natural blind material

[ironman]

I'm going to build a boat blind this summer....due to the fact that I'm a cheap a** I was thinking of using natural material. Has anyone had success with anything or what do you feel would be better material: Cattails, reeds, tall grasses, etc.? I know several places sell the palm stuff...but I dont have and dont want to spend that kind of money. I'd rather spend that on a new gun and more deks. Already excited about this fall!!!!

[Sartell Angler]

depending on the areas you hunt, there are a couple ways you could go with this. If you hunt a lot of rivers amongst hardwoods, you might want to try building a blind with natural oak branches with leaves attached...might be able to zip-strip a bunch of them to some fencing and attach that to your boat somehow. Otherwise, I know that Barnie Calef from the TakeEm video series always uses tumbleweed-type brush on his boat blind...he says it is very natural looking and durable compared to other materials. Wouldn't recommend trying cattails unless you majored in basket weaving or some other similar technique in college...don't think that it would work out too well.

Sartell Angler/wdw

[Eric Wettschreck]

The wetlands areas I hunt have a lot of cornfields right next to them. Old corn stalks and left over field material work real well. And, being the tight wad that I am, free stuff fits real nice into my budget.

[bassman222]

I would definatly choose natural veg over other stuff, it looks sooo much better. The key to natural veg blind making is quantity.

Here's how we did my buddy's boat:

2X2 frame, some binder twine and a chit load of tall grasses(the stuff that grows in an old hay field). Make large bundles(5-7" dia) and tie em on. The over shoot on the top was bent over 50/50 inside and out.

[Rost]

Hey Bassman,

How did you get your picture to cover the screen (full size). What host do you use?

[Duck-o-holic]

Nice pics Bassman. I've used natural grasses on many of my blinds, but usually on my ground blinds or on the edges of water. For open water vegetation, I would have to say the best material I've seen (besides Fast Grass) is "Broomgrass". This stuff can be found in the right ditches, and is easy to spot if you know what it looks like. Bundled up similar to what Bassman did, the Broomgrass bundles can be zip tied to wire or plastic mesh. This is what Tom Herman used for several years on Mud lake, and is referred to a "Mud Lake blind" to the locals around this area when put up a certain way.

Duck-o-holic

[Sartell Angler]

wow, that is cool man...could see that boat being deadly, especially if hunting along the edge of a grassy lake...might stand out a little bit in a marsh full of cattails, but then again I guess everyone is completely covered so the birds might not mind...gotta rig something like that up on our boat this summer!

SA/wdw

[bassman222]

www dot storage4all dot com- by far the easiest and quickest image host I ever used.

[GullGuide]

I'll see if I can post some pics of the blinds I have made over the years with natural grasses. Like Duck said, I used the broomgrass blind for about 10 years. If kept dry, they will last you longer than that.

Before I was able to obtain good broomgrass (living in Bemidji and Brainerd the stuff is hard to find) I would take ditch grass and lay it out on a 2X2 frame, run bailing twine over the top of it and then staple it to the 2x2's every inch or so. It looked great, but this would only be good for 1 season and then you'd have to do it over again.

I'll try to post pictures of that set-up as well.

[ironman]

Awesome pics!!! Thanks for the info....I'm really itchin to get started on this project...wont be for a few months and first I have to patch all the leaks and paint the boat...hopefully by that time....I'll have some material to work with. How many days left till opener?