Ground Blind Tips

[More Liberty]

I've always hunted from a tree stand. This year I bought a two-person ground popup blind. What are the pros/cons? What suggestions or recommendations do you have?

[BigJimmyRustler]

In for responses on this.

[Ginja Ninja]

Few things I learned last year, first year bowhunting in general.
Open your windows, but you can leave the netting up, a few weeks before the season starts.
Clear you feet/chair area of any grass, rocks, leaves, etc. Bare dirt is the most quiet.
Put your chair as far back you can, and make sure you have enough room to draw back for any window.
Get a swivel chair.
Use all the stakes.

[quarterback]

Last year I went to Tractor Supply and bought 25 of those cattle ear tags that have been treated with Pemethrin. I hung 6 or so in each popup and didn't have a single spider, scorpion, wasp or anything like that. There was one very industrious pack rat who decided to chew on part of one ear tag and I think he ended up regretting that.

Also, be sure to firmly tie down each part of the blind. Otherwise you'll go out to hunt and find it collapsed from some recent storm.

Find yourself a screw in bow holder that goes into the ground.

A small plastic table is good for setting things on as opposed to the ground.

Sprinkle Sevin Dust on the floor area when you get it set up. Also sprinkle it outside the perimeter.

When I first got a new pop up blind I set it up outside and sprayed the outside with Scotchguard. Let that dry and spray again.

[tanto]

Few things I do that seem to help...
1. Keep the windows open when you're not there. Prevents you from making unnecessary noise opening and closing windows while setting up. I also believe the animals notice when the enclosures go from open to closed on a day to day basis.
2. If using shoot through mesh, make sure that it is TIGHT. (no wrinkles, loose fabric, etc) Slack in the mesh can grab your arrow/broad head causing compromised flight.
3. Sit in the corner of the popup, hidden from your intended target area. If your blind is facing 12 o'clock and your hand corn, feeder, etc is at the 10 o'clock position, do not sit at 5 oclock. This will expose your movement while trying to draw/ready for the shot. Sit at the 7-8 o'clock position instead, concealing your movement, draw, then lean into view of your target, take your shot.
4. Paint up. Your face will glow inside the dark environment of the tent. Always a good idea to have a face mask or a little paint to disguise your complexion.
5. Quality chair! Make sure to test out your chair, bucket, or whatever you are going to be sitting on, first. You'd hate to get set up and ready to draw on your target only to realize the armrest is in your way or your chair squeaks like an old rocking chair (been there, done that)
I hope this helps and best of luck to you!

[galaxy5oo]

Wear black and keep the back windows of the blind closed off. Sit back in the blind some and you will be less likely to be seen. I left the screen up on mine last year and shot through it and it worked great. I was using a fixed blade broadhead. I built platforms to put mine on and get them up off the ground. We have a lot of snakes where I hunt so that just hopefully makes it less likely to crawl in there before daylight with a rattlesnake it it. It does help to see better though getting up off the ground also. If you do put one up on a platform at some point get a pop up with tall windows. Makes it easier to shoot out of elevated.

[Txhuntr2]

4 things I learned last year, first year bowhunting in general.
Open your windows, but you can leave the netting up, a few weeks before the season starts.
Clear you feet/chair area of any grass, rocks, leaves, etc. Bare dirt is the most quiet.
Put your chair as far back you can, and make sure you have enough room to draw back for any window.
Get a swivel chair.

Nailed it. ^^^^^

I'd add: Get yourself some slick tricks or other good fixed bh and shoot through the mesh. Prepare to instantly be more successful. They don't need to be brushed in for concealment if put out early. Deer get used to them and ignore them eventually. I'd get it out around August and take it down after the season. The sun will kill it if left out all year. Cows will also chew and stomp them if they can get up to one. Keeping cows off is the only reason I've ever brushed mine in and it was more of a brush wall than to hide it.

[Jimbo47]

Try to place it where you have brush behind it rather than out in the open to break up the outline of the blind. Also in the shade under overhanging limbs works well also.
If you have that type of setup you rarely have to brush it in but placing some brush around it doesn't hurt.
I like to setup next to a clear cut or pipeline/powerline where I can hand feed the clearing and bring the deer into range as they follow the corn line, and it also stops the deer if there are numerous trails.
Wind and breezes also follow those clear cuts and less likely to swirl as they do in denser woods setups.
That is one thing about ground hunting (swirling wind) you will have to deal with, unlike less critical if you are elevated.
Another reason not to brush in the blind is the deer will let you know if you are in the right spot, so the less brush you have to deal with if you need to move it.

[Shane]

If you plan to move them around and/or try to hunt them within a week or less of when you set them up, then brush them in and hide them as much as you possibly can. Deer will be leery of them at first when they appear. But if you are going to set them up and then wait a few days before you go back to hunt them, then it really doesn't matter if they're hidden or not. Once the deer get used to them, they're fine even if the blinds are sitting out in the wide open. Pour some corn on the ground close to the blinds when you first set them up. Once the deer eat that corn close to the blinds, they get comfortable with them.

Beyond that, the most important thing you can do is to spray paint the mesh and window covers that you will open during your hunts with black spray paint (flat black is best). If you leave all the windows camo and then you show up to hunt and open one or more of them, the deer will notice the black hole of the open window. If the black hole hasn't been there before, they'll be leery of it and may not come in and get comfortable. But if you paint the windows black, when you show up to hunt and open the windows the deer won't notice any big difference in the appearance of the blind. Another advantage of the black paint is that painting the mesh black reduces the glare of the sun on the mesh. It makes it easier for you to see out through the mesh, if you're hunting with the mesh over the windows and shooting through the mesh.

Don't open any more windows than you need to shoot through. Definitely don't open more than 1/2 of the windows. You don't want the deer to be able to see all the way through the blind. Any open window needs to have a closed window on the opposite side of the blind so that nothing can see through the blind and out another window on the other side. They'll see you moving inside the blind if you allow that.

Use an ozone generator and hang it over the open window. I've had deer 10 yards away directly downwind of me with ozone going over the open window, and they didn't spook.

[tbgascorer]

Only open the window you intend to shoot out of.
Draw your bow when you get in to make sure your chair situated such that your top wheel doesn't rub, nor your elbow.
I like to keep my shooting window painted black so whether open or closed, they just see a black hole.
Tents are for spot shooting. While they afford visibility if you want, good luck shooting that way.

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

I know most people say you must wear black shirt and black face cover but is black really a necessity as long as you sit as far back in the blind as you can get?

[CaptainDave]

Most I've got has been stated. I also agree with Shane that if you setup and leave the blind out there for a few days, weeks, etc, the deer don't seem to care one bit about it...whether brushed in or not. We will leave pop-ups out all season on our place.

1. wear black
2. Don't open the back windows; as stated, you don't want to see through the blind
3. Make sure you can shoot sitting down from the chair that will be in the blind and placement in the blind
4. As stated, sweep out leaves and other debris as they can be noise makers
5. Bow season can be hot, so plan accordingly with type of clothing

One thing I've always noticed is some of these blinds seem large...that is until you get in there and hold up your bow and try and draw back.

Also as stated, concealing movement is a much bigger deal being eye level as compared to up in a tree.

[AntlerCollector]

Brush them in! Heck I even brushed in my directional feeder that's on the tree




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[White Falcon]

You can make a hanger from a coat hanger and hang your bow from the hub on the inside top hub.

[AntlerCollector]

Like others said, only open the window/windows you're shooting out of.