Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Serious Deer Talk Forum Ever Raise Tower W/ Gin Pole?

There's a couple of video's on this. This is basically a "prop up" Gin Pole. An eye or trap is installed on top of pole to keep from losing rope.
Put the pole in a hole to discourage moving. Box in the tower legs on the ground with stakes so they cant move. String this
thing up and get some tension on it with a truck or tractor. Your rope goes over the pole adding several feet to your pull point.
To watch these videos, it looks like it helps get you started. The pole can and does move toward the pull as you go.
At that point, it looks like the wise driver should make sure it doesn't go backwards.
Anybody ever tried a version of this? Geometry majors? Riggers? Is this redneck approved? An illusion?

Had to read this three times to figure out what it said. No I've never used one.

I've set towers and poles with a gin years ago. Rigging is the key.

I guess one might call this a "cheater" due to the fact that the pole is just kind of stuck in there, and not guyed to the ground or anything.
The experienced guy probably knows just how to set that pole. A little trial and error maybe. two feet longer, two feet shorter.
Pole closer to the lift, pole farther away. more angle, less angle. I may try this. I'm out here building a tower now.
In the video's, once the top of the tower becomes airborne, you can see that the pole is just along for the ride.

The gin pole can be shorter than your tower. You're just using as a lever. You can use a good strong nearby tree if there's one available.

I see this morning that Banks Blinds has a good video on all this. The second method they show uses a winch and the "Pole" I described to improve the pulling angle.
They also mention trying to block up the tower before pulling if you can. This is smart, and I think I can get a couple blocks in there. If one could get it high enough, I
suspect you might not even need the pole trick. We'll see.

I've used cheater poles before, never knew what the actual name was. I've found the key is having another rope on the back of the tower ....

Before I had a back hoe we set many tall shooting houses using a pulley and a rope. Once you get the back legs to bite in the post holes, you slowly raise it until the front legs fall in their post holes. Some 2x4’s in the back post holes help guide them in. Idk about a gin pole.

what exactly are you trying to raise?

8x7' platform base w/ 9' legs. This is a solo effort. It's made w/ 2x6's so it's pretty heavy
Thank you Guy's. I wish I had "Alaskan Bush People " type help, but I don"t.

Ok, rope, snatch block, jack. tree, ladder, truck, atv. Be your own bush person. Saw the banks blinds video, should be able to improvise and make it work.

Back in the day, I've set poles with an A-frame Derrick, and a gin.
I've installed anchors by hand, both screw in type and rock anchors.
ANY old lineman can tell you stories of innovation and rigging.

A few years ago, I put up a couple of shooting houses by myself. The kicker was that both of them had a decent sized tree right behind where I wanted them. I took 150 ft of rope, secured it around and just under the roof line of the house, ran it around the tree as high as I could, ran the rope back thru the center of the rear and the front window, and then hooked the end to my trailer ball. I lifted the house at the roof to get it a little off the ground and put a couple of blocks under it. Then, eased forward in 4 wheel drive, low range and up they went. I was very careful to try to keep everything lined up straight. It surprised me how well it went.

Reminds me of the time me and a buddy were standing one up with an atv. We tied it off from Windows to the atv then both of us picked up the roof and stuck a log under it to prop it up. He jumped on the atv and was trying to pull it on over but it wouldn't tilt on up. Me being young and strong jumped into action. I figured if I could help it up just a little higher it would break over so I got under it and gave it a good over head press to get it moving. It worked for just a second. About the time it left my fingers the rope snapped and it came back down. HARD. Knocked me the hell out. By the time I woke up my buddy had rolled it off of me and was calling 911. Damn thing hit me in the forehead right above my eyes and scraped down my face. Broke my nose and blacked both eyes. Good times......

Yep many times.

I just lay the stand face down on some old tires so I dont bend the tin roof overhang. Make sure you have cross braces on the legs. Run a strap through both side windows and hook it to a front end loader on a tractor. Raise the lift as high as it will go and start backing up. It will stand it right up

I stood up a shooting house with 2 4x4s bolted together to make an A frame. I pulled it up from the draw bar on a small tractor. I braced the legs up while it was on the trailer , then swung it sideways so it was already started up a little. Pulling the chain through the A frame made it pull from a higher point since I didn't have a FEL or something else to lift with. It worked pretty slick.

On a side note, I wouldn’t do that by myself. Get a buddy.