Lessons learned from ground blinds

[Smart]

I prefer a wooden or steel ground blind. No snakes and more protective from the elements.

They are more comfortable with a good chair than any tree stand . More comfort means longer time in stand. Comfort is more important at 44 then being 25' in the air in my 20s

Don't need to brush it in at our place. Deer get used to it quickly. We kill mature bucks out of our blinds so we don't brush. Brush piles are snake piles.

Wooden blind means I can lock it and leave my stuff in it through the weekend if I am hunting the same blind... even near a fenceline. This equals easier 400-600 yd walks in and out of my area...

Ground blinds mean portable heater. Portable heater means I can hunt longer when it's in the teens and 20s..

Ground blinds mean I can hunt in the rain. A simple light pullover parka to and from keeps me dry and comfortable.

Ground blinds act like a muffler for noise.

Finally...Ground blinds means a safe "climb into the blind" and if I fall asleep and roll out of my office chair, I bruise my pride but don't die.

[Chew]

The main thing I've learned about popup blinds is make sure your seat is comfortable, make sure your seat is the right height, and make sure your arrow is clear of the blind so you don't shoot a hole through the good stuff.

[mjhaverkamp]

Not a big fan of a ground blind unless there are no big trees around or if the weather is bad. About the only pointer I have is do not set your blind 3 feet from a rattlesnake den, it was a heck of a spot.

[Bleu]

I set mine up to stay through season. If I want to hunt a new spot, I will use the same meathod using whatever the closest common brush is. My process is this, and I try and have it done by early September:

1. Clear the ground really well, but only an area as big as the blind
2. I lay down a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet. This stuff usually has a black backing, so I lay it face (green side) down. I want it BLACK in there
3. Pop it up and stake/tie it down.
4. I don't trust "shoot thru" anything, so I hunt with the windows open. However, with them closed and before I brush it in I spray paint them black. This way, when I open them the deer see the same thing they've always seen, but I don't have to leave them open to get the effect.
5. I use the smaller, bushy ends of the surrounding vegetation, and tuck it in to the blind. Most blinds have small sleeves specifically for this. Piling up whole cedars and mesquites may be asking for customers a little, so I try not to do too much of that. Plus, I don't have to wrestle with whole trees, and the smaller ends are where all the foliage is anyway.
6. My duck hunting days taught me that if you cut green willows they will not lose their leaves. We always used willows to brush the flaps on our duck blinds and I use willow as "filler" do the same with ground blinds. The leaves turn dark brown, but everything else in the woods turns too. I cut enough so that when the leaves fall from my original brush, I have some filler pieces to weave in without inserting burst of green into an otherwise brown/gray area.
7. The windows in most popups are way more than you need, so I don't worry about the windows while I'm brushing it in. I cover them up. Once I'm done I set my chair up and open up the windows. If I did it right I've got to cut myself some holes in the brush to see/shoot through.
8. When hunting I never open windows in front and behind me. I may open a tiny corner to peak through, but I use the black inside of the blind to hide my silhouette.

If you guys know of any other brush that holds it's leaves after being cut, I would love to hear what it is.

[azle]

DEAMON WP! I got into mine one dark morning... only to notice as the sun came up I was sharing it with no less than three Black Widows! talk about tearing out of that thing like my pants were on fire!! NOT A GOOD FEELING!!

Azle

[TUCO]

Great post Nick!

It really depends a lot on where you hunt, as to whether you need to brush in your blind really well. Not all properties are the same. Where I work, if you just throw up a blind and hunt, you will be lucky to see deer closer than 50 yards; and, even then, only for a few seconds before they run. If you do kill a deer, it'll be a young one and definitely not one of the big bucks in the area. If you brush it in really well, you'll see lots of deer and have a decent opportunity at a great low-fence buck. I have friends, though, who's places are so low pressure you CAN get away with just throwing up a blind and you'll get deer to come in. Depends on the place.

Nick, I was on a place outside Laredo for many years and had quite the opposite reaction from the deer.

For instance, on this place I found out that several rather open cactus flat areas became very popular places when the cruise & rut commenced. Wanting to get the best vantage point I could, I threw caution to the wind and put the pop up right out in the middle of the open flat, without one stick of brush to hide it. I hand fed the area daily, and within a week’s time the place was crawling with deer.

I feed extremely close to the pop up to force the deer to get accustomed to the blind. If they want the corn they have to come close to the blind. I do this mainly for photo and video purposes. The majority of the deer would easily come within 20 yards of the blind, and most would feed within 10 yards of the pop up without any reservations for extended periods of time.

It was not uncommon to have from 5 to 10 bucks all at one time within 20 yards of the blind, and half of those would be directly downwind of my position. I used zero scent control. The deer just realized that I didn’t pose a threat.

I noticed that this widespread acceptance of both the blind and my obvious presence put even the most paranoid of bucks at ease.

And for the record this was on a big low fence place.

My questions to people that say they don't need to brush in their blinds because they kill deer without doing it, are: 1. Are you sure that there wasn't a bigger deer out there, that didn't come in because HE figured you out? 2. Are you sure that you couldn't have killed the same deer in less time, if you'd have been more hidden? Since nobody could answer those questions accurately (not with any honesty, anyway) it only stands to reason that brushing in a blind has the distinct possibility of giving a hunter an advantage. Considering all the effort and expense that most hunters go through to gain an advantage of deer - scent control, camo, attractants, faster bows, better sights, etc., etc. - why would anyone argue that a tactic that takes little time and costs nothing is unnecessary or pointless?

No one can say with 100% certainty what deer eluded them in the field on any given day.

With that said, I discovered the reason the bucks were cruising the cactus flat was because of the fact that they could see so far; which really upped their chances of finding a hot doe. Almost all the bucks used this same tactic in the same area. Realizing how much the bucks were using their sight to find does, instead of their nose; it dawned on me how important the visual aspect was to these brush country bucks. So from that point on I used that visual advantage that the bucks were utilizing and made it work to my benefit.

A crowd attracts a crowd, and the same holds true with whitetail deer. Fifteen to twenty deer in the middle of an open cactus flat is hard to miss, and there is not a buck alive that is going to pass up that kind of activity during the rut. He will at the very least make a close down wind drive-by to check out the situation. Basically any buck within sight of the group is going to make a beeline to that spot as soon as they see it. After all, no one likes to miss out on a good party. That is why I think I can say with some degree of certainty that there probably were not too many deer that saw the set and didn’t come in. It is just against their nature not to come check the situation out. If there were no deer on the feed it would be a totally different story.

Plus 13 trail cams deployed in different locations around the ranch will usually catch most of the bucks in the area, so I know the vast majority of my bucks; and I am aware when any of them are skipping class.

Another great aspect to this method is that all these bucks remember where the party spots are and will return to visit them year after year, so the number of deer that know where these hotspots are just keeps getting bigger.

The only bucks I have that don’t commit to coming all the way in is the occasional cruiser buck from a totally different area that is unfamiliar with the bucks that are on the feed. He is reluctant to come in to feed in lieu of getting a quick butt whipping, so he has to assess the situation before committing. And of course it goes without saying any buck that has had his butt whipped at this spot will most likely not return that season, even if he lives in the general area. And when you have a real dominant buck in the area and all of the sudden another super powered buck hits the scene, in many cases that first buck will just take a short leave of absence for a few days instead of having a showdown; only to show back up a few days later. I see that happen a lot. It is almost like there is a gentleman’s agreement between certain really dominant bucks……..

I totally get the point about how they "get used to" to blinds that are left in place for many months or year round - I have the same experience with some of my personal stands. But this is a very expensive practice (it's super hard on your popup) and really not what pop-ups are designed for. They're designed for mobility. So, why put a popup through a summer long torture test when you could take 45 minutes and a little sweat and set up 2-3 weeks before the season, with the same (or maybe better) results? There are deer I've seen, even on the least pressured ranches, that just DO NOT like coming near any kind of obvious stand. These are deer that you need to ambush if you want to take them with a bow. The willingness and skill to brush in a pop-up blind CAN make it possible to get on these deer with a bow; where others will be forced to resort to their bang-stick later in the season.

How I get around this is go and brush in my predetermined spots way ahead of time leaving one side open that way I can just walk right up and pop the blind up and set it in place. The deer will already be accustomed to the brush pile being there so hopefully the deer won’t react too negatively to the little addition to the existing brush pile.

Where I can, I take a piece of slick wire and string up on three sides just big enough to set my blind in, then brush that spot in by laying and securing the brush to the slick wire so it will stay in place. I will set up multiple locations like this so I can change stand sites at a moment’s notice with minimal disturbance to the area, and as little scent contamination as possible……

I'm not trying to be argumentative here (Heck, I really couldn't care less how other hunters choose to set up) but I just haven't ever heard a compelling argument made for the advantage of NOT brushing in a blind. But I've heard plenty of compelling arguments for taking the time to brush in a blind.

Regardless of whether you brush your pop up in or not, the deer know it is there when you set it up; and over time they become accustomed to it just as they would have if you hadn’t brushed it in.

Having the deer get accustomed to the blind in a certain spot is the key. And all that takes is time.

Everyone has their way of doing, or not doing, things - to each, their own. No "right" or "wrong."

Just sharing my opinion/experience.

Amen.....

Same here Nick.

I am by no means knocking anyone’s setup; I am just relaying what I have experienced over the years.

Who knows, maybe It will help a few folks on down the line.......

[BIG D]

Where we hunt, I have hunted out of pop ups that are barely brushed in, permanent box blinds that are not brushed in at all, and pop ups that are brushed in very well. There is no doubt that the deer that visit the feeder/blind locations on a regular basis get used to the blinds and they really dont pay any attention to them. The problem is later in the season, when that one really big deer you have been waiting on finally decides to come check for a lady friend, you want everything to look as natural as possible. Nothing out of the ordinary or super noticable. Here is one I set up a couple weeks back. I know a lot of the brush has died so it will get another good dose of brush this weekend as well as the shooting lanes being trimmed. The big black hole will be brushed in better to help break it up.

[cazador0506]

[ATTACH]541572[/ATTACH]

[jerp]

DEAMON WP! I got into mine one dark morning... only to notice as the sun came up I was sharing it with no less than three Black Widows! talk about tearing out of that thing like my pants were on fire!! NOT A GOOD FEELING!!

Azle

After finding one of those under my blind chair long ago, I became paranoid about it - I check and recheck every time I get in.

[47]

I set mine up to stay through season. If I want to hunt a new spot, I will use the same meathod using whatever the closest common brush is. My process is this, and I try and have it done by early September:

1. Clear the ground really well, but only an area as big as the blind
2. I lay down a piece of indoor/outdoor carpet. This stuff usually has a black backing, so I lay it face (green side) down. I want it BLACK in there
3. Pop it up and stake/tie it down.
4. I don't trust "shoot thru" anything, so I hunt with the windows open. However, with them closed and before I brush it in I spray paint them black. This way, when I open them the deer see the same thing they've always seen, but I don't have to leave them open to get the effect.
5. I use the smaller, bushy ends of the surrounding vegetation, and tuck it in to the blind. Most blinds have small sleeves specifically for this. Piling up whole cedars and mesquites may be asking for customers a little, so I try not to do too much of that. Plus, I don't have to wrestle with whole trees, and the smaller ends are where all the foliage is anyway.
6. My duck hunting days taught me that if you cut green willows they will not lose their leaves. We always used willows to brush the flaps on our duck blinds and I use willow as "filler" do the same with ground blinds. The leaves turn dark brown, but everything else in the woods turns too. I cut enough so that when the leaves fall from my original brush, I have some filler pieces to weave in without inserting burst of green into an otherwise brown/gray area.
7. The windows in most popups are way more than you need, so I don't worry about the windows while I'm brushing it in. I cover them up. Once I'm done I set my chair up and open up the windows. If I did it right I've got to cut myself some holes in the brush to see/shoot through.
8. When hunting I never open windows in front and behind me. I may open a tiny corner to peak through, but I use the black inside of the blind to hide my silhouette.

If you guys know of any other brush that holds it's leaves after being cut, I would love to hear what it is.

[grizzman]

I try to set it as close to natural brush as I can so I don't have to brush it in as much.

[Mike D]

Put me in the "heavy brushing in is over rated" crowd. I've hunted blinds heavily brushed and ones that are virtually in the wide open with no appreciable difference in the deer activity. I usually set mine out Labor Day weekend and remove it at the end of season. With a quality pop up you can get many years of use out of them doing this.

Here's a setup I did this weekend but with a Maverick shell blind instead of a pop up. I think I'm really going to like this blind. It has nothing but military netting draped over the top. Shadows are your friend.

[BoxKrancher]

You better hope the moth balls work or its going to a good snake den.

Do the moth balls not effect the deer? I was always taught they did.

[Ruark]

1. Ditto on the black widows. Get a bag of insecticide and pour a solid ring around it, and spray the heck out of it inside around the edges.

2. The deer will get used to anything. Heck, you could shoot from a paisley Volkswagen van if the deer are used to it.

3. I've been busted a couple of times when deer saw me draw INSIDE the blind - there was light coming in another window, and in one case through a hole in the top.

4. A few drops of skunk scent on the outside makes good cover scent.

[pdevoto]

With that much brush you may as well have built yourself a cabin.

Try using pre-cut hog panels, wire tied together with a couple of 1"x1"s for bracing.

Easy to set up, take down and move.

If you use mothballs, keep them out there all year long to accustom the wildlife to the peculiar smell. THey can keep deer away too.