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.

I have the Ameristep version of the Double Bull. I like it very much and it was about 1/2 the cost.

I've got several 4'x6' wood-framed ground blinds with plywood sides/floor and metal roofing. They are mounted on skids and can be towed behind a truck or tractor. I put burlap over all of the windows with small holes cut for viewing and larger holes for shooting.

These blinds are large enough to bring kids and let them stretch out, eat snacks, read books, etc. Really good for rainy days too. I usually wind up leveling the blinds on cinderblocks once I've found a really good location.

tzone, I just started shopping around for another blind. What is the model name for the one you have?

Thanks

Wayne

Same here. I slide mine up on a low trailer.
We prefer tripods or towers, but our live oak country makes it necessary to look under limbs rather than over brush.

stumpy

For traveling I prefer something lite with a carry strap. For those year-after-year places that produce, I like a fully enclosed wooden blind on either the ground or up on a tower.

I have a couple of the Doghouse blinds (Ameristep?). They are lightweight and easily portable, and cost about $70. I can't think of anything else I need, especially the highly-advertised ones that cost hundreds.

I have an old DB blind... its been well worth the money.. its probably at least from teh early 90s if not 89 or 90 for sure...

Anyway its been out from Sept to Jan each year since.... it has held up well and is finally showing its age. It was never shiny like most of the cheap versions.. which the bone collector from Ameristep just finally addressed... shine can be a big killer.... BIG...

My nephew has bought the cheaper versions and has bought a new one about every 3 years or so... same exposure time for his as ours, if not a hair less actually.

All that being said I don't have the jack for a new double bull right now and will try the bone collector for grins... it should last a few years at least....

Double bull is worth eveyr last penny if you have htem to spare.

As to using a blind or not... I've done and continue to do the lay up/ sit up thing all the time... its just much more comfortable and relaxed if you are inside a ground blind... but trees, bushes etc... have worked for us almost every year getting out and away and closer to game for kills with my little 32-20....

I have 2 double bull dark horse blinds, and like them. The price has come down some recently because of the new model that came out called Crusher. Last time I looked, you can get a DB Dark Horse delivered for ~ 270 bucks.

I have never used the shoot through mesh, and don't see that as a disadvantage. My son and I wear black tops and a black ninja head cover/mask. It is a lot of fun to have deer close and unaware that we are sitting 20 yards away on folding chairs. I like to shoot (bow) from a kneeling position, with my butt resting on my ankles. You can maintain great form that way. I have shot sitting in a chair and stool, and I am way more accurate kneeling.

Opening day of bow tomorrow, and my son and I will be sitting in a blind together. Can't wait!

BTW, I also have a cheap old Ameristep doghouse blind with the spring steel panels that i bought at least 6 or 7 years ago (limited use). I shot a doe from it last year and my son shot a buck and a doe. It still works, but it is a PITA to set up, and worse to take down. The camo pattern is faded out too.

+1 to that Steelhead and you can be more mobile that way.

I have a couple Double Bulls. The Matrix, which was the previous model and a gun hunter, which is much smaller and cheaper. You can buy those for less than $150 if you watch Ebay. The gun hunter doesn't work for bow hunting though. I also use a Big Buddy heater in mine a lot when it is cold and can sit all day with my coat not zipped up. Age has chased me from the trees on cold wet days. The only thing I don't like about ground blinds is that when bow hunting, the deer are sometimes too close before you see them. I use a pack called a Blind Hog to carry mine around. You can carry your blind, 2 chairs, all your stakes, your gun or bow, or whatever else you can fit in it. http://www.cabelas.com/p-0068400519175a.shtml If I was to have only one, it would be the Matrix. I have not tried a Crusher but had a dark horse and didn't like it as well.

The Ameristep Doghouse blinds are easy to fold up with the right technique. Just fold it like you fold a bandsaw blade. Sorry, but there's no way in heck I could describe that maneuver with written words. You just have to see it done a few times and practice it yourself.

Think sumpin' that simple might just work?

Been floppin' down under a few big hemlocks for many, many years. Used to just sit on pine needles, now have some 5 gal. pails stratecically located under them trees. Getting older, easier on my knees and keister.

Generally a bit dark under a hemlock and the ones I use are big enough "trunked" to break your outline. Kick up the needles and dirt when ya settle in, good cover scent.

Lost track of how many deer I've killed while snuggled up against a hemlock tree. One was only a few feet away, when he come zoomin' past and bit the dust.

Might try a blind someday, ain't got around to it yet? Get wanderlust sometimes and there are several other favorite hemlocks to lounge under, where I hunt deer. All have some blood on 'em. ;O)