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New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season #211746 08/28/2022 5:08 AM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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I started work on this Tower Stand last year, but due to ongoing logging operations I did not get the stand put up. Looking over the site after the logging operation, along with the steep hill I will need to go down to set the stand, I have decided to put it up in a different location. I looked over the area where I have a good ladder stand, and I had about decided to replace the ladder stand with a tower. Then the light came on. I have permission to hunt the neighbors 120 acres. They have moved to Tennessee, and I seriously doubt they will be up to hunt, and if they are only for a single weekend. He is not a serious hunter.

On the neighbors 120 Acres I have a ladder stand in a bottom where the wife likes to hunt at this time. Her stand is on the South edge of an 80 acre field. The South and West edge of the field is a wooded strip about 100 - 300 feet wide. Her stand is in the middle of this strip of woods. The center part of the 80 acres is about 40 acres of hay field. On the East side is a rougher side pasture that is probably 10 acres. We rotate our horses into this area, but move them back to our land well before deer season. This 10 acres is fenced off from the 40 acre hay field. More hay field is to the West however the strip of woods the wife hunts has a dry creek bed that cuts the hay field into two parts. I cannot see the other 6 or 7 acres from the Stand location.

My plan is to put the tower stand up straddling the fence on top the hill. If I locate the stand at the approximate center of the fence North to South, I can cover almost the entire 40 acre field, as well as approximately 5 acres to the East. That 5 acres is a real hot spot for deer. The fence row is brushed in, the 5 acres has woods on the other three sides. My plan is to put the stand up with the door accessible from the hay field side facing North. I will have the brushed in fence row keeping me out of sight of deer that might be in the 5 acre field while getting to the stand.

STAND CONSTRUCTION
This stand has a floor that is 6 feet X 6 feet square. All four walls are constructed using 2 x 6 lumber for studs and plates from an Amish Saw Mill. The reason for the 2 x 6 wall construction is the 24 inch wide table top that goes around all four sides of the stand, "except the Door Opening". The Table Top will be centered on the wall, half inside and half outside. Building the Table Top this way eliminates the need for any braces on the table top. The roof will be 9 feet X 9 feet square. It will be slopes and screwed down to 4" steel C-Perlins. I have Trim Metal for all four side of the roof. OUCH !! the Trim cost as much as the roofing metal. My original stand location was on a point, and did not require a lot of elevation. I already have the CCA 4 x 4 legs cut to 6 feet in length. This location will work out with the legs I already have cut. The legs will be positioned on Concrete Big Feet. The Big Feet gain me approximately 7 Inches in elevation. The legs are attached to the Stand Floor band boards with Elevator Brackets with Compound Angles. My Table Top will be approximately 36 Inches above the Post Tops. This puts my Table Top Elevation approximately 9-1/2 Feet above Grade Level along with being on top a hill. The Six Feet Legs makes the stand sound like it is low, but on top a hill it will be plenty high. I have 24" Steel Stakes with Rings welded to the top to anchor the stand down using Steel Cables, and Cable Clamps.

All of the wooden members for this stand except the Leg Posts will be rough sawed Amish Pine treated with Ready Seal deck preservative and stain. All of the boards used on the floor were soaked multiple times with Ready Seal before assembly. The exterior wall covering will be 1 x 6 boards I have had drying for a year. The table top will also be made of 1 x 6 pine boards treated on all sides.

The last Tower Stand that we built was constructed the same way, except we used Lumber from the Lumber Yard, Metal Siding, and Painted Exterior Plywood for the Table Top. Last year when I bought the roofing metal it was double the price we paid for metal on the last Tower Stand. That was the main reason for just using metal on the roof. Like wise Lumber from the Lumber Yard has also gotten excessively expensive. I am reasonably sure with the wood preservative on the wooden members, the stand will hold up very well.

You are probably wondering why I have the Table Top half inside and half outside the stand? With a swivel chair set in the CENTER of the Stand Floor you can swivel the chair, and be positioned perfectly to shoot all four directions without moving the chair except turning it. What I will do is position a 4 x 4 block approximately 8 inches long on all four sections of Table Top. I will then position a Shorty "Shot Sack" Sand Bag on each wooden block for a front rest. I will normally set the block of wood on a Padded "Dinner Table" Place Matt so that the front rest can be repositioned quietly if needed. Wood on wood does not make for a quiet reposition, especially when excited or in a hurry. With Four Front Rests positioned all I need to do to set up on a different table top is move the handgun and the sand bag used under the butt. I store the Shorty Sand Bags in 50 Cal ammo cans to keep rodents from eating holes in them when not in use.

We normally run a 550 Cord around the interior of the stand above the Shooting Window openings. This gives us a good attachment point for Camo Material to cut down on being back lighted. We attach the Camo using flat black painted cloths pins. Like wise we adjust the amount of coverage of the camo with cloths pins. I normally add a couple wider shelves above the window opening to store gear up and out of the way. Junk cluttering the floor is not a good thing. I will also use 550 Cord as a retainer to keep items from being knocked off the 2 x 6 above the window opening used for storage.

By now you are wondering what I am shooting since this is in the handgun hunting section that will cover a 40 acre field. I am hunting with a Nosler M48 Bolt Action Handgun chambered in 6.5 Creedmoor. I am still working with my bullet selection, however the Hornady 120 grain ELD-M is looking very promising at the velocity level the 15 Inch handgun operates at. I will also work with the Hornady 123 SST Bullet, and see how it expands as well. I have a Fackler Water Box for testing bullets. I need to get to using it before it starts cooling off. Blowing up One Gallon Bags of Water and Refilling lots of them normally makes for getting wet. Not a good thing when it starts cooling off.

I normally wait for broadside shots, and place my bullet behind the shoulder to cut down on meat loss. My main concern is getting enough expansion at handgun velocity levels. This is why I am working with lightly constructed bullets. For a scope I am using a Weaver 2.5-10X Classic Extreme Rifle Scope. This is a 30mm tube scope with loads of eye relief, and a great field of view on the lower power settings. It has covered Finger Turn Elevation Knob, so I can easily dial in the Elevation Correction for the Lasered Yardage. I am 100% sure that I will have my Laser Range Finder with me in the stand, along with my Drop Chart. I am pretty careful, and do not try shots that I am not 100% sure that I can make. While I regularly shoot targets to 600 yards on the Range, I do not plan to attempt to make any real long shots that I am not sure of on deer. This will be my first stand location that I can shoot past 150 yards. This will be a different ball game this year. With this much real-estate to watch, I will have to resist shooting any Coyotes that may come along.

This will be my first Deer Season using the Nosler M48. My last two deer were taken with a 356 Winchester Encore, and a 7.62x54R Encore. I believe the deer before that was with my 6.5x30JDJ Contender. I have also used my 35 Bullberry Contender as well as my 480 Super RedHawk on deer. This will be my first Season using the Bolt Action M48 in 6.5 Creedmoor, and I hope many more seasons follow.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211747 08/29/2022 9:11 PM
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reflex264 Offline
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Sounds like a plan. Good luck with the M48.


"A quiet hit in the right place is better than a loud miss in the wrong place followed by 10 more shots on the run"

I was a handgun hunter, when handgun wasn't cool.....
Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211752 09/04/2022 1:53 PM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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I am hoping to work on the stand a little this afternoon. I have been rained on every time I try and work on it. We have rain for cast for everyday day this coming week. I have the walls mounted to the Floor. I now need to elevate it, and install the Legs.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211760 09/09/2022 11:37 AM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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We got back on the project again. My brothers Compact Tractor was low on hydraulic fluid and quit going up about Eight Inches short of getting the legs under it. We had never added hydraulic fluid to it, and had to do lots of research on what to use with the dealership 50 miles away and closed on Sunday. The fluid we came up with on Sunday afternoon ended up being more than double the cost of factory fluid at the dealership. Who would have thought the dealership fluid would be cheaper by that much? We needed to return the Bob-Cat Fork Lift attachment Monday, so lifting it with the compact tractor is not going to happen.

We got my old John Deere serviced and running last Sunday. I had not had it started all Summer. I will swap the bucket out for bale spikes this weekend. I am pretty sure that it will lift high enough. If not we can always put the legs on with the stand laying on its side and lift it high enough to winch it on up with the Warne Winch on the Jeep Wrangler.

With luck we will not be rained out this weekend.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211842 10/11/2022 1:13 PM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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The stand is close to completed. I keep having Fires to Put Out getting in the road of my Tower Stand Build. Monday was a good example. I stopped by the Sportsman's Club to discover that the Draw Bar had broken on the John Deere 2440 tractor, leaving the 10 foot mower stranded in the middle of the range. The Black Powder Cartridge crew using the tractor all live 40 PLUS miles away, so I being the only local ended up rounding up a draw bar and fixing it. That erased about half a day of my planned work time on the stand. Last Monday & Tuesday I had to baby sit the crew rebuilding Berms on the Range.

Where I Am At 11 October 2022:
My old John Deere with bale spikes lifted the stand up high enough to install the 4" X 4" Legs under it.
I built the Stairs, and installed a 3/4 Pipe Hand Rail to make getting in and out of the stand safer.
I have all the Board & Baton Siding treated on all sides, and installed.
I constructed a half door yesterday afternoon before going to my Township Board Meeting.
Today I will work on the Counter Top.
I still need to level one Big Foot, and install the Anchor Stakes. I have steel Cable and Cable Clamps to anchor it down. I will drill all four legs and install 1/2" Eye Bolts, with Flat Washers, and Lock Nuts to attach the cable to the Stand.
I still need to install the metal on the roof. I will either get my brother to help, or hire a guy from Church with a Bucket Trailer to get the roof metal installed.
I am off today, so I will head to the stand and get back to work. I need to finish this project, and get to cutting fire wood. It will be Winter shortly here in Missouri.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211845 10/11/2022 2:30 PM
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junebug Offline
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Good luck to you and your wife for the coming season. Lost our lease so I am setting my wife's box blind in the back yard. Have the floor down and it won't take long to set the rest, do a little clearing and set a feeder.


junebug
Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211846 10/12/2022 11:48 AM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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junebug sorry to hear about your lease. Sounds like you live in the country. I have seen deer during Deer Season before getting out of the yard.
We have 40 acres that is partially wooded. We have 1640 acres behind us that is a Lease that I help take care of. I can only hunt the ridge behind the house on the lease now days. It was nice when Huber and Smith Flooring owned it, and I had the run of the entire property during Deer Season. I can also hunt the 160 acres where I am putting this tower stand.

Yesterday I pretty much finished up the half door. It only needs a Bolt on the inside to hold it closed solidly.
I got the Back Bench Top Installed, and about 80% finished the one on the front. The front took a little time. I had to angle the interior area of the bench to allow access with the new door with a bench on it. I do not believe I mentioned the Bench top on the door. I bolted large steel angles together through the door on each side. I then carriage bolted a 25" wide X 18" Deep bench top to the top of the door. Having this bench top on the door will let me cover the grown up fence row a lot better.

I am down to finishing the bench tops on the ends, Leveling one Leg, installing the Anchors, Bolting down the steel C-Perlins, and installing the 9' X 9' metal roofing and I will be done. Using Amish Sawmill Pine is slowing me down. Any surface that will take water gets treated with Ready Seal Deck Preservative & Stain on all sides. Cutting out the lumber then treating it is eating up a lot of time. I will have over 10 gallons of Ready Seal "Redwood" applied by the time I am done. This is an experiment to see just how well the treated lumber holds up.

More to come. I hope someone volunteers to post pictures. I can send them on the phone.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211847 10/12/2022 2:04 PM
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reflex264 Offline
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Sounds like a great set up.


Junebug, sorry to hear about your lease. Maybe something good will come from it.


"A quiet hit in the right place is better than a loud miss in the wrong place followed by 10 more shots on the run"

I was a handgun hunter, when handgun wasn't cool.....
Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211850 10/13/2022 12:41 AM
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Jeff460 Offline
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Sounds like a labor of love working on that deer blind. I am happy for you. And Junebug losing his lease is a real bummer. But put out a feeder.

Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211851 10/13/2022 5:24 AM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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I put in a little more time today. I now have all but one bench top done.
I have a Sportsman's Club Board Meeting tomorrow after work, so nothing will happen tomorrow.
I will try and get the last bench top done Friday after work.
I have some help coming Saturday, so I should get the roof metal on, and finish up all the remaining work by the end of the day.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211852 10/15/2022 10:56 AM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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Nothing happened Friday.
It is now 6AM Saturday Morning. I should have my brother and friend Frank both helping today. I am pretty sure we will have it finished today. I need to move on to Fire Wood Cutting as well as a couple other ongoing projects.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211855 10/23/2022 2:59 PM
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junebug Offline
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Hope you got the stand finished Bob, When you get to the roof help is always nice. I remember piles of wood when I was growing up as high as we could throw it next to the tractor driven cut off saw. Clean out a fence line, you brought it all home on the wagon and cut it up for firewood. The old house wasn't insulated so you needed a lot of wood. First chain saw I remember was a Mc Culloch 35. A big ole slab sided thing a half pint or pint of oil to a gallon of gas mix. Old man bought it new in 1960 or 61. Heavy as hell and slow turning but it beat hell out of an ax and crosscut saw.


junebug
Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211871 11/09/2022 12:55 PM
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So, it's been around 25 days from the last update. Any photo's yet?

Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211881 11/13/2022 1:37 PM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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If someone knows how to post a picture I can send pictures to their phone.

I got the Tower Stand finished in time. I hunted the Opening Day (12 November 2022) in it. Froze my tail off. We went from an early morning low in the 50's to 20 degrees and 1.5 inches of powder Snow pretty much over night. The day time temperature only got up to high 20's where we had been up in the high 70 Thursday. What a change.

I hunted with my new Nosler M48 in 6.5 Creedmoor. I am using a Harris Notch Leg Bench Rest Bipod on the front with two sizes of rear sand bags for under the butt. The bigger bag is in the window opening facing North beside the door. Shooting that direction the shot is a lot more down hill as well as close requiring a taller sand bag under the butt. The M48 Nosler has a Weaver Classic Extreme 2.5 - 10X rifle scope on it. I have it Zeroed at 100 yards. I stapled a Drop Chart over the window opening with Come-Ups in 25 yard increments to 400 yards, which is my maximum range I COULD shoot from this stand. This scope has finger turn knobs that are easy to finger dial.

Saturday Morning I did not see anything. I did sweep some of the 1.5 Inches of Snow out of the stand. Cleaned snow off the bench top, and got my small rugs on the bench top. No Hand Warmers or Toe Warmers. I fixed that problem about noon when we went to town. I did not deploy the Toe Warmers Saturday afternoon, however the Hand Warmers were nice in my pockets.

Saturday Evening. At 4.15 PM I had a nice buck come by. Not a wall hanger, but probably an average 5x5 for around here. He skirted around the grown up pasture on the South side of me about 40 feet back in the woods. That put him out approximately 150 yards from me. I had him in sight for 15 minutes. He stayed in the edge of the woods following the wooded dry creek bed all the way around the Hay Field all the way to the County Road where he crossed. He got out in the Hay Field for a few seconds 300 yards from me, but no shot.

At 4.45 I had a Spike Buck in the pasture on the West Side of the Stand. He was traveling South until he got even with my stand, then he angled away from me West. He got up on his hind legs and rubbed his antlers on an over head limb. I was surprised a spike would do that. He went into the hay field West of me, then circled back North and ended up going by my brothers stand. My brother let him go on by also.

It is Sunday Morning, and I am going to Church this morning. I will hunt this evening.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211889 11/15/2022 12:15 AM
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junebug Offline
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My wife has a couple of small 8-9 pointers coming in and several does. She had a bigger deer on camera coming in at night and had one come to the edge of her opening but not far enough to shoot. Our electric went out yesterday at 5:30 pm and didn't come back on till 2:30 am so she didn't hunt today. On the bright side we did get to have a candle light dinner.


junebug
Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211894 11/16/2022 1:15 PM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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I made a couple adjustments Tuesday mid day. I moved the hook I hang my Pistol Case on to the South Wall. It was on the East Wall blocking my Drop Chart. I also added Six J Hooks to support the Camo Netting I have in the window openings. This keeps the camo from sagging down, and makes adjusting the amount hanging down easier.

No deer sighted Sunday Evening, Nothing Monday either.
Tuesday morning was a bust.
Tuesday evening I had two groups of does come into the Hay Field from the Side Pasture, SIX Deer total. The smaller one went to investigate my Polarus Side By Side. I had it parked in a grown up area of the fence row. The deer did not see it until they were well into the hay field. She snuck up on it to within probably 40 feet. She would put her head down, then throw it up checking if the Ranger was moving any. She finally decided it was ok and caught up with the other deer.

I work Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. So I wont be back hunting until Saturday morning.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211902 11/22/2022 2:08 PM
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Bob Roach Offline OP
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We ended up installing the metal on the roof using a ladder.
I ended up using a door bolt to hold the door shut.
I ended up adding a couple extra Hooks between the stand corners to better support the camo netting. Keeps it from drooping down.
I jacked the tower corner up with a Hi-Lift Jack and added base rock to level the Big Feet out.

I have hunted from the new Tower Stand every chance I have had to hunt this season. It is the best Tower Stand I have constructed so far. I ended up bolting big hooks to all four walls over the window opening to hang gear from. Up out of the way. Of a morning I hang my Amber Robertson Handgun Case from the hook on the South Wall. In the Southwest corner I have a hook to hang the bag I keep the small Rug Pads I put on the bench top to keep moving the handgun quiet. The hook on the North wall is where I hang my gear bag with my Butt Sand Bags, Drinks, Sandwich's, etc in. I originally had the Handgun Case hook on the East wall, however it blocked the Drop Chart I have stapled to that wall.
I have ended up hanging the Handgun Case from the corner hook of an evening to use as a Sun Visor blocking the Sun looking West.
I have a 48" X 60" Rubber Pad on the floor to keep things quiet.
One thing I learned when setting up a shot using the shelf on the door. I need to push the door out, then use a foot to hold it to keep it from making noise.
I do not think I would change anything on this stand design. This is Tower Stand Three. Every Stand has been better than the one before it. I will probably start work on another stand in the Spring.

Bob R


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Re: New Tower Stand for 2022 Deer Season [Re: Bob Roach] #211903 11/22/2022 2:17 PM
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gunslingerdad Offline
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keep making improvements and you will have the Tashma hall. Sounds like the blind all of us would like to have.
good luck with the rest of your season.


still Dave Thomas, just an alias so the gov't dont find me
;\)

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