home built tree stand ideas

jeepking

jeepking

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Looking to built a tree stand in the next couple weeks on my hunting property. Was hoping to get some ideas from you guys. Just thinking about building the stand is getting pumped up already for deer season.
So post some pics of your stands and even the deer you have shot out of it
 
Built this one from free plans I found on the web, posted this pic of the finished product on a US hunting site. The following year while browsing, noticed that some guy had used my pic to advertise the formerly free plans on his "for pay" deerstand plan site.... It's a good design, basically a wooden lounge chair 14ft in the air, a little complicated cutting and assembling though.



Here's the first one I built using a different set of plans, the pic is from a couple of years ago at the time, this stand was built in 2001...


This one about five years old.


I find this type the cheapest to construct, most stable and practical design. The basis for the whole design are a couple of specialty metal brackets sold at Home Depot, something like $7 a piece.


The design is highly customizable and altogether I've made about half dozen, some just platforms, other platforms with railing and some with complete enclosures.
 
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Wear I am thinking it is prone to coastal flooding and having a dry plase to sleep of the ground is handy thing as is having a plase to get out of the rain a
4 x8 tree bline would be slick
 
carverk said:
Wear I am thinking it is prone to coastal flooding and having a dry plase to sleep of the ground is handy thing as is having a plase to get out of the rain a
4 x8 tree bline would be slick
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I hunted a club that had those and a school bus seat inside. Hard to stay awake when things were slow.
 
Loving the pictures. Any time i wade a blind it was between 2 or 3 trees, but i was always worried that after a few years on windy days they were going to sway too much and pull out the nails from each other. I think a ladder style like this is going to be my go to in the future.
 
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This has been my home away from home for the past four years.

TreeStand1_zps65581aca.jpg


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It's 11 feet to the floor (from the ground) - the platform is 6 feet wide (across the front) and 8 feet front to back - the roof peaks at about 7 feet high so I can stand up and stretch. It's fastened to the three main trunks of pine tree (they form a triangle shape about 4 1/2 feet between each trunk at the height I built the stand at.

It's nothing more than 2X4" lagged into the tree trunks - 2X3 frame for the walls covered with chip board. The roof is 2X2 frame covered with corrugated plastic panel then covered with a camo tarp. The panels were painted with deck stain (left over cedar colour) then I took a can of green and black spray paint and went at it - added a bit of 3D camo material here and there - access is with an aluminum step ladder, likewise, spray painted black (mostly).

After the first few months of being there it went ignored (witnessed by the couple of game cameras I have set up) by the deer, bear and other "critters" where it is - now it's "something that is there that doesn't do anything to them".

If you have somewhere (secure and private) to set up, I say "go for it" - if you are comfortable you can stay out forever...
 
dand883 said:
Loving the pictures. Any time i wade a blind it was between 2 or 3 trees, but i was always worried that after a few years on windy days they were going to sway too much and pull out the nails from each other. I think a ladder style like this is going to be my go to in the future.
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Little trick I read once about your exact setup. Never use nails but rather lag bolts, when predrilling the three main joists drill not one but three or four holes touching each other. What you end up with is a slot instead of a single hole, now add a heavy duty washer to your lag bolt and you're covered for any tree swaying.
 
I've been toying with the idea of my version of a Cadillac hang on using cargo carriers from Princess Auto...I've seen aluminum ones rated for 300lbs for 60 or 80 bucks on sale. I intended to make brackets with hitch sleeves which I could attach to trees with ratchet straps and lags so I could move them around mid season if I wanted.

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"galamb"

Very nice set up. But I would ask that the next time your at your stand to please check the lag bolts or what ever type of fasteners you used to attach the stand to those "white pine ' trees.

Years ago we built several tree stands in white pines that were attached to the trees with long plated lag bolts. After about 4 years the sap of the white pine corroded the bolts completely through about 3/4" into the tree which is just under the bark and into the wood. This is the area of the tree where the sap travels up and down a tree. We found this out when I almost fell when part of the stand structure let loose. We started checking the bolts and found each and every bolt on every stand was either eaten off or almost eaten through. Every bolt was corroded through at the 2 1/4" to 2 3/8" mark. It was scary. All stands built in other species of trees such as spruce and maple were fine and showed no corrosion to the bolts. There is something in white pine sap that reacts with the bolts and eats them through. I could pull the bolts out with my fingers or a pair of pliers no wrench was necessary they were that loose. So please check your stand for your own safety. The type of lag bolts we had used were the silver plated type you buy at any hardware store. 3/8" x 6" and we used them in pairs.
I have a close friend that fell out of a tree stand due other circumstances and he is now confined to a wheel chair. I don't want to read about this happening to you, so once again please check your stand.
 
galamb said:
This has been my home away from home for the past four years.

TreeStand1_zps65581aca.jpg


IMGP0021_zpskqe9ev0l.jpg


It's 11 feet to the floor (from the ground) - the platform is 6 feet wide (across the front) and 8 feet front to back - the roof peaks at about 7 feet high so I can stand up and stretch. It's fastened to the three main trunks of pine tree (they form a triangle shape about 4 1/2 feet between each trunk at the height I built the stand at.

It's nothing more than 2X4" lagged into the tree trunks - 2X3 frame for the walls covered with chip board. The roof is 2X2 frame covered with corrugated plastic panel then covered with a camo tarp. The panels were painted with deck stain (left over cedar colour) then I took a can of green and black spray paint and went at it - added a bit of 3D camo material here and there - access is with an aluminum step ladder, likewise, spray painted black (mostly).

After the first few months of being there it went ignored (witnessed by the couple of game cameras I have set up) by the deer, bear and other "critters" where it is - now it's "something that is there that doesn't do anything to them".

If you have somewhere (secure and private) to set up, I say "go for it" - if you are comfortable you can stay out forever...
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That is a work of art!
 
Ottawa said:
Try an old phone booth and a winch ? put a lawn chair and a bottle of Alberta premium inside
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Couldn't find an old phone booth so I built one myself! Used an old adjustable office chair with padded handles and tilt back, very comfortable! Sliding windows made all the difference, especially when the wind was blowing or for the December muzzle hunt. No trees around since it was in the middle of a swamp but a few stout cedar trees nearby were sacrificed for the base.

As previously mentioned, it makes a huge deal to make it tall enough inside in order to be able to stretch now and then, a pee bucket is also essential...



 
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double gun said:
How does that not blow over?
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Five years up so far and it's still standing... Used to manual posthole digger and buried the cedar trees' bottom (about 6" in diameter) more than three feet into the peat moss. Worst thing that happened was at the two-year mark I had some uneven sinking going on with legs, brought out a car jack, levelled them off and added a couple of horizontal 2X6's (a little wider than the footprint) at ground level. Should have thought of that when I initially put it up but the effort involved was minimal.
 
Had one similar in design to that before I built my "palace" :)

It did blow over once, so just ran a couple of guy-lines.

The (stilts) were 4 X 4X4X10' with 2X6's to support the base. Had a 4'X6' platform on top of that (the 6' was across the front).

101_0084_zpsuxzg04gg.jpg


Worked great at that location (over a overgrown meadow that had previously been used for cattle many years back) since there was no decent spot to fix things to a tree.

That was "comfortable" but I still chose to go "bigger" with my next (permanent) effort. If I ever build another stand it will be even bigger than the 6'X8' that I'm using now - you can never have too much room...
 
yorgi said:
Five years up so far and it's still standing... Used to manual posthole digger and buried the cedar trees' bottom (about 6" in diameter) more than three feet into the peat moss. Worst thing that happened was at the two-year mark I had some uneven sinking going on with legs, brought out a car jack, levelled them off and added a couple of horizontal 2X6's (a little wider than the footprint) at ground level. Should have thought of that when I initially put it up but the effort involved was minimal.
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Cool. I didn't realize you bored holes - I thought it was just standing there. Lol
 
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