school me on ground blinds

Plan on purchasing one soon. Never really hunted from one,but now that I have kids of my own, I can see them in the near future. I plan on taking my nephew up to camp next weekend, so I thought about picking one up to try with him. Any suggestions or brands to go with or avoid? Be an adult and kid usually, and possibly 2 adults and a child a few times. looked at one on amazon made by barronett, called the big cat 350 that looked nice. Also, basspro has the blackout x77 for 169.00 and that looked decent to. I got 100 bucks in gift cards to burn there, so may go that route. some of you ground blind guys/ parents chime in!! thanks guys

Get a big 'un. I made the mistake of getting a small cheapo one several years ago and it was nothing but a hassle. If I'm looking for cover I'll usually just find limbs and branches and make a natural cover blind, but I know ground blinds can work well.

Make sure you have comfortable seating you can spend a lot or a little and it will be about the same The zipperless models appeal to me

Get a hub style blind that doesn't require any tent type poles to hold up the roof. Thicker the fabric the less wind flap you will have also. Won an Ameristep at the NWTF banquet and love it. Magnetic window closures are a plus.

Put it up several weeks before you plan to hunt it and brush it in real good. Deer will notice something different. Open windows as little as possible and wear all black with mask and gloves. Get a good shooting stick and move as little as possible.

Get a roomy one, brush it in good early and enjoy. Killed many a deer out of one lately.

The barronett big cat 350 is a hub style. Believe it says 80" tall by 90" wide. Says 3 people comfortably. Also,it says it's a hub syle; does that mean I don't have to mess with the fiberglass poles every time I set it up and take it down? Just pop out all the sides and roof and stake it down? Thanks for the help guys

Unfortuneately,our plan was to put it up and hunt it the same weekend,but I do plan on leaving it up the rest of the season if it's in a productive spot. Guess I'll just spray it down good with scent killer and brush it in best I can

My .02 is if you gonna put it up and hunt from it the same weekend..you need a saw and a pair of pruning shears. The deer getting used to it isn't an issue in my experience

Need to brush it in good and you can hunt out of it the same day.

We hunt out of one quite a bit. All good advice here. Get a roomy one...typically something 75" or bigger on the hub.

Open the windows absolutely as little as possible. Just enough to peek through and get a gun barrel out of. Personally I think that black "hole" spooks them much more than the blind itself. Shooting stick or bipod is a huge help. We use the camping/bag chairs, but they do take up a lot of room. If it's an option, a metal folding chair works better and allows you to turn to another window much easier.

Brush it in as much as possible. When you think you're brushed in good, spend 10 more minutes adding more brush. Good luck and send pictures when y'all kill one out of it!

Big as you can afford, the pop out style with metal.hubs that sets up fast. For deer it needs to be brushed im and out there for a while before. But you can just plop it down for turkeys that morning. Killed 2 last year after setting it up that morning. I got a display model from cabelas for 75 that usually runs 130.

Velcro windows are the devil.

i have small ones just for me. With a kid, as mentioned, need a bigger one. And seats are key. Also make sure you get a seat that matches the shooting window heights. Nothing more frustrating than a too high or too low seat position for the window.

well,just pulled the trigger on the barronett big cat 350. Guess i'll give the ground blind deal a go next weekend up at camp.

I'm not a big fan although I do have a couple. I don't like not being able to see what's going on around me. That being said, they're good for bad weather days.

I've never brushed any of mine in a.d I've killed a pile of deer out of them on public ground

Your next purchase needs to be a little propane heater

Be sure to take it out of the woods as soon as the season is over. I got lazy and left one in too long and it shredded to pieces once I tried to break it down (sun damage). I did get a few years out of it though and it was used to start with.

Also, don't buy one of these dog house blinds...

Those things suck

Primos makes a good one. I hunt out of it feom time to time.

Get at least a 2-man and DO NOT get one with velcro window flaps (too noisy).

Thanks for all the input guys!! Know I can Google image search for pics,but you guys got any pics of your ground blind setups that have worked for you or certain terrain/situation types that seem to fit ground blind hunting a little better?

Next thing, you will be wanting to hunt over feeders!

Just curious why yall don't like these blinds? I'm looking at options also.

Because trying to "roll" them back up makes you want to tie it to a tree and shred it with a case of 7.5 shot.


See also

I've have two blinds one being a three person ameristep which I love! Then I have a dog house blind like the one pictured above its great if you wanting something take in the woods throw down hunt then take up after the hunt.. Downside if your my height 6'1 you have to bend down just to see out the windows and my head hits the top! But if your a midget it would work well!!!

"Did someone call me?"

(Shaw)

. Not quite

Get a big un put it up a week before u hunt deer don't like them till they're there a while

Definitely get it out there early and brush it in. The Ameristep Dog House is a good buy.

I own several blinds and use them mainly in rainy weather. I seldom hunt with someone else right beside me, and I've yet to find one that I thought was too small for me. Most of them are far bigger than needed for one person to sit. I also have a couple of the chair blinds and will usually use one of them if I plan to hunt out of it the day I put it out. They have a much smaller profile than a blind and it's easier to hide them.

I've got several of the Ameristep blinds and think they are a good value. I think the one pictures above is not a Doghouse, but an Outhouse, but I could be wrong. A Doghouse uses fiberglass poles, but the Outhouse does not. They fold up the same way. When I first bought one I set it up in the yard and then tried to follow their directions on how to fold it. Pretty sure someone in China who knew little English wrote the directions, and I could not figure them out. I went on YouTube and typed in the blind model and they had a video of a young man in China folding one up in a parking lot. It's a 30 second job once you understand how to do it.

I've got some Ameristep blinds that are 7 or 8 years old and still in good shape. I did have to throw one away last year because I had loaned it out to so many people who didn't know how to fold it and it was eventually ruined. I have never paid over $50 for one; always caught them on sale somewhere.

Good luck with your blind.

Get zipper windows, NO VELCRO.

I've hunted out of ground blinds extensively for over 20 years,I'm a archery hunter.shot a booner with my bow on TV out of one.
Lots of good advice on this thread.how tall depends on how tall you are I'm only 5'6" tall so my 75" tall blinds work great I can stand draw my bow and shoot no problem,two of us can lay down and nap,at the same time.when we are hunting antelope.we get into our blind while it's still dark in the morning,and stay untill dark,having space makes it better.
Unlike some of the guys here,I like the zipper windows with velcro screens over the windows,we have always shot rt through the screen.doesnt alter arrow trajectory at all.after we've shot through the screen a few times,because of the velcro I can put a new one on.kind of fun to be standing there 5 yards from a game animal watching them,they can look rt at you and not see you through the blind
https://youtu.be/f7jliUqCzIs

You are correct that is a Amerisep Outhouse(which is what I have and I'm a little to tall for)

I gotta $30 walmart one and was awesome for 30 bucks

Much appreciated fellas!! I'll post a followup post with pictures after the hunt. Forecast is currently pretty lousy with mild temps and a south wind all weekend; at least I can hunt around the wind a little bit if the terrain permits it in the ground blind

Gonna try a bigger one next year since i read this

I like em. And i always try to wear dark clothing (at least a dark shirt) camo sticks out like a sore thumb.

I went to the camping section at Walmart and bought a rubber mallet and some cheap tent stakes. The rubber mallet doesn’t make any noise when pounding the stakes. Also, the extra tent stakes were only about a dollar apiece. That goes a long way in making sure your blind doesn’t blow away.

I got one of the Cabela's brand and love it. I got the largest one and it is very large, does not leak a drop, and the windows have slides so you can quietly and easily adjust each window to precisely the size opening you want without the dreaded Velcro sounds. It was a challenge to put it up by myself, but other than that, it is the best I've ever used.