I set my ground blind this weekend and have never hunted deer out of one before. I tried to break up the roof best I could, but I also won't be hunting it for at least 3 weeks. Think I'm good? I don't know why the pic is so bad, looks good on my phone.
I would probably set it up just inside the tree line to help break it up some if that's possible. Hard to tell what you've got around there to work with from that pic. It does stick out some but the deer should get used to it. One thing I do is open up a couple of the windows, because they will be open when you hunt out of it and the deer get used to it looking that the way. Just my 2 cents
Thanks for the input, it's a double bull so I'm not sure I should have that big window open? It has shoot through mesh so hopefully that will help with that. It is in the tree line about halfway but it's sitting next to a alfalfa field and I wanted to be able to see the whole field so I lined it up just right so I could. I had to mow a hole into waist high grass and weeds to get it in there. I was more or less just hoping they would get used to it but the research I have done told me to try to brush it in some. I wish the picture would be better. I was basically just looking for reassurance and what you said helped give me some of that so thanks.
I hunt out of Double Bull blinds a lot. I have been for the past 15+ years. A couple pieces of advice that I will give you is either put the blind out weeks (3 minimum ... 5 or 6 is better) ahead of time, or pop it up and hunt it right then and there. If it is bow hunting, then I brush them in and brush them in well ... if the setting and backdrop allows it. If it is gun hunting then I rarely bother. If I do not brush it in then I almost always run a decoy as a distraction. Deer are typically curious before they are scared of a blind. The set it and hunt it right away takes advantage of this. Deer will often approach a blind out of curiosity if you just set it and hunt it. I have killed a bunch of deer this way. Even brushed in they tend to notice that something just does not seem right and will come in to check it out. The flip side to that is that once a deer's curiosity is satisfied, then he/she will avoid the blind for quite a while. Often they will flat avoid a blind for several weeks until they reach a point where it becomes just another part of their environment. This can often take weeks. The deadliest tactic that I have found though is to pop up a Double Bull, minimally brush it in or even not at all, and set a buck decoy 25 yards straight out in front of me, wind from the decoy to the blind. Bucks of all ages flat do not care about the blind. They know it is there and will sometimes stop and glance at it, but they are so enamored with the buck intruder that they totally drop their defenses when it comes to the blind. It is insane how many bucks will walk 10-15 yards in front of the blind. One thing that I never do when I pop up a blind and hunt it right then ... I NEVER do the same set up twice. The key is moving each hunt to a different spot, giving it a different look each hunt. Here are a couple photos of some blind set ups. This was actually a gun opener setup for a young man who I helped to kill a stud of an 8 pointer. I set this blind opening morning in the dark. This photo was just before our afternoon hunt and 30 minutes later he dropped an awesome deer with his muzzleloader at 20 yards. Back drop can be key sometimes. You often here that deer don't like the black hole effect created by the windows ... which is pretty true. But if you notice that the back drop also has black holes leading into the thick cover, the blind window black holes just match the surroundings and while a deer might notice it, he isn't as likely to flip out. Here is a deadly decoy blind setup. This was set it up and hunt it. Blind is to the right and was tucked into a thin spot where raccoons had brought down some corn. The buck decoy is set up to the left, wind was from the decoy to the blind. As I recall I had 4 different young bucks walk between the decoy and the blind that night. This is typically how I hunt a blind. I set this blind and hunted it. Tucked under a low branch, use the shadows to my advantage, pull some long grasses and brush it up a bit, no netting (I never use the netting), and hunt it. My daughter actually smoked a buck with her bow on this set up. The buck knew the blind was there and came just close enough and paused just long enough. The key in brushing in a blind as this set up shows, isn't so much to hide the blind, it is more to diffuse the harsh edges. When you break up the edge of the blind against the back drop, the deer has a terrible time focusing on what it is he is looking at, then he comes in closer. I have found this to be true with the black windows as well. Rather than a harsh window edge, I will often drape long grasses over the window edges. It softens the lines and the deer seem to freak out less often.
They will be used to it by the time you hunt it. Just get some windows open and you will be fine. Good luck.
I put mine out three or four weeks before I plan on hunting it. This year I put mine out the Saturday of Labor Day weekend. First hunt last Saturday and killed a doe out of it. You will be fine.
I really appreciate you taking the time to write this up. Great stuff made me think. FI was only planning on hunting this blind a couple times during my vacation November 5-13. But if it's raining one of the late October hunts I would pry take advantage. The only decoy I own currently is a doe. I was thinking about buying a buck but it didn't work out this year. Have you ever used a doe?
I quit using doe decoys several years ago. I hunt a lot with a deer decoy and I have found that does almost always avoid a doe decoy. Bucks tend to be very hit or miss to a doe decoy. A buck decoy however will draw in more deer of every variety more consistently. The only time that I ever had any real success with a doe decoy was bedding her down in front of a buck decoy. It worked very well the couple times I tried it, to the point that one evening I failed to do my part on a 153" buck (my buddy killed him a week later). But as much crap as I tend to take into the woods to hunt, carrying a second decoy really is not an option. Especially when I find a buck decoy alone does the job more often than not.
Storm just rolled through, some reports of 60 mph wind. Hopefully it misses the property or I have it tucked in and staked down well enough
I shot a hole in my blind a few years ago where the window folded down, and after that I just watched out of the hole. I killed more deer that way than I ever did with the window open. I think they just got used to it sitting there and never paid any attention to the hole.
