket/forks could reach to set the box stand on top of the posts.
- Don’t your posts have to go into the ground a number of feet depending on how high you will go.
- Window openings – size, positioning and if using glass, what slide direction?
- Glass vs. plexiglass vs. just having an open window – cost vs. insulation and weather protection
- What will you be shooting? Gun vs. crossbow vs. compound bow
- Sit down on the chair you will be using to determine the height of the windows