Some info for reading
Setting up your ground blind. There are some points you need to consider when planning your setup. The first question is: where specifically in your hunting area should you set up your blind? Your scouting should have already given you a good idea of the travel routes of the animals and the wind patterns in the area, so you'll want to take those into consideration first and foremost. If you're hunting with a rifle, muzzleloader, or shotgun, you have a good amount of range to work with, so pick a location where you can see in multiple directions for distances up to and beyond the range of your weapon. One way to achieve this is to go high. Try setting up on hilltops, ridges, or anywhere you can get the best vantage point. Try to set up in or close to thicker brush, this will break up the outline of your blind and prevent sky-lining.
If you're bowhunting, you'll have to plan on getting a lot closer because of the more limited range of your bow. Try going low by setting up your blind in a dip or depression so it is naturally obscured by the topography. It's a balancing act between setting up your blind close enough to the animal trail so you can be within comfortable shooting range, but not so close that you risk spooking the animal.
The next question is: when should you set up your blind? One principle that's universally agreed on here is, the need to set up your blind in advance of hunting so the animal have time to get used to its presence and catalogue it as non-threatening. You should set it up at least three days before you plan to hunt, but it's a whole lot safer if you set it up one to two weeks early.
Ground blind tips.
Key points to keep in mind when setting up your permanent ground blind or pop-up blind for hunting:
* For a pop up blind choose a camo pattern that blends in well with the terrain and vegetation in which you'll be hunting.
* Practice setting up the pop up blind in your back yard before you set it up in the field so you're familiar with how it works.
* If the pop up blind is brand new, set it up outside and let it air out for a few days to get rid of that new blind smell.
* When you set up the pop up blind in the field, attach large amounts of natural vegetation, artificial vegetation, or camo netting to the outside to further break up its outline. Be sure to cover the top, bottom, sides, and corners.
* Practice shooting from a blind before hunting (make a simulated cardboard shooting slots). Make sure you practice shooting from many different angles and positions so you're ready for lots of different shooting situations.
* Use a rangefinder. When viewing the world from inside a ground blind, it's all too easy to perceive an animal as being farther away than it actually is.
* Outside camera locations. Try to find locations either to the back side of where you would be shooting animals or perhaps 45', 90' or 135' offset from that for GoPro cameras to capture the shot from different angles. Keep in mind the sun location and don't have the cameras shooting with the sun in their face - it will give bad lens flares on the images and the animals end up looking silhouetted and you lose a lot of details.
* If you're setting up in thicker cover, clear multiple shooting lanes around the blind so you don't end up staring at an animal you can't confidently shoot.
* Keep the shooting area, the sun, wind direction and animal movement in consideration when you setup the ground blind.
* Set up in a place where you can have a wide field of view. An elevated blind will give you the widest view possible (choose between a ground blind and an elevated blind according to your requirements).
* Place the food and water source in such a location and position that it will force the animal to give you a broadside shot.
* Set the food/salt lick enough distance away from the water to spread the herd if you have larger herds that comes in rather than single or small groups of animals.
* Materials. Cement and wood construction is long lasting. Metal corrugated roofs get hot in the summer. Thatch is nice for the roof and coolness. Use soundproof material on the inside to dampen noise.
* Use natural vegetation and material to disguise the ground blind. Try to break up the outline and cover the top, bottom, sides, and corners.
* The urinal can be a simple little funnel with a pipe that is ported through the back wall and out into the sand at the base of the hide.
Ground blind requirements
1. Shooting holes. Must be big enough to accommodate compound, crossbow and traditional/longbows. Height and width of the shooting holes must be big and wide enough to accommodate shooting with any type of bow in a standing or sitting position for big and small shooters without touching any part of the inside of the hide.
2. Observation holes. Make sure there are windows/holes to see the areas where animals may approach even if there is not a shooting lane there. This will let you know what is coming in prior to seeing it in the shooting hole. Observation holes can be made with one way mirror glass or see through material.
3. Camera holes. Place camera holes at strategic places where it won’t interfere with the shooter or spook the animals. Camera holes can be made with one way mirror glass.
4. All shooting, observation and camera holes must have a curtain/blind material to cover the slots when not in use. Keep a roll of thin blind material that you can shoot through. This can then be used to cover the shooting window for additional concealment. It will also help if you have the sun shining directly into your window. Finally, it will really help keep things a tiny bit warmer if it is really cold, or help keep bugs/mosquitos out if you are in bug country.
5. Size. The ground blind height and width of sidewalls and roof/floor must be big and wide enough to accommodate shooting with any bow in a standing or sitting position. It must be big enough to accommodate at least 3 persons. The shooter, the PH and a camera man.
6. Flooring - concrete, sand and carpet seem to be most popular options. The best is a nice carpet/rug as the floor. Hunters then remove shoes/boots prior to getting settled. Keep the carpet clean and QUIET. It is amazing how much movement you can do on soft carpet. Sand is fine and concrete is cool but can be a bit loud.
7. The door must be as air tight as possible. It control your for scent and must block the view of approaching animals.
8. Ground blinds must be dug in a couple of feet to offer a great shot angle on the animals. They seem to be a bit cooler, especially as the temps get higher in the summer.
9. The inside must be painted black or a dark colour. Make sure your blind is dark inside and that there is no 'back light'.
10. Hang printouts of the animals (for that area) and their killzones on the walls as simple refresher. It will help a shooter to focus putting the pin on the right spot.
11. Soft and quiet seating/chairs must allow one to recline and still see through the viewing windows.
12. Bow Hooks. Must have at least 2 bow hooks. You may have more than one bow per hunter or more than one bow hunter. Position the hooks so that a hanging bow does not obstruct the shooting window or viewing window. This will allow shooting without moving a bow not being used to create space for the shooter. It also gives a single shooter more locations to place the bow for ease of access. The left handed shooter and right handed shooter would put their "ideal" place to grab their bow in different locations even for the same shooting window.
13. Equipment Hooks. Have additional hooks for the range finder, binocular, water bottle etc.
14. Cleaning materials, Make sure the ground blind can be closed up tight when not in use or leave a rag, broom and a dustpan, etc, to clean up all the lizard, bird and mouse droppings that will be there when used for the first time in a long while so that the hunters will not choke on the stench.
