It seems like the guys who consistently shoot the biggest deer (mark drury, bill winke, etc) do a good amount of hunting from a tower blind. They look quite comfy, but I can't see a perfect application. What is your take on a tower blind, and in what situation would they be the most beneficial? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro
When you have long term ability to manage the property and want to film, they are great on food plots. I've hunted and filmed in Clinton's grain wagon blinds and you can get away with murder in them when it comes to movement and sound. I'm going to try and build one this summer at my house to use this fall at my new lease. They are just like the tower blinds but you can move them when you need to easily with an ATV or truck.
Pros: - I find that my scent seems to be contained. If I use a tiny ozone producer I never get busted. - I can put in a heater (with a #20 propane tank on the ground). - I can heat /cook food for all day sits. - I can read a magazine to pass the time. - I can easily set up video camera. Cons: - I pick up lot of bad habits, like moving around. I can stand up put on my jacket and sit down and the deer in my little food plot ( 40'x40' area with just weed & feed 3 times a year) and they never move. - It is not that portable. BUT I have 400+ acres to hunt so I have a 6 of them. A couple are ground blinds on very steep hills.
If positioned appropriately a tower blind can be lethal. Rick James and Whitetail pretty much covered the gambit. You do have to make sure they are silent though. Meaning if you move around they don't creak or make noise. A little carpet/foam goes along way. Over time deer will get used to the blinds and that could be a good thing or a bad thing. Bad thing in that they keep there distance. If you are bowhunting that can be the kiss of death. Especially when they skirt the edge of your effective range. if you can afford them or put in the time to build one they can be a great asset but also remember just like anything else you have to maintain and inspect for safety. If you build one or buy one make sure you anchor it well. The Dury's have a segment where one tipped over. Anchoring the base using a ground anchor and spiking down the legs with long spikes and chain will prevent that. Redneck makes a soft side blind that is decently priced and the base is 6ft and comes with all the anchors. It manageable enough that I assembled and set it up by myself.
Excellent advice here. Please keep in mind that the Drurys and others have enough land and available resources to modify the area to work specifically for those tower stands. It would be a great segment to learn how/why they placed the stand where they did and what they did to ensure a shot on the deer from the stand.
great thread. I have learned a few things about hunting form elevated towers an blinds over the past few years. If you listen to Mark Drury in particular talking about why he uses a lot of elevated towers, he talks about how it is an evolution that came about through years of learning how deer use his properties. See the problem with tree stands is to be in a perfect spot, there has to already be a tree there. Most stands are put in the best available spot, as opposed to the best spot. Using elevated blinds and towers solves that problem. You can hunt where there aren't any suitable trees. Mark Drury 218" buck last year is an example. he put an elevated blind up, not because there weren't any trees there, but there wasn't a tree in the exact spot he wanted to hunt. I have had good success doing this personally. My 2014 Indiana buck I killed with a bow out of an elevated blind in a spot where there were literally zero trees. I had seen a 10 point walk the same path 3 times across a cut corn field, 400 yards from my stand in the tree line. I put up the elevated blind at night and shot him at 25 yds on my 2nd sit. Here in Iowa, my 2 biggest properties are very difficult to hunt out of treestands because they have very little timber and options are limited. Last year I missed a 200" buck with a bow and killed my 145" buck on the same farm, both out of elevated blinds that I placed where I wanted them, as there were no trees within range of that spot. This year on my bigger lease, I am in the process of building 4 platforms I will be putting pop up blinds on, and 2 box blinds. The timber on the farm is very narrow and holds a ton of deer, making it very difficult to hunt, so iunstead I have planted food plots on the outside of the timber and will be using elevated blinds to bowhunt the property becaue that will allow me to have much better setups for wind direction and not alerting deer. Every property is different. I used to not even think about using elevated blinds. Now, if there is a tree in the right spot, I'll hang a stand. But if the stand location is "iffy" or I tell myself "i wish there was a tree right there," then I put up a platform. Being in the right spot is more important than what you hunt out of.
Ok so it was a struggle a half mile down the valley, but, choke point by the creek. The spot picked me. Sent from my iPad using Bowhunting.com Forums
