Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Tower Stand Advice

Looking for some advice on building a tower stand. Here is the situation. Got a chunk of swamp about 400 yards long 150 yards wide. Only trees for a stand are on the north end. Wind is typically out of the north. Also cannot access the north end without walking along the west edge of the swamp west winds are fairly common as well. East side is the property line. South end is blacktop. So that is my entrance point and odds of wind screwing me are small.

Now the trouble is how to build the stand. Average year you can walk through the area if your careful wet year there are spots you can just about disappear. I want to build a tower stand to see over the willow brush that is ten maybe 12 feet high. I am at a lose as to how and anchor it to keep it from blowing over and how to keep it from sinking. For my walkway in I figure on just using pallets. But need some idea for the stand.

Might sound like a lot of trouble for a small spot. And it is except for the fact that this pocket is a big buck magnet. Heavy pressure all around it and it is the thickest cover within a good couple square miles. Last fall before season I had three bucks come out of there and crossed the field in front of my truck. All three were at least 170 biggest had to be pushing 190.

As for finding a better spot that is not much of an option.Other spot I have in mind that shows promise as well is even more of a problem. To build a stand I would have to cantilever it out over a dropoff and then cut shooting lanes down a hillside that is about a 80 degree slope. Looks like more trouble than it is worth. That is without even taking into consideration what to do once I shot something.

Mike I would take a day and walk the swamp when I had plenty of time. I would take pen and pad and write down the different scenarios of what if's. You seem to have a good grip on the area so take notes on where,when,and how you would get to the stand as well as where,when, and how the deer would be moving on different days. I think it's really best to set up crosswind instead of north-south and lose some of your hunting days.We still have alot of south wind in Texas during deer season. As far as the stand I would look for an old mature hardwood to build in or one w/a naked side to attach to.It's easy to take 12 or 14 ft 2x4's and a good screw gun and cross brace them w/self tapping screws.The base can be 4x4 with a plywood base on top.Once you've found your tree then you can just anchor it to the tree w/the cordless screws. I just use the black drywall screws that come in 1-6in lengths. If you have a big enough tree I would just build an old fashioned tree stand...the best.Don't just blindly pick a tree, you might have to get up into several to see which one has the best view. A good looking tree on the ground is not necessarily the best 10-12ft up in the air.Lastly, I would again weigh all of my options before building something but wouldn't dallie around either to give the deer a chance to get used to it. powdr

Mike without me looking at the place it would be foolishness for me to tell you where to put your stand so I will just confine myself to telling you how I have built tower blinds on boggy ground.

First you need a good wide footprint. I have found that the concret paving stones that are sold in garden supply work well. You can find different sizes. You set the legs on those.

To keep your stand from blowing over drop a plumb line from the exact center of your stand. Where it hits the ground screw in an earth anchor like are used for trailer houses. Get as long a one as you need. From the center of the stand to the earth anchor drop a 3/4 in nylon rope.Tie a loop in the rope run the free end through the earth anchor and back up through the loop. Pull down hard as you can and tie off. That will snug your stand to the ground. Stands I have built like that have gone through hurricanes and lost the roof but but still stood.

If the ground is too boggy to hold and earth anchor you can always bury dig a wide bottom hole, pour in a couple or three sacks of ready mix and sink a rebar horse shoe in the top. When it all sets up use that as a tie off point. Back fill the hole.

Have you considered bringing in a big metal tripod stand? It can always be moved to tweak your set-up. If you search around, some are made pretty tall and sturdy. Long T stakes pounded into the ground along the same angle as each leg and secured with hose clamps (portable drill with a socket) to each leg are pretty secure, along with anchors, guy wire etc.. Or maybe put the feet on squares of treated plywood.

+1 on the Tripod deal. Look around and buy the best one you can find with the most steel, most welds, and least amount of nuts/bolts. I had an old 16" model that I hunted since the early 90's. Some azzhat trespassed on my place last year and stole my heavy-duty ratchet straps running to the ground anchor, so it blew over and several welds finally popped. No telling how many spots I had tested out with that stand. I wrapped it in burlap and built a plywood roof with a PVC roof frame.

Thought of buying one. Few problems. Biggest one is expense. I have lots of lumber on hand that is already paid for. Second issue is the property has had lots of issues with trespassers and vandals in the past. Stand would be visible and accessible from a main public road. Figure if I spend the money on something that looks nice and expensive someone is going to [bleep] with it or being metal the local scrap thieves will steal it.

As for the wind that is totally figured. North and west are my main winds. North wind blows my scent to the road and over open area of the swamp. West wind blows my scent across the property line into a CRP field. East wind would blow my scent into a corn field. Deer come into the swamp from the northwest or northeast or from the west about 40 yards from my likely stand location. Unless I get some type of south wind this stand is about as windproof as you can get. As I said this spot is about as perfect as I can get other than figuring out a stand.

Here is a pic of the area



Property line is red blue lines are deer travel routes yellow spot is my probable stand location. Picture is orientated north south. Only large trees are on the north edge all others are large willow type bushes. Deer are coming from the pines were they bed when not disturbed. Not shown in the picture to the west across the corn field is hardwood ridges.

I'll double down on the portable tripod or even a portable ground blind. Lots of deer every year are killed out of box blinds on the ground or a tower. However when I did radio tracking of mature bucks I could make a map of their travel paths during hunting season and locate the permanent stands on the property better than the people who put them there, all I had to do was look for where the mature bucks didn't go.

Mason's scaffold & plank.

Mike only you can decide whether to build or buy. Boggey's suggestions about footings and anchor are spot on as I use them even on firm ground. The only difference being I use a guide wire from each leg to a mobile home anchor. powdr

To tie down the stand you can go to a fence supply store and get some of the ratchets used to tighten barbed wire and other stranded fence wire. What I do here in Texas is build the stand over a hardwood and cut it off tie a ratchet to the stump then run a wire from the base of the blind to the ratchet tighten up and it is secure. I being some what of a safety freak like to use the same technique with a guy wire from each corner. The ratchets allow you to tighten things up when necessary which may be necessary in boggy land. Ratchets can be had for 5-6 dollars and are reusable. So far as dealing with soft or boggy soil you might dig down at your corners and pour some sackrete in the hole. If you need to anchor the corners seat a bolt in the sackrete let it dry and you should be good to go.

Forget the stand...sit in the truck.

FWIW I'd second the recommendation on just sitting in the truck. We used to back them into some tall weeds along unused logging roads, kill the engine & hunt out of them years ago as a portable blind (with a heater when needed). Deer didn't really pay attention to them...

Hi mike,

I see a couple of problems. If you are building a stand alone platform that is tall enough to see down into 12 ft high brush it's going to need to have one hell of a wide foot print in order to be stable.

Secondly, it's going to weigh a ton...neither of the above is conducive to building on wet ground.

If you are determined to do it, I believe you'll need to pour your pads 8"-10" deep. I would keep it around 10-12 ft in height and just cut shooting alleys thru the taller stuff.

Choose your location based on prevailing winds during hunting season and be sure your approach takes the wind into account as well.

I'm not a fan of permanent type stands because bucks learn to check them out fairly quickly. All he's got to do is catch someone picking their nose in it once, from then on he'll eyeball it from cover before ever exposing himself....and if your in it, he'll probably catch you moving.

I would try to kill the buck from the ground. Even though you are giving up visibility and some comfort, i honestly think you'd Stand a much better chance if you set up on approaches using natural cover.

Best of luck.
JM

I'd also consider setting something up out in the point of growth to the NW. Deer are edge animals and if your deer like oats like they do here in some parts of Texas, you'd be hunting their corridors, feeding in corn/oats and the edge of cover. The higher you set up, the more enclosed the blind, and the more you do for personal scent control the better obviously but if you worry about it so much that you position your stand in less than an optimal location.......well then most effort is wasted. I'm not sure what the cover is like on that point but if it is somewhat tall, you can build your blind into the cover. The wise ones figure out tower stands pretty quickly with their eyes as much as anything else. PLENTY of that here in TX. Your preferred spot might give you a nice view of your area but it looks like it will give the deer a nice view of the Eiffel Tower in the middle of your clearing. JMHO.

Mike,

I usually do a two piece deal by building the box in full on a level concrete slab, then building the tower as a different piece. This way you can load them separately and screw them together at the place you intend to put the stand. For hard to get to places, I like to build the box and tower separately as well, but I only tack the corners of the box together with screws. When in the field, I drag the platform in and set it in concrete, then pull the 5 pieces of the box up with a rope, screwing each piece through the bottom plate and attaching the roof last. Then you can climb up an extension ladder and add more screws as needed.

Here's a two piece that was a put in a place easy to access:

When I had my stand built in a marsh I used a similiar design. There were a couple of things I added to make it more stable in boggy ground.

First the braces that run parallel to the ground were extended out another four or six feet past the base. This widend the footprint. Than wooden spikes where driven into the ground and attached to the braces that extends out past the base. It never sank or blown over, even in a class 3 hurricane.

I think that as soon as you build a nice stand in that little swamp you'll have every poacher and thief in the area either stealing your stuff or hunting from your stand or near it. The guys that said hunt from your truck have a good point or just don't worry about the wind and use a huge amount of descenting tricks and hunt that north end.

The reason those bucks are there is because there are no hunters trying them there because it's difficult to hunt that spot.

Oh yeah... Most imoportant is to have a plan, stick with it, and cut your shooting lanes waaaaay in advance. Also only plan on hunting that area 3-5 days during the season and do that on days where the surrounding areas have lots of hunters so the bucks are reluctant to leave.

You'll also need to be super alert... They'll do their best to hide in there and stay there even if they know you're there. If you don't know how to use binoculars to optically penetrate brush, then learn.

Thanks for all the ideas. Truck is a great idea. Except for the illegality of it. But my dad is disabled and can hunt from the truck. So I think I am just going to let him watch the spot. Cut a few shooting lanes for him.

Or I might leave the spot alone until season is a few days old and try a gentle push.I gave things a good look over and to do it right will be a major expense. I cannot find a area of level ground that is even close to being kinda stable. Plus I pissed off a lot of the neighbors and local lowlifes. So a nice stand in plain view of the road probable is asking for trouble.

Again thanks for all the ideas wish I could make them work.

Got a couple of questions...

1) Is the stand for you or your dad. If its for you, how about a lock-on. You dont have to trim limbs and they are not seen as easily in the tree. You build a simple ladder to access them and hide it each time, so theives wont find it. I've taken a 2x8, nailed 16" 2x4's across it and used it for a ladder. Lay it on the ground and cover with leaves each time I leave the area. Plus, it doesnt take much of a tree to hang a lock-on in. Another option is just a board up in a tree, between 2 limbs or in a fork of a tree. Its not fancy, but hardly anyone steals a board or two, especially if they have to work for them. Killed several deer that way. A lot depends on whether you can drive nails/spikes in the trees, so keep that in mind.

2) If the stand is for your dad, then its another situation and the suggestions made by the other members pretty well covered it.