I was thinking to myself some of the places I've hunted and how much nicer the stands I have now are from the ones years back. I alot of stands many of us hunted where already there and we fixed them up etc.

I remember one lease I had in Webb County in the 80's. Had an old tall rickety stand on the North end of the pasture. I climbed in it one morning. Wind started blowing so hard I thought for sure It was going to blow over. Based on the North Wind and the side the ladder was on if I tried to climb out it would sure enough tip over.

I finally was able to get out of it and back to the truck. Hardest wind I'd ever tried to hunt in.

I bet someone has rode one to the ground before.

Thanks, Billy

not me....there were a couple of times my butt puckered a bit but never had a stand get blown over. I won't hunt towers without guy wires for that very reason. Been chased down by lightning a time or two though....

I was in an old free sanding elevated blind 8' from ground to floor on Shirley mountain in Woodson in the 80's when a big storm blew up and blew the stand over . It or we hit the ground an rolled down a couple of times . I was bruised up but I knew from then on to make sure the stand I was in was secured .

I hunted quite a few years in South Texas and Mexico, it seldome rained. I doubt in those days I ever was ran out of stand by lighting. I think once in the Hill Country on a lease I had I climbed out of one becasue of lighting don't recall many.

One of the leases I had in Mexico had a welded metal tower. I would guess it was over 50 feet. It was very well built. My guess it was some kind of commerical structure/platform the rancher got his hand on. This thing was huge. In the wind it swayed more than I liked. I set it a time or two but did not like to climb it because how high it was. You could see forever. Only problem was, this ranch didnt have many deer. Not the only place I hunted in Mexico with few deer. I had a picture of it but not telling what I did with it.

One of my fears, so I make sure to anchor tight.

Last year during turkey season I scrambled into one of my elevated (8') blinds just as it started to rain. Was looking online at Lightning Tracker and had strikes estimated within 400' a couple of times. Definite pucker, but felt the blind was as safe as trying to find a alternate, so sat 'til it blew through.

I have to tell off on myself. I have two box blinds. One thats 4x4 thats only about 4 ft off the ground. The other thats a 5x6 if I recall, and its about 8 ft off the ground. Neither one is tied down.

I would have bet money Hurricane Laura would have blow both of them over. Laura passed 40-50 to the east. My house at Sam Rayburn which is north and west of our deer least by 20 miles each direction lost shingles. How both my deer stands made it I'll never know. I'd bet they got gust well over 60 MPH, maybe more. Pine tree blew over and hit my tripod, bent it all to he....ll.

I got lucky on that one.

Hey Gringo,
I can relate to how the wind can blow in Webb Co.
I was sitting in an old wood tower and the north wind started steadily increasing.
That old stand started shaking and swaying and first the door blew off, next went the roof.
After that the stand quit shaking so bad but I was. I should'a just got down as I wasn't seeing @&)$ anyhow.

A buddy of mine in high school had two sisters. We were hunting at his grandfathers place. The older sister wanted to hunt with me. Somehow the blind tipped over and we rode it to the ground. It was tough to explain as their was no wind that morning.

I guess I'm not as dedicated as some of you. If the wind is blowing like that, I'm staying home.

I bet you did have a hard time explaining that one!!!

Waiting on a Skinnerback story

I've never been in one that blew over, but I've had a few blow over when I wasn't in them. I had a 16 foot tripod blow over three times before I finally wised up and started tying it off to trees. We had a tower blind blow over where I hunt now and it was anchored down, including a t post in concrete. We still can't figure out how that happened because of the way it was anchored and the fact it has a thick group of trees behind it and that's the direction the wind came from. The wind can do some crazy things.
I was in one that almost got knocked over by cows rubbing against it. I had to get out of the blind and run them off.

Not blown down by the wind, but I was in an ancient stand we called the "Treehouse", because it was basically a box in a tree, when the main branch holding it up broke. I felt it when it broke and knew it was going down. I had a nanosecond to decide whether to try for the ladder (attached to the blind) or just hang on for the ride. Clutched my rifle across my chest and rode that puppy to the ground.

I've been in a few stands that made me pucker up when the wind blew, for sure. One old stand was on the edge of a high drop off, and was held up with several anchor lines. I think it was about 15 to 20 feet tall from the ground, and really high from the front of the stand. The ladder steps seemed to be about 2 feet apart and scared the crap out of me hunting that blind. (Scott W, I think it was Gastinger's on the left from the Junction deer lease, if you remember that stand).

I have a 4x4x6 blind on 8 ft.legs in such a way it hasn't ever blown over even during Hurricane Harvey. Not even tied down and had 5 oak trees blown over all around the blind. I have a pic taken right after the storm. Even I couldn't believe what I was seeing. The legs are at such an angle they have a span of over 10 ft from leg to leg on the ground and I believe that was the reason it withstood the wind. However, I wouldn't hunt during a high wind as deer don't move much during days of high wind. However..I was hunting one year on the ground and a Norther blew in with a high north wind. I saw a nice eight point jump our fence into our area about 250yds. away. The buck didn't wast time jumping into thick brush. I ran just south of where he ran into the brush and set down close to a trail. Here he comes and I shot that buck less than 10 yards . I could hardly find the deer in my scope he was so close. I was lucky enough to harvest that guy. So ...if ya a real hunter ...it is possible. On the other hand..I would not hunt in a blind that is shaky and weak...especially in a wind storm.

Someone on here did. His foot was rearranged on a portion of the ankle that it didn’t belong. I don’t recall who it was. Surely, someone will.

Yep, that one was tall and would wobble when the wind blew. There was another one by Frank’s in the back that was 20’ tall, taller than the trees and always made for an interesting hunt. Luckily none ever blew down.

I had a 10ft tripod tip over with me aboard. Rain storm the previous night had eroded footing on one leg, and a heavy wind the following evening was enough that it got squirrelly and dumped over. Nothing broke on me or my rifle so set it back up and went back to hunting. I was solo at the lease that weekend so it could have been a bad situation.

I never had a problem or worried about my stand blowing over.
A slight wobble, or a cracking noise is a good thing as it keeps you from dozing off!
You just have to have some bailing wire and a tree to prop it up against!
If it ever blew over, there was plenty of cactus and brush to break the fall!

I haven't been blown over in one yet but well anchored tethers are extremely important. I was helping a client prep his lease for the season when I was working on a blind that sat on top of a very steep hill. If you were blown over in it the ride wouldn't have stopped at the ground. Anyways, I told him we needed a metal post when he asked "why"? I then promptly yanked on one of the tethers, causing the long dead cedar it was anchored on to rip out of the ground.

I had an old spring steel popup blind set out in the pasture one morning. A front blew in and it was leaning on me. A gust came through and pulled the stakes out of the sand and I was sitting in the field watching my popup heading toward the highway.

I had one of those dome tents blow away at Falcon Lake one time, it looked like a beach ball blowing across the brush in the State Park

I've never been in a blind that blew over but I was in a tripod in Vernon years ago when I hawk kept getting closer & closer. I finally had to move when he was flying right at me & I realized he thought I was a tree & he was going to land on my head. He freaked when I finally moved as he was close. I realized later that he would sit on the tripod & watch quail come in to the feeder.