Ground Blinds

I've never used one, but I'm taking my 11 year old son, who has trouble being still, hunting, and I've recently thought about a ground blind. I'd love to hear any experiences or information you all have about them. Are they useful? Are they worth the trouble of setting one up? Do deer notice them? Any info or experiences, good or bad, are appreciated.

I think that they are great....I have a small one that I bought from a gentleman in Westmoreland and it has proved to be a great investment...did VERY well with it last year and went unnoticed and sets up in about 1:30....including staking....but, as you mentioned...I have an 11 yr old that has some issues with being still....especially after 3- 4 hours...I will be getting something larger for the 2 of us thsi year...let me know of any good deals out there on a good 2-man.....

Some good info
Ground Blind?
Quality Ground Blind
Ground blinds can be very usefull. They allow you to be concealed when there is no other options. Only negative things I can say are scent control and visibility. Your not going to see as well as say if your in a tree stand and your scent is at ground level. Also the scent of your blind can turn them away. So make sure you take every step in scent control. Also don't just place it in the open and if you have to make sure you also use natural cover to help conceal you. I would also do the same in thick areas. I use ground blinds and love them. To me I think the pros out way the cons. As far as setting them up most are pop ups and are real easy to set up and take down and they also pack light.

I love to hunt in them. Just hunted this afternoon with a 7 year old that cannot sit still!!! We had several does come in to feild just way to far for him to get a shot at! I would strongly recomend using a blind for any new hunter or any hunter for that matter.

Sorry Bronker you know what I mean.

See the blind in the photo below. I bought it just to take my daughter hunting her first year. She had just turned 10 in the photo below. We used the same blind today for her to take her second deer. I just pop it up and rake away all the leaves so she can wiggle and fiddle around all she wants. Usually she takes a nap, eats a snack, makes shadow puppets as the sun gets low. If the wind gets up we just zip up more and keep the wind off us. We can hunt through rain showers in the dry. We can even bring a tent heater on those really cold mornings. I had her wrapped up in a sleeping bag in it last year.

This is the dog house blind from Wally World. It ain't top of the line, but it works well for the price. I have hunted it many rainy days by myself. I am taking it to Missouri with me in a couple weeks to have as an option. Make sure you get one atleast as big as the dog house. The bigger it is the more you can keep the kids away from the windows.

I will say that setting it up ahead of time and allowing the deer to become accustom to it is the best method. We set up in the edge of a field today and the deer immediately turned their full attention to us when the entered the field. It still got the job done though.

I have the same as Whiskey. I leave it set up so they get used to it. Only real downside is even though the screen windows are comoflauge in order to take them down to shoot they are velcro. Way to noisy. I just leave them down and wear a camoflauge mask. It's easy to set up, quiet, and can be comfortable. Some nice things to have with you would be a folding seat and shooting sticks.

Originally Posted by Jcochran88

I love to hunt in them. Just hunted this afternoon with a 7 year old that cannot sit still!!! We had several does come in to feild just way to far for him to get a shot at! I would strongly recomend using a blind for any new hunter or any hunter for that matter.

Sorry Bronker you know what I mean.

I agree, I hunted out of one saturday and sunday with my son and it's the ONLY way to go with small children.

Originally Posted by KarlS

I have the same as Whiskey. I leave it set up so they get used to it. Only real downside is even though the screen windows are comoflauge in order to take them down to shoot they are velcro. Way to noisy. I just leave them down and wear a camoflauge mask. It's easy to set up, quiet, and can be comfortable. Some nice things to have with you would be a folding seat and shooting sticks.

I have that same Dog House blind from Walmart, and I just shoot my arrow right through the camo mesh windows. I don't un-velcro them before shooting. I have practiced this way, and the mesh material seems to have no noticable affect on arrow flight. They sell replacement windows if the material get too many holes in it. If it is gun season, I use my .44 revolver for space considerations.

I hunt from my blind often. In the summer, I just wear a long-sleeve light-weight black T-shirt and black doo rag. The inside of the blind is blacked out, so if the light is kept out you are invisible inside of there.

First time I used my blind, I forgot the seat. That was an uncomfortable hunt.

Although I prefer a tree stand when feasible, a ground blind is a fun way to hunt. I could have reached out and pulled the hair off of a doe two seasons ago. She was within arms reach and never knew I was there.

Congrats to your Daughter Whiskey....that sure is a fine looking Doe she took!

Originally Posted by KarlS

.....I just leave them down and wear a camoflauge mask.....

EXCELLENT suggestion. I have seen hunters in a ground blind from 300 yards away. Your face lights up like a halogen spotlight! Some type of camo on the face is mandatory. Camo mask, face paint, or something to tone down your face. Your face is WHITE ... the interior is DARK ... it is a no-brainer. It also helps if you position the blind so that the sun is behind you ... NEVER in front of you shining into the blind.