just built two box stands so my kids can hunt with me

[john keyes]

put one in the woods








looking out across the firebreak, I'm gonna do a little cutting on the shrubs

heres where I come in from a trail I've got from the backside


and one I put up at my house for reserve, wait a while before I put it out on the lease I suppose

lets here it for the mobile deer stand erector mobile   


see that little generator in the back, it will kill you going in and out of the woods
also that 12 foot step ladder is worth its weight in gold


my son is six and last year I had to explain all I had was a climbing stand......situation is now officially FIXED
 
I'd like to get my daughter to go. she is seven and more than welcome.  but I don't think its gonna happen.

Its gonna be nice not clicking and clacking and carrying a climbing stand in, wearing a harness etc.
I'm not down on climbing, in fact I love it.  But this will be nice.

[Graybeard]

Yup them shootin shacks are nice to hunt from. One thing I'd have done differently is made a real set of stairs rather than an angled ladder but then that's me and I'm an old fart who tends to fall off ladders. My last trip up mine with a ladder I came so close to falling off backward which likely would have meant me landing on my head or back it was not funny. My finger tips caught the last possible salvation from the fall and held. I've not been back to even look at it or any of my other high stands with ladders since. I had already stopped using climbing stands. Now I don't go above ground level other than on stairs with hand rails.

[Skunk]

Really nice job, John. Way nicer and warmer than an open tree stand. If the little guy gets restless, you'll also be much better hidden. I'm like Graybeard though, my days of climbing into up into stands without steps and handrails are pretty much over.

[Redfish1]

Nice job, but don't give up on the tree stands. My son is 14 now and I can now let him hunt on his own.
He has been going with me since he was 5 so he knows how to hunt. Leave a propane heater and a lighter in the stand. The clothing made for small ones is not as good as the stuff you and I use so little feet and hands get cold. Leave the heater and lighter so it's always there. My son and I had a note book
we used to play Tic Tac Toe in also. Hope you have as much fun as we did.

[hillbill]

awesum effort. i built a couple of them when my son was little, really helped him enjoy deer huntin. last year at 13 he wanted hunt to hunt alone cuz he felt so comfortable in them.he shot a nice 8 pt with his 06 at bout 75 yrds. perfect shot he made, i was so proud.yu wont regret it.

[charles p]

It is tough to build a stand for an adult and a small child, because the window height needs to be different.  Normally a child can not sit in a chair and shoot a rifle from an adult-height window.  Mine couldn't so he had to stand and crouch and could not get a rock solid hold. Sitting in my lap wasn't any better.

I may be wrong but I think most of our stands have a 41" height to the bottom of the shooting window.  A good rule of thumb is to locate the bottom of the window at a height that is even with your belly button.  Have no idea if this holds true for little kids but it might.

Ladder steps should be closer for children as well.

Down south we leave a can of wasp spray outside our stands.  Spray Roundup around your ladder base now to kill the vines.

When a kid is first trusted to sit in a stand alone, we do not allow him to exit the stand until an adult is present, even if he shoots.  It is surprising how many deer they see/kill after taking an early shot, providing they stay in the box.

[hillbill]

what i like to do for the kids is get a old wooden chair that they will be useing and cut the legs down until it is just the right height for them to shoot out of.i also like to keep a couple of sandbags in each blind to lay on the window shelf and teach them how to use them. this alone well help quite a bit. i also taught my son to never ever take a shot until he was comfortable with it.so far the only deer he ever missed was one we jumped while walking in to the stand, he shot at it while it was running before i could get to him to stop him, i never said much about it but he several times expressed regrets about that and said he was never doing that agin.if you have any coyotes in the area i like to call in a few before or after season for them to shoot. really gives them sum practice.

[hillbill]

another tip is to roll up a old blanket or quilt and leave it in the rafters of the stand. i like to put out the chairs and blanket a couple weeks afore season to kind of let them become descented.wrap the little one up in the blanket if its cold and they will last a lot longer.

[ccoker]

nice job
I just built my first stand over the weekend for our new lease
my oldset, 12, has hunted with me since he was about 5
loves it

those little propane heaters are awesome aren't they!

[elmer]

I now have a 6x6 stand and love it. The one essential piece of equipment here is my Thermacel.

[Lon371]

  John

  Great job! The little ones will enjoy it. I have taken several youngens in the past several years. My boy was the restless type. We started takeing his gameboy. Put it on silent mode! They will get a kick out of all the critters, running around. Be sure to post up in the youth hunting section of their adventure

Good luck.

Lonny