Deer Stands Made From Old “Garage Doors”

Deer Stands Made From Old “Garage Doors” FARM HOME recreation A low cost sturdy deer stand can be built with very little lumber using old insulated garage door panels says Mark Julin Shevlin Minn He recently sent FARM SHOW photos of different deer stands he built out of garage door panels and other recycled materials “I don’t like to see things go to waste ” says Julin “The only money I spent was the hardware to put everything together ” He gets the garage door panels from local garage door installers and at local dumps “The doors are usually 16 ft long and built in sections which makes them easy to work with ” says Julin “I use a sawzall to cut the doors to size and then interlock them together with lag bolts I use only solid core foam-filled insulated doors that are 2 to 3 in thick because they keep the heat in and the cold out ” One of his deer stands sets on a wood frame about 8 ft off the ground and is supported by posts salvaged from a child’s playground A big 14-ft walk-out platform is off to one side with access provided by a stairway built from stringers from an old house deck The panels are white which might have scared deer away so Julin spray painted the walls to make them blend in with the woods To camouflage the walls even more he drilled holes in the panels and inserted fake Christmas tree branches The stand’s floor and ceiling are made from portions of 8-in thick insulated walls that he found at a dump “Their insulation factor is huge ” says Julin who used the toneau cover off an old pickup topper as the roof Another deer stand has an insulated floor made from 6-in thick foam paneling that came out of a huge cooler he found at a salvage yard A garage door was used for the roof The windows on both stands came either from the town dump or from an old trailer that Julin already had “I prefer using double pane home windows because they hold in the heat and don’t frost up I cut openings in the panels and frame the windows in with salvaged wood All the windows slide open or are hinged so they can be quickly opened ” Both stands have floor carpeting as well as recliner chairs and heaters Julin can even watch movies on a tablet Julin also built a smaller stand that’s only 4 ft square and 8 ft high The walls are made from garage door panels that he cut down to size and the sloping roof is made from barn tin The windows have no glass “This stand is small and simple but I’ve had some of my best luck with it ” he says Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Mark and Lois Julin 25515 Raleigh Hill Rd Shevlin Minn 56676 ph 218 785-2016; flsjulin50@gmail com

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