Keeping Critters/Bugs out of Permanent Stands

BoneCrusher20

BoneCrusher20

Active Member
I often wonder if there is a better way to keep some of the critters out of permanent stands.

The one that has really bothered me that i haven't figured is keeping the moths out of my stands, every year i have to come in about this time and sweep out my stands as the floor is just littered w/ dead & decaying moths talking like well over 100 of em and the windows are sh!% all over. Any thoughts, i'm leary of mothballs as i hate that odor just getting trapped in the stand for few months.

Some other general strategies I've used for different critters:
Bees - I let them do their thing, bought a bee jacket just come in once a year and spray
Mice - Foam Board (not fiberglass roll) insulation if going to insulate. 5-6 mouse traps set when season is over and clean out your blind, don't leave anything for them to get into.
Squirrels - honestly haven't had an issue, maybe do good job sealing blind up
Flys - Hang 3-4 of those fly traps in blind
 
I put poison in mine for mice. Everything else is allowed in them. Sometime in late Spring I spray with Tempo SC. About month later I get back in with a broom and a dust buster.
 
My issues have come a long way based on my construction methods. When I first started - I was just using what I had and was more focused on just getting out of the elements..... these had flap type windows and didn't seal worth a crap and as such they had wasps and mice pretty bad. As I have put more effort into my construction and been able to seal it better the less and less of an issue I have had with wasps and mice. I still use a ton of expanding foam, silicone and steel wool.....because I'm a crappy carpenter.....but better sealing windows and doors are a HUGE improvement. They are more expensive, but well worth it in my opinion. I went from something that struggled to last a decade to something that should last me several!

I now use 24" tall by 48" wide, sliding, single pane, vinyl windows, from Menard's that cost me about $60 each. If you get a lot of snow and ice a sliding window may not work well as the tracks could pack/freeze and not allow you to open the window. Here in IN I have not had an issue with that....so far. I have also changed my door as well. I now am using a trap door entry as I can seal it better, keep it out of the weather and it seems to be working. I am also a big fan of metal siding as it keeps the tree rats from eating the plywood and I don't have to paint! It costs me about $10 a sheet (36" wide and 8 feet long).

If you go to my property thread you will see how my shooting houses went from shacks made from scrap lumber to small buildings built to last decades...not just years.
 
Most of my gun blinds are sealed,nothing gets in. My bowblinds on the other hand are pretty good critter houses. I usually hang a couple of the anti-pest cattle tags in mine, they seem to keep wasps out all summer. The spiders pay them no mind though so I kinda do a sweep for them when I start hunting. I’m not scared of spiders, but I don’t want to get bit either. o_O
 
I just let the Live and Let Live.

One of my Blind/Stands last year got to be the home of Red Wasps living in the Gun Rest Rail. I could hear them buzzing in there and once in awhile they would fly around, but they never tried to sting me so I left them alone. PS. I did research on Red Wasps and they don't tend to bother you unless provoked, so there is that.

I did buy a can of Wasp Spray but I kept forgetting it at home and by Gun Season in December they were gone.

Way Back when we had a Saw Mill a Hornet set up shop in the Boom of our Pettibone Forklift. I decided to call it Horn and left it alone. It would not bother me at all and actually kept the Black Wasps (something I used to be allergic to) away each time they flew into my space. It stayed there all summer and never bit me one time.

BUT one of them that built a nest under our Slab Deck right where I landed each time I jumped down to band a pack or move it out git me good as I knelt to grab a roll of banding material. WAP WAP WAP dang thing hit me 5-7 times and hard! That Nest got burnt out that night.
 
Deadeye, your red wasps must be imposters. My red wasps have a permanent evil disposition. I have to paddle their butts pretty often. I try to do it from 15’ away but sometimes it’s hand to hand, man to man. I swing a mean ballcap !;)
 
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