Last week while at the Sportsman's Club supervising the pavement work, I started construction on the Tower Stand for my wife.

This picture is of the entrance side showing the 4'X4' aluminum floor constructed from a repurposed Fire Escape Platform that I have been planning to use for this purpose for around 30 years.
Around the Aluminum floor is a 2"x12" oak frame work. I have vertical 4"x4" posts in all 4 corners, and on the left side of the door opening. The siding is plywood.
The top is constructed from 3 rows of 2"X6" CCA lumber with about a 3/4" space between them creating approximately an 18" shelf to use as a shooting platform.
The stand utilizes Elevator Double 8 Leg Brackets from Academy Sports the cheapest source I found on them. I believe they were $70 shipped.

The 27" 4"x4" legs are temporary just to get it off the ground a little.

The plan is to use a swivel seat in the stand so that the wife can cover all 360 degrees around her stand location.

After getting some body work estimates tomorrow morning. (Little old lady backed into the wifes 2017 3/4 Ton RAM 4x4 pickup on the Wal-Mart parking lot today) I will get the 12' 4"x4" legs picked up at the lumber yard, and stop by the Saw Mill and have some Oak Braces cut. I am hoping to have it in place by next weekend.
I have a spot picked out on the North East corner of the property. We have a strip of field about 100 feet wide X 100 yards long on the corner with a wooded draw to the South on us, and woods on the North and West on adjoining properties. She can cover the main field, plus the area described above. She can also cover a pond to her West. She has been hunting this location for years, just from Ground Blinds and Ladder Stands. The Tower Stand will have her placed in the best location to cover everything in that area.
Tiny Pictures was not working worth a hoot, or I would have had more pictures.

More to come.

Bob

Very nice. Will you put a roof on it or leave it open (did I read past that)? We usually box them in but I'm thinking on my replacement stand being open like yours. Biggest con of not covering it is the inability to deter rain and keep everything dry. Last stand I built had a really nice black screen wrapped around the windows, shooting shelf, lidded bucket to keep my sandbags and sundries dry, padded floor, coffee cup shelf, a few hangers and a really nice padded swiveling office chair I was able to procure.

Then some jackwagon burnt it.

Looks good so far! I really need to build an elevated blind at some point.

Looks very nice. One of my projects coming up is to add a wider shooting platform in our box stands that I hunt. All of them were built for rifle hunting and need some tweaks for handgun purposes.

I asked the wife if she wanted a roof. She said she was not planning on hunting in the rain anymore.
This design will let her set up in almost any direction. The ladder/entrance will face the woods line about 15 feet away, so probably no shots in that direction.
I will try and slope the stand a little. The Fire Escape Platform had a drain slot on one edge. I will probably put down a fatigue matt. or horse stall matt over the aluminum to make it quieter, and also less slick on frosty mornings.

I managed to get another picture loaded. This shows the Elevator Double 8 Leg Bracket for a 4"x4" post. It is angled 8 degrees in two directions. You can make out the plate and lag bolts attaching the bracket to the 2"x12" oak board.

The Elevator Leg Bracket "Back Plate" extends under the 2" Board and up the back side a little. The bracket is picking up more load being under the band board than the 2" Lag Bolts securing it. It is a very good design.

I will lag bolt on several handles. Probably 2 on the Right side of the doorway. One high and one low. I will need to see what will work best on the left. Make sure she has plenty of grab points for getting off the ladder, and back on it.


Bob

Id think a roof could help add some concealment of movement etc. rather than skyline view etc..... plus it may help the stand weather better long term, although alum should last lol.

Concealment is the other advantage to a roof. You can really be comfortable without worrying about excess movement in an enclosed stand. That being said, I bowhunting from a climber which offers zero concealment.

Looks great. Cant wait to see finished pictures.

I moved it to the set up location a couple days ago.
I also have all the lumber unloaded to complete it.
I have it on its side with the legs facing up hill. I plan to use the front end loader and bale spikes on one tractor to lift it up from the down hill side, then use the other tractor to finish pulling it vertical with a rope.
I hope to get the legs installed in the next couple days, and get all the X Braces, and Band Boards attached.
I could probably finish construction in an hour with some help to hold the legs in place. The last few days when I have had time to work on it, the wife and my brother have both been busy.
I will get the plan to come together shortly.

Bob

I will try and post a couple more pictures shortly. I got the legs on and the Bracing & Band Boards pretty much all completed today. We stood it up around 6PM. It stood up as planned. I used my John Deere on the down hill side to raise it up as far as the front end loader with bale spikes would reach. We had a heavy duty ratchet strap around the oak band boards with a healthy nylon rope on both sides. My brother used his 4 wheel drive compact tractor to pull it on over vertical. As soon as he started on up with it I backed my tractor off and made a couple turns around the front axle with the rope to make sure it did not go on over. No problem at all. Everything went like clock work.

Tomorrow I still have one board on the down hill X Brace to install on what was the ground side when putting the legs on. I will also start on the Ladder up the side. I have a 4"x4" board attached to the legs high and low with 1/2" Bolts and Lock Nuts. I will notch out the vertical 2" x 6" boards to recess into the 4" x 4" boards. Then I will install 2" x 6" steps up the side about 15 inches apart. I also have 4 heavy metal handles that I will install with Lag Bolts instead of the supplied screws for hand holds at the top.

I will also need to saw off the legs to level it up, and I will also probably use concrete post feet between the posts and the ground. That will leave anchoring it in place. I will probably install large screw in Eyes and drive in some anchors constructed from large ReBar. I will use small Cable and Turn Buckles to secure it in place. That should be trouble free for years.

Then I will get on the roof. I am thinking about using 1/2" pipe (36") with a Floor Flange on each end on all 4 corners to support the roof. That will be as good as it gets to not block the view from the stand. I will frame up the top, and get a couple sheets of metal roofing formed at Custom Form in Mtn View.

Then all Wilma will need is a Large Buck to make her day. Which by the way we saw today when looking over our Trail Camera cards. We have lots of bucks on the cameras. Several average 10 points, and a couple that are pretty impressive. It is pretty hard to count the bucks, but I am guessing that we had at least 15 different ones on the cameras. We ran out of light with one more camera to pull the card on. We have it set up watching a large Cedar Tree that gets rubbed every year.

Bob

Looks awesome so far. Can't wait to see more pics.

I got back on the stand work yesterday. I installed 4 anchors, and drilled the legs for large eye bolts. I ended up using ratchet straps to secure it.

I also got the ladder built yesterday. I installed 3 of the 4 grab handles around the entrance. When the wife got home just before dark I took her to the stand to see where she would rather have the Left Side grab handle, to best get in and out of the stand.

I have the one grab handle and one board of one X Brace to still install today. After that I have 4 rubber interlocking Matt sections to install on the floor, the Equipment Cord to raise and lower equipment, and her Contender, and the Swivel Seat.

I will get the installed pictures posted shortly.

Bob

The first picture shows the completed stand. I just completed the wooden ladder up the side. Added metal grab handles around the entrance at the top of the ladder (6 each) so the wife has plenty of locations to get a solid grip getting in and out of the stand. I have two 550 cord ropes on this one to bring up gear. You can see the concrete Big Feet under the legs to help the posts last longer.
I might get fancy and add a bicycle water bottle holder to a post in a corner.

A view from the top looking at the corner where she normally sees a buck almost every year. Shown is a 14" Contender in 6.5 X 30 JDJ (JD's version of a 6.5 x 30-30 AI) with a late model Burris 2-7 Plex scope. Mark Hampton ordered this barrel for me probably in the early 1990's when he was using a 6.5 JDJ mainly. I have been shooting Hornady 129's in it for years. It kills deer fine, but small exit holes on double lung shots. This year I have it loaded with Hornady 95 grain VMax bullets. I believe at handgun velocity (app 2600) this bullet will perform about like the SSP (Single Shot Pistol) bullets of the past. This frame has the Factory Walnut grip with rubber back strap and a Tonys Stocks 12" Forend also in Walnut. I will have this barrel on her frame which has a Pachmayer Grip and one of Tony's 12" Forends in Charcoal on it. I have a 22 LR barrel on that frame at the moment. I will get Wilma in the stand with the 22 LR barrel shortly to make a few shots in different directions to get used to the stand.

A view up hill in the direction of the pond.

A different view looking across the pasture up hill to the SouthWest. If you look hard you can make out a horse or two skylighted on the left side. Our house is visible at the top Right hand corner.

I still need to do a little tree trimming with the pole saw. That will take about 20 minutes.

Looks good, Bob. Just add deer!

Nice work Bob,she should be happy with that.My wife's stand started with a ladder but I had to put up steps and a front porch a few years ago.Got to hard for her to get into the stand.What ever it takes to keep her hunting and happy.

Dang Bob, you'll have it ready in time! Hopefully your wife has a successful hunt out of the new stand.

That is awesome and looks like a nice piece of property you have there.

If you don't mind me asking, how much did you spend on the materials to build it? I've been considering building one in one of our fields for some time.

Looks like a nice place to hunt. I really like the blind.

Nice stand. She will enjoy it.

TN Lone Wolf I had the 12' 4" X 4" Posts, and the 2" X 6" CCA lumber on hand as well as the 4' X 4' Fire escape platform I used for a floor. If I were to make a guess probably around $350.

Bob