Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Thoughts on Ground Blinds

I need to buy a groung blind. I hear a ton about Double Bull Blinds. Are they worth the extra cash? Those things are expensive. Any blind worth a damn that is less expensive?

I have seen the Ameristep blinds in person and they seem very substantial like the Double Bull. There seems to be that type and then the super lightweight types that Sportsman's Guide sells for 50 bucks. You could buy 4 of those for what the nice ones cost, but sometimes you get what you pay for. I am not sure what route to go. I am shopping for one too.

Cabela's has a brand called the Escape. And it is pretty decent. But it is not the quality of my Double Bull. The Double Bull just works, and it is about 7 years old now, and going strong. And I normally leave them up all season.

I went to the Cabela's site to look for a link for the Escape, but it doesn't look like they sell them any more. But I found a good sale price on a Double Bull. Tom.

http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/t...ex&parentId=cat540014&id=0054457

I have 3 ameristep blinds that cost me $50 each on sale and they're great. They go up really easy and I left them out all season last year, they look like new. I've used some costing four times as much and don't like them any better than mine. Throw a $15 folding canvas chair in there and you can hunt all day. Extremely comfortable.

I have one but rarely use it, I guess its OK but I hunt more out of tree stands.

Never seen a problem planting my back against a tree and ass on the ground if I wanted to stay put for a spell.

Don't bother spending the loot. Find a blow down or something to set up next to. I could see packing in a seat of some type if you are sitting for a while. Then again, I only sit for very short spells in any given spot.

CLB

I always hunted just sitting with my back against a tree for alot years.

The first year I had my ground blind I wished I had bought one earlier. It will keep the wind and rain off of you and you can sit in a chair instead of on the ground. When its really cold you can put a heater in them.

Dink

Ive hunted once out of an Americstep outhouse, it was a pretty windy day and it felt like I was hunting in a HEFTY Garbage bag. I was hunting on unfamilar property(family friends) and not in my personal shooting shack. I guess Im just more used to the comforts of home.

I used to climb trees, back in the day. As I got older, I went to pop-up ground blinds and chairs. I have had lots of deer inside of 10' of ground blinds. Last year I built a 6' x 8' wooden blind that fits in the back of my 2-wheel trailer. It has steps, a propane wall heater, a patio bench seat, and a chair. Wifey hunts with me. Short storm windows that we removed from a room remodel this summer will be added before next season. Good luck.

FWIW, we will set this blind now for Sept youth season. It will remain until Dec regular deer season and Jan special doe season.

A lawn chair and ten dollars worth of camoflage burlap will work just as well.

and a tent will work as good as a house, and a horse will work as good as a tractor....

When you get a little closer to being over 65yrs old.....

I agree with dink a 100 %,tried one for the first time last year and it works great for what it is. What it is for me is a way to be out hunting when its raining and I dont want to get wet, then when the rain slacks up you are there waiting for the deer to start moving around real good, also when the wind is really blowing hard and it is freezing cold with a small propane heater inside to stay warm. I would much rather do as Steelhead said ,which is pretty much what I have been doing for 40 of my 50 years and that is sit down against a big whiteoak and be still and hunt but given the choice of getting wet or freezing or staying home I use the blind on occasion. The one I use is an outhouse blind ,big enough to stand up in and stretch and if you wanted to you could lay down in it and take a nap ! I just put a lawn chair in mine to sit in. I tried the bucket thing but much prefer to sit in the lawn chair with a backrest.I also use shooting sticks for a rest.

I have killed a lot of animals out of an Ameristep Doghouse. Have hunted a lot from mine. They are not as durable as the Double Bull but neither are they as heavy & bulky. For rifle hunting the Ameristep is a good choice. For bow hunting, which I don't do, I would go with a thicker material than the Ameristep offers.

I like the pop-up blind idea and I like sitting in my hunting chair beneath a big tree. When the weather is not kind you will find me in the blind.

I could not justify the expense of a Double Bull, but my son and his buddy have them. They really like them. Visibility is so much more than my Ameristep Doghouse.

The spring steel frame of the Doghouse resembles a hay round bale and I have set it up in an open field with or without hay bales and took deer, coyotes and turkeys out of it. I have the snow cover for it which is a plus during Wisconsin gun season and late muzzleloader season.

The best feature of any ground blind is it minimizes movement of young hunters. I mentor my nieces, nephews and other young hunters and they fidget as much as my kids did, but because of the blind they see more deer, thereby maintaining their attention span.

I believe the last Doghouse blind cost me between $90 and $100

I harvested a nice 8pt. hunting out of a box blind a couple of years ago, used pop ups a couple of days on that same trip. I just purchased a small tepee style pop up on sale at Cabela's this summer and plan to use it this year. I too prefer the lawn chair over the 5 gal. bucket, the back suppport makes sitting all day much more comfortable. A trick I used on my last trip was to wrap my Gore-tex jacket around my lower body and legs, I was just as warm and comfortable as sitting in my recliner in the family room. Now if I could just figure a way to rig a big screen TV in there I'd be all set.

I hunted extensively from ground blinds for several years, and I have tried the super-expensive to the dirt cheap, and the best overall for the money are the Ameristep.

Trouble is, those things get stolen like you would not believe - don't put more out there than you can afford to part with.

They are going to have to sit for a bit for the deer to get used to them in order to be really effective. Because of this, what has very cosistently worked best for e is to buy a $20 (if that) roll of fence sharging wire, and take that plus a good branch saw and pruners in the woods. String the wire up - it is strong enough to hold your weight! - and then cut branches to lay on & over the line. Now just carry your chair with you and a good headcover,a nd you are set, plus no-one will steal that, and the roll of wire will last you many years

DINK...a heater? What type or name brand???? CO problem, or are they zero CO type so you don't asphyxiate yourself?

I used a coleman propane heater for a couple years but now use the big mr buddy heater.

With all the shooting windows opened I have never had a CO problem. I would not close the windows and leave the heater on I think you would be in for some problems but with the windows opened there is plenty of fresh air.

Dink

Have used several kinds and the Double Bulls are the best that I have used.