I'm pretty handy but I've never built anything like this. I got my first buck last year and I'm super excited about the upcoming deer season. I'm wanting a 8' x 12' structure and I would like it approximately 10' above ground. I'm envisioning a 8' x 8' structure with a 4' x 8' covered porch. In the future, I would like to hang a zipline for my kids from a couple of nearby trees. I'm envisioning them clipping onto the zip line and taking off from the porch. I have some trees picked out and they are about 200 feet apart. The zip line project is definitely for the future and likely won't go up this fall. Location is Noblesville, IN.
I have a buddy who is great at construction and he and I staked off the area and marked for some holes. He suggested 6" x 6" posts in the ground with bags of concrete. I started doing some research and thought I wanted to use some 12" sono tubes and fill them with concrete, wet set a post bracket, and attach 6" x 6" posts to footings. I'm going back and forth on which way to do it. I like the idea of the footings, but that's a LOT of concrete I have to mix out in the woods. I could mix way less and put the posts in the ground but I worry about the longevity of the posts. I just looked it up and that is SIX 80lbs bags of concrete per 48" sonotube. That's a lot of mixing for a guy like me. I do have access to a Cat skid steer. I should have rented an auger to begin with but I didn't. I have also seen that you can put a concrete bowl on a skid steer auger to use as a concrete mixer. I feel like I'm headed that way or a rental of some sort to mix a lot of concrete.
I have already began digging footings. Naturally, I did this the hard way. Instead of renting a post hole digger, I bought the harbor freight 52cc post hole digger because I expected to use it more in the future. Big mistake, no way that thing is up for 12" footings. But with a combination of it, traditional post hole digger, and a 17 lbs. digging bar, I'm nearing my local frost line. All four holes are about 30" deep so far. I'll probably spend another hour or two trying to get down another 4-6".
As for the layout, the posts will be set inside the footprint. 1 foot in from each corner if that makes any sense. There will be 2 posts per beam. I was thinking of accessing this by a ladder to the deck and have a human door to enter the structure. I'm not sure what windows I want to use. I will be hunting with a crossbow and likely the firearm season if I'm not successful with the crossbow. I would almost prefer for the windows to be more traditional as long as they are easy to shoot out of.
I'm curious what you guys think I should do for the posts. In the ground, or on top of a footing with a post bracket? What depth should I dig the holes? Also, any suggestions that you have would be great. Thanks in advance!