To everyone who doesn't know my brother and I both have limited budgets so we can't just run out and buy the latest and greatest of everything. I have 2 boys, a wife, both my wife and I are students and add to that off with I am unemployed and you can see why I am on a tight budget. He is single and has his own place and pays for everything he has by himself. Now you see why he is on a tight budget. We don't have Lone Wolf stands and sticks and Summit climbers because we can't afford them. Yes, I have a Hoyt Carbon Element (that God blessed me with a great deal on and will be paid off soon) and he Has a Hoyt Prohawk but, thats the nicest pieces of equipment we have, other than his arsenal of firearms. So, when it comes to buying stands and blinds we usually end up having to buy Ameristep from Walmart or Comfort Zone from D***'s Sporting Goods. That being said, we have an area we have been wanting to hunt since last season that has only a couple of mature trees to hang a stand in and they both are on the wrong side for the normal wind. So he was at Walmart in Gastonia NC and called me. He says hey what do you think about this Ameristep Bone Collector Doghouse blind they have here. I said well, it looks pretty good from what I can tell hanging from the rafters when I have seen it. So he bought it. That was a Monday Set Up:[/FONT] He pulled it out of the box to set it up so it could air out before he brought it out to set it up that weekend. The first thing he noticed is that there wasn't any smell to it at all. He said it shocked him really. Fast forward to that Thursday. My step brother cam up to stay the weekend and hunt a little with me. I took my bow he took his rifle. Set up was a breeze!! This is a pop up blind and it literally took about 8 minutes to set it up and I had never seen it set up other than hanging from the ceiling in Walmart. It comes with 8 steaks, 4 for the corners of the blind and 4 for the tie down ropes. The two roof supports went in easily with no problems. All in all set up was super easy. In the blind: Once in the blind, we had a couple of Redhead hunting chairs set up. It felt roomy at first, until I tried to draw my bow. I use an 8" NAP Apache stabilizer and I had to take off the 3" extension off of it just to draw my bow without hitting the window and my elbow of my draw arm hitting the back of the blind. I then tried to set up with a rifle and it worked just fine. No problems at all. Now, I have been in it by myself and it works fine. I had plenty of room to move around by myself and have all the gear I normally take with me. Drawing was about the same but being able to move around made a big difference. On a side note, when I was in it myself, I had an old milk crate that was lower too the ground and I was able to get the bow closer to where it needed to be. Personally, I believe it would be best to only have a cushion and be able to shoot sitting on my knees. Mesh Windows:[/FONT] I didn't try to shoot through the mesh windows and don't think I ever would. Not because I think the mesh wouldn't work but, because the windows are not big enough and they are way too high to shoot through with a bow. However, I do like them. They work great to be able to see out of on the sides and not be seen from the outside. Shoot through them with a gun, if you have a short gun to get it there. Brush In:[/FONT] Now this part was easy. All I needed extra was a handful of small zip/wire ties. It comes with four built in ties on each corner. Two higher and two lower to tie brush to the blind. I used some zip ties to attach the branches to each other to form th arches for the windows. It seemed to work great. The ties that came with the blind worked very well. Does it Leak?: Like a sift!!! This thing does great for about the first oh 5 minutes. The second time we set this blind up, it had just started raining. My brother and step brother went out with be to set the blind up. It was raining when we headed out on the 4 wheelers. We took it out of the carry bag which works great for transporting, popped it up and I told them to get in and set up the roof supports and I would set up the steaks. It took all of 5 minutes for the entire inside to be soaking wet. then the rain started to drip from everywhere. I would highly suggest getting a can of 3M waterproof spray or maybe even 3. It will need it if you wans to stay dry. Sumary:All in all, you get what you pay for with this blind. If you rifle hunt it with a buddy, you it will be a little tight but, it will work. If you are planning a trip with your 7 year old you need to look for a different blind as you wont have enough room for them, all the stuff you need for them and for them to move around a little. Bow hunting by yourself will work with a shorter ATA bow say 32" or shorter and no more than a 29" DL You will be fine. If you are like my brother, 5'6" 120lb 26"DL, and hunting by yourself, It will work out great. We are on a tight budget and unless something great financially happens such as hitting the lottery, we will probably make it work for next season as well as Turkey season. $70.00 is what it cost and you can tell it. Will it get the job done? Yes but, if you can afford to spend more and get a better blind, I would suggest doing just that.
Have that exact model...and honestly great little one person (for bow) blind for the price. THE MOST CRUCIAL THING THOUGH IS WATERPROOFING IT!! We sprayed the thing with a sealing coat twice, and let it air out for about a week or so (my pops may have even treated the inside with the water proofing just once though). We don't hunt together in a blind, primary reason is we like our blinds for the most part small, smaller the better, as they're less intrusive to their surroundings. However if you want to do a lot of two person hunting you hit the nail on the head, and you would need to upgrade. Great job of cloaking that thing in though!!
I have the Ameristep Penthouse blind. it's a little more spendy at $150. But it's 90" tall and has a 78" square base. Just like you said, easy to setup. I like it. went turkey hunting with my bow and 2 other guys and camera equipment with no prob. Great review! Good luck!!!
This is the third maybe fourth review I have done in the past month. I have really enjoyed doing them and will be doing more. I really want to keep an open mind about everything I do a review on and be totally honest as to how I think they perform. I want to try to keep in mind what the manufacture says it will do compared to what it will do and the price it does it for. I have 3 different stands I am going to do full season reviews on that we purchased at the beginning of the season. They are all cheap stands but, we used them and I really enjoy writing these reviews. Heck, this is actually one of those things I would like to do for a living. lol Oh well, even though I am not getting paid to do them, it is still fun.
