hunting blinds

[fishane]

I thought that it was time that I measured in on this hunting blind thing. I use inexpensive blinds that I get from a major retailer that also does a lot of online and mail order business. I have used the DB blinds and admit that they are a superior product, but do not use them. Even though I place my blinds on private land, I am very concerned about having a $300 blind stolen. The ones I use are $99, and have worked fine for me. At $99 I can have more and set them up and leave them, and theft is not as much of a concern. I do make a couple of adjustments though. I seldom use the cheap tent stakes for these blinds. Instead I get large (12 inch) spikes (nails) from my local hardware store and place a washer on the spike. I can drive these spikes into rock if I have to, as they are made from steel, not aluminum. This means that all my blinds are well secured from the wind, and are much more likely to be where I place them when I go back to hunt 3 weeks later. I also try not to place my blinds where they will be buffeted by full wind, this usually is not much of a problem in the woods, but can be a concern when placing blinds on field edges. At the cheaper price I can afford to have more blinds ( I have 5) and can leave them up so that deer get used to them. This is just my 2 cents, but I will say that what I do has been very sucessful for me. Now, if I were going on a trip and only bringing 1 or 2 blinds I would probably spring for a DB, but my hunting is close to home and I like to have a lot of stand options.