"The Privy Stand Pays Off:" April 2021--November 2022

My son Martin works at a medical equipment design company in the Twin Cities and had access to its wood shipping crates, many of them custom built. He brought this little beauty up (note that I used the word 'little,' in its description) in the spring of 2021 for me to make it into an elevated box-blind for deer hunting on our farm in northwest Minnesota.

It was constructed of three quarter-inch plywood and two by fours, on all its six sides, and had several metal twist-lock closures to tightly secure the lid. We eliminated all but one of the closures, and made the lid into a door totally ignoring the obvious.

Martin and I used four steel blind-post brackets called 'risers,' to attach its heavy duty box to four 10-foot long, 4" by 4" green treated posts and eight 2"x4" x 12' cross-tie brackets, so the blind would stand ten-feet above the ground.

I even went as far as painting the whole thing, top to bottom, in Valspar Farm Fresh Green, a color that would more closely resemble the white spruce trees that would be surrounding it. One morning, I just took a notion to get the thing out of the yard and pull it up with my tractor, as shown in this video titled, "Slow Drama/Wild Excitement." Hold onto your hats!

It wasn't until it was standing up, mind you, that I realized without any doubt that it was too small to be used as a deer stand in its present form as it was obviously an outhouse on stilts, and would be hereafter known and referred to as, "The Privy Stand."

I couldn't believe we didn't see its diminutive size immediately. (I'm sure my wife would have, for women are keen that way for some reason.) Still, she had plenty of time to question our thinking. (Hey, Martin ain't getting off easy ... he never said anything either.)

So it was, later in the year I had to create an addition to it, now another deer stand project I had to build once again ten feet off the ground. First, I had to buy some more risers. I think it was about August when I got started.

Adding two more legs to The Privy Stand using half a set of risers to attach the 4"x4"x10' legs. I built an exterior frame of 2"x6"s 54" square around the original box, something I could expand on later. The new addition on this side (the east side) is 36" x 54", just enough to stand in and shoot a rifle from, entering it from the west through the original 'lid' or door. I had to tear out the east side of the box and then enlarge around it, tying the two together top to bottom. I use deck screws for just this reason. In each of our deer stands, I've written its 'birth date' and consequent remodelings near the statement; "This ain't no china cabinet!' (In reference to my carpentry skills or lack thereof.)

By late October 2021 I had it framed in and the roof on. A salvaged extension ladder section is on the west side and serves the entry. I had to tighten it up some to stop the wind; it had no windows.

I wrapped the bottom half with a camouflaged-colored tarp to blend it into the environment. Another son, 'Craig' cut out the windows that fall so he could hunt from it.

In this image the entry door stands open.

I installed a 14"x24"aluminum-framed glass window in the center of the opening and two wood panels on either side to further close it up against the weather. My wife (and rightly so) had urged me to use plexiglass instead of wood panels. I admitted it would be easier to scan the field by just turning my neck a little rather than twist my upper body, had I used plexiglass as she suggested. The problem is seeing around the inset window framing. Again, this is why I use screws. This problem can easily be remedied next year.

So this is how the window turned out. The walls are insulated top to bottom and covered with construction-grade black plastic moisture barrier. The window is hinged at the top and is swung up out of the way where it is hooked against the ceiling. There is a little propane heater in all the stands suitable for its size; and a bar stool should the hunter wish to sit.

So, on Opening day, November 5th, 2022 (this year) about 4:45 pm, I sat in here during deer season, looking out this window as the wind blew strong from the distance, toward this direction. Looking south, to the right, I can see over 770 yards, and 880 yards, east of it, the expanse of our farm. To the northeast, on the left of the window, a narrow meadow, bordered by spruce trees, about 65 yards wide x 440 yards long, like this older snow-covered image:

I had been in the stand about 20 minutes, when I heard what I thought was a Ruffed grouse walking in the dry leaves below it. Popping the rest of a chocolate cookie in my mouth, I slowly eased off the stool to get a glimpse of it, my hand holding the forestock of my rifle, its business end pointing safely away from me, when to my great surprise I saw a whitetail buck sneaking past the stand not seventy feet away.

Quickly pulling the gun to me, I lifted it from the floor and out the window in one sure motion just as it looked up at me with a surprised look on its face too. And I shot it, killing it instantly; mercifully.

Ejecting the spent shell back into the deer stand, reloading another, and resetting the safety, I resumed eating my cookie; attempting to immediately recall the event with a sense of reverence, than excitement. I set adrift a pinch of tobacco amid the spruce boughs and thanked the spirit of the deer that provided me this meat. Miigwech.