The morning fog rolls in, and a bull hangs somewhere in the timber. If your knife pops hair now, the work ahead feels lighter. If it doesn’t… well, you’re about to invent new swear-words. So, let’s keep the edge singing…
Edge gets dull—even on custom blades. Try separating a deer’s atlas joint with a butter-knife-dull blade.
Tendons fray… patience frays faster.
A clean edge slices, not wedges, so you stay in control and blood on the hide stays where it belongs—off your fingers.
A sharp knife when it matters makes all the difference.
Sharp steel also means fewer strokes, which matters when daylight fades and the meat has to cool before the pack out.
I’ve watched guys baton through bone to compensate for a lazy edge. That’s a cracked tip waiting to happen. Keep it sharp from the start; save the drama for campfire stories.
Understanding Your Knife: Steel, Grind, and Angle
Steel: 1095 holds a toothy bite but oxidizes if you so much as breathe near salt water. D2? Semi-stainless, stubborn to sharpen but stays keen halfway through an elk. CPM S30V? Slick stuff—vanadium carbides ride the edge like skateboard bearings, so go slow on coarse stones or you’ll skate right past the apex.
Grind: Hollow grinds whisper through hide; full flat likes to wedge in hardwood but splits pelvis clean. Sabre gives spine strength when prying joints. Know which you have—grind controls how the edge thins out toward the apex.
Knowing the grind of your knife and how it affects cut is important.
Angle: Most factory hunting knives sit around 20° per side. I chase 18° on carbons, 22° on tough stainless like 420HC when I expect bone contact. The marker trick tells you the truth: black the bevel, make one light pass, see where the ink’s gone. That’s your real angle, not the catalog’s promise.
Coffee stained 1000/6000 water stone is good middle road.
320 grit diamond plate for the “oh man I hit a rock” days.
Leather strop glued to maple, with green chromium oxide compound rubbed in like linseed oil on a gun stock.
Fine ceramic rod that rides in the pack; weighs less than a granola bar.
Black Sharpie, shop towel, headlamp, and something to catch water—an old baking tray works.
Clamp guides are fine if you’re new to sharpening, but I’d rather free-hand on a stone. Muscles remember faster than gadgets.
Sharpening Procedure: From Dull to Razor Edge
1. Fix the flats. Start coarse—320 diamond or 600 if the edge isn’t wrecked. Lay steel down like you’re slicing a tomato-thin slice off the stone. Push away, raise a hair until marker disappears spine-to-edge. Repeat until a wire-thin burr shows the full length.
2. Flip and match. Burr tells you apex reached. Roll it over; chase the same burr to the opposite side. Consistency beats speed. If the knife sounds like sandpaper in stereo, you’re doing fine.
3. Walk up the grits. 1000 smooths, 3000 polishes, 6000 turns reflections into a mirror. Wipe swarf; muddy slurry helps carbides tuck in. Pressure lightens as grit climbs—pretend the blade would bruise if you press too hard.
4. Neutralize the burr. Light edge-leading passes, almost weightless, alternate sides. Feels like shaving peach fuzz off the stone. Finish with two edge-trailing strokes to align grains.
Finishing Touches: Honing, Stropping, and Edge Testing
Run the edge down a ceramic rod at the same angle—two passes each side. On the strop, the spine leads, so draw back like drying a paintbrush. The compound turns black quickly; that’s metal, not dirt.
Edge tests I trust:
Arm hair float: blade pops hairs without skin scrape.
Phonebook page push-cut: quiet tsssk sound, no tearing.
Flashlight glint: shine at the edge; any light reflection = flat spot. Chase it away.
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Field Maintenance and Edge Preservation
As previously mentioned, pack a ceramic rod or pocket strop. Ten light licks at lunch keep you from a full re-profile later. In camp, in case you forgot your sharpening stones, you can sharpen the knife up on a coffee mug rim—makeshift ceramic.
Remember, after dressing any game, rinse off any residue and dry on your shirt. If you are carrying any oil, apply a dab of it to the blade.
Troubleshooting: Chips, Burrs, Angle Errors
Micro-chips: Looks like glitter on the edge under a magnifying glass. Drop two grits coarser, apex fresh steel. Steels high in chromium carbides (S30V) chip if you dig into frozen hide; slow down.
Never-ending burr: Likely too much pressure or you’re chasing it in circles. Stop. One light pull on a wood block can snap it off, then strop.
Uneven bevels: You changed angle mid-stroke. Paint the bevel again, correct before polishing or you’ll burn daylight flattening cosmetic mistakes.
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How To Sharpen a Hunting Knife [Frequently Asked Questions]
How often should I sharpen my hunting knife? Touch up after every animal. Do a full sharpening maybe once a season, depending on the steel and how gentle you are on bone.
Can I use pull-through sharpeners? I’d rather chew tinfoil. Pull-through sharpeners rip steel, set random angles, and don’t remove burrs cleanly.
What grit should my final stone be? 6000 gives a shaving edge. If you prefer tooth for fibrous hide, stop at 1000 then strop.
Is stropping necessary? For carbons—absolutely. For high-vanadium stainless, it still refines but gains are smaller. I strop anyway; feels wrong not to.
Best field sharpener? A 6-inch ceramic rod wrapped in paracord. Lightweight, no water needed, survives backpack abuse.
If seeing pictures of a huge buck and reading the play-by-play story of the hunt excites you, then read below for some great stories about some unforgettable archery bucks.
“Close Call”: The Backstory Of This 18-Point Monster Buck
I saw this deer on camera around mid-December of 2016 and became obsessed. I had hundreds and hundreds of pictures of him. In February, I noticed he hadn’t been to the area or fed at the feeder, so I started looking for his sheds.
I found one side (which was the side I wanted the most). He was at my best guess a 15 point, and had 10 points on the shed I found.
It sucked my attention in even deeper.
My wife got so sick of hearing about “close call.”
Now, I never name deer, but he had what looked like a gunshot wound in his right ear, so I dubbed him “close call.” After I found his shed, I focused a lot of attention on the area where I knew this huge buck was.
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The Re-Appearance
In April of 2017, he showed back up, with just 2 or 3 inch nubs on his head. Of course, because of his ears, and my obsession, I knew it was him. He stuck around for a few weeks, and then of course, disappeared again and remained out of view until around June, when he came back. He stayed close by and on camera sometimes 3 different times a day from June on.
I’m from Kentucky, and our season comes in really early, so I was counting down the days and doing my very best to just keep him around.
Around the first of August, he quit feeding at the feeder, but was still visible in the open. Our archery season opened on September 2 this year, and in my mind, I had him in the bag. I ran up to 4 cams to keep my eyes on him, and one was a Spartan cell cam.
It kept me from frequenting the area, and I knew instantly when he was there. On August 31st I have video of him in the broad daylight at what would have been an 18 yard shot for me.
My confidence was out the roof. The season opened and I spent the next 6 days in the stand. I only hunted him of an evening, seeing I never had a picture or anything of a morning of him. But, over those 6 days, he never showed his face at all.
In my mind, I knew he was probably just laying low and in the process of shedding his velvet. I backed off for a few days and would keep my eye on my cameras, thinking I had applied too much pressure.
He finally showed back up but had gone completely nocturnal. Around the 15th of September, he had completely vanished. I just knew someone else had gotten him I told no one but a very tight group about this deer.
Then, one day I was at my son’s football practice and heard someone talking about a huge buck they had seen in the area where the buck lived. I then knew he was still alive, but it worried me that someone would do something stupid to him.
For the next 2 weeks, the buck would only show up about ever 4-6 days for a brief minute, and in the middle of the night. He was playing hide ‘n seek. At least I knew he was still alive, is all I could think of. I stayed away and didn’t hunt for weeks.
On September 26, while away from home, my cell phone dings and there he is. It’s 4 in the evening and I’m not in the woods, so I figured my one chance had come and gone. I looked closely at the forecast and figured I could hunt the 28th and 29th because there was a cool front coming, and the wind would be perfect.
I hunted the 28th and nothing... Not a single deer.
I was kind of skeptical, but wouldn’t give up. My wife and I had plans for the evening of the 29th, but she was okay with me hunting for a few hours that evening. I got there around 4:30 that evening and it was calm and perfect.
I texted my wife and told her, “this would be the perfect evening for him to show up. It’s so quiet and calm.” She told me that it was okay if I stayed till dark, before we went out. She understood my obsession more than anyone.
At around 5:45, I had a small buck come in. He wasn’t there long and left.
I was just enjoying the evening being in the woods. Around 6:25 or so, I decided I’d try a little very light rattling (seeing it worked the year before). About 10-15 minutes after I heard what sounded like a cough or something from the hill across from me.
I focused my full attention to that area. I saw movement coming my way…. a small basket 8 point I had on cam.
As soon as he came out, I saw a second deer coming. It turned out to be the small 3 point that was there earlier in the evening. After he came out, it still sounded like more deer were coming.
Low and behold, I look in the timber and here he comes. I instantly began become overwhelmed. The buck came out, just like I had planned, but he looked right at me. He turned around like he was going to head back into the timber, so I drew on him. He was quartering away at 21 yards.
The shot looked super high. I was sick. I set back and text my wife and told her I had just shot him. Then, I went over the shot in my head 100 times. I went and retrieved the arrow and looked it over. It appeared to have really good blood, so I wasn’t so sure I had hit it high.
My wife finally showed up, and we went looking. It was the first time she had ever tracked and she was super excited. We continued to find good blood, then about 70 yards in the timber, there be laid. He couldn’t handle that arrow after all.
There he was. A buck of my lifetime….the one I had become so obsessed over.
This buck gross scored 177 7/8”, even though he was only 14 ½” wide. He has 18 scoreable points. This buck is my biggest to date, and the most gratifying as well.
Come to find out, in the middle of September when he disappeared, it was because someone had tried to poach him. He was shot with a small caliber rifle, just above the shoulder.
John Workman saw trophy buck success again in 2018, with this Kentucky bruiser.
Big Kentucky Buck Fame Comes Again!
I would have to say the story of my success in the 2018 Kentucky deer season has to date back to September 29th of 2017. On that date, I was fortunate enough to take a Boone and Crockett class Kentucky buck (the full story above.)
Once the word got out about that deer, my social media went kind of crazy. One day, while roaming through Facebook, I noticed I had a random message from someone in my area. He asked questions and persistently talked about my 2017 buck.
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I kind of blew it off at first, because when it comes to hunting, I usually keep my stuff mainly a secret. But, one thing led to another, and we talked a little here and there.
One day I was at the local archery shop just hanging out, and in came this same guy. So, we finally met face-to-face and began to develop a friendship. His name is Kyle Groce. He is a bit younger than me, but we both share a passion for deer hunting.
As the winter progressed, he learned that I do a lot of food plotting. He wanted to develop his hunting property into a sanctuary so that the deer don’t have to travel to get what they want.
In mid-April he offered to let me hunt this same land if I would do the food plots for him. I knew the area, so I agreed without hesitation.
In May, the weather finally cooperated so hat I could get started on the plots I agree to cut, till and sow. I began the process of bush hogging. While cutting a plot, this buck comes out and watched me like he was in awe that someone was there doing something.
At the first look, I realized he was going to be a good buck worth chasing once the early season came.
So, after hours of studying maps of the land, and once the food plots were finished, I eased my way back into the woods where I thought this buck was coming from.
I took my minerals and my trail camera and got things set up where I wanted, and where I thought I might have a great chance to ambush this buck once the season began.
The very first day the camera was there, I got pics of this buck. Immediately my focus was on this one particular animal.
As part of my permission to hunt the land, I was free to do as I please. So, I kept this buck a secret, as I thought he’d go 160 plus inches.
Kyle and I became great friends and spent all summer locating more deer for him to get set up on to hunt.
September 1st finally arrived and Kyle and I already had our game plans set in stone. He was getting some good deer on camera, and I was getting my buck in two different locations during the daylight hours.
On opening day, I got in the stand around 5 o’clock AM, fearing that I might bump this big boy going in.
That first morning came and went. I saw a lot of deer and some small bucks, but not the big Kentucky buck I was after. Of course, early September in Kentucky its pretty warm… like, 90 degrees warm! So, I got out of my stand and headed home.
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There was no way I was staying all day in the stand in that heat.
Around 3:30 that afternoon, I started to get ready to head back to the stand. I showered, gathered my equipment and headed that way. I got in the stand around 4:30 and got things set up, and instantly I had action.
Mature bucks like this one, come as a result of scouting, persistence and game planning.
A mature doe and her fawn came in and stayed in my area for about 30 or so minutes, so I was upbeat and positive. Deer came and went all evening, both bucks and does.
Around 7:15, I saw a nice buck working toward my location and instantly knew it was a great 8 point. I had guessed he was about 140″ or so. Right behind him I saw the big 12-point I had been watching all summer.
Both bucks came in on a string to 19 yards. But, the big mature buck was no dummy. He stayed right behind the 8-point the whole time, and I couldn’t get a shot at him.
Day two was much of the same. There was a lot of deer activity, but no shooters. Kyle, however, did fill his tag on that second day with a real nice 8-point that was on his hit list.
I hunted hard over the next week, and saw the big 8 on multiple occasions, but he never had the buck with him I was looking for. I even had him within 30 yards of me for 29 minutes one morning, but I still let him go.
On Wednesday, September the 12th, I had decided to hunt, but I was going to change things up and head to a blind at the edge of a food plot. Once I got to the farm, I realized the wind was totally wrong for that location and went right back to my stand where I had the earlier encounter.
Around 5:30 I had a small buck come in, and it brightened my outlook somewhat. That buck left and a doe and fawn came in. They stuck around for 20 or so minutes, but then wandered off into the thick brush.
At around 6:30 a small really good up and comer buck came in. I had seen this deer many times, and he was always with more deer and never alone, so I focused hard on the direction he had came from.
About 3 minutes later, I could see the big 8 coming, and this time he was out of velvet, and looked bigger than I had thought.
As he was walking up the hill, he kept looking over his shoulder to check something behind him. One of my deer hunting tips is, when a mature buck is watching behind him, it only tells me that something bigger may be lurking. Well in this case, there was.
Coming straight at me was the buck I was after. He came in just like I had planned, but I didn’t plan on the other two bucks being there with him. For nine minutes I had to watch him and the other bucks mill around and feed.
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Finally, the big 8 swung around to the back side of the 12. I had been waiting on this, because I knew it would turn the 12 where I could get a shot off.
Even though John has experienced some incredible success in taking huge bucks, it’s the time with friends that has made it all the more special.
I immediately called my wife, and then Kyle, to tell them I had shot. Kyle and another good friend, Nick McWhorter, had begged me all summer to film my hunts, and I had blown them off until about 2 weeks before season. They got me set up, and ready to film for this season.
Well, knowing the deer had my arrow, I chose to not even attempt to look for anything until I got to see my footage to confirm my shot placement. I met Kyle at my truck, and we reviewed everything together.
In our opinion, that shot had been perfect. By this time, my wife and son had shown up, and were excited to start tracking.
We headed back to my stand and began to look, but there was nothing to find. No blood, no arrow, no nothing. I knew which way he had ran, so we started in that general direction first. Travis, another buddy had came to help track and to get him out of the woods. Travis saw my Nockturnal lighted nock glowing bright, so we headed straight for it.
There he laid; the buck I had studied all summer in hopes for one chance. I got it, and the shot was perfect. I ran my arrow and broadhead from in front of his back left hip, all the way up to his front right shoulder, just like I had intended.
Just like that, it was all over. He ended up being a mainframe 10, with two abnormals on his left side. He scored 155 inches. I was tickled to death.
Bonus: Another Huge Buck Story (The Coat Hanger Buck)
Garret Schmidt will forever remember the day he harvested the “Coat Hanger” Buck!
This was one N1 Moment™ that 30-year old Garrett Schmidt could hang his hat on… literally.
Opening day of archery season in Kansas
It was a 10-hour drive from League City, Texas, to the Southeast Kansas property he and some friends had recently gotten permission to hunt. But this was opening day of archery deer season in Kansas. It wouldn’t have mattered if it was 100 hours.
“I knew it was going to be hot and possibly rain. But, I get so jacked up for the start of a new season that I didn’t care,” he said.
Garrett had noticed something his previous spot-and-stalk hunts on the property. The deer would jump the fence in the afternoons and hit the bean fields on the south end.
“I ended up walking a mile in the heat around 3:00 pm and finally made it to the edge of the beans where I thought was going to be the best spot to shoot.”
As dusk was quickly approaching, Garret noticed a rack of horns sticking out of the beans 150 yards away.
“I knew he was a good buck,” he said. But the beans were so tall I did not see the trash he had, especially the coat hanger drop tine on his left main beam.”
But, drop tine or not, Garret knew time was running out.
“I had only 45 minutes to make this happen. With the wind in my face I made a 100-yard belly crawl through the beans. I ended up within shooting distance of this non-typical buck,” he said. “I stood up fast out of the beans, drew my bow back, found the sweet spot, and let the Rage broadhead do the rest.”
The “coat hanger buck” was down. And, while Garret didn’t have his friends with him on this trip to help share in the excitement, the part they played wasn’t overlooked.
“When it was all said and done I wasn’t able to take fancy pictures or share this moment with a buddy. But, none of this would have been possible without the help of my good friends putting in the time and work over the year to get everything ready for this amazing opportunity.”
This velvet trophy buck may have never been harvested had Khavon not made the walk all the way back to his truck to get his forgotten quiver!
Friday afternoon, September 30, 2016, I arrived to my lease in Natchez, Mississippi. I unloaded the truck and ranger and headed to the woods to check my two cameras to decide where I was going to hunt that weekend.
As I was scrolling through 800 pictures of does and bucks, my buddy told me to stop and back up. I scrolled back and there was a giant 8-point buck in full velvet.
This was the first time I had seen a picture of him. I kept scrolling and the past few evenings he had been coming out right before dark. I immediately got nervous, since I’ve never had an opportunity to hunt a deer like him before.
So, I decided to not hunt there in the morning and to save the spot for an evening hunt on opening day.
The evening hunt on opening day approached and I began to get anxious, wondering how the hunt would go. It was very warm, so I grabbed my bow and took my time walking to my stand, because I didn’t want to sweat.
I arrived at my stand at 3:55 pm and climbed up. As I got my bow in my stand, I realized something looked funny. I forgot my quiver back at the ranger!
Trying not to get too upset, but still frustrated, I climbed back down and started walking back to the ranger. I decided to take my shirt off so I wouldn’t sweat on it, since it’s a good 10-12 minute walk up and down the hills.
Eventually, I made it to the ranger, got my quiver, and made my way back to the stand. I climbed in, nocked an arrow, turned the Thermacell on, put my shirt back on, and painted my face. By then, it was about 4:25 pm.
I was checking my phone at 4:30 and I looked up and boom! There he was, 35 yards out to my left.
He walked out into the food plot and stopped. Then he turned around and started heading back to the woods where he came from. As soon as he got to the wood line, he stopped again.
I didn’t have a clear shot and I was thinking to myself, “I’m fixing to watch this huge buck walk out my life!”
He then turned and started walking directly toward me and stopped at 10 yards. He made another turn back out to the food plot and stopped at 15 yards, quartered away from me.
I waited for the opportunity to draw back when he wasn’t looking. As soon as he looked away, I drew back, controlled my breathing and let the arrow fly.
I made a great shot on him and the arrow was Just Pass’N Through! He he only ran about 70 yards. It was the best hunt of my life.
The “Tucker Buck” was taken in Gallatin, TN in 2016, by Stephen Tucker, breaking the world-record for a non-typical whitetail. (This record has since been broken.)
My pursuit of “the big one” began in Missouri in the Summer of 2022.
While crappie fishing on our lake, I spotted him – a massive buck, easily 170 inches. Knowing big deer roamed the area, I secured permission to hunt on our neighbor’s six-acre lot. It wasn’t huge, but I had a good feeling that it would be a good starting point.
Opening day of bow season 2023 marked the beginning of my dedicated hunting of this giant buck. I did countless observation sits throughout the summer and I hunted every available opportunity, always hoping for a glimpse. I remained in the same blind until securing permission to place a tree stand on an adjacent property. This expanded my hunting area, but access remained limited.
Between October 10th and youth rifle season, I hunted seven times from the stand, supplementing this with sits in my original blind.
A two-week break left me restless, consumed by thoughts of the buck. Returning, I changed tactics. I suspected he was avoiding my usual spots by traveling the edge of a wooded island near both my stand and blind. So, I decided that’s there I needed to be. I put on my ghillie suit and positioned myself at the base of a tree on the opposite side of the field. My first sit, I saw a nice nine-pointer and a doe, but not the big one.
Between that day and Thanksgiving, I went on five more sits in a nearby tree stand. Thanksgiving morning seemed very promising, and my gut told me the deer would be moving. I settled in at 5:30 AM. A doe appeared at 6:00 AM, raising my hopes. At 6:55 AM, antlers appeared to my left. I recognized him instantly, preparing to release an arrow. He moved slowly into range, stopping at 40 yards. He threw his head up, catching sight of me. I released the arrow – a satisfying shot. He ran, and I knew instantly he was down.
I immediately called my dad, and we celebrated. Returning to the property to retrieve the buck, we spotted him from the trail before even leaving the side-by-side. The sight of his antlers was breathtaking, even larger than I’d imagined.
Venturing deep into the wild brings freedom and challenge, and shelter is a critical component of an enjoyable experience.
Many hunting enthusiasts find themselves sleeping under flimsy tents, exposed to storms and wild animals. Without a strong, reliable place to rest, exhaustion can set in fast.
Basic shelters, like tents, can collapse during bad weather and mobile homes are too heavy to move into remote spots. So, these options often fail to meet the real needs of remote hunters.
There’s a smarter solution… You can build your own tough and transportable lodge!
These lodges will shield you from weather, provide a safe place to store your gear, and will hold up over time. This guide will show you how to build a durable temporary hunting cabin using simple, proven methods.
Choosing the Ideal Location for Your Lodge
Before attempting to erect any type of temporary structure, be sure to check all local zoning laws. Even remote areas on your own property still have limitations on what can be erected. Temporary structures can still sometimes require permits. Ignoring laws and ordinances regarding what can be built may lead to fines or removal of the structure.
Choosing flat, elevated ground helps your cabin stay dry and steady. Sloped or swampy areas cause flooding and foundation issues. Also, solid soil offers better support for long-term use than sandy soil.
Good drainage reduces the possibility of rot and mold. It also keeps your cabin warmer and drier during long stays. So, be sure to avoid valleys or basins where water collects quickly.
Easy access to and from your temporary hunting lodge helps with hunting and daily use, so you may want to consider not straying too far off the beaten path. Be sure to stay close to water sources and game trails. Also, choose areas with cover for wind protection as well as for privacy.
Pick smart now to avoid costly problems later. A good location makes everything else easier.
Use treated plywood or cedar for walls and floors. These resist rot and pests. Composite panels offer strength while staying light and easy to haul.
Choose metal roofing for durability and rain protection. It sheds snow fast and lasts longer than wood. For insulation, use rigid foam or fiberglass batts. Both are lightweight and keep heat inside.
Pack only what you can carry or tow into your chosen location. Pre-cut panels and collapsible frames will reduce bulk. Avoid heavy hardwoods unless you are able to easily transport the materials to your location. A good rule of thumb is to focus on strength without the extra weight.
Another valid option for a temporary hunting lodge is to use a pre-engineered building. These structures come with modular parts and easy setup guides. They also work well for fast deployment and strong weather resistance.
Be sure to fasten joints with screws, not nails. Screws hold better and will help your cabin stay tight and strong in the field.
Planning a Simple Yet Functional Floor Plan
A clean layout boosts comfort and keeps your lodge organized. It’s important to remember that function and flow matter more than fancy designs. So, divide your temporary cabin into three zones: sleeping, cooking, and gear storage. Use raised bunks to save space and keep bedding dry. Keep the cooking area away from the sleeping quarters for safety.
Include vents or small windows on opposite walls. This improves airflow and reduces moisture buildup. Using light-colored walls will brighten the interior naturally without the need for a lot of extra lighting. Place gear hooks and shelves along unused wall sections to save floor space.
Build with modular panels that you can attach and remove easily. It’s also a good idea to label parts before disassembly to speed up reassembly later. Using foldable furniture can also help with packing and reduce the overall storage area that you’ll need.
Assembling a Tool Kit for Remote Construction
Your tool kit should be light, organized and reliable.
Bring essential hand tools like a handsaw, hammer, tape measure, and level. Include a utility knife, chisel set, and screwdrivers. Compact power tools such as a cordless drill and circular will help you saw save time.
Be sure to store tools in a weatherproof case or roll-up pouch. Grouping small items in labeled bags will help you keep everything organized and reduce the likelihood of losing them. Clean and dry tools after use to avoid rust and wear and always check for any damage using.
You can use a solar panel kit or portable generator for power. Battery packs with USB and AC ports are also great backups. Keep extra batteries and a small inverter for charging.
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Implementing Weather-Resistant Construction Techniques
Weather-ready construction will help your cabin last longer. It also keeps you safer and more comfortable in inclement weather.
Build on cinder blocks or treated wood posts to raise the floor. This keeps water from pooling under your portable cabin. Use gravel under the base for added drainage.
Seal joints with weatherproof caulk and flashing tape. Cover exterior walls with vinyl or treated plywood siding. Adding vents near the roof will allow warm air to escape. This reduces the chance for mold and keeps air moving.
In areas where snow is likely, use a sloped metal roof. Extending the roof edges will help direct water away from your temporary cabin. Use hurricane ties and strong fasteners for wind resistance. Secure corners and door frames with extra bracing.
Securing the Cabin Against Wildlife and Intruders
Security adds peace of mind when you’re camping in remote areas. With some basic features, you can help keep wildlife out and protect your gear so you can rest and stay focused on the hunt at hand.
Using an elevated entrance with strong steps or a ladder can deter animals from walking in.
Store any food and gear in lockable, sealed boxes to prevent scent leaks.
Be sure you have the ability to lock your door. Use metal mesh on vents to keep small animals out.
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Go Tiny First
Before you try building a temporary hunting cabin, try staying in a minimalist micro-cabin. This could help you think through what you will truly need in your temporary hunting cabin and what you can do without. For example, you might learn that all you need for bathing is a simple, solar shower that can heat up using sunlight.
Be sure to follow the “leave no trace” rule. Pack out all waste and avoid cutting live trees or disturbing the ground.
