ZTDR

Hi, I am looking to build an elevated box blind for deer hunting. I would like it to be about 5x5 and i would like to have windows. It only has to be about 8-10ft. off of the ground. Anybody have any plans that they used to make one? How much would it cost to build it? Is 5x5 big enough? Thanks.

Duck7604

Not sure how much it will cost but i would go bigger and taller, it depends on the lay of the land but at 8ft. tall they are going to see you move around alot.

OntElk

it's just a box. pretty basic carpentry. so many ways to put it up and it depends on where you're building it. This cost me a total of $54 for some new pt for the stairs but otherwise it was just material laying around from previous jobs.

4 walls with front wall taller than the other 3 and that makes the roof slope. very simple. getting it up on 4x4 posts or adapting to a tree like this is where it depends on where you're doing it.

OntElk

5 x 5 is plenty big. this is 4 x 5 and sits 2 plastic lawn chairs nicely.

my other one is 4 x 4 and it stil fits 2 small fold up chairs just fine but that is better for just one guy.

ZTDR

Will OSB work for the walls or will it rot out to fast?

jwatts

I am actually doing mine right now. Now i did go a little extreme,i plan on having one of my children or both up there with me. It cost me about $300 I pretty much bought everything. 4'x6' pressure treated 2x4 for floor then cut 2x4's in half to make walls with outside being plywood. I did cut drop down windows and on the inside i made tracks out of alum. c-channel ($8 for 8' at home depot) and cut plexiglass for slide down windows, steel roof with 1" foam board glued to the inside for insulation and noise deadining. Exterior paint. I also put a urinal in with 2"pvc connected to old garden hose buried into the ground for scent. Now this may sound funny but with 2 young kids one being a toddler, i have put a 5 gal pail for my coffee table/seat for them,also a camping toilet seat that sets right on the bucket with the "doodie bags". Therefore i hope we shouldnt have to get down when nature calls.Lol

Topgun 3006

jwatts---Sounds like you got it all covered there, LOL!!!

ZDTR---Stay away from OSB and go with decent plywood that you can paint to really make it even more resistant to moisture. I already have premade dropdown windows for one I'm going to build next Spring and it will have either shingles or metal over the sloped roof for extra water protection. It's going to be 4'x4' and will be set on concrete blocks in the swamp I hunt in northern Michigan. I have materials left over from an addition I put onto my cabin a few years ago, so about all I need is to either rip some leftover 2x4s or buy a few 2x2s for all the corners. I plan on doing it during turkey season and the deer will have until Fall to get used to it.

OntElk

4 YRS and the OSB is fine on mine. Plywood is defintey better at 5 times the cost but not necessary. we run iceshacks with OSB walls out across northen ont lakes and then put back in the bush in the offseason until we drag them out again. They certainly don't last forever but you'll get 10 yrs plus out of those OSB walls if you paint them like I have on mine.

Now having said that I have my other one in a swamp as well. Built on blocks in footings made by cedar logs. I had no desire to ver haul replacement boards down there (long trip hand bombing material) so I did plywood on that one.