Aldeer.com Forums Alabama Deer Talk Quality Deer Management Moving Elevated Shooting Houses

My tractor has a separate set of pallet forks that attach where my loader usually sits but they are only 42 inches long and 3 inches wide. What does everyone use to move houses around? All my shooting houses will be 72 inches wide. I have looked into getting pallet fork extenders but the only ones I can find are 4.5 inches in width and I wasn't sure if having that much give over the original forks would be an issue. It seems like the 4.5 inch width extenders are the standard so I might be overthinking it but do not want to go moving an expensive house and the forks slip off or bend. Thanks for any suggestions.

if they’re on a metal tower, chain the feet 4-5’ from the trailer and lower it down with a winch on a sxs or truck. i moved two 20’ (to the floor) houses and a 12’ on saturday with 4 people.

These will be on a wood platform. Mounted on 8-10 foot 4x4 posts w a ladder attachment. Was hoping to use the forks to pick up the house/platform and move if necessary using the tractor and then just set back down. Pallet fork extensions seem to be the answer but the fact I cannot find a set to match my pallet forks puzzles me. It's like they don't make a set of extenders for a 3 inch wide fork, only 4.5 inch and 6 inch width extenders. I've been told using the 4.5 inch width extenders will work on the 3 inch it just makes me nervous and wanted to see if anyone had extenders for their pallet forks similar to mine,

Put the forks as far under the house as they will go, then lay an 8ft 4x4 perpendicular to the forks (a few inches from the end of the forks) so that it will rest on the underside of the floor joists. Put a big ratchet strap around the house and secure it to the forks.
Done it this way many times.

My previous recommendation will only work it you have a big tractor, especially if the houses are on 8-10 foot legs.
Please don’t try that method with a little compact tractor.

Thanks for the heads up. My tractor is a 47 HP so it maybe pushing it but the lifting capabilities are within the range of what the house and braces weigh.

Horsepower isn’t as much of a concern as weight and the maximum lift height of your loader.

Lift height might be an issue. Get several pallets. Long ones. Screw them together stacked up on each other. Slide that under and pick it up. Screw some 2x4 vertical runners to the outside of the pallets to hold them all together.

Done it several times. Extend forks with 2x6’s so forks don’t go between joists. Before cutting legs, ratchet strap house to loader.

Depending on the style of forks you have, you can replace the forks with longer ones and keep your existing frame. Checkout palletforks.com

I have a set of 60” for my tractor that work really well moving shooting houses.

I have a piece of rectangle tubing I use to stick through the windows to get them off of a trailer with rails. You really don’t need anything but the forks to move one just strap it good. This is when I had my POS Mahindra.

Screw a pallet to it

Get 4-6 old tires and lay them on a trailer bed. Push house over on to tires. Done it many, many times.

Put the heaviest 3 pt implement you have on the rear for ballast.

How we never got hurt when we were young and dumb with three of us in the back of a truck standing up houses using 16’ 4x4’s, 2’ bolted to the sides and two feet in the ground is a miracle. I know a lot of you remember those days.

If your lift won't lift high enough, stack several pallets , screw them together, put 2 4X4s across the edges of the top pallet , if needed, ratchet strap to guard. If lift will lift high enough , revert to the 4X4 across the end of the forks, ratchet strap to guard. Move slow and steady.

Since they're wood you could take 2X and build fork pockets under the floor. Pretty easy and they'd always be there.