BowHunterFett

I built a hunting shack 2 summers ago. It is 8'X12' with an 8' front wall and 7' back wall. We put 4 old telephone poles in the ground. We had some old bridge planks layin around, which would basically be a 2x12. We ran ready rod through the poles and into the planks, the planks were stinding up on endge, cut the telephone poles off at 11' flush with the planks. Used some 4X6 boards that we had and set them on top of the planks. I made some brackets out of angle iron to fasten the boards to the planks. I then used some 2X6 tongue and groove boards for the floor. Built my walls on the ground and hoisted them up and screwed em together. I put 1/2" insulation on the outside and tinned over it, tinned the roof, used an old door out of my garage that I replaced, and made some windows. Put some carpet in like what they use in store entrances, and threw in a Mr. Heater. I ran 2X6 boards across at an angle on sides and back of pole frame. Very solid, 40 mph winds don't move it.

Mastevt

I try and keep things simple, I find 2 trees close together, install a 4x4 or 6x6, and make a plateform at the top, put the seat in between the trees, you can sit with your back to either tree, or just sit facing out over the post. here are two pics.

Mastevt

here's another one

Predator26

Get a couch and a microwave up there! Pizza bagels are the ****

petasux

andrgo, Ill try to give you an idea what Im talking about.

Not sure where your at or if its even an issue in your area but by burying the posts and cementing around the bottom of them it serves two purposes, first it solids things up nicely, a post buried 4 ft deep isnt likely to tip over.Secondly it prevent the frost from heaving your posts up and shifting everything above them around.

Heres a floor joist hanger, they come in all sizes for different lumber, for something that high up Id go with a 2x6 or 2x8 joist, you wont have a long span so you shouldnt need much more then that.





Attach these to the 2x10 you have run around the outside of the post so the top of the hangers flush with the top of the 2X10.Lay em out on 16 inch centers so that youre plywood comes out right and you dont have to cut every piece.The joists {2x6s} will sit down inside them and get nailed through the sides.If you do a google search you can find pictures of decklayouts and stuff, the framing for the floor will be quite similiar to those.

After your walls are up, plywood is on and the roofs put together you really shouldnt need much further bracing.If you still feel the need for more bracing on a couple walls you can run a 2x4 from the top corner on one side to the bottom corner on the other side on the inside of the wall.Nail it or screw it to every stud in the wall.Dont know if this helped any, if you have more specific questions Ill try to answer them.

andrgo

Hey man thanks for your post, now I get it kind of better. Do you think that expecting to go 8-12' is too tall? I'm also wondering if I should use scrapped telephone poles from the electric company or big 4x4 greentreat posts of a certain height. Telephone poles would be nicer I think, but those suckers are solid and tough to work with (which is why they'd be good to use.. if you could ever get them up.) I'm also not sure how deep to go, you said 4' deep but I guess it really depends on the height of the thing, the higher it is the lower the posts should be in the ground I'm guessing. But I don't really know what an appropriate height would be. I just want it high enough so when it's not occupied bears can't do anything to it and rodents will have a hard time getting in it. I really want to go all-out with this thing, I want to make it big enough to sleep in and have it insulated and everything, something campable so it is more convienient whenever I use it.

petasux

Heigth will probably depend on what you decide to use for the posts.Figure you buy 16 ft 4x4s, bury em, you gotabout 12 ft left to the bottom of the floor.Add the roof, walls, etc... and your gonna be 17-18 ft to the top of the shootong house.Telephone poles would work well for this if you can locate some, theyre tall enough you could set them and cut the tops off at whatever heigth you wanted.Youll need a tractor or something to set them though more then likely.If youre using scrapped ones make sure theyre not rotted off badly at the bottom or split out real bad at the top, if they are you can cut the ends off back to solid wood before setting them.The problem with telephone poles will be finding a post hole digger big enough around.If you go with them you might have to rent one that goes on a skid loader or tractor.

4ft deep with the cement should be plenty, the cement will act like an anchor.Put an inch ortwo of cement in the bottom of the hole before you put the post in, set your post and brace it then fill the hole about 18 inches or so with cementaround the bottom of the pole.Fill the rest in with dirt and tamp it good, heap the dirt up around the bottom cuz it will continue to settle.If you go over 12 ft high you may want to go a little deeper, if your going to go deeper then 4 ft again you might want to check around and see if you can find a auger to rent for a tractor or skid loader.

You mentioned insulating it, just curious what you plan to put on the outside of it?Treated Plywood, steel, something else?Will you be putting something over the windows so you can seal it up when your not using it?Will you be running a heater inside it?

Red Lion

Below is a website that sells plans for a variety of deer stands. It may or may not be of interest to you.

http://www.deerhuntingstandplans.com/

vikesfan353

Good luck with the tele-poles!! WAY WAY WAY TOO HEAVY!!!!
We cut some cedar or ash trees and bring em to the local sawmill! Much cheaper!!
I don't know if you can't or just don't want to attach it to a tree, but if you use two trees and two posts it cheaper and plenty sturdy without digging any holes or hauling any cement!
We usetwo 12' 4X6's and two trees!

BowHunterFett

Trees grow, not a real long term investment, in my opinion. 4 of us set the telephone poles for my shack, it can be done. Most utility companies and power companies have some pretty decent old poles you could probably get. Build it to last, alot of work and money would get wasted for nothing if you cut corners and got skimpy. We used a regular 12" post hole auger and drilled 3 holes right together, then shoveled out the center. A little extra work, but it worked.