Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Portable blinds

DO use real tent pegs to hold the thing down. I put one up one night before deer season opener, when it was windy and blowing a light rain. The ground was pretty soft, and the wires provided by Ameristep were not enough.
Opening morning, I got to my blind location, and it was gone. The wind had blown it over the hill and into my uncle's yard fence (I was up the hill and in a large pasture from my uncle's house). I did recover the blind, unharmed, but it was a lesson learned, stake it down solidly.

I DID kill a nice big buck out of the pasture that morning, sitting in the chair that didn't get blown over the hill, but I was wide open, and the deer was preoccupied with the does he was traveling with. One shot, about three leaps downhill, and the buck was piled up.

Good suggestion on the tent stakes. I'll round up all the "real" tent stakes I have and supplement from there.

The long aluminum nails used to hold on gutters work well. If in soft ground add either some rebar or big tent stakes. T-Posts are good for longer term set ups.

Had a rhino 300 delivered Friday and went to set it up today,no instructions. Went by utube video on the 200 and first thing I did was snap a support rod,actually it shattered. I went to order a new one and they are $20 each or 4 for $50,now I'll have 3 extra for backup. No tax or shipping charge which is good. I also noticed the stitching along the top shows daylight so they aren't totally waterproof. Plenty of room and even has a skylight. Have to do something for stakes cause the ones sent with it are only about 10" long.

I just got another from Tractor supply and it is nice because it has what they call clear view window screens. These block the view better than standard mesh it looked effective enough that you could have all the windows open which could be nice in hot weather. I will still try to not get silhouetted but these windows seem to be a worthwhile improvement. Other than the size the blind is pretty standard about like the entry level Primos or Ameristep.

On the cheap pop ups it is worthwhile to re-enforce the stake loops especially if you leave them up for extended times. I had one blow away because all the peg loops ripped out. I grommet-ted on pieces of leather and made loops out of para cord. These have not failed yet in spite of some pretty good storms.

Almost done:

That's sweet! What do you think it weighs? The base is probably the heaviest part.

I just need to tweak the windows, pop in some insulation and put in the 1/8" rubber floor mat and I should be set. Oh and should probably put a couple shelves in too. I ran "spindles" through the bottom to put 13" flatless tires on it. That will help me move it into position once I get it to the spot she's gonna sit.

Not sure. The base is the heaviest part. I made that out of 2 x 4's and 3/4 treated plywood. The frame is 2 x 2's and the skin is .040 aluminum. I can easily slide it around the garage.

I bought some black landscape fabric that I will staple to the frame inside once it's insulated so I can black it out good. I will cut the top sections long so it can hang over the windows I'm not using at the time.

What are you insulating it with, fiberglass batts?

What are the details on the windows? How do they operate?

For this year, I'm just going with what they call a "double bubble foil insulation" I got for free. The dense foam stuff I wanted to use is spendy as heck!

The windows are made out of .100 acrylic (plexi-glass) and attached with piano hinge. They will drop down and out of the way inside the blind.

Don’t forget a cut-out in the floor for the beer cooler.

Actually, I think there will be cut outs in the floor........after deer season.......for angling holes.

If you can find any the E type foam it is about twice as efficient. But I would look around construction sites for scrap foam of any kind first. Even glass batting would work with the landscape fabric over it. Spray foam would be really nice but expensive unless you could haul it to somewhere where they were doing a job and had leftover foam they needed to get rid of.

Spray foam would definitely be the ticket

Built both of these in sections[walls/floor/roof] at the house and put together where they sit.
This getting old[er] deal has me climbing or using ladder stands less & less.

Rodents love spray foam. Just FYI.