j-bird
Moderator
I am sure this has been tried so I want to know what others have experienced... Because I am cheap....I am considering building wooden towers and putting soft sided ground blinds on them instead of building a more typical wood framed shooting house or commercially available hard sided blind. My local retailer has ground blinds on sale for 30% off and I am eyeballing some normally $250/$350 blinds.
So the plan would be to build the tower and still enter via a trap door. I would NOT leave the blind out all year....only a 3 month window (Oct, Nov & Dec). They would otherwise be taken down and stored inside. We receive 18" of snow annually on average and most of that come in Jan and Feb.
Some of my concerns and feelings:
#1 - saves me some money. My shooting houses cost me roughly $500 just in metal and windows. I could build 2 of these for the price of one metal box blind
#2 - Still keeps me out of the cold, wind and rain...for the most part.
#3 - concerned about wind damage/durability to the blinds or even destroying them (how do/would you anchor them to the wooden tower?)
#4 - Not as well sealed as my shooting houses (so would certainly have to pay attention to the wind, but we tend to do that any way).
#5 - camo blind will blend in better in a wooded setting where some of these will go vs the big white metal box I have currently.
#6 - a shooting house I get a good solid rest to shoot from...not so much with a soft sided blind.
#7 - my metal blind - I have had no issue with mice or other critters making a mess or chewing things or....not sure I will have the same luck with a soft sided blind.
Hit me with your feedback and what has worked for you and what has not.
Just for reference...this is what my current "metal box" looks like...very "hiding in plain sight" so to speak... I am taking steps to hide the lower portion to hide when we enter and leave and would do the same regardless of what sort of blind I would use/make.
So the plan would be to build the tower and still enter via a trap door. I would NOT leave the blind out all year....only a 3 month window (Oct, Nov & Dec). They would otherwise be taken down and stored inside. We receive 18" of snow annually on average and most of that come in Jan and Feb.
Some of my concerns and feelings:
#1 - saves me some money. My shooting houses cost me roughly $500 just in metal and windows. I could build 2 of these for the price of one metal box blind
#2 - Still keeps me out of the cold, wind and rain...for the most part.
#3 - concerned about wind damage/durability to the blinds or even destroying them (how do/would you anchor them to the wooden tower?)
#4 - Not as well sealed as my shooting houses (so would certainly have to pay attention to the wind, but we tend to do that any way).
#5 - camo blind will blend in better in a wooded setting where some of these will go vs the big white metal box I have currently.
#6 - a shooting house I get a good solid rest to shoot from...not so much with a soft sided blind.
#7 - my metal blind - I have had no issue with mice or other critters making a mess or chewing things or....not sure I will have the same luck with a soft sided blind.
Hit me with your feedback and what has worked for you and what has not.
Just for reference...this is what my current "metal box" looks like...very "hiding in plain sight" so to speak... I am taking steps to hide the lower portion to hide when we enter and leave and would do the same regardless of what sort of blind I would use/make.