Ground Blind Tips

[Jimbo47]

Those moving blankets you use for covering furniture and such to keep from scratching are sold at Harbor Freight and they are just a few bucks.
They will completely cover the inside of a popup floor with plenty left over to roll up around a couple of sides.
They are black on one side and a light grey on the other, so put the black side down and you can see the floor when you first get in before daylight.
Popup blinds will last a few years if you set them up in areas without direct sunlight which will kill even the expensive one's if left out to the elements for long periods of time.
I've got an Amerisetp that I've had going on three years that looks like new.
Before you brush in, putting a cheap camo, or brown Walmart tarp over the blind, especially if you are going to leave just one side open to shoot, secure it over and down the sides, and it will increase the blinds life.

[sideways]

My friend and I hunted about 400 yds apart. I hunted out of a raised platform I built with a cattle panel wrapped in Camo netting. I would always get to my blind first. I could hear the zipper on his pop up clear as a bell in the early morning. Didn't seem to bother the deer, but those zippers are loud.


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[Efren]

For a chair, I simply find the best comfy beach chair I could find and hacksaw the arm rests off. The taller the back, the better, then I use a pillow one would use on a plane and take a relaxing nap. Works great!

[jooger17]

I didn't read all of the comments so I'm sure some of these have been mentioned but I'll go on anyways. Assuming you buy a new blind, open it up in the yard for a day or two before you take it to the woods. On most new blinds there's a "new car" type smell to them. Open all windows and doors to let it air out. When you pick your spot in the woods, find one that has quite a bit of natural cover already there. I have found this much more effective than brushing one in to the max. Take a metal take and take away all debris. I break the soil up at least 3" deep and bust out any roots with a machete. When you sit your blind in place, rake the dirt back up over the bottom of the blind from the outside. It may not be anything but in my head but it seems to me like it creates a barrier and helps to keep the critters out. Set the blind up sort of quartering to where you expect the shot to be. That way you can sit in the back corner of the blind. That keeps you a little more hidden, and gives you an extra inch or two when you draw your bow. Leave the windows and door open because the engineers of these blinds clearly aren't hunters. They're either Velcro or zippers which are easily the 2 loudest options they could dream up. I leave the door open and hang some kind of black material over the door. The less windows you have open the more concealed you'll be. Get a SILENT chair.

Pros: You can set a ground blind dang near anywhere. It's relatively mobil if you decide to move it. It does conceal some movement while hunting and drawing your bow. It also conceals some noises.

Cons: If you're a treestand hunter like myself you're going to feel ultra closterphobic while hunting. You have to be much more considerate of your wind. Deer will notice the blind so you have to be very careful to not get caught drawing your bow. You lose about 10 min of shooting light in the morning or in the evening in most cases. Your phone light is blinding if you happen to cruise the green screen or catch up on e mails. There never seems to be enough room for my pack where I don't bump it when shifting my feet.

[Bowhuntinonly]

I use old carpet on the ground for a clean quiet floor.

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

I didn't read all of the comments so I'm sure some of these have been mentioned but I'll go on anyways. Assuming you buy a new blind, open it up in the yard for a day or two before you take it to the woods. On most new blinds there's a "new car" type smell to them. Open all windows and doors to let it air out. When you pick your spot in the woods, find one that has quite a bit of natural cover already there. I have found this much more effective than brushing one in to the max. Take a metal take and take away all debris. I break the soil up at least 3" deep and bust out any roots with a machete. When you sit your blind in place, rake the dirt back up over the bottom of the blind from the outside. It may not be anything but in my head but it seems to me like it creates a barrier and helps to keep the critters out. Set the blind up sort of quartering to where you expect the shot to be. That way you can sit in the back corner of the blind. That keeps you a little more hidden, and gives you an extra inch or two when you draw your bow. Leave the windows and door open because the engineers of these blinds clearly aren't hunters. They're either Velcro or zippers which are easily the 2 loudest options they could dream up. I leave the door open and hang some kind of black material over the door. The less windows you have open the more concealed you'll be. Get a SILENT chair.

Pros: You can set a ground blind dang near anywhere. It's relatively mobil if you decide to move it. It does conceal some movement while hunting and drawing your bow. It also conceals some noises.

Cons: If you're a treestand hunter like myself you're going to feel ultra closterphobic while hunting. You have to be much more considerate of your wind. Deer will notice the blind so you have to be very careful to not get caught drawing your bow. You lose about 10 min of shooting light in the morning or in the evening in most cases. Your phone light is blinding if you happen to cruise the green screen or catch up on e mails. There never seems to be enough room for my pack where I don't bump it when shifting my feet.

This is great info. Can you post what you use to hang over the door when you leave it open? I hate unzipping and zipping the door.

[Maui-diver]

Everything these guys have said are great tips, the one thing I did different is carry in 3 big bags of cedar mulch and spread over the floor of my blind to create a nice quiet floor, help keep bugs out, and help with my scent. I also love the smell of cedar.

[jerp]

I hate loud blind zippers too. If you will spray them with a good dose of silicone about once a month it will help some.

[More Liberty]

Thanks for the tips. Looking at camera footage from my blind the deer aren't bothered by it and I even had a yote come through a couple times.

[tbgascorer]

I actually prefer zippered closures on windows and doors. To me, these blinds are just better built and sealed. I am not overly concerned with the noise because if you do it slowly or coat with silicone spray like Jerp mentioned, you are golden. What I really hate is these blind with elastic hook window closures. Good for one year. Weather is brutal on these things...dry rotted in one season October-January and they tend to flap a lot in the wind when they get loose. Tears up even more stuff.

[Shane]

This is great info. Can you post what you use to hang over the door when you leave it open? I hate unzipping and zipping the door.

I have a Double Bull Double Wide blind, and the door on that one doesn't zip. It has one big strap with a snap buckle and a couple of elastic loops with hooks. It's quiet to open and close.

My other ones have zip doors though. I hadn't thought of hanging something over the door and just leaving it open, but that's a good idea as long as it's not windy. In West Texas, I'd be afraid that any cloth hanging over the door opening would just be blowing open all the time.

I don't worry too much about zipping the door open/shut (maybe I should?), because when I go in before daylight I've already spooked any deer that may have beat me to the set up anyway. And when I go in for the afternoon hunt, I try to get there plenty early before any deer have come in. I can also glass and see if they're there from a distance before I walk in during the afternoon.

I've been looking at some blinds that have one whole wall that swings up for a door. Seems like that would be pretty quiet.

Anybody have any experience with these Bolderton blinds?

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/bolderton-colossus-ground-hunting-blind?a=2120790

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/bolderton-5-hub-ground-hunting-blind?a=2120792#TBD

[U.S.ArmyRetired]

I have a Double Bull Double Wide blind, and the door on that one doesn't zip. It has one big strap with a snap buckle and a couple of elastic loops with hooks. It's quiet to open and close.

My other ones have zip doors though. I hadn't thought of hanging something over the door and just leaving it open, but that's a good idea as long as it's not windy. In West Texas, I'd be afraid that any cloth hanging over the door opening would just be blowing open all the time.

I don't worry too much about zipping the door open/shut (maybe I should?), because when I go in before daylight I've already spooked any deer that may have beat me to the set up anyway. And when I go in for the afternoon hunt, I try to get there plenty early before any deer have come in. I can also glass and see if they're there from a distance before I walk in during the afternoon.

I've been looking at some blinds that have one whole wall that swings up for a door. Seems like that would be pretty quiet.

Anybody have any experience with these Bolderton blinds?

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/product/index/bolderton-colossus-ground-hunting-blind?a=2120790

https://www.sportsmansguide.com/prod...?a=2120792#TBD

You don't ever zip the door open or closed?

[Shane]

You don't ever zip the door open or closed?

On the zip door blinds I zip it every time I get in or out. The Double Bull door doesn't have a zipper.

[coldgas]

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.

Great Idea!!! I have never thought of that before.

[Shane]

Great Idea!!! I have never thought of that before.

Leaving them open works too. I just feel like shutting them keeps more critters out of the blind maybe. ??