# Constructing a Large Perm. Blind



## northdakotakid (May 12, 2004)

I am planning on putting up some permanent larger duck blinds this winter. Can any of you hunters from more traditional blind hunting states help me with ideas for my blinds. My family owns many lakes and big sloughs in north central ND, so I want it to be out about 30-50 yards from shore. Plan on driving 6 inch wooden posts for a walk bridge out to the blind or just put it off a long point


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## PSDC (Jul 17, 2003)

This can be a fun winter time project. We have built several
blinds over the winter. We 1st start with a template for the
base and take it out in the winter to drill our holes and place
the post in the water. From there the sky is the limit.

My only warning would be watch the weight of the main 
structure so your support post will hold and not sink or
shift below the water line.

Also , keep in mind of water levels that may change in
the following season(s).

Good luck!


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## Matt Jones (Mar 6, 2002)

Now's the perfect time to get a blind going. You can go out with an auger and drill some holes and pound in the stakes for the foundation of your blind a lot easier now than you can with open water. Then just do the finishing stuff later once you have the foundation up.


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## gaddyshooter (Oct 12, 2003)

Nodak kid....just remember whatever structure you build will have to be covered up and camoflauged with natural cover. You may want to rethink the walk structure if you are going to be that far from the shore. I would find a point that sticks out into the slough where you can build the blind right into the cattails around the slough to help hide it and then you can just build your entrance on the back of the blind and walk into it from shore. It you are set on having it 30-50 yards from the shore, you may want to just go ahead and build a blind that has a boat hide attached to the blind. You could keep a very small john boat at the lake to ferry people to and from the blind. There are many different designs of blinds and it is not hard at all to incororate a boat hide with the blind. Your imagination is the limit it you are going to build a blind that you will use for many years. I have seen blinds built with enclosed rooms for sleeping/getting out of the cold. I have seen blinds with toilets built into them, full size ovens/stoves in the blinds with adapters for propane bottles. A lot of the blinds down here also have electric wiring and lights wired into the blinds that you can attach to a regular car battery. You just have to charge the battery every few days to keep it ready in the cold. Pretty cool to go out to the blind and flip a light switch on the wall just like home. I even hunted a blind this year, that along with the stove, toilet, lights, the guy had a cabinet built into one wall with a stereo and had speakers mounted in the corners. Like I said, it is only limited to your imagination and how much work you want to put into it. My main suggestion would be to make sure and get your support posts pownded down into the ground as far as possible so they can support all the weight of the blind. We have a home made "pole pounder" that is a large piece of steel pipe with a steel plate mounted on one end and handles welded onto the other end so two people can lift it up and down and pound the poles into the mud. Works pretty well. Ok, I am done rambling now.  Good luck.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

We built a blind here in MN about 4 years ago. The design is pretty simple, yet works very well and is very flexible in what you can do with it. We started by buying 4 poles that are used to put up docks in lakes, you know the ones with steel pads part way up the pole so in a "bottomless" slough, the poles don't keep going down and down and down when you pound them in. You also need 4 brackets that are found on dock sections. These are the parts where the pipe slips in. You can build the floor or "dock section" any size you want. Ours is 4' by 12'. This sits 4 people pretty comfotably. I believe we used 2" by 10" green treated for the floor frame, made into a rectangle 4 feet on each end and 12 feet long. There is also a center support board in the middle, which is also 12 feet long. We connected the whole frame together using an assortment of framing hangers. We then used green treated 1" by 6" to cover this frame. We cut a bunch 4 feet long and screwed them on. This really gave us a nice solid floor. Next, you mount the dock section brackets on the sides of the floor. The reason we used dock pole and brackets is because they are adjustable. Once you have the blind in place, you can lift or lower the blind according to water levels by loosening the bolt on the bracket that screws into the pole. When you go to set it up, slide the poles into the brackets first, then pound them into the ground. This way, you don't have to lift the floor over the pipes and try to get the pipes to go in, and the pipes will be perfectly aligned. No guess work. Once you do all this, it is time to make an outer shell. We used 1" by 6" green treated. On the corners and in the middle of the longer sides, we stood these boards on end and screwed the bottom to the floor frame. I forget the height we placed these at. You can figure that out for yourself by pretending you are sitting in the blind and seeing how high you want the sides. So now you have the floor with several boards sticking up around 4 feet on the sides. We then mounted a top 1" by 6" board to the tops of the boards that are sticking up. These are two that are 12' long and two that are 4' long, same as the dimensions of the floor. Now you have the floor, and a frame built above the floor around the ouside that is about 4 feet high. Cut out about 2 feet on each end of the frame, so you can walk through. We then covered this frame with 4 foot wide green vinyl coated fencing, the stuff that has like 4 inch by 4 inch squares in it. These squares are good for stuffing vegetation into them for camoflauging purposes. We then built a bench that runs the entire length of the blind, along with a gun rest. We also put a partial roof on it. I know this got really long, and is probably confusing. I believe the most important part of this design is the floor. It works extremely well and is nice because it is adjustable. Everything else you can pretty much do to your liking, but I would highly suggest that you build the floor like we did. It is very nice. If any one has any questions, post up or PM me.


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## snapper (Nov 10, 2004)

Ever considered a floating blind just build a dock and put a blind on it then if you put anchors out where you want to put it and pull the blind out to where you want to keep it .and if that is not where you want to keep it you can just move it. Just stay away from right angles and strait lines the hokier it looks the better it seems to work.


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