Just wondering if any of you guys have any experience using ground blinds for deer.
Does the blind need to be set up for awhile so the deer can get used to it, or can you just set up and hunt that day????? :saywhat:
There are mixed feelings...
I have had deer in on me with my ground blind both setting up the same day as well as letting it sit out for a few weeks.
I cannot normally leave my blinds out due to theft so what you can do is set it up and build a brush line around it where you can remove the blind but the brush remains. Sort of a blind in a blind. Pack the blind in set it up in the designated spot and hunt.
If you can leave your blind out IMO its best to do so so the deer have time to adjust but like I said before it works both ways.
If you setup the day of be sure to brush it in well and dont make it obvious there is a new structure...set it back in natural brush where it doesn't look like much has changed.
I have done it both ways. Set it up same day and brushed it in and left it out a few days but still brushing in. I'm not useing blinds any more for deer, I go out and make a blind out of brush or a set up next to a cedar tree.
With pop ups that were put more or less in the open I've noticed the deer being wary when they see it the first few times. If I left the blind out a few days they don't seem to care about it anymore.
If you really brush in your pop up blind the deer will hardly notice it if at all. I'm talking about the blind...not your smell etc.
My favorite portable "blind" right now is an eastman adjustable blind. Now the company is Gorilla. Adjustable Height Blind
Model 65644 (Mossy Oak® Break-Up™)
Model 65638 (Mossy Oak® Obsession™)
They are light weight, small, quick to set up. I feel they give me just the edge I need. Small enough not to be noticed and just enough to hide me pretty good. Only bad thing about these is you do need to have a good backdrop.
my 2¢
Sometimes keep your eyes open to the natural ground blinds available. The last deer I killed on the river bottoms came from a ground blind in a dense cedar patch. The deer had been feeding in the hay fields at night and passing trough a narrow bottleneck on their way to the thick Russian Olive groves where they would bed for the day. I searched in vain looking for the perfect tree to hang a stand in. Then it dawned on me to put myself right in the middle of this patch of cedars and cut some shooting lanes. I did this and then left the area for two days to let things cool down. I came back with a little folding stool and parked myself right in the center of those cedars and the deer had no clue I was there. I got a 10 yard shot at the lead doe. As I was waiting for her to die, I had 10 more deer file by at 10 yards and had 4 turkeys that came by me at 3 yards as they were eating the juniper berries.
Sorry to make a long story but if you don't find the perfect place for a tree stand or a place to put your double bull, then keep your eyes open to the blinds that mother nature sometimes provides.
I prefer ground blinds that are natural. I don't really understand the concept of using a pop-up and having to cut brush and build what is ostensibly a natural blind anyway.....just the way I think about it anyhow :)
I have to agree with Dave. If I'm gonna have to lug it around, set it up and then build a natural ground blind around it I don't get it. That being said, I've hunted from the ground for years and have had just as many close shots on deer as I do from treestands. The only thing is you won't get away with as much moving as from a tree and the deer get closer faster because you can't usually see them coming from far off. Leave the blind at home and brush yourself in and enjoy!
We leave ours out for a couple weeks before the season and then make sure they are all in before gun season. Make sure you leave all the windows open and stake it down.
They make nothing of them if left out. I have had experiences however when using them the same day and having deer see them and stay away.
I think natural blinds are less conspicuous to deer than pop-ups. I've had fair success with placing a brushed in pop-up a week or so in advance.
Natural all the way for me. Why lug a blind when the real stuff is just sitting there. H
Cows hate a double bull. That didn't sound right did it. Cows will destroy a double bull.
I use a double bull blind in late November in Alberta when the blind doubles for warmth as it gets -20 to -35 . You have to use have the shoot thru screen unless you are in the shadows and well brushed up.The blind also helps with some scent control . I prefer spot and stalk, then natural blinds, then tree stands, then pop up blinds in that order. If the blind is in the open it can scare deer...however that being said I have used it right at the end of a round bale in a field and the deer were fine with it.
I have to hunt from an ATV I put up some camo fabric to make me blend in with the natural brush in my area. Usualy is up two months before the season opens so the deer have plenty of time to get used to it.
MARK
In my experience whitetail deer HATE pop up blinds. I would only use with guns for distant shots, never deer.
I purchased a "Dark Horse" And have used it once in 2 years , I put it on the classifieds
Although this past fall I did have 3 deer with in 15 yards .
Carl
I have used pop-up blinds for years...especially good when you get older. The deer you see in my picture was killed in a primos vision blind at 13 yards. It is imperative that you brush them in and have them out there for some time to be really effective. Make sure you have a great stool to sit on, you need to be comfortable to sit a long time. Can't say enough...they work great.
I have always used natural blinds, if you get out in the summer and scout you can usually find a good spot to take advantage of. My favorites are old brush piles or blowdowns that you can make a hollow in. place some of it in front of you and youre in business. in adition to being downwind of the trail, I try to get the sun at my back at the time I will be in there. stay still and stay silent
Funny, but one of my most effective "blinds" has NO cover at all in front, just a big fallen over pine tree behind me. I have had multiple shots from that set-up over the last 3-4 years at 12-16 yards at unalarmed deer. Background is far more effective than stuff in front in my opinion.
I use a blind every year.I like to be able to move around with out being seen,and I can also use a heater.The deer don't seem to mind it.Last year I purchased a ASAT Leafy Suit.Things have now changed.The deer don't even know I'm there.I find it great fun to just melt into the brush.
ttt
I'll throw another one at you.. I use a tree stand at ground level on steep hillsides and creek banks, essentially making it a ground blind.
Works great.
(http://www.tradgang.com/upload/terry/blind.JPG)
Rope and long tent stakes....
Be careful....as deer may walk right up to you and eat the leaves off the blind if the trees you use leaves are above the brows-line in the area.
And if you hang any gear on the branches be careful not to cut the line with the broadhead!!! :scared: your gear will be 200yrds away.
I do like that idea Terry.And you are quite the artist.
I use natral blinds mainly because I hunt alot of public land and I have to deal with theft. I am trying to set up my pop up on privite ground this year. If they have time to get use to it I think pop-ups are fine for deer just look at all ones killed out of them each year. My natrual blinds that I build out of brush can be as big and nice as a pop-up but take alot more work and planing that a pop-up would.
I really like that idea Terry, simple but effective.
There is generally plenty of ground blind laying at your feet.
I alway carry hand pruner and zip ties in pack, pretty easy to set up with what nature gives to you. I do set up one pop up a few weeks before the season and brush it in for rainy days and when my kids wat to come along
Terry,
Thanks for the diagram. It gave me some good ideas.
I put mine out and leave them.If brushed in good they work better.A popup helps a lot with scent control where a natural blind won't but they are more easily seen by deer.If you are going to bowhunt from them I suggest buying a nice big one.Easier to shoot from and you can carry a kid with you. :)
Find a ceder tree, Trim some branches and slide the blind right up under it.
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/blind5.jpg)
You still want to play the wind game though and put the blind on the down wind side. They help but they are not sent free. They will get plenty close!!
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/blind3.jpg)
You can even fool a few old does too, This blind was only up a few days.
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/blind8.jpg)
Look closely thats Guru's arrow attached to a string tracker shot through the screen of the blind about to smack this old doe.
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/blind9.jpg)
They don't get this big from being dumb.
(http://i904.photobucket.com/albums/ac248/TmPotter47/blind6.jpg)
Give it a try it's alot of fun :goldtooth:
Tracy
Tracy WOW! that looks like a juvenile moose.What the heck do you feed them steroids.What did that doe weigh?
I had good luck last year with a ghili suit. They make it easty to be mobile and play the wind. Bob
Don't know what she weighed but it was a lot :biglaugh:
Tracy
I have had good luck with my DB 360 brushed in and set under a hemlock tree. It is heavy and a pain in the butt that is until it's set up and I'm in it. Then it is worth every bit of the extra effort it takes to get to that point, I'm out of the wind and I can have snacks and coffee, then I cant help but snicker to myself when a deer walks up and it has no idea whats in store for it.
Great Idea on the picture of the staked down trees Terry. I`m gonna try that one.RC
Nice set up on the blind and I like terry's idea. Wow! that is one big doe.
I can't say enough about pop up ground blinds...they are the best, especially as you get a little older (60)...they are comfortable and if you put them out early, they are terrific. I have one I put out in late May that is brushed in and natural weeds have grown in around it...it will be perfect for bow season.
The deer in my picture was shot from a ground blind in close and personal!!!!!!!
I like a natural blinds, but this blind has been very good to me over the years also.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wElR_SIdOxA
I haven't hunted deer from a ground blind because I like the vision I get from a tree stand. However, I've had deer come right in and stomp at my turkey decoys inside of 10 yards on a number of occasions when in my Hidden Hunter blind. This spring I had three different deer, including one big old doe, come in. My blind was set up about two hours before the old doe came in, and it was sitting right out in a picked corn field...no brush in at all.
If I ever decide to hunt deer from a pop-up blind, I think I'll just stick a couple of turkey decoys in front of it and watch the fun. The deer never seem to pay a bit of attention to the blind, just the decoys.
I like both natural and pop-ups. I have one property where I leave a pop-up setup all season. It's brushed in as well as it can be. I say that because it is an Ameristep Penthouse and is huge. Exceptionally tall.
It is setup about 15 yards from a pinch point between a paddock fence and a tree line. Deer walk by it all the time. Well, they used to.
The deer at this spot changed their pattern last season so I need to move the blind. Why did they? I think it's because a really large maple tree fell and is blocking their approach, but I can't say for sure.
In other spots I will setup at the base of a fallen tree or in the V of a split trunk tree. Sometimes I will drape a peice of canvas between the split and brush it in. But there must be a good background. Deer pick up the movement in the V if not.