Wednesday, July 26, 2006
Ground Blinds Often Produce Very Well
There are over 40 ground blinds and tree stands on my hunting land, and many people would be very surprised at how effective ground blinds can be.
Most of mine are made of wood—a box blind, if you prefer—and they stick out like the proverbial sore thumb. The trick with them is to have them in place as early as possible, certainly long before the season opens, and then stay away from them until hunting season begins.
These ground blinds can blend in with their surroundings but it’s not necessary that they do so. My ground blinds often are covered with tar paper or the wood is painted black or brown (including the inside).
Many of these ground blinds are baited, and that is why the deer come to them, but they are strategically placed. Some are on rolling hills where deer can see all around them, and often deer will stand some distance away to make certain there is no one inside the blind.
Many hunters who sit inside a ground blind are somewhat claustrophobic and are constantly moving around inside. There is only one place a hunter can shoot, and that is out the shooting window.
Still, people apparently feel deprived of not being able to swivel around and look for deer when they are sitting in a roofed ground blind. A friend of mine solved that problem with several coops he had built.
He learned that people were opening up the little windows on the sides and back to look around. It always created some noise, and watching deer could see inside the blinds when they opened the window. His solution cost his two minutes for each blind, and it cost him only a few cents per blind.
He used a power screwdriver and some wood screws, and screwed every window except the shooting window shut. The windows were made of wood, and two or three screws kept those windows closed, and the hunter success rate shot up.
Most of my ground blinds are large enough for just one person. One person makes far less noise than two people, and I often discourage two people in a blind unless one is a guide and the other a customer. Then the guide studies the deer and tells them exactly what it is.
I have one ace-in-the-hole blind. It is a wooden coop built up on a solid base on top of a utility trailer. The neat thing about this stand is if I need a blind quickly, I hook the trailer on to the hitch, tow it to where I want it to be placed, position it properly and unhook it. The crank allows me to level it up, and all a hunter has to do is climb in and sit down.
I try never to face my stands to the east or the west. It makes hunting very difficult in the morning or the evening. Besides, a shooting window facing in those directions really get lit up by a rising or setting sun.
Carpeting does wonders for silencing a ground blind floor, but the mice will eventually chew some of it up and make nests out of them. Another thing about ground blinds is that hornets, wasps and yellow jackets seem to love them, and set up nests inside. Each year the nests must be removed and the coops fogged with an insecticide.
The important thing about a ground blind is to sit back away from the window. Camouflage clothing certainly helps, and wearing a hat and face mask and gloves can be very important. Blond hair, the glint of glasses, white skin or any bright clothing can be seen from a distance.
The other thing about hunting from a ground blind is to get there long before deer normally move. If a deer is shot from that blind, other deer will treat it with great suspicion, even if no one is in it. Get there early, and sit down and sit quietly. The simple act of being removed from the sight of a deer doesn’t allow for a hunter to make noise.
Get comfortable, sit as motionless as if you were in a tree stand, and wait for the deer to arrive. Hunters should exercise the same degree of quietness and learn to sit still, and it’s amazing how productive a ground blind can be.—The Whitetail Wizard