A few of you have asked that I show how I made our pit blinds. I wanted to find a way to create a lower profile blind for one hunter and a dawg. I hate the boxey wood blinds and a layout blind is for youngsters, not old futs like me and my dawg. I wanted it to be partially buried for a low profile yet easily removed if need be. It had to be waterproof and critter proof. Then one day while at Tractor Supply I noticed their Rubber Maid 150 gal cattle tank, and the light went on. I bought a couple on sale and brought them home to start experimenting with.



If I buried one in the bank above the high water mark I wouldn't have to worry about it popping out of the ground. Cappy is a 100 lb Lab and I'm 225 so we fill the tank pretty well. Next I cut 5/8" plywood tops that overlap by 1" all the way around and are secured over the tank when not in use to keep weather and critters out. Each top was given two coats of exterior latex.



I experimented with several types of drop-down front panels ...





Finally ended up using 1/2" PVC pipe covered with a 1000 denier shadow grass fabric cover. I also glued that same material to the top side of the blind cover.



The panels are hinged and fold flat on top of the cover when not in use. 31" rubber tie down straps attached to eye bolts in the back and front lip of the tank secures everything in place well.



Next was selecting locations and making sure that the bottom of the tank would be higher than the highest water level when the wetlands was full. I rough dug the pit with a small tractor and finished it by hand to get level. That was last June.







I raked in some fast germinating rye and clover around the buried tanks and hoped I'd have some decent ground cover by Teal season. We tried several different methods of hiding dawg and hunter. Palm fronds worked well but didn't match the surroundings that well until late season.







We killed a fair amount of ducks from those blinds last season but I wasn't really satisfied. I wanted to find a way to make the surrounds more permanent and durable. Then it dawned on me, a 52" high X 16' long galvanized cattle panel could be cut in half yielding two pieces 26" X 16', and each piece would be perfect for a surround to go around the outside of the pit blind and even have enough for a door opening on one end.



So I cut them in half, covered the top and door opening with PVC pipe with a saw cut down the length, then wrapped that with foam insulation and zip wire tied in place.







And the final touch was an over-wrap with camo duct tape to protect the foam that is somewhat fragile and doesn't handle ultra violet rays well over time.



This picture taken was this morning and you can see the surrounds are already pretty well covered by new grass. By Teal season it should be really well covered and not much supplemental should be required. if it is, the wire panels make it a simple job to add.

Looks like you got it all figured out there Cappy!

That is awesome!!! Thanks for sharing, this has given me some awesome ideas, although it looks like you have worked out every angle lol

wow, that looks great, thanks for sharing

That is great. Thanks for sharing.

Very nice Jim!

J.J.

Very nice work!

Cappy,

Great idea. You might want to market it and advertise in the Louisiana Sportsman.

Where did you purchase the camo material?

Great setup Cappy! Might have to build one! Thanks for the great advice and pics!

Cappy that's a really good looking blind. How much water does it collects ?? I see you have it covered, but during use with the dog too?? Did you cut any drain holes ?? Is it set on a rock or packed bottom?? My lease is on a river, so the high water level is a little different from time to time.

btw what is the rod looking piece on the top cover between your PVC ??

I've got to build three blinds for another lease I just picked up

Thanks

I found this pic which will show the inside ledges. I don't have a pic showing the bench in place.

Thanks

What do you think your total cost per blind worked out to ?? I'm going to have to give it's a try.

A little hard to tell for your purposes because I bought the fabric at such a huge discount from what it costs retail. But for the tank, 2X4s, plywood, paint, hardware and all else, under $200 each.

BTW, if you need to anchor any because of unknown ground water depth, I made devies that will allow you to do that too.




Take a ride up here and I'll help you make the first one and you can see those that are installed.

Hummmm I may take you up on that a little later in the year.
I was up there all day Sat, we went to Hagerman NWR, Sherman, Wolfe City area,and made a couple other stops, then had a good dinner in Leonard. That's where we let the dogs run for a bit. Not many doves in the area yet this year.

Hey Cappy, you've got mail Thanks