Ground blind suggestions

[nofishfisherman]

I need a new ground blind for this season.  I have one spot on some private property that I have access to that makes placing a tree stand difficult.  I hunted the spot last year out of a blind I borrowed from a friend but it was a little on the small side.  I had to be very careful when drawing my bow or getting into position so that I didn't bump the sides of the blind.  I'm also 6'4" so I take up a fair amount of space.  This year I need something bigger and with better visibility.

 

I also don't want to break the bank.  Any suggestions on decent blinds that are a good value for the money?  I'm hoping to leave the blind in the field from early August-probably late November or early December and I'm hoping to find one that will be able to last several seasons.

 

I'm gonna head over to a Gander Mountain to see if they have any closeout deals on blinds but want to gather some feedback on different blinds before I go.

[Scoot]

I went through half a dozen different inexpensive ground blinds thinking I would save money. I probably spent over $800 on them if not more and never got more than two years of use out of them. Then I bought a doublebull and have used it ever since. I would have saved a lot of money had I just bought one right away.

[nofishfisherman]

What were the common fail points in the cheaper blinds that made them only last a year or 2?

[Scoot]

Hubs and zippers. Mostly hubs. 

[nofishfisherman]

Good to know.  I'll keep that in mind and look into the double bull.

[schmoe147]

I Bought a Cabelas brand ground blind and couldn't be happier. Its going on 12 yrs and still works great. the bottom is starting to show its age. I'd look at the Cabelas The Zonz Specialist XL. Its very similar to what I have. I'm 6'5" and the 88" inside dimension  gives me room to pull bow back and also sit and move comfortably. Also have Lifetime warranty on them.

[nofishfisherman]

Thanks for the suggestion.  I think that is one of a handful that I had been looking at online.

[nofishfisherman]

I ended up going with the Gander Mountain 3 man invisi-bull blind at their liquidation sale.  Price ended up being a big factor as I was able to get it for $149 which is 40-50% off depending on what sign you looked at. It looks to have all of the features I wanted and its plenty big enough for me to bow hunt out of and still have room to bring a kid along in the next few years.

 

We'll see if the hubs hold up and overall durability is what I hope it will be.

 

If you're in the market for stands they have a few ladder stands that looked decent at a glance for under $100.  Lots of inventory still left with everything 30-50% off.

[sportfish]

If you leave it up for 3-5 months at a time it's going to fade out . Make sure you stake it down very well and leave a center pole to support the roof in late season so the snow doesn't crush it . Good luck 

[lungdeflator]

I bought a Browning blind last year.  Only hunted out of it 2-3 times, but it seemed to work well.  Took on some heavy snow late November and early December, but held up well.  It was a cheaper blind, in the 150$ range I think.  Browning has a good warranty though.  

Stake it in well and brush it in best you can.  Remember that brushing it in with green leave in August will look totally different when you go to hunt in November.  Any little change at eye level with a deer, they will notice.  I left my windows closed when I was not hunting, but I think this year I will leave the ones open that I need when I hunt, I want it to look exactly like it will when I hunt it so the deer are used to it.

[nofishfisherman]

I am a little concerned with it fading but it needs to be left up for the deer to get accustomed to it so no way around that.

 

I assume the sun is the main culprit in fading so I'll do my best to protect against that.  One spot I'm considering is tucked into some pines which create a lot of shade, brushing it in heavily should also help keep it out of direct sun as well.

 

Good point about a center support to help with the snow.  I'll make sure to add something.

[bobbymalone]

Good point about the center support.  I wandered out to my ground blind on one of the last days of archery season to find the roof caved in and two poles busted. 

[Hoyt4]

Go with Double bull you will no regret it. They are on sale right now on Rogers sportings goods. I have owned a few and the best one's I have found since being started in MN are Double BUll. Great customer service lifetime warranty you pay the shipping they fix anything that might be wrong. Only had to bring in once lent to a friend and he did not stake in correctly and was blown into a barbwire fence. They patched and fixed all damage.

 

They also sell a pole for the center support at A1 or you can order one. I leave that in when not in use.

[nofishfisherman]

The Double Bull would have been my first choice but at $400+ it was out of my budget. Gotta work with the money I got.

[Hoyt4]

On 8/4/2017 at 1:40 PM, nofishfisherman said:

The Double Bull would have been my first choice but at $400+ it was out of my budget. Gotta work with the money I got.

You can get them almost half the price right now on Rogers sporting goods. If not on sale any longer they go on sale about 3 or 4 times through the winter for half the cost.

[MNHunter65]

I just picked up a Double Bull from Rogers. It was $275 with free shipping plus Primos has a $75 rebate through the end of the month. All said and done It's $200. Not bad. Quality is definitely a step up from my Rhino blind I got a few years ago which was the same price.

[Hoyt4]

Yep that's the deal I was referring to. They had that going since March off and on.Great deal also a lifetime warranty on the blind.

[nofishfisherman]

I did some looking around when I bought my blind but wasn't seeing any great deals on the Double Bull at that time.  Guess I should have waited, as usual a day late and dollar short.