7.62NATO

OK, after taking one of my sisters hunting a few years ago and noting that she could not be still for long, and then taking my other sister hunting for the first time this season and noting the same (though she made it MUCH longer without moving than her older sister), I have decided that I need to invest in a ground blind in order to take newbies out who are simply (not yet) hardcore enough to endure the pain of sitting still for long periods of time. Plus, I have young kids and one of them will be ready to hunt in a few years, and I imagine expecting much stillness out of a very young kid is too high an expectation.

Selecting a blind is another topic in and of itself, but a lot of the ones I have looked at online have shoot-thru windows. Since I primarily hunt with my muzzleloader, I am wondering if there is any any concern with accuracy/premature bullet/sabot separation when shooting through something like that. I would imagine not since we often top our barrels off with tape or a finger cot, etc in inclement weather. I know that, ideally the bullet and sabot separate almost immediately, but you literally might have your barrel only a couple inches from the window when firing.

ADVWannabee

I have been hunting from a blind for 4 seasons now and love it! I open the 2 windows only and sit back so as not to be silhouetted. I have not had deer or turkey notice me and I shot a doe as close as 20 yards that never saw me. I had a huge, mature buck follow a doe within 25 yards of me as well. So my advice is not to use the netting at all.

Here is a picture of my setup that netted me buck last week. Notice I keep 2 windows open on adjacent sides. I then sit back in the opposite corner. Ideally I would prefer one of the bigger blinds with smaller windows. May have to get one for next season though this one has been working fine and was only $60.

cayugad

I hunt from ground blinds, but never from a shoot through window version. Instead I use a DogHouse blind. They have narrow vertical windows as well as the larger picture windows. I set it up with the vertical windows facing the area I suspect most deer will appear. I then have shooting sticks near that window. Sitting back in the shadows, its amazing how much you can see out of a small opening. When I do see something to shoot or check with the scope, I set the barrel in the shooting stick and then slowly lean the barrel past the material of the blind. This opens the view more, makes sure a shower of sparks will not be sticking to the sides of the nylon material when I shoot, not to mention the inside filled with smoke...

Like stated.. I never had a problem being spotted. Sit back in the shadow of the blind and sit still. Them deer (and once a bear and cubs) will come with in feet of that blind. Especially if you get the blind in the woods early, as I do, bait around it, and get them used to seeing it.

My Doghouse blind has a black liner in it. I believe it is a charcoal base which might also help with scent control. For as I take no real special precautions for scent control when I hunt, I don't seem to alarm animals in the area. And I get very few of the nose blowers behind the blinds as well.

The one draw back where I live and hunt of a blind. It gets cold in them. After extended periods of sitting in them, your breath and body heat condenses on the inside of the blind and freezes to a white frost all most. It is very damp in there then. And on a cold day, sitting in a damp dark hole can really get uncomfortable. So dress warm.

2thepoint

I hunt from a number of different ground blinds for both bow & ML. All my blinds have the mesh shoot thru windows which haven't been a problem with archery using fixed broadheads. I would NOT consider firing my ML thru the mesh. I've cut slits approximately every foot so in the mesh so I can stick the barrel out. The other options as some have mentioned would be to remove the windows and shoot out the port holes. Even though the mesh is probably treated with a fire retardant I would still be scared that the muzzle flash would light the blind up like a bag of cheap fireworks!! Be safe....just my 2 cents.

Underclocked

Dave, I hunt from a Doghouse blind as well. You need to open up a bit more than those vertical slits of windows to get a little more ventilation in there. The deer don't care.

I realize it gets a bit colder in your part of the country compared to mine, but it sounds to me like you need the ventilation.

Breechplug

I hunted in a blind with shoot through windows, dont worry, shoot! I also cover the end of my Mler's barrel with a piece of masking tape to keep out the rain, snow and moisture, it does'nt effect accuracy in the slightest, others even use electrical tape, balloons and the such. I know this is'nt a shoot thru blind but one of my blinds, but notice the masking tape over the end of the barrel, the same thing as shooting through a shoot thru window blind.
(BP)

7.62NATO

Thanks for the advice all.

BP - That is a BEAUTIFUL picture. I hope we get snow this season!!

Question about blinds in general, then. Do you pretty much need to set them up in advance for the deer to get used to them, or can you set them up as you hunt? I only hunt public land, so leaving them up is not an option. It would never be a field edge, it would be in the woods.

cayugad

I open the vertical windows.. mine has two of them. But at the end of the day, its almost white with frost in there. AND COLD!! Its like sitting in the refrigerator but no one has the light on and someone took all the snacks..

7.62 NATO ... I hunt private so I can set mine up without much worry. A friend of mine in the southern end hunts a small stretch of private land and he set his up, during bow season. He really figured he was safe, but to be safe, he set out a trail camera watching the path he was hunting and his blind. Well he was not. He got really nice pictures of his neighbor taking the blind.

I set up one dog house up, in bow season, and it snowed so deep around it, I had to leave it until spring for fear of causing damage to it should I try to get the tent stakes out of the ground, or the thing out of the snow. But it was kind of neat.. I left a bucket to sit on in it, and would snow shoes back to it from time to time to brush the snow off it, and then sit in it. Mice took up residence which was not cool.. I evicted them. But its kind of nice to sit in the woods after you shoe out.

wabi

I believe the shoot through feature means for archery & fixed blade broadheads. I wouldn't try it with BP unless I wanted to chance setting the blind on fire.
I have a blind at my food plot/feeder site that has been there for years. I noticed that deer would ignore the blind if I was in my tree stand and the blind was empty, but if I was in the blind they would often give it their attention as soon as they entered the food plot.
I tried an experiment and painted the windows black so the blind appears the same with the windows open OR closed. It worked!
Deer no longer get nervous if the windows are open!

Found a pic (quickly) in my Photobucket album that shows the blind (windows closed) in the background.

The old blind is getting in bad shape, but it still provides a dry place to set in bad weather. When I replace it the new blind will get a paint job (this is actually the third blind I've had there) before I set it up.

Underclocked

I had one doe in a group of four spot my eyes or forehead or something as I sat there watching them. She was the smallest one in the bunch. Curious, she kept edging closer and closer to the blind all the while bobbing her head trying to figure out just what the heck I was. When she got to about 12 feet or so away, I made a bleat from my little "can" call. Startled her a bit and she trotted back over to the others and they then hopped away about 20 yards and went back to feeding.

I've had a buck spend about 10 minutes first directly in front of me and then on the left of me with both those windows fully open. He never even glanced at me.

Those blinds are a godsend for an old fat guy that doesn't get around so well these days. I always try to get mine set up at least a week before hunting starts. Since having one crushed by cattle, I've taken to making a small fence around mine using clothes line. Seems to be enough to discourage the cattle.

In the pic below, you are looking almost straight at my blind though you can't see it. It's tucked back just behind that cedar you see in the center. Great spot!