Bad News/Good News

I’ll start with the good news. Dad pulled the chip over our water tank yesterday. All of our hit list bucks are coming in for a drink the last 4 nights, during daylight!! They have been absent for almost a month now. October lull??

Now the bad news. The new box blind we built overlooking this spot was blown down yesterday. They had gusts in excess of 75 MPH, yes, 75 MPH yesterday. Sustained winds over 40. I had the legs secured via lag bolts to steel post driven 18-24 inches deep.

So, a weekend that was planned to relax is now turned into a project filled trip. I guess there is very little damage, so we should be able to set her back up quickly. Probably gonna quick-crete the legs in and also tie it down with some steel cable to those screw into the ground tie down thingys. The goal is to get in and out as quickly as possible on Saturday. Probably hunt somewhere else that evening in the hopes I can hunt that spot Sunday night.

No matter what, I’m still very pumped to be heading home for pheasants and deer.

Yes, the #1 deer attractant in western MN and SD is water. I would hazzard a guess that the reason your big deer disappeared is that they were camped out near some other source of water until it dried up.

Regarding the blind box, those things get blown over all the time. I think it’s very easy to vastly under-estimated just how much it takes to secure these top-heavy stands for even a 30 MPH wind.

On a neighboring property, they built a new tower stand a 2 years ago. It survived until the first good wind and then it came down hard. Windows smashed, sides crushed, etc. The had only burried the posts about 18 inches, no way is that enough.

The good news is yours wasn’t smashed to bits. Totally agree with guy wires, the holding power of these is tremendous. Personally, I’d be thinking about quik-crete on the cable anchors as well.

On the more bad news front, these little structural engineering projects aren’t cheap or fast. What can you do, though? Gotta fix it so it stays fixed.

Grouse

Sucks about the blind….but funny!

I haven’t heard if mine is still standing or not. I put the posts in the ground 5 feet but I also put it 15 feet off the ground. Waiting to hear from dad

Got this pic off a buddy’s Facebook page. South central SD. Not good.

Pardon my french but screw the box blind. Bring a ground blind.Set up and hunt!Fix the box before you leave. My guess, if the are coming to drink during day light,they are bedding near by. I wouldnt disturb the area. Sneak in and put one down bud!