Today is shooting house build day. In my blueberries I have a huge deer problem and at that field there are few directions that are safe to shoot. I've had a tree stand at one location which me and friends have taken over a dozen deer over the past 3 years, but last Jan., when the guy from the state DEC came to check for damage so he could issue nuisance permits, he suggested an elevated shooting house off a specific corner on the fields. This is actually something I had been wanting to do for years but never took the time to do it. This year it is happening. I made a platform on 9' legs that is 6' x 6'. It will be 8 sided, with 4 sides 4' wide and the corners are cut on a 45 to create 4 more sides , these are 18" wide. Each side, including the door will have a shooting window. The 4' sides get a horizontal 11 x 23" window, covered with a 12 x 24 sheet of 1/4" acrylic while the 18" sides get the the same size, but vertical, for bow shots. I have pre-made the 4' sides but will get exact sizes and make the approx. 18" sides after the other sides are up and braced. I then have made 5 trusses for the roof, and each side of the roof is getting a 8' x 42" sheet of 5/8 plywood. Then I will put steel roofing on it. The part I already assembled on the platform, built at the sugarhouse, I carried on the forks on my tractor a few weeks ago. The tractor would not lift it quite high enough, so I made up a beam and mounted it under the platform at just under midpoint and I attached a 2x6 to the legs on one side just under that height. Then I raised the pallet forks, placed them over the 2x6 and under the mid beam. With that, I raised the loader arms to full height and I had about a foot under the legs. As I drove that the .7 miles to the blueberries, I had my wife follow in her car, in case I had to stop in the road to address any problems. As it turned out I only had 1 problem, which was an easy fix, on the back of the tractor I also have a set of HD pallet forks that I carry a work box for when I'm pruning in the blueberries, that holds a gas powered compressor, and some tools etc, any way, the forks stick out about 3' behind that work box. On those extensions, I had hung a 6' step ladder and once I got on the road, I lowered those rear forks so traffic behind me could better see my flashing lights, but I lowered it too much and the ladder came off. I simply raised the forks a little higher, put the step ladder back on and proceeded to my blueberry fields.
At the fields, I placed a 4" solid concrete block under each leg and set the platform in place. Now, today I will mount the 4' sides, tie the top plates together to form a 6' x 6' square and with the sides braced to the platform I can then put up the trusses and the plywood on the roof. The steel roofing won't be ready until mid week, so that will wait a few days. In the meantime I will make the approx. 18" wide sides and attach them, then the braces can come off. All sides are framed in 2x4's and are 7' tall, each is covered with a single piece of OSB and the window framing is done, I will cut the holes after.
When this is all finished, it will even have a propane heater in it, and there will be a vent both high and low in 2 opposite walls to vent the fumes when in-use, then depending on the wind, the low vent will be opened on the windward side and the high vent on the leeward side.
I sure have lots of volunteers for using the shooting house, and I will let most if not all use it, but I will utilize a schedule so only one or 2 are there at any time, and a few of the times I will be there hopefully filling my tags too.
Last year, on the 1st of April, the day after nuisance permits were good (but all had been filled) I drove by and counted 9 deer out in the field next to the blueberries, and I have no idea how many might have been in the blueberries munching on the buds. We had lots more deer that needed to be removed.
Dave Klish, I recently ordered a 2x6 wood fired evaporator from A&A Sheet Metal which I will be converting to oil fired
Now have solar, 2x6 finish pan, 5 bank 7x7 filter press, large water jacketed bottler, and tankless water heater.
Recently bought another Gingerich RO, this one was a 125, but a second membrane was added thus is a 250, like I had.
After running a 2x3, a 2x6, 3x8 tapping from 79 taps up to 1320 all woodfired, now I'm going to a 2x6 oil fired and a 200-425 taps.
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