I bought an Ameristep Doghouse on a whim 15 years or so ago, put it away and forgot I even had it. One year it was supposed to rain opening day. I more or less ran across it in storage and decided to give it a try. Man, what a difference it made in my hunting life! No more being 15'+ up a tree exposed to the elements and afraid to scratch an itch, get a drink or snack, or work out a kink in the leg for fear of being spotted. I sat there dry as could be, so comfortable I could fall asleep, free to move, get a drink, or take a leak while being nearly invisible to any unseen eyes. I've used one every year since.
I try to only unzip the windows the minimum necessary to get an unrestricted view- I'm set up near the bottom of a drainage in the woods looking across, up, or down depending on the direction. Inside of it, I'm wearing a blaze orange jacket over whatever else I've got on, and I've usually got on thin brown gloves with the grippy rubber, and a ski mask on to minimize my human features- depending on temperatures.
About the second or third year that I used it, I had an entire flock of turkeys come meandering by, rooting around in the leaves and causing quite a commotion- some less than 20' away from me! I got video of it with my phone. Between that and the number of times I've been walking in the woods, heard some rustling leaves and froze only to have an oblivious deer walk by, I sort of stopped overthinking the whole obsession with making my blind invisible. I hunt private land and prefer to get it out there a few days or weeks early if possible, if not, it is what it is.
I put down a cheap ($8 or $9) Harbor Freight moving blanket on the floor to keep my stuff clean and not lose anything I drop in the dirt/leaves. I discovered the Doghouse blind was just a little too cramped for my taste, barely had room for my chair, legs, backpack, and gun, and I'm only 5' 8". Also began to notice after a couple years that it leaks, so I bought a Barronett Grounder 250. It's much more roomy and is a hub blind, so it's wider in the middle than the base. I put it up over a month early a few years ago and secured it using tent pegs for the base and wall tie downs. Had some pretty stiff winds in between set up and actual use and had zero issues.
I guess I must have had the muzzle of my shotgun and .44 magnum rifle outside the window when I shot, because I didn't notice any difference in noise when I shot them inside than outside. Let me tell you though, three years ago I shot my ported 16" barrel .450 Bushmaster from inside the blind and my ears rang for a day afterwards. Little black specks were floating thru the air afterwards- remnants of the black coating on the ceiling and walls. The next year, using the same gun, I had my ear muffs with me fully intending to use them. My opportunity came with seconds to either shoot or it would be too late with no chance to grab the muffs, so I shot without them. Ended up shooting three times. Brought him down, but my ears didn't stop ringing for a week. I sold the gun after that and now have the 22" unported version.
Brakes or porting make loud guns. I jumped a pig years ago, got lucky and hit him on the run with a Kleinguenther 300 Win mag with a brake. Mine rang for a week too. That rifle resides at Hasbeen1945’s residence. I won’t own another.
