Here is the Hay Bale blind I recently built for bow season that I haven't been able to use yet due to work.

Starting the frame and my helper.


Checking out the shooting rail with a 5 iron.


Detail of the removeable shooting rail. Put it in for rifle season and take it out for bow season.


I used 2x6 treated lumber for the skids, wall stud 2x4 and 1/2 inch plywood for the frame and end walls. 2 4x16 cattle panels for the top and sides.


I can load and unload by myself on a trailer with a ramp. It's light enough to probably load without the ramp. It's wrapped with 6 mil black plastic and Hay blanket used for erosion control.


On the edge of the field. It's not easy to pull by hand (with one person, maybe 2 people could move it better) on dirt/grass. I put a rope bridle on each end and can loop it over the hitch of my 4 wheeler to move if I can't get the trailer to the spot I like.


Not too hard to build, and other than the cattle panel, treated lumber (which probably wouldn't be needed in a dryer climate than Alabama), and the hay blanket, the rest of the materials were just what I had on hand. I'm thinking I could have made the windows a little wider but will hunt out of it this year a little and decide on that for next year.

Anyway, I thought it was a cool idea and decided to make one for hunting around some of the fields we hunt here in AL.

Bob.

Looks good!

Very neat idea!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks,

My soon to be 8 year old son is pretty pumped up about it. The youth season in Alabama starts tomorrow and runs through monday. Hopefully I'll have some dead critter pics to post next to the blind.

Bob.

That's just really cool...Fantastic job

That's great! Best of luck to you and your son!

Way cool!!! Good luck on your hunt.

Good Job,..Pretty cool.

Did you come up with the idea or had you seen [b][color:#3333FF]other blinds for sale.?[/color][/b]

That is a great blind. Nice craftsmanship too.
Have you shot a bow out of it?

I definitely didn't come up with that on my own. I've looked at them on the net because we had a few places we thought it would work out well. But the prices of those things are not pocket book friendly. I went on a hunt in Kansas in September and the outfitter had several of the Midwest? Hay Bale blind kits. I helped him put one together and just remembered the main dimensions and went from there. I had some materials on hand so out of pocket for the items I had to purchase I'm only into it for about $125.00. If I had to buy all the materials it would probably be around 200-250 depending on what you chose for lumber.

Its a little bigger than the popup blinds I have and have used(the interior dimensions are 6ft by 6ft at the gun rest height) and I can stand up in it.

I still hunt out of lock on treestands, and climbing tree stands, but anymore and especially for gun hunting,(and taking children) the ground blinds are just easier, quieter, and way more comfortable. And I don't have as far to fall if I nod off to sleep .

Bob.

Great job! I like it!

NO I haven't shot my bow out of it, I did draw it back while sitting in my ground blind chair and it will work fine. The windows are approx 6 inches wide by 16 inches high.

After I put the blind in the field, the narrowness, if that's a word, of the windows restricts your vision for gun hunting and seeing around the field a little, and if I think it needs it after I sit in it a couple of times, I'll just take the bolt cutters and make the 2 middle windows wider and just leave the two closer to the ends the same size.

Bob.

A bow with parallel limbs should work fine but one with tips that come forward will hit if you get too close to the side.
Good looking blind, for sure.

The blind is approximately 6 ft high, wide and from end to end. I don't know of any bow other than maybe a traditional long bow or recurve with longer limbs that would be a problem to shoot out this type blind or a pop up blind for that matter. And those could be a problem just because of length. But most any compound bow even one without parallel limbs should be fine.

You have to sit back away from the windows to even draw a bow, unless you stick the arrow out the window first before you draw. If your arrow is completely inside the blind when you are drawing, then the tips of your limbs, on any compound, and maybe even most traditional recurves, will be in the area of the blind with the 6 foot height, or if you are a little closer to the window in the 5 foot height as the curve of the wall starts to come in. A long compound bow which these days would be around 40 inches axle to axle would not be a problem to shoot from inside this blind. I'm using a Mathews Drenalin, don't know for sure how long it is off the top of my head, but probably in the 32 to 34 inch range, is no problem at all.

Bob.

That turned out well! Do you have other real ones nearby?

Yes, there are hay bales out in all the fields around there. That is a small field so only one other one there. The real ones are not as big as the blind. And to be honest I don't know if it makes a difference. I could have built it out of pink plastic and after a week or two the deer probably wouldn't pay it any attention. I just thought it looked cool, and more important, my son thinks its way cool.

Bob.

Animals don't seem to have a grasp of size. Have you seen the layout goose blinds that are shaped like giant geese? They work fine.

Well, we hunt deer out of box blinds all the time and they don't mind. I would have just built this one on a 4x6 frame with straight walls if it had been just for rifle hunting ( it would have been a lot easier), but you need the 6 ft width ( in the middle at least) to comfortably draw a bow and shoot it.

I think its like camo clothing anyway. It looks good to us, the deer don't mind so much.

Bob.

I think it looks bada$$!

Pretty cool does it have a heater?

very cool!

Pretty cool does it have a heater?

Not built in, but my Mr. Heater portable unit will go if I take my son later in the year when we actually get some cold weather. We will be hunting tomorrow afternoon and I think the high will around 75. So a window AC might come in handy

I did tell a friend when I was building it that I wired it for an AC and a flat screen.

Bob.

That's a sweet looking blind

Thanks, I was curious how much side vision you had at full draw out of those windows.

Stan

We hunted out our new blind this weekend. No luck, but I checked the trail cams after we got back to camp and the 6 bucks that were hanging out around this field all moved to a field about 600 yards away. I should have pulled the cameras before we hunted. He got a doe at another stand anyway. He told me it was good to not kill a deer every time, that way he would be like a regular hunter. I think he believes he is a super hunter deer killer.






We had plenty of room in the blind for us and our gear. I need to get curtains, or some sort of screen material over the end windows at least. Still not decided on making the windows wider or not. I'll sit in there by myself a couple of times before I start cutting.

Bob.

Very cool. Carpet the floor, you'll thank me later.

My son told me we need to put a floor in it. I told him I'd get some carpet and put in there for him. As warm as it was I was afraid he'd get some chiggers(red bugs as we call them) so I made sure to dose him with bug spray.

Bob.

Cool blind!

I've never hunted on a stand or in a blind--it looks painfully boring! Serious question: What do you do in a blind to pass the time? Do you sit and stare out the window the whole time? Or do you read? Play games on your phone? What?

Also, how long do you sit in a blind at time? 2 hours? 4? More?

Thanks!

When I'm by myself, I might read a book, listen to a ball game on the radio with headphones, or yes, just look out the windows. If with someone else talk a bit here and there. In most areas where we hunt, and depending on the tract of land, you may not have a large area to roam around in and 90% of the woods are too thick to make any progress in if you could stalk hunt.

In areas where we have enough room to stalk hunt, we can sneak up on green fields which may be anywhere from a couple hundred to several hundred yards long. In the woods you can ease down a logging road (so much of our woods either belongs to, or did belong to paper mills and have planted pines) and still hunt a little. Most of the organized hunting clubs, private or leased land, you have an assigned area to hunt, so stalk or still hunting is not advised.

Public land is mostly bowhunting and on the days when you can take a rifle there are so many hunters out that I've never felt safe being around that many people I don't know with guns.

I grew up hunting deer with dogs and standing on a roadway waiting for the dogs to drive a deer past your location. But that has fallen out of favor these days and stand hunting is prevalant, not only in Alabama, but all over the south.

So partly due to the terrain, property line restrictions and partly due to regional preferences I suppose ,that is the way most hunting is done in the south.

As to how long to sit, generally from daylight to about 9 or 10 am in the morning and from about 4 hours before dark til it gets dark. Or, depending on the time of year and rut activity I might sleep in and sit during the middle of the day. On a 150 acre tract I get to hunt, I may sit on one field for an hour or so, slip over to the next field and sit for a little and so on. So I guess it would be part stand hunting and part still hunting.

Bob.

That looks really nice and would be an excellent option, especially with a kid (or two) in tow! My only recommendation would be to weave in some hunters orange so some dumbazz doesn't pop out of the trees and shoot at a deer in your field with you as the back-drop. Other than that, it looks like a great way to spend some quality time with your super-huntin' deer-killin' young man.....

I could have used that thing this weekend. Have a perfect place for it..... it was very cold and windy but had a great view!

Waders, I whittle cedar when I am in a blind. Took my Great Niece hunting in one last year and she stopped playing with her I-Phone and wanted to know what I was doing. Told her it was an old mans I-Pad. She wanted to try and became fairly good at it for a beginner. When she came back this year her first question was "do you have another whittling stick"?

Works great to pass the time as you take a few strokes, look around the field and then take a few more. Also, love the smell of fresh cut cedar. TM