Cheap hunting seat

**dawg69** · 09-22-2009, 12:12 AM

I was reading the current issue of Backwoodsman magazine and saw this idea in an article on scrounging junk for useful items.

I used a plastic cat litter bucket with a hinged lid to be used as a hunting seat (or fishing, or whatever you like).

I sprayed the bottom and lid with spray-on bedliner to hopefully keep the yellow and red plastic underneath from showing. Next I sprayed camo paint over the whole thing. Lastly I got a camo padded seat at Walmart for $3 to put on top. This should come in handy come hunting or ice fishing time to store all my gear in and carry it easily.

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This is what the bucket looked like in the beginning:

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**mccaw69** · 09-22-2009, 12:20 AM

great looking seat.I love backwoodsman,best mag on the planet

**crashdive123** · 09-22-2009, 07:23 AM

Nice job Dawg.

**Riverrat** · 09-22-2009, 08:12 AM

Was just reading about that seat...nice to see one done. Good job, looks like it will serve the purpose well.

**pocomoonskyeyes** · 09-22-2009, 09:06 AM

Good job!! I too try to never miss an issue of Backwoodsman.

**hunter63** · 09-22-2009, 10:31 AM

Good job, Like the seat.
Bet it's water proof also?

I sorta laugh when one of my buddies show up with his Brand New Super Duper, just bought it from Gander Mountain, for a bunch of money, camo 5 gal bucket.

But I gotta tell ya, you sorta have to work for it now to get them for nothing.
Used to be any resturant would give them to you free, or $.50 cents.
These were food grade.
The buckets in my sawdust toilet were from a bakery, had fruit filling in them, 'corse they don't smell like fruit any more.
Now you have to pay around $5 Buck for one, and extra for the cover.

**crashdive123** · 09-22-2009, 03:43 PM

You could always hover and save money on the cover.

**panch0** · 09-22-2009, 04:32 PM

Nice! My wife went a got me the bucket with the swivel seat that they sell at WalMart. It was nice on her part, and after looking at it I was like I can build something like that.

**hunter63** · 09-22-2009, 08:46 PM

My father used to pick up 5 gal buckets at the dump (back when they still had dumps), the old guy that watched the dump, would save them for him. (usually for a bottle of cheap port wine)

So every time he went out hunting, he would bring a 5 gal bucket with him, and a about a yard of visqueen.
He would leave it folded up under the bucket, top down.
Then when ever he got to one of his spots, he would turn over the bucket, use the visqueen to either sit on, or cover his lap in the rain or snow.

I can still find some of those buckets, after a bunch of years, when ever I get back to one of those spots, land mostly re-sold a couple of times, but some are still there.

**RichJ** · 09-24-2009, 02:14 PM

Here's a tip: Find any Highway project that is using heavy equipment like dozers or backhoes. Heavy equipment uses lots of hydraulic fluid and the buckets it comes in are much more heavy duty than the ones you can get at Home Depot. You can always find empty fluid buckets laying around the construction site. They are just thrown away because they usually have a half a cup of oil still in them and people are too lazy to clean them up. I have about a dozen with lids intact that I've picked up for free. Just ask if you can have a few and they'll let you have them. Farm shops that use tractors are another source for the same buckets.

**dawg69** · 09-24-2009, 10:42 PM

That is a good source for buckets Rich as long as you don't need food grade ones.

Another source I used for a while was from our local jail. They used to buy laundry detergent in, I believe 3 gallon buckets (they were just a little shorter than 5 gallon ones). I latched on to them when they were empty. I think they recently switched detergents, so they don't have the buckets anymore. It was good while it lasted though. I'm sure you could inquire with any facility that does a lot of laundry to see if they have extra buckets.

**Rick** · 09-24-2009, 10:52 PM

Or any grocery store with a bakery. The icing comes in 5 gallon buckets.

Try putting a piece of foam inside your hunting bucket to absorb any sounds. They give off that hollow thump sound if you accidentally hit them. If you stick a piece of foam inside it will help hide the noise.

Nice job on the bucket. Thanks for the pics!!

**dawg69** · 09-25-2009, 12:17 AM

Good idea with the foam, Rick and thanks to everyone for the comments and compliments. It's good to see some people that actually appreciate cheap homemade stuff. I posted this on another similar forum (I won't name names) and got NO response.

I will do some testing tomorrow in regards to the sound issue. I hadn't thought much of that. I'm wondering if the spray-on bedliner i used might dampen some of the sound as well. I know I sprayed the inside of the doors of my truck with undercoating and it dampened the sound of them a bit when you shut them (45 year old truck

).

**Rick** · 09-25-2009, 09:53 AM

Ooh. I missed that. Yeah, I would imagine the spray on liner would dampen it quite a bit. Nothing worse than being in the right place at the right time and doing something stupid that makes a loud sound.

I would imagine a bucket buddy would work really well, too. Instead of tools, put your gear in the pockets. When you travel you just drop the bucket buddy inside the bucket. Just another thought.

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**LostOutrider** · 09-25-2009, 09:27 PM

Public school cafeterias.

Each building usually has a Food Services Manager . . . don't call 'em head lunch lady.

The ones I end up with used to hold pickles. The smell goes away after a light scrub with lemon-scented detergent and a nice air-dry.

**hunter63** · 09-25-2009, 09:32 PM

Originally Posted by LostOutrider

Public school cafeterias.

Each building usually has a Food Services Manager . . . don't call 'em head lunch lady.

The ones I end up with used to hold pickles. The smell goes away after a light scrub with lemon-scented detergent and a nice air-dry.

LOL, I once had a 5 gal shop vac, steel bucket, rusted out, and I replace it with pickel bucket from Burger King.
Every time I fired it up smelled like pickels................