Ideas for an Inexpensive Hunting Camp
West Virginia
Guys---Looking for ideas on building a hunting camp. Something that i could start out with just a 1 or 2 room camp with enough room for a bed and stove.
But with options to build more on as i go.Looking at building it bigger the closer i get to retirement(15 years or so). But something that could house 3-4 people at once for now.
I dont know what size,bigger is better, but i would like to keep the amount under 5K for the first part.
Is this possible? if so what size do you think i could do?
It will have power, septic and a well by the way
I built a 12-16 cabin as a temporary cabin to stay in while I built my new cabin. I built it myself. I have never built anything in my life but It is not hard. I followed instructions as I went that were given to me by my contractor buddies and from the internet. I built it in a few 3 day weekends and then started on my current big cabin that I just now finished. I started the big cabin in 2006 and just finished it. It is really nice. BTW, I had tv, Direct TV and internet and all the things of home in my lil cabin. I built it for less than $600. I would go dumpster diving at construction sites and did not pay one thing for the lumber. I bought windows and inside wooden paneling and that was all I paid for. I scavenged the rest. I am moving that cabin now behind my big cabin and using it for my 4 wheeler and storage. It can be done. I would design it so when you add on it doesn't look like you added on if you know what I mean. If you need any plans let me know. We have a lot of homes being built here and I would go to construction sites and get the materials they were going to throw away. I would give the Mexican workers 6 beers and they would load it in my truck for me instead of the dumpsters. You would be surprised what they threw away. They said it was cheaper to just dump it than take it back. But I know Harry homeowner paid for it. I got a front door from an apartment building that was being torn down. Even got my bed from there. LOL.
Are you talking 5K for, land, cabin, water, septic, and electricity?
If it is any help I just built an 8' x8' out building with a 10' x10' roof at my cabin. Did the work myself with help from G.Colman studing it up and puting the roof on, and the wife and I put on the siding and I built the door. All the wood studs, bords,(roof, floor) and siding bords are hemlock I got from the saw mill, with a tin roof. Had nails & screws left over from building my cabin. $480.00 for building, counting the 40 I gave George for gas money. Saw mill lumber is about 1/2 of what lumber will cost at Lowes. But I did cut most of the trees myself for the cabin and the out building and I took the logs to the mill. T-1-11 that most people use for siding is almost $40.00 a sheet. I made my door out of that with a 2 x6 treated deck 4'x4' with treated steps. Saw mill lumber is the way to go to save money and you also get a true 2 x with it and not a 1.5 x whatever. The 8 x 8 I built cost me, counting tin, nails, screws, hinges, and hasp & lock, about 460. If I would have bought the lumber at Lowes it would have cost me at least $800.00 so I built it for 1/2 or less by using sawmill lumber. I know you will want to build something bigger that 8 x 8 but this might give you some kind of idea what things cost. A water well is around $20.00 or more per foot to have drilled. A sewage tank is anywere from 2000.00 to 3500.00 to have put in, depends on who you get to put it in, plus county permits.
here is my new cabin. I too used the wood on my property.
Here is the cabin I stayed in while building the new one. If anyone ever wants to come up to Pendleton county and hunt huge WV 11 points let me know. Warning: I don't rough it anymore. My daughter calls my new cabin a prissy face cabin. LOL
Lonnies got a sweet cabin .. A lot of satisfaction in building it ur self
Lonnies got a sweet cabin .. A lot of satisfaction in building it ur self
Thanks for the ideas....The land is already paid for..
Babysaph i like that idea of a temporary one, then build a bigger one later on..
And by the way Babysaph, its right up there with you in Pendleton county,..
Man I didn't know you were in Pendleton County. we will have to hook up sometime.
There is a lot of satisfaction in doing it yourself. I remember one of my building buddies sayin just make sure the floor is square. LOL. I did that and it worked out ok. I used the wood from trees right on my property and had them cut at a local sawmill. I don't have a well but use a cistern for a shower and washing dishes. have it chlorinated. I use an electric toilet that incinerated the turds. LOL. That thing is neat. Much cheaper than what they wanted to do a septic. Its called and incinolet. Other than that I have everything just like home.
Another suggestion is you might want to plan for a space for all your hunting equipment. I never leve guns, bows or expensive stuff. My cabin started out as a 3 bedroom cabin. Now it's 2 bedroom and a big closet.
I bet Jeff Foxworthy could make an entire show on the incinolet. That's just too funny. LOL.
Nice cabin!
It works great. Its unreal. I agree with gobbler. My lil cabin will be for storage
JR, does it handle diarrhea as well as solid formed stool. Does it sound like a bug zapper when the turd hits it. Most important, if there is any corn in your poop will it pop it like popcorn ?
I cut all the logs and took them to my buddies mill to be cut into lumber, except treated wood on porches and plywood on roof. Not very big 32 x 20 but big enough for me and the wife, or about 4 guys. I am about 2/3 finished on the inside and I am going to wait to I retire to lay stone under it. Had help the first 4 or 5 days and the rest been solo on it. I would be finished by now if I did not have the wife wanting a house and me wanting a hunting and fishing cabin. But hey,,,, she will be staying there alot, so got to give her some of the things she wants. I can't complain, she NEVER b-----s about how much I hunt. Thanks to a friend for letting me stay at his cabin the first week that I started my cabin. Don't get in a hurry if you only work weekends, like I am. I took a week off and started and work only weekends on it now. I never touched it during hunting season. I am to the point now if I am up there and want to quit work and go fishing or take the wife for a ride I do. Don't let yourself get burned out working on it. Hope the pic shows up. Good Luck
Good looking cabin, by the way.
my dream cabin is a big open room with an open firepit in the middle and 3 off rooms as bedrooms and a restroom.
I did the same thing Lonnie. Just worked on it on weekends. I did work some at night during hunting season but mostly weekends. I took two years off where I didn't do much at all. Mine is only 24 by 24 with a loft. But big enough for mr and the dog and a couple buddies. I love going there even if I can't hunt.
Something to consider is "barn type" truss. My Dad and I built 16'x24' with an upstairs 10'x24'.
Nice cabins Babysaph and L.S.!
I hear ya JR. Sometimes we just go up and do nonthing. Take walks, rides and just sit on the porch. Had a pretty bear come in the other eve. Did not get any pics of it because it had the wifes 9 week old beagle pup pined up under the out building I just built. My Mt. Feist came out of the house and seen the bear, and thought he was a bear dog instead of a squirrel dog. The bear ran and did not get Kathy's pup. Thats all that mattered at that time. Not a big bear at all, about 150 to 160 but big enough to kill a pup. JR you also have a nice looking cabin.
Thanks buddy. I have bears around my cabins all the time. I had a dog that used to smell them and run to get in the cabin door. LOL. Not a bear dog at all. I could always tell when one was around because she would about scratch the door down.
If you really want to save some money, google pallet cabins.(image) Pallet's are everywhere and free.
Ive seen those stickbow. They are cool.
and cordwood cabins. Lots of stuff you can do to save money.
Nice cabins. One thing to remember, if you do not know a guy with a woodmizer, you can buy 2B, 4/4, dried on sticks red oak lumber from most mills for very, very, cheap. Cheaper than you can pay to cut your own. It is good for flooring, siding, interior walls etc.. It would be hard to beat the price of a Lowe's 92 5/8ths stud, and factory floor joyces from Lowe's too versus sawmill lumber. Check your local Lowe's and see the standard width trusses they offer with out ordering them. You can go wrong there in a hurry even if you go smaller. Standard widths are cheaper than special orders.
A 16 by 20 with bunk beds on ne end should do exactly what you want now, be built completely for less than $2000. However, your not getting a well or a septic system under your budget. I would suggest go without currently, carry your water and an out house. Plumb it for the future, put septic in first, then drill last. Just my advice. God Bless
Not to argue, but I put my well in first, then septic. The reason was since by county law there had to be at least 100 foot between the two. I wanted the driller to be able to pick the best place for a well. Then I could make sure I got the septic far enough away. If I had put the septic in first and the driller felt his best chance for success was less than 100 feet I would have had a problem.
My driller used a witching stick. I never believed in those until I watched him use it and you could actually see the stick bend when he got close to the point he picked then straighten out as he got away. I was watching his hands and wrists and forearm after the first couple times and he wasn't manipulating the stick. I had him do it several times caused I was amazed at what it was doing and to make sure in my mind that he wasn't faking it. If he was faking it he was really good at it.
Greg, that sounds like the best plan to me. I just envisioned a cabin first since there is no way to get what he wants, on his budget, at one time.
Yep, they still use the stick. I thought it was bogus too but it isn't! Cut you a cherry stick, grab it appropriately like you were fixing to ride a bike an it is the handle bars. Flip it back towards you by putting pressure on the outsides of your hand. Causing it to rotate 360 degrees and rest under pressure, walk over a bucket of water and you'll see .
When you flip it, make sure it flips point down direction, passing through your arms back over to complete the rotation where it will rest by the pressure you put on it. It should set their loaded under tension from you flipping your grasped hands palms down thumb in, to the palms up thumbs out, torquing out on the ends of the forked handle. You keep it "loaded with tension and it will pull down when over water.
Bad explanation but if you've seen it done you'll get it. Try it man, it is cool. But,, the most amazing thing is watching the driller pick his spot. He'll have several streams to choose from mostly but, experience tells him where to choose. Just a real cool skill. God Bless
In a materials class I had in college. We took two welding rods, put a 90 deg bend in them. Let them rest in our hands.
On the bottom floor of the building we would walk with these rods. When we crossed a water line the rods would come together and to make an X.
Cool stuff!
Yep, coat hangers work well too. God Bless to all
I used an incinerator toilet. No septic. Used a cistern for dishes and shore. Have pump and chlorinater. Have 5 gal office cooler for drinking. Saved a bundle on well and septic.,
These are all great looking camps....I will definitely use some of your ideas..
I have a bunch of work to do on the land before i can even get started building, so it looks like at least spring time until i can start.
I may shoot you guys some PM's with questions...
Thanks for the info..
I still havnt finished my lot. I decided to clear out a place for the cabin then do the lot after I get it done.
