Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Deer blinds...

And out of the blind I mention above, I've killed 4 bucks so far, 6.5 or older....I would not have likely killed more from a climber at all. Simply because though I see old bucks all the time, they don't all have the antler I am after. So I let others shoot em instead.

But as noted, how and where and what you set up blind wise, makes a lot of difference.

The trails I watch are 300 to 350 yards away, have dropped a lot of culls and does at that range. Luckily all the oldest big bucks have come by off the main trail and around 175 yards or so mostly... real chip shots there.

I did pile up a doe and 2 spikes one night off the main trail, all 325 ish to 350ish. All dead in a 20 yard area... pure luck of course the last one stopped to look at the other two.. bad mistake.

Over the years I have built some crazy big deer blinds, loaded with comforts, one I call Casa Grande, is 12ft X 12ft sitting on a 15 ft tower with and elevator for people that can't climb the stairs,over looks a lake and 3 big wide roads out thru the brush,all the comforts of home, there have been a lot of critters killed there over the years. Rio7

No spa... but a good friend has one. He built it on a hill in the middle of his farm. It has an upstairs with two beds and two chests, a working bathroom, a working kitchen and a quite elegant main room for deer watching or shooting if you are actually hunting. The whole thing looks like a Swiss chalet.

He uses a 43 lb. benchrest rifle in 30-378 Weatherby Mag. It's sitting on an ingeniously designed stand that can be rolled from one window to another and, then, locked up to stay still.

This is the only deer blind I've ever walked into and found an apple pie in the kitchen. There also a TV to watch the Michigan/Ohio State game.

Over the last twenty years there were a lot of articles about this place in Precision Shooting.

I have been in it, and it is impressive. It is also great for the wounded warriors. miles

Next time, start this thread AFTER the season! I spent 7 hours yesterday in a ladder stand. Temp at 7:30 was 8. High temp all day was 20. I thought about your blind.. I'm not there yet, but I'm 7 hours closer!

Ps. Enjoyed reading your contribution and about that stand. I miss ps!

There is something to be said for a comfortable ladder stand, not the type we use for a few hours around here, and just being out in nature.

Of course you have to dress for the part, but I still love playing that part of the game when I can.

OTOH having the dog sitting with you in the blind is fun too. And a 2nd set of REALLY good eyes. Sure wish we could talk the landowner into allwoing the wife to come to the stand with us again like we used to could... that was really like a family outing.

While I personally do not hunt from a blind, just not my cup of tea, I fully understand the logic behind it. What I don't understand is why folks need an ATV/UTV to get to the blind and "drag" the critter out. Just seems flatazz lazy to me?

When you are pushing 80 and nothing works anymore, you will be there...

Walking in all these leaves just doesn't work... way too noisy. For years I had a stump blind, just a bunch of logs piled around the base of a tree. It didn't seem to bother the deer and it worked very well for me for years. I got really good at using Eddie Bauer goose down to keep warm. One opening day, during the night it had dumped 2" of soft, wet snow on us. That morning I sat under my tree and every couple of minutes got a blob of wet snow dumped on me, mostly down my collar. That was the end of that s---. The next year I had a roof.

I've made several blinds since then, each design better and more functional. Both my and Glorya's blinds are 4-1/2' deep and 5-1/2' wide... enough room for a good chair and a heater. They are tall enough to stand up in. Removable windows keep them warm and allow you to block the wind.

Still hunting works here right after a rain if the leaves are really wet. However, my knees are much older that the rest of the body due to thirty years of competitive basketball. (I'd do it over again, even knowing what I know now.) Walking to the back end of a Walmart and back makes me a cripple for a couple of weeks. Still hunting is out. I would love to take Glorya antelope hunting and, then, spend a week just wandering the Bighorns by myself with my little deer rifle... no way.

The blind has extended my hunting and given me years that I wouldn't have without it.

Forty years ago I agreed with you 100%. See above post. At my age I really can't handle and drag a dead deer. Thank God, I have a young neighbor with a strong back and a pickup.

I don't like four wheelers in the woods either. Too noisy; they disturb the quiet and deer can hear them a very long way away.

I hope that you choose to sit home when you get old and have a bad back, knees and other parts. I choose not to. miles

Deer blind story... I love it.

In 1980 I had a Wyoming deer tag and no place to hunt. At the last minute I called a guide I know in Buffalo and asked if I could come out. I had known him for years. Anyway, he said he and his son were going elk hunting but I could stay at his place and come along as long as we didn't bother each other's hunting. He trusted me not to get lost so they would have to spend their time finding me.

When I got there he told me the following...

An Eastern oil company owned a lot of land outside Sheridan. One year the executives called and said they were coming out and going hunting. Told the locals to build them some deer blinds.

The locals told them that blinds didn't work in that country. The big shots said they were the bosses, they owned the land... build them some damn blinds.

The blinds were built. The big shots came to Wyoming and hunted for a week... Never saw a damn thing.

Different parts of the country.

As others have pointed out, at some point you just can't do all the things you used to could.

My father due to CHF could no longer drag a deer before his 50th... I helped all the time and no big deal.

ALthough we generally could drive a truck up to the deer, years and years before ATVs came along.

As to noisy, I drive up to my stand to fill feeders during the day, and see plenty deer that evenign. I suspect that in many areas since deer are used to vehicles period, its not abnormal to hear/see vehicles of all types in the woods at least in TX.

Now if you drove up on an ATV etc... where vehicles are not seen, I could see it being another issue

For me, I hope you can drag deer the rest of your life. Others it may not work.

Now in my 60's, I have transitioned from the trees to the ground and use ground blinds, mostly from natural materials and also an older Double Bull small portable unit which sees a lot of use in spring turkey season. Playing the wind is most important for sure! In December it is always windy and add that to the cold temps and tree stands don't make for a long post. My heater body suit is what I pack in for long sits. Works great and even better with some chemical heat packs tossed down the legs!!

Love having access to an ATV for hauling out an animal. However my only beef with them is that besides seeing healthy 20 somethings using them to get to their stands, the use of them has really limited the security areas around here for deer. Remember the old saying that most hunters hunt within 1/2 mile of the road and to get back in the woods to find undisturbed deer? Well now with the use of ATVs virtually no place is unhuntable if you have legal access and an ATV. They are a great tool for hauling out deer, but IMO have impacted the ability of deer to have a buffer from hunting pressure.

My older brother helped me put up a 4'x4' plywood blind on an 8' tower about 8 years back on my land. Worked very well, until 70mph straight line winds pulled the anchors and dumped it on it's side 2 years ago. The plywood tower blind then became a plywood ground blind.. which this summer was rebuilt to become a 4'x8' ground blind. My brother hunted my land with me this year and wasn't too subtle about how he thought the ground blind was going to suck.

He changed his mind when we got there. He's now all in favor of nice ground blinds.

I only have 30 acres of creek bottom, and probably 50% is too close to a ranch house to hunt and another 30% too heavily wooded to hunt, so a blind works perfectly well to cover the major open pasture. Might put a second one up on the north end of the property next summer.

PS: Have to admit I never expected those plywood sheets to last 8 years and have a lot more life in them.

They are kinda fun to build, too, FWIW

Plywood lasts a long time if kept painted like anything else mostly.

I have blinds that are heading towards 20 years old. Just have to keep em painted and keep water out of them so they don't rot from the inside out.

Last blind I had the lumber yard order 3/8 treated plywood for me too...

Tin siding is another way to go but loud if you bump it... thought about square tubing and metal siding and then spray foam insulate the whole thing lightly.

I plan on building one before next season. What are you guys using for windows? I might be cheap and just go with a hinged shutter. Paint it black so it looks like an open window.

I need better windows. I simply cut holes in the sides of the blind, trimmed the removed pieces down just a tad, then screwed them onto a larger scrap piece of plywood that is hinged to the outside bottom. Makes a window that's easy to lower and raise, and the original piece being inset and fitting the cut window makes it nice and snug to keep out weather and wasps. I was meaning to paint the outside black next year so that when it's open it looks the same, but didn't get that done this year.

2"x2"s along the bottom edge of the window makes a nice shooting rest, and wrapping some black rubber cupboard liner from Dollar General/Walmart/etc around the 2"x2"s and it will keep it silent and keep it from dinging up any wood stocks or checkering.

I finally paid for vertical sliding glass windows. Not that cheap at 36 bucks for 36 inch wide by 8 or 10 tall. BUT I would do it again in a hurry.

If not I will have to rethink my other way... to make it weatherproof.. the old blind windows where nto wind/waterproof...

I generally have a 1x4 or 2x4 flat for a shooting ledge.

My other windows I removed were 2x2 with a rip in them, to set in a piece of plexiglass and work really well also. Hinged to open up, and magnets to hold em open.

The Hinge Windows from these guys are cheap enough. Not sure if I like their other options.

http://deerviewwindows.com/