As a seasoned hunter with over 20 years of experience, I’ve learned a thing or two about the art of blind hunting.
From my earliest memories of hunting with my father, I quickly learned that a successful hunt requires more than just patience and good aim.
It’s about strategy, skill, and, most importantly, having the right tools and techniques at your disposal.
In this article, I’ll be sharing some of my most valuable tips for blind hunting, which I wish I knew when I first started out. Whether you’re hunting deer, elk, bears, waterfowl, ducks, or coyotes, these tips will surely give you an edge in the field.
From selecting the right type of blind to setting up decoys and using scent lures, I’ll cover everything you need to know to make your next hunting trip successful. So, if you want to up your game and take your hunting skills to the next level, read on!
WHAT IS A GROUND HUNTING BLIND?
So, if you’re anything like me, you’ve been hunting out of a blind for a while but wonder whether you can improve your hunting game. Don’t worry — we’ve all been there. Twiddling thumbs and waiting for the slightest action can get pretty dull.
Ground blinds are great for many reasons when hunting deer, turkey, elk, or even waterfowl; they can replace elevated blinds or tree stands in areas that are impossible for alternative setups. Their diversity means they are quick to pull out and highly portable.
Ground blinds also block human scent and help hunters remain hidden. To ensure you get the most out of your hunt, we have brought you some of the most effective ground blind hunting tips to up your game.
HOW USEFUL ARE HUNTING BLINDS?
When set up efficiently, ground blinds can be a massive advantage for your hunt. Ground blinds are practical for bows, rifles, and crossbows, giving you a top choice in your weapon style. Therefore, no matter what equipment you use for hunting, following our ground blind hunting tips will increase your chances of yielding the best results.
Let’s dive into it.
Many things determine the effectiveness of ground blinds. Setting up a blind is an essential factor in determining the success of your hunt. Looking at more minor details, like brushing the blind and keeping away from any wind, will evaluate the efficiency of the ground blind.
We’ll start with deer hunting. If you are whipping out your ground blind to hunt a deer, you must be mindful that deers are not easy to deceive.
Yes. It’s true. If your blind is rattling around in plain sight, you’re not fooling anyone. Animals aren’t as stupid as you think, and deers are no exception.
DEER HUNTING FROM THE GROUND BLIND TIPS
Okay, okay.
Less ‘chatty chatty’ and more ‘tippy tippy’.
Below are some of the critical ground blind hunting tips where you’re going wrong.
GROUND BLIND LOCATION
Choosing a location for setting up your ground blind to attract mature deer can be difficult. It’s not a case of popping up your blind and piling in. Planning the area is crucial. You should select a location where mature deers have few options to venture off.
Finding a feeding area or watering hole is a game-changer and can be the best option for your stakeout. A rookie error is placing your blind on a path or trail with multiple routes for the deer to use.
In this situation, a deer would try to avoid the trail where it sees something unusual.
That could be your unbrushed hunting blind that is sitting in the open.
Regarding deer hunting ground blind tips, our number one rule is that your location should not give options to the deer.
SET THE GROUND BLIND WELL BEFORE YOU HUNT
So, here’s the second part of our list of deer hunting from ground blind tips.
Try to set your ground blind up well before you plan to hunt. For mature deers, you should be looking a few weeks before placing the blind.
Mature deers avoid areas that show something out of natural order. So, it would be best if you place your ground blind some weeks before you hunt. In this way, the deer would become comfortable with coming close to it. Therefore, it would become easy for you to track even the wisest deer.
Key takeaway: 6P’s (Perfect Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance).
Alternatively, you may find that setting up your blind on the day is far more efficient. This is known as same-day ground blind hunting. While this method is easy and efficient, there are a few drawbacks.
Same-day ground blind hunting prevents the following:
- Airing out your blind to eliminate manufacturing smells.
- Allowing deers to get used to where the blind is positioned to enable them to carry on walking their usual trail.
- Allowing you to get used to shooting in the position.
DON’T RESTRICT YOURSELF
One of the mistakes most hunters make while hunting a deer is that they restrict themselves with a single line of sight and limited visibility.
This would lead you to track a deer with difficulty as you can’t possibly react in time, grab your rifle, judge the field, and position yourself correctly. When you’ve scoped, the deer will be long gone and out of your LOS.
You want an area that allows you to see deer travelling a full trail length, like a valley or sloped terrain.
A food plot or open fields with high-protein feeds are amongst the best spots for deer hunting blinds and will bring a whole load of bucks and does to keep your hunt far more active.
As far as tips for ground blind hunting go, ensure you have clear sight from all directions. This tip will help you follow the deer along the path and hunt them down efficiently.
CAMOUFLAGING
Since most animals we hunt are sharp in sight and smell, you should take the time to camouflage yourself. Don’t just set up along the tree line or at the top of a ridge. This can lead to a poor session, as you’ll be easily spotted.
There are several ways through which you can cover and hide your blind according to your surroundings. Blending into your environment with branches, cattails, or other natural vegetation is one of the most underrated strategies when hiding your hunting tent.
First, deer hunting from ground blind tips can be a little hit-and-miss for camouflaging, but finding a top-quality blind can help conceal yourself better when on a hunt. Click here to see a guide on the best camouflage hunting blinds.
The right quality ground blinds have handy straps that allow you to attach natural camouflage. Combine your blinds with grass, leaves, natural vegetation, and trees.
Although some blinds come with a carbon odour suppressor, a handy tip is to cover your blind with some sizable tree limbs. Not only does this strategy provide maximum camouflage, but it also eliminates the human scent, smells from production, and anything else that has been picked up during the transportation of your blind that stake time to vanish.
Ultimately, the more you camouflage, the more chance you have to hunt down your prey effectively.
HUNTING WITH A BOW
If you like hunting with a bow, then you’ll understand that everything is slightly different when it comes to hunting from a blind. Space, planning, and awareness play a more significant role. Not every tactic can be applied to bow hunting, so bow hunting ground blind tips must be considered.
Height For The Shot – To make the perfect shot, try to adjust the bow’s size should clear the bottom window of the blind, giving you an ideal resting height.
Position Your Sitting – One of the many other ground blind bow hunting tips is to ensure you have a proper sitting position when you shoot. Otherwise, you may not have enough area for your drawbacks. If you are after a better seat to improve your sitting position when hunting, check out our guide for the best hunting blind chair.
Vertical Bow Shooting – Finally, vertical bow shooters should try not to sit too close to the back wall. Furthermore, the more you practice, the more efficient your technique will become when shooting out of a blind. Finding the perfect balance between being just far enough away from the window not to be seen and not being too far back to disrupt your line of sight will take time. Be persistent and find the perfect hunting blind that offers enough room.
GROUND BLIND TURKEY HUNTING TIPS
One thing you essentially have to take care of while hunting turkeys is their eyesight. Turkeys are known for sharp vision. Having extra concealment while dealing with them is a smart move to keep the hunt alive if you accidentally bump into a bird.
The good news is that every turkey you accidentally bump doesn’t run in fear.
Plenty of these little gobblers will stray away from anything that looks wrong, including your setup in a turkey blind.
If you spook a turkey, you can usually get them interested again by letting them walk off for a few minutes, and then, if your set allows it, move in and target the gobble-gobble from another angle.
BRING ANOTHER CALL
Don’t be afraid to carry multiple calls if you use your backup call from another location; chances are you’re back in business. Use it again if he has been hot for your previous call. He’ll almost think, “She’s back!” and be back in action.
Ultimately, the best point to take from hunting turkey in a ground blind is to ensure you have the most dynamic, portable blind available. A single wall blind such as a GhostBlind, a throwdown, or run-and-gun blind, can improve your game tenfold.
CONCLUSION
To be an efficient hunter, you need a lot of practice, vision, and practical ground-blind hunting strategies. These ground-blind hunting tips will help you better develop your plan and increase your focus while hunting.
Hunting from a ground blind doesn’t have to be an art form. Following some of these tips can add up to some huge wins.
Make sure you build up your strategies and set up your blinds well before you start to hunt, brush your blinds well and find the best setup area to set you up for a successful hunt.
Please choose the right ground blinds since they provide additional features like side clamps, odour suppressors, etc. These features help to increase the concealment of your blind. We have put together a great guide on the best ground blinds.
And one last thing to mention, plan for the cold.
There are a lot of clever ways to keep warm when hunting. And you don’t want to sit there all day, freezing your balls off.
I have a guide for ways to stay warm during your hunt; trust me, it will be in your best interest to check it out.
That’s all from me; good look on your next hunt.
I hope my tips will come in handy.
