Place it downwind of where you think the deer are going to be or come out on their trail for starters Put it out early and brush it in so it looks part of the environment so the deer get used to it Closer to the season come in and open the windows how you would like to be able to shoot out of it again so the deer get used to seeing it Then when you go hunt it wear black and sit towards the back of the blind.
What JDUB said. Only thing I would add is that you set it up on the range and practice shooting out of it prior to setting it up on your hunting grounds.
If you're turkey hunting, set it up and hunt. If you're chasing deer, you need to set it up well ahead of time and brush it in to the best of your ability, giving them time to get used to the change in their surroundings. As mentioned above, practice shooting out of it. Your arrow leaves a good 4-6" BELOW the sight plane, and catching the bottom of a window with your broadhead has saved more than one animal's life
Don't be afraid to ditch the pop-up blind and use a tree-top/deadfall that provides natural cover and can easily be brushed in with other natural cover from around the area. That's how we hunted for many many years before pop-up blinds became popular.
I always placed mine under a thick tree and found one with lots of lower limbs about the same height as the top of the ground blind and some lower to be trimmed out. The downwind side of a creek bottom on the downslope of the hill can be real good. I try to "brush-in" the top of the blind so there are no horizontal lines to be seen. Leave the leaves inside the ground blind when you set it up. Take a small shovel or gardening spade with you when you hunt. When you get in the blind push all the leaves to the bottom perimeter of the blind all the way around. Dig up some dirt and sprinkle it on the leaves around the perimeter. This works like a scent cover up as well as scent filter. If you stop smelling the dirt once and a while dig more and sprinkle. For a right hander if you place the chair in the back left corner of the blind you can lean left just to the left of your window where they can't see movement and then draw back. Then lean back to the right slowly until you can shoot them out the window. Good luck!
Any large limb or several limbs will do. Something to break up your outline and possibly hide some of your movements. I try and find or cut a large limb and place it in a spot where I am seeing deer activity. I like to sit in a chair or on a stool so my blind has to be a little bit higher but still have plenty of openings to shoot through. I find all sorts of limbs, branches, leaves, grasses and whatever else is natural to the area and place it in the most natural looking way that I can and hunt from it. I also make sure that I have plenty of cover behind me to keep from being silhouetted.
another option is to carry a couple sections of 4x8 foot cami burlap and build a couple hasty blinds by brushing in dead falls in likely areas. its not as intrusive as a ground blind but provides some concealment. plus having a couple prepared locations enables one to change locations if the wind changes direction or the deer pattern changes.
I would make sure you have your blind is facing away from the sun to make blind as dark as possible. I open as few windows as possible once sitting..
For what I am referring to, a tree-top is left behind after cutting it as in logging. A dead fall is generally a tree that has fallen due to damage maybe from a storm, lightning, rot, etc.. I think you get the point, use something that is out there that provides cover and can help break up your outline.
Ditto on this. After finding a spot, if possible try to check out how the sun hits early in the morning and late evening. The light will not be same setting it out in the middle of the day as it will be during prime hunting hours.
A ground blind can be real affective but as mentioned it can take the deer a while to get accustomed to it. On some of my hunts I don't have the luxury of setting up a blind early so will use deadfalls, trees, or boulders and sometimes augment them with a little brush and a little burlap which doesn't disrupt the area but breaks up the shape as a hunter. staying still and they'll walk right by. Sometimes I'll set up in a group of small trees or brush and use clippers to thin out a couple shooting lanes. I have a small $10 three legged cami stool I sling over the shoulder takes nothing to set up. these minimal blinds, if you will, are also harder for other hunters to see where you are setting up. I wear full cami to include face paint for veil, gloves and dull anything shiny and keep a cami hood over the fletching on arrows in the quiver. will also set up a little farther back, 25-30 yards from the trail, oak tree, or whatever is the reason for the deer to be there. If I find my pictures from last years set up I'll post.
