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Turning a 4x4 into a mobile hide - anyone done it?


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I had a very disappointing day shooting yesterday. Recently drilled lupins, next to OSR.

 

Up at 4.30, out in a field, hide up, decoys out, pigeon magnet out, lofting poles to put pigeons in oak sitty tree. Threw in a few crows on the outskirts, stuck a maggie decoy in another outskirt tree. Properly went to town.

 

7.15 a.m. to 7.45 a.m. was manic. Bird central. Then nothing. Not a thing. Obviously pigeons have their feedings patterns but we thought the corvids might pop in for a look during the remainder of the day, but no.

 

So. Hours of prep and set up for f-all.

 

During the packing up session (which of course added yet more time) followed by the equipment lug home, the idea of a mobile hide was discussed. It seemed genius - you get a cheap 4 x 4, camo it up, cut the roof off, get a military tank net and voila you have:

 

1. a mobile hide / shooting station with all mod cons

2. an equipment store

3. a form of transportation to shoot sites (this would have been ideal for us to quickly move to a neighbouring field).

 

Anyone done this and made it work?

 

You can get a reliable 2nd hand jap 4 x 4 for a couple of hundred quid. Go to £400 and you could get one with an MOT. You could even consider one of those old Fiat panda 4 x 4's with the full sunshine roof but I reckon we would end up pushing it more than driving it.

 

 

This must be divine intervention:

 

£250 for an "H" reg 7 seater Shogun - on auto trader from the "Hyde Motor Co."

 

Spooky eh?

 

http://atsearch.autotrader.co.uk/www/cars_...rch_full=SEARCH

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reckon you've got yourself a good idea there mungler, :lol: i'm sure it's been done but not by me, couldn't take a 4x4 to the places i shoot. :yp: if you do give it a stab make sure you let us know how it goes! :yp:

BM

 

ps. shame bout the pigeons mate, after all that effort, can't half sympathise tho!

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I can't work out if I have gone mental or come up with a genius idea.

 

On auto trader there is an "L" reg 2 private owner diesel Shogun not 10 miles from me with 128k on the clock with 12 months t&t for £350. You could get a deal at £300 and cash the road tax back in. Hell, you could eBay the interior and the tow bar and get all your money back.

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Sounds like it was meant to be mung, the farmer whose land i shoot did it with the back end of a bedford van, chopped the front off and welded tow hitch onto it. Originally it was going to have another side cut out of it and a strut to keep it level (as in old trailer jockey wheel) then a quick spray green. Then just tow it out with the quad to wherever the days sport is going to be, throw the netting over the side with the gap in it and wait for the birds to come. Unfortunately it only got half done, but I'm quite good friends with the farmer having worked on his farm last summer so was going to volunteer my services to get the job finished! Keep me posted with how you get on :yp:

 

IAS

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I can see that the biggest expense in all of this is likely to be properly "cammo-ing" up the vehicle.

 

There must be a youth club in central london that could do the job if I supplied the spray cans. Getting the vehicle "tagged" all over in 10 different shades of brown and green will do it nicely. Add the final touch of a camo tank net and boomshanka.

 

The trailer idea is a runner also.

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I can see that the biggest expense in all of this is likely to be properly "cammo-ing" up the vehicle.

 

There must be a youth club in central london that could do the job if I supplied the spray cans. Getting the vehicle "tagged" all over in 10 different shades of brown and green will do it nicely. Add the final touch of a camo tank net and boomshanka.

 

The trailer idea is a runner also.

How about the local army cadets, they should have access to netting and camo paint too?

 

Ft

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We have had similar thoughts over the years, but there are many drawbacks.

 

If you shoot on more than one Farm, or have to go on the public roads to move between fields, the vehicle has to be taxed, MOT'ed etc.

 

The vehicle needs maintenance, diesel/petrol etc.

As it will be quite "neglected", it may want lots of maintenance (imagine arriving at the Farm and it doesn't start :lol: ).

 

If the vehicle is being parked at the Farm , I wouldn't leave anything worth stealing in it, even if it is locked up.

 

Many places you will want to place your hide, you cannot park a vehicle.

 

We settled for semi permanent hides on a few Farms, with the Farmers permission.

This reduced set up and take down time quite a bit.

We used poles, sacking, natural cover, straw bales, part of an old trailer chassis, we even dug a few pit hides.

 

Best of luck with your venture, if it doesn't turn out to be too practical, at least it should be fun. :yp:

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a friend of mine who lives near peterborough has a series two ex-army landrover

and he has turned that into a mobile shooting unit. he cut a hole in the roof for lamping out of or to use as a turret style pop hole for decoying.

 

being ex-army it is painted in matt green paint and all he does is throw a big piece of camo netting over it when he goes decoying. just looks like a big bush when parked in close to a hedge row. he also has the drivers door able to lift off the hinges for lamping and i think the windscreen drops down. the lamp is bolted ontop with the hand held bit inside for when its a rainy night. all in all its a mobile shooting unit with a few other bits that i cant remember :yp: :lol:

 

cheers BS :yp:

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a friend of mine who lives near peterborough has a series two ex-army landrover

and he has turned that into a mobile shooting unit. he cut a hole in the roof for lamping out of or to use as a turret style pop hole for decoying.

 

being ex-army it is painted in matt green paint and all he does is throw a big piece of camo netting over it when he goes decoying. just looks like a big bush when parked in close to a hedge row. he also has the drivers door able to lift off the hinges for lamping and i think the windscreen drops down. the lamp is bolted ontop with the hand held bit inside for when its a rainy night. all in all its a mobile shooting unit with a few other bits that i cant remember :yp: :lol:

 

cheers BS :yp:

 

i want one.

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a friend of mine has done this hes got a fourtrak put a full roof rack on it poles in the corners that can be removed the camo net covers the full thing two seats clip on the roof rack and even a little table between them its great for rabbits,foxes and if you can park in the right place its good for pigeons,you just sit and wait, at the moment he is constructing a seat to go on the front at low level for lamping, inside it has gun rest for virtually any angle and he has made the quietest exhaust ever, but hey hes a retired engineer whos loaded.

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i had a thought about an easy hide, any of you out there with the old classic range rover, sit in the bot and lift the top of the boot and use the bottom as a rest for your rifle. then all u need to do is sling a huge cammo net over it and there u have it. a portable hide.

might have to try it in our rangey.

 

cheers

 

flash

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I can see that the biggest expense in all of this is likely to be properly "cammo-ing" up the vehicle.

 

There must be a youth club in central london that could do the job if I supplied the spray cans. Getting the vehicle "tagged" all over in 10 different shades of brown and green will do it nicely. Add the final touch of a camo tank net and boomshanka.

 

The trailer idea is a runner also.

How about the local army cadets, they should have access to netting and camo paint too?

 

Ft

 

Camo paint?:angry:? is that like the tin of tartan paint I got from B&Q the other day :lol:

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I can see that the biggest expense in all of this is likely to be properly "cammo-ing" up the vehicle.

 

There must be a youth club in central london that could do the job if I supplied the spray cans. Getting the vehicle "tagged" all over in 10 different shades of brown and green will do it nicely. Add the final touch of a camo tank net and boomshanka.

 

The trailer idea is a runner also.

How about the local army cadets, they should have access to netting and camo paint too?

 

Ft

 

Camo paint?:angry:? is that like the tin of tartan paint I got from B&Q the other day :lol:

Yes :lol:;):P

 

Ft

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