How to build—and hunt from—your own bear box

PLAN

With the main goal of concealing scent, I originally wanted to make the blinds out of a one-piece plastic shell, such as an old cistern or calf shed, but that would have been too difficult to get into the bush. So, I decided on plywood blinds with a sturdy frame of 2x4s that I could assemble at the hunting site.

To make the blinds compact and portable, I kept the footprint to a width of five feet and a depth of six, which allows for a bowhunter to come to full draw. That provided space for two hunters to sit, but only enough room for one hunter to shoot at a time. Now that we’ve used that configuration for a couple of seasons, however, I’ve decided a width of six feet would be more comfortable for two people.

I first constructed the blinds in my garage, designing them so the components could be easily taken apart for transport and bolted back together at the bait site. Along with 2x4s for the frame, I used 3/8-inch plywood for the walls and 3/8-inch oriented strand board for the roof. I designed the roof with embedded trusses, meanwhile, so it would slope from six feet at the front to five at the back, allowing for drainage and giving me and a hunting partner room to stand up in the front to stretch and break up the monotony of waiting.

As for waterproofing, I used an exterior dark grey stain for the walls and nailed tarpaper and shingles to the roof. Inside, I painted the front two thirds bright white and the back one third dark blue (black would also work). I then created shelves by nailing leftover 2×4 ends in between the studs, and for clothing and gear hooks, I pounded framing nails in halfway at both standing and sitting height.

For optimal scent control, meanwhile, I purposely did not make a man-sized door, planning instead to enter and exit through the two-foot by two-foot opening in the front, which sits two feet up from the floor. Finally, my family helped me paint the exterior with graffiti-like camouflage stripes (see photo at top).