Skip to main content

2022 Deer Stand Project New Craig's Stand Part 2

September 25, 2022

  Step 2  New Craig's Stand

Construction

The base is 48" by 48" and framed with 2x6s. The floor is 48" by 60" 7/16 plywood sheeting.

Base with 'risers' which are steel brackets screwed to 2x6 framing made for attaching 4" by 4" posts.

Base setup for attaching legs.

   It's been raining for the past few days -- not that I'm complaining. I've wished for rain for weeks. I was out working on this stand in the mists and under moody-looking clouds a couple hours a day. When it rained steadily I stayed indoors. I hadn't planned on building this stand this year, so things like tools and materials are in disarray, not that anyone who knows me would notice. I tend to operate like this until I get all my ducks in a row -- usually by the end of the project, but truly, I enjoy doing it and figuring how to make things work to my satisfaction -- I ain't building china cabinets.That being said, I think this project is my most accurate by far for some reason. Then I could just be delusional too; I'm old.

   All the deer stands are named after family members -- except for The Privy Stand. It is so named because it looks like an outhouse on stilts, not that any of the other deer stands resemble their namesakes. The names just identify locations. "John's Stand" does not resemble a john either, nor its namesake our eldest son. It would've been just as easy to call it No. 2 as it was the second stand I built after mine then moved, remodeled, and rebuilt again. Adding additional numerical designations on it would've just been annoying: '2B', '2C', '2Ca' ... Nah.

    Marty's Stand is in a good place too, but requires modifications as the years go by; usage creates critical thinking "What can I do to improve this experience? Hmmmm, I need to widen that shooting lane 'there,' lengthen it beyond that point, take out that window and add another 'here'. Put a curtain up. Add a shelf. A cushion for this hard old stool." Stuff like that. All these deer stands are works in progress.

   Craig's Stand is built out of a wood pier that came from Lindstrom, MN that someone was replacing with a new aluminum model. It came in handy in its second life as a thrown-together deer stand that was laughable to look at -- but delivered deer to the hunters for the past six years. That's why I undertook the project so late in the year. It just had to be done.

I've been lucky working on deer stands of the past; I try to be careful. I don't work fast, never have, but still things happen. This 'wound' was hastily wrapped with tissue and electrical tape to stave the bleeding and keep it clean so I could keep working. The throbbing went away after awhile. When I got home I cut it away the bandage using an Exacto knife, poured hydrogen peroxide into it, then put a real band aid around it. "Coulda been worse."

 

 

Stay tuned.

Comments

So, are you happy with your Dewalt tools?

Popular posts from this blog

A Memorial to Jerry Solom August 24, 1945 -- July 23, 2019 No. 2

               Jerry Solom, August 24, 1945 -- July 23, 2019 This is a random image memorial post about my late friend, who died a year ago. I wrote a memoir/tribute to him in the Wannaskan Almanac on July 23, 2020. Here's the link to that: http://wannaskanalmanac.blogspot.com/2020/07/thursday-july-23-2020.html Me and Jerry with Marion in background in Stonington, Maine in 2015 prior to setting sail to Hull, MA. This is an excerpt from the story  "A Louisiana Ruse" by Steven G. Reynolds Published in 2000 in THE RAVEN: Northwest Minnesota's Original Art, History & Humor Journal      This describes the end of a 43-hour bus ride we took from Fargo, North Dakota to Slidell, Louisiana, where Jerry's boat was in dock prior to his voyage to Norway in 2000. I was there as part of the maintenance crew, accompanying Jerry, his son Terry Solom of Minneapolis, and their fr...

The Chicken Coop Revisited

 “Just  of Scientific Mind: The Chicken Coop Revisited.” by Steven G. Reynolds Gramma Eff was not deaf, not dumb, nor was she blind. She was not daft this Gramma Eff, just of scientific mind. She wore knee boots, a long white coat, goggles, special gloves, and entered in, a study of, chickens, and their loves. “Chickens, and their loves?” you ask, incredulously, with one raised brow, as if of what she studied hence made a mockery of you now. Gramma kept her chickens clean and altho you might think it mean she washed their feet, their beak, their bod --the neighbors thought it very odd. That no one out should enter in Gramma’s little chicken pen For Gramma too, removed her clothes her boots, her coat, her goggles--those gloves, that Gramma always wore whenever she opened that very door of all her chicken coops there we’ve learned strangers there, their presence spurned Gramma found these chickens smart, they liked color, music, art. Gramma learned their innate needs went far b...

Mac Furlong: Real Hunter

   This last Tuesday, October 1st, in Reed River, Sven saw Mac Furlong hurrying down Main Street on his way to sign up for the Big Buck Contest at Normies On Main . Mac was wearing his Reed River Bank clothes so Sven didn’t recognize him right off, Mac walking so serious like, but Sven ought to have known that about this time of year all the local deer hunters are getting real anxious. Beginning soon after the Roseau County Fair in July, hunter types begin walking about the outdoors sports departments in their local hardware stores and sporting goods shops salivating over the latest hunting gear, wearing at least one parcel of florescent orange on their person as if to let the ordinary public know that, they, in fact, are real hunters of a serious nature, although temperatures are yet in the eighties. “See here, my florescent orange insulated cap with earflaps?” “Lo and behold, my florescent-orange camo jacket with elbow padding and several important pockets?” “Check o...