Pro Tips for Hunting Blinds
Ensure your success for your next hunt with our professional tips for hunting blinds! Hunting blinds are often overlooked by many hunters as a great solution for a good hunt. Many hunters feel as though hunting blinds are cumbersome, hard to put into place, can hinder your field of view, and are too expensive. But is this really the case? A good hunting blind has many advantages that will far outweigh some of the possible disadvantages, if they have any. And in order to really enjoy all of the many benefits of a good hunting blind, you need to know some of these pro tips:
Find Some Good Cover
One important aspect of setting up a hunting blind is thinking about how much coverage that you will have in the place where you set it up. It is a good idea to place your hunting blind in a place with plenty of background cover. This will help to break up the outline and profile of the blind, making it much less noticeable.
For even more concealment, you can clip some limbs and branches and add them around the blind to add even more coverage. The goal here is to break up the silhouette of the blind and to help it better blend into the natural environment. The last thing that you want is to have the deer be able to pick out your hunting blind and notice a strange new object that they don’t want to go near.
Regardless of the surrounding cover or foliage, make sure that you are taking full advantage of the actual location. Tuck your hunting blind back into a spot where it is as hidden as you can get it, as well as somewhere that you can easily sneak in and out of the blind.
Set Your Blind Up Early
One of the most important things that you can do before hunting season ever starts is to set up your hunting blind well before it is time to actually use it. Whether you are using the blind for rifle or archery hunting, you must get it in early in order to allow the deer to get used to it. If you don’t, the deer will recognize an unfamiliar object in one of their areas and will go out of their way to avoid it.
In order to let the deer become comfortable with a blind, get it in at least a month prior to the hunting season. This time is to let the big bucks acclimate to the blind and start to regain their usual habits. Of course, the earlier that you can put in your blind the better off you will be. Once the deer or other game animals are used to the blind, they will not give it a second glance in their daily routines and you can take full advantage of this when it comes time for opening day. You can even attract deer in with a homemade salt lick to help them acclimate to the new blind in the area!
Get Your Blind Higher
One of our tips for hunting blinds is to use height to your advantage. In order to get more value out of your hunting blind, try to get it up as high as you can. The more elevation that your hunting blind has, the more you will be able to see the surrounding area. The more that you can see, the better prepared you will be. This will lead to many more shots, especially if you are gun hunting. Even if your hunting blind is not off of the ground, you can always purchase an elevation kit like the one from Ambush blinds in order to get some more elevation for your blind.
Not only does having an elevated hunting blind allow you to see more, but it will do a better job at keeping your scent and sound away from unsuspecting deer. The scent factor is why many hunters favor tree stands, but the same principles also apply to hunting blinds that are more comfortable and do a better job at concealing you!
Think Like a Deer
When setting up a hunting blind, make sure that you are close enough to the deer hunting action, but not in it. Think about placing your blind along the most popular travel routes and consider prevailing winds when placing and hunting in your blind. The last thing that you want is to place your blind in an area that gets in the way of the deer or causes them to change their habits.
Don’t forget to think about how the winds will cross through an area as well. Setting up in a spot where deer will consistently be downwind can prevent you from ever getting a good opportunity before even getting started. Your scent is the number one thing that can give away your location, and a deer’s best defense. Take careful notes of the wind directions, and plan accordingly.
Get Comfortable
Hunting from a blind can make for long days of sitting and waiting. In order to better pass the time, it pays to come prepared and make the blind as comfortable as possible. Of all our tips for hunting blinds, this is one that is probably overlooked the most! A comfy chair and a good book can help pass the time a lot quicker, as well as bringing plenty of warm clothes if you are expecting colder weather.
You can also make simple upgrades to your blind to keep it more comfortable and organized. Pick up a light kit from Ambush in order to better see in low light conditions, or maybe a bow hanger to keep your bow ready but out of the way until you need it. The more comfortable you make your hunting blind, the more likely you are to enjoy sitting in it and the longer and harder you will hunt.
Final Thoughts
Having a good hunting blind can be the difference between having a rough hunting season or a successful one with a big buck in the back of your truck. If you take the extra time to prepare yourself and your hunting blind before the season starts, you can rest assured that you will be ready for when the moment comes to punch your tag. We hope these tips for hunting blinds helped!