Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Aldeer General Forum Anchoring a Shooting House

I have been building a new shooting house for the club. It will have the bolt on elevators that you slide four by fours into for the legs. The legs will be about eight feet long. What do you guys anchor your shooting houses with to keep them from blowing over. This house is pretty heavy. I helped a buddy tear down an old shed and saved everything down to the screws except for the lap board siding and repurposed it to build a shooting house. If I had had to buy all these materials there is no telling what this build would have cost.

We always run a board all the way across the length or depth of the shooting house and then attach the board to a tree that is close by. Of course the house has been located near a tree to make this possible.

Also. Make it a hardwood tree. Pines grow too fast and require re-anchoring every few years.

We’ve had good luck with the auger-style ground anchors. Screw one into the ground below the house and use a large ratchet strap(like for 18-wheeler use) run up through the floor of the shoot house and back down.
But the floors on our raised houses where built like pallets so there is a gap underneath to run forks and, subsequently, a strap of some sort through. This option does not work well on locations with a shallow layer of sandstone or siltstone, however.

We have used T posts in the past with a big washer welded to them for anchor point for ratchet straps. But figured somebody has a better way.

x2 on the longer Auger Style ground anchors.. Couple Eye Bolts screwed into the bottom of the Floor 2x4s with ratchet straps or turnbuckles..They'll be hurricane proof..

Auger anchor and a metal band that we ratchet tight and crimp. We have multiple towers 20’ to the floor of the house and just had our first house blow over in 16 years that took a direct hit from a tornado

You can buy some augers at home depot in the fencing dept. A little cable and a turnbuckle and you're good to go

When u put the legs on it taper the end that goes under the house it will kick the legs out just enough and it will stand just brace all the legs together….. it been working for me for about 5 season now

I drilled holes in the 4x4 six inches from the bottom. Took post hole digger and dug a 10 inch hole beside the foot of the 4x4. Filled it with cement. Then I took a long piece of rebar, heated one end of it and made a 45 degree turn in it. Put it through the hole and drove into the cement filled hole about 24 inches.

Probably overkill but it has not moved.

T-post, bob wire and fence staples works well.

I had a buddy that does concrete work fill up 55 gal drums with concrete and put a chain down in it for me. The ground on my land is bad sandy so I didn’t think an anchor in the ground would help much. I think one drum filled up with concrete is 2000 lbs or something like that

We use mobile home anchors with big ratchet straps to the center of the floor, on bigger, heavier houses. Lowe’s/Home Depot type augers and medium ratchet straps for smaller or lighter weight shooting houses. Concrete drum is a good idea for sandy ground. Got a couple of quad-pods on spoil piles along the river that have pulled smaller augers out with straight line winds.

Mobile home anchor with a chain and turnbuckle

This will do it fast and easy.

I'm not sure if it was true or not but a guy at work was telling me that he was in a lease and they would stand their shooting houses up and right in the center of the floor they would anchor a cable and run it almost to the ground and then take a cinder block and hang it from the cable a foot or 2 off the ground and no matter how bad the wind got it would not flip the shooting houses over. I dont really see how it would work but he swore by it and he's the only person I've ever heard mention doing this.

We had a few like that at old camp and they’re a better setup than straps, if for no other reason than straps make a lot more vibration/noise in stiff winds!

Tractor supply carries the auger anchors. Minimum of 24”. Prefer 30”. We took a large socket. Slotted it and added welded small angle iron to the cut outs. Made it snug to the eye on top of the anchor. We use a dewalt impact to slowly drive the anchor into the ground. I used a hardened impact socket. Take your time. I got tired of spinning a crowbar to drive the anchors in the ground.

I have a mobile run in shed for calves on some rented ground that the landowner doesn't want me building anything permement on. I anchor it with mobile haome anchors, eye bolts and chain. I took a piece of 2.5" x 1/4" square tube and drilled holes in each end. Slide one end over the post hole digger shaft and insert bolt, the mobile home anchor to the other. Use the pto to screw the anchors into the ground, damn turning them in by hand.

T post and screws will work

Ours are built on old scaffolding that is no longer OSHA compliant. Got a deal on about 100 pairs a few years ago. Our tallest one is 18' to the floor of the house. we drill where the sections join up and use a 3/8" bolt in all 4 corners. Its been up for about 4 years and hasnt blown over yet.

But our houses are built in sections that screw together. I doubt you could get that heavy looking house up there.